How to Boost Engagement Through NFTs | European Blockchain Convention 9

[Music] 3 2 1 go premium.com [Music] well good afternoon everyone thank you for for your interest in this session I'm uh I'm Hakim Muno I'm a partner at at B and be I'm a lawyer but no no nobody's perfect so uh I I'll try to to to to moderate this panel in which we are going to talk about how to boost uh engagement with Cons with with customers with clients through nfts but not only through nfts no I mean it can be through any other kind of digital assets or any kind of um technology driven driven by we3 blockchain Etc um I'm I have the pleasure to introduce you to sanon snow the ch ch Operating Officer from World of wom of women I'll ask you uh afterwards to explain a little bit more about your your project we have also jonart from football club Barcelona that you will you have done an interested an interesting case use you will we will have the pleasure to to hear more about that also when lyia when ly from from La Liga and Pablo Monty from from bingx and I wanted to to start the the discussion asking uh for instance when if you if you like um if you can share some background about how how these Technologies or how these nfts has been used in a context like La Liga or in a environment like the sports environment in order to boost this kind of Engagement with fans clients Etc hi everyone um yeah I I would like to share my experience more in the product size because the first complexity that we can afford ER in all this H web 3 ecosystem is the complexity of using the technology in um all the products and how to make userfriendly uh products for the fans and to increase the engagement through them because it's not blockchain is not only nfts that we probably are going to talk a to another uses or case of uses of of this technology that could increase the value of of the products or what we can offer for the engage uh and going farther than only for example in the case of football more than the night minutes of the competition we can go also H try to keep users to create H some sentiment H relations with them to feel them more com more close to their clubs competition [Music] footballers thank thank you thank you when and and Pablo Also regarding your your role here at b x and and your previous experience related with the sports Etc what do you think could be the the role of the exchangers in this in this market in order to facilitate I mean the the the access of the users to this hello everyone and now you can hear me I can hear me loud um back to the to the question um we all can agree that nowadays nft is some kind of a curse World which I find really unaccurate because we are only paying attention to one of the uses of nft and it can brings a lot I come from the sports East Sports and gaming world before joining an exchange so I I'm really into this and and what I see related to H crypto exchanges is that they are and I don't want to use the day used to H be part of it just as a Marketplace and and there are many ways in which crypto exchanges can relate H nowadays Bing X is not into the nfts uh business and that's probably why because I believe and Bing believes that crypto exchanges is like should be the Gateway for new crypto users new web three users new blockchain users and that should be the task so the ideal in in my opinion for crypto exchanges to relate with nfts h is being that Gateway I mean you can bring a lot of things into the conversation you can H use the exchange as your wallet for your nft tickets for your nft Collectibles I mean there are tons of tons of ways to relate besides just a plain nft market place and I believe that's where crypto change should go nowadays is not the reality but I I hope that this is going to be changing within the the few next years okay thank you and sonon and and Jordy I think that maybe we all know what was football club Barcelona and what football CL Barcelona says but maybe would be also interesting to explain this beautiful project you are involved right now that is women um world of women and and after that maybe J you can explain also a little bit the collaboration you you've been uh doing in order to also promote know women's football and and uh well this this project that you have been doing together I think this could be also a good case study to illustrate what we are talking about no absolutely hi everyone I'm Shannon snow I'm COO of world of women for those of you who may not be familiar world of women started as an nft collection and became a movement it was started on the idea that women should be represented in web 3 and the metaverse in order to increase access and of course bring on the next billion users into this space um it was the first collection that had a woman founder women artist and uh women Focus collection and ended up becoming uh the number eight alltime nft collection and number one Mission focused nft collection with over $350 million of trading volume since then we're really focused on continuing to grow access through nfts but most importantly through Community to ensure that we are spreading the new Adoption of web3 Technology new ways that communities are connecting digitally and part of how we're doing so is collaborating with Incredible Brands like FC Barcelona to think about how we can help companies and collaborate in really surprising ways to uh to engage fans in this new era okay hi everyone um I'm Jordan monart director of research at FC Barcelona and I have responsibilities on AI artificial intelligence and blockchain Technologies regarding blockchain Technologies together with hog who is here and an we're working on that and for those who I mean for many of you Barcelona is a super top H football club but for us it's much more than this so it's an example of for you you you you could say that is a physical Dow because it belongs to the members we have 150,000 members and they are the owners of the club and is it goes beyond Sports uh it has to do with we have a foundation it has to do with the fact for instance that we had UNICEF as an sponsor and we paid for that many things and we coincide I mean we have the same U uh I mean the same idea as well of women that technology is to male and football is to male so the matching was perfect between let's say both institutions let's do something amazing together uh for women empowerment and we have many examples in FC Barcelona one example is that the the team that we are much proud of today is our women first team is amazing we have the best player in the world Alexa pellas and probably the new best player in the world aanon mati will be also our player but also we we broke the record of attendees in a women match one year and a half ago and we did it two times in a row this is amazing and we want to celebrate these things and Technologies for us they enable to illustrate our emotional history plenty of different stories narratives experiences utilities accesses it's not about speculation it's about providing users fans with digital experiences okay thank you and and sanon could what um could be your your advice for for companies trying to get in into the nfts uh sector in order to engage customers I think maybe you you can have some examples or you you have some experience on helping companies doing so so what's what's your approach to that I think my advice for any company that is looking to engage with an nft community in order to boost engagement is one think about it as a community um I think a lot of people are thinking about nfts as a new Revenue stream or a way to make money and of course it can be that but I think what is really great and what FC Barcelona has done is really start with the values and start with the community and think what can this allow my community to do that has never done before um I think second really having a right team in place that has the power to innovate so Jordy is leading Innovation at FC Barcelona um and he is empowered to think about new ways that they can get into the metaverse that they can experiment with these new technologies and I think that when you have a traditional company sometimes it can be really difficult to think how do I really break the barers so setting up this type of playground is really critical and then finally think about ways that can really break through the noise um I think one thing that we are very proud of doing is launching um the empowerment nft as part of the Masterpiece series um it was surprising in many ways it featured an incredible iconic player Alexia payas um it was launched not at the best time in the market um it launched in June a lot of people are talking about it's a bare Market you know how are we going to break through but it was a really breakthrough moment for women's sports especially all the investment that they are putting in and so despite the fact that it's a crypto be market and nft be Market um it is a peak time for women's sports and empowerment so that nft was launched in June it sold for 162 eth which was over $300,000 at the time and was actually the sixth largest sale ever on polygon and the club offered some incredible utility a meet and greet with the player uh special privileges to be part of the community and the club so I think if you organize your structure in the right way give room to experiment and then find new things that can break through the noise you can definitely be successful okay thank you um uh when well yes please yeah I would like to add something is is the following mean I mean at the end we want to offer something in our case to the fans we like to say that we are a fan Focus Club but this means that we shouldn't do assumptions on what the fun wants we should listen or create an space a community in a way that is the fun that tell us what they want in this sense for instance we created uh three months ago uh the official Discord server of FC Barcelona with let's say with uh I think already 70,000 people there that they are super engaged uh it's a community they tell us what you want and want to use this Discord let's say Ser this Discord account to listen and and we provide them with content but the content is mainly created by the people and they tell us for instance which is the next match they would that they would like to see in discore uh being broadcasted there Etc so instead of assumptions listening that's super important yeah that's right thank you and and when for instance related the the the use of nfts or or the offering on nfts within video games how do you think that could be this combination I think go how nfts could create create greater value within video games in the line what Jordy was uh sharing with us about listening the the users in this case the fans the football fans in this case The Gamers and it's super important to listen in see what they looking for what is going to happen in the video games and giv to them the opportunity to have some vot on it and probably Grant to the users H we I with in the ownership of those nfts in this case have some benefits um to make them feel like not as special but maybe like differentiate from another Gamers um and maybe at some point H the interoperability are going to let us like for example if someone has an nft from Barcelona maybe in a in a some game video game could be probably have some benefits or some advantages that they they will be Grant on on the video game okay thank you and Pao um from your positions from from an exchanger and being in the in the crypto industry Etc do you think that um the the the audience or the the customers are mature enough to to embrace these kind of campaigns or do you think that there is also long way to to to get uh I mean more people into this these systems into these campaigns into this technology because sometimes my feeling is that uh brands are not that convinced about using this kind of Technology because that could be somehow a barrier no not if if these campaigns are uh directed to mature uh consumers or crypto consumers but maybe in a wider context it could it could be a barrier I don't know uh I'm curious about your your opinion on that um what I believe is that H for example I I understand and I know that traditional Sports is not losing but it's not getting all the young audience that that they they want they will and and uh video games Esports the streaming communities is a source of audience that they are into it and that's that's why La Liga now is La Liga EA Sports and and many other things and for crypto exchanges they have an audience that is probably young teis Savvy and it's already in the crypto environment so it's the perfect way to bring that people in on the other hand I understand that probably this era is the best and the worst to get engagement I mean you have tons of possibilities you said Discord you said um live streaming nfts many direct contact I mean 15 years ago uh a football club wasn't able to talk directly to the audience they need to go through a media Outlet through some now they can relate directly with the with the user but that same huge amount of opportunities and and options force you to make a lot of efforts and you start doing this and that and and okay so a every Sports property understands that try to get that and in the case of FC Barcelona and other big clubs it's easier in between quotes because they have a huge structure but what about the smallest Club the uh volleyball clubs handball clubs things like that I mean can nft and blockchain Technology bring a an opportunity a solution not just for the revenue but just to boost the engagement to bring more audience to to to their matches I mean that's the one of the other challenges that they have I mean for big companies it's easy or easier but I I understand that blockchain technology can bring a lot to many other actors I would love to weigh in I mean I think that you're completely right so many of us are transitioning from a world where we're leaning back right we're watching we're we're not engaging new audiences because people are leaning back if they're watching a game and attention spans are changing right you want to engage you're used to doing a 15-second clip right the next generation is expecting that engagement and that's something that we've been really learning a lot as we um you know work with FC Barcelona on growing the Discord for the FC Barcelona games because part of it is how do I actually engage and give something to the fans so they're not just leaning back uh so we did the uh first broadcast of a game in Discord live in Discord the quality looked actually amazing it what felt extremely clear and beautiful and there were a couple special things that were going on uh fans are chatting as they're watching the game so they're getting that engagement with people all over the world so it's not just me watching in my lit living room I'm chatting with other fans I'm speculating about what is happening you know I'm getting that engagement um and then we're also giving something to the fans for ownership so we did a special partnership where world of women nft holders could get a special badge in the FC Barcelona Discord um that gave them special recognition we also did a PO app uh that they got to keep as a memory and these small things just being able to chat with other fans being able to have a nft that recognizes your status in the community and the fact that you were there it's just one step closer to giving something to the fans and engaging them um and really giving the the fans what they want is to just be more involved with the club and the players that they love thank you and and and Jordy um is there is this the the the only project uh using blockchain or within the metaverse because I I've read something about the new metaverse or football Barcelona I don't know if this is a project that is on still ongoing and how do you think that this nfts uh will will play a role in in for instance in a future metaverse or or kind of virtual environments that maybe a club like uh like football club Barcelona is is developing okay so uh let me give some context because um uh sometimes I think everyone of us confuses let's say blockchain Technologies with with web three these are two different things for web 3 you need blockchain technologies but blockchain Technologies is something that goes I mean there are many things that are not are not web three related for instance uh in FC barcela we are using blockchain Technologies for referendums we are using blockchain Technologies for the tracability of ticketing so it's a solution that is amazing for many things and particularly regarding nfts is amazing because it provides ownership to the digital assets and this is super important but this is not exactly web3 web3 is an ideal that we have all all of as we have in terms of decentralization and taking out the the middle men from from from the middle yeah and this we hope that someday will happen but we are not ready we are not mature enough at least with our funds uh for let's say uh to let's say to Target them as web three users our fans are basically Web Two they don't care about the technology they care about the experiences so whenever the digital experience is better than the physical or the analogic one they will take it it's super simple okay so then what we have to do is provide them with digital experiences enabled by blockchain Technologies because we need them that are amazing for them an example what we did uh also with with plastics we just uh released a collection of nfts around 3,000 nfts uh to support projects of plastic bre recovery in developing countries so the utility attached to this nft that was a bar nft was to be supportive which is an utility and people that is paying for it if they know that 50% goes to being supportive it's okay it's done there is no need of speculation we need a narrative values and then using blockchain Technologies as a technology and the good thing the experience has to do has to do with the narrative with emotions and then nfts is only the first step but we know that nfts avatars marketplaces play to earn metaverses uh virtual real estate virtual shopping are products and services that from from blockchain technologies that will be very appealing so we really believe that we are close to let's say to the metaverse but not this metaverse being super immersive because we know also that uh using let's say uh virtual reality and and and special glasses and these things is not affordable for every single one okay we know that for for instance my children they play fortnite is a kind of metaverse is violent okay but this a kind of metaverse it's a 3D Recreation of a virtual world where there are interactions between avatars their experiences their emotions and they take it so that's a metaverse we want to approach let's say taking out violence and provide in let's say contents of FC Barcelona and I hope we hope together with holga and and and many people in the club that we are close to it to it okay thank you um when I'm I'm curious about because we are talking about the value that nfts blockchain Etc can add to the sports for instance but is there do you think that also maybe the sports or institutions like La Liga or competitions like La Liga football CL Barona can somehow add some value to the to the technology in in in in the sense of [Music] um I mean approach to this technology to I mean people that could be not that uh close or or used to to to to to use this kind of technology so as the utility become a key point to to reach or to explore um of course the the physical experience are the core of this everything that uh uh Sports property can offer to all this experience because um we have the fans I mean the sports property has the fans and they can H moving those mass of people to something new to something special and this is the greater value that we can add to the digital assets yeah okay and Pablo what do you think that also I mean I completely agree what you what where s Jord and and when was saying about um not only focusing on the on the results not only focusing on on the on the main goals but trying to also enjoy the way to to to achieve uh that goals what's the what's the approach for for instance from a exchanger a cryptocurrency uh company on the that I mean is is it is there also kind of um an an approach or or a goal to to create Community not only um just the the the platform to exchange cryptocurrencies Etc but also create community and how these kind of campaigns can can can help to to to engage with with clients I I I believe we all agree that communities are the key I mean u i remember when I used to on the digital environment and the the the phrase was content is King now H audience is the king and and everything relates to to getting an audience a community to to gather as many people as you can and one thing of from when they were talking before is H what sports properties have have difficulty to achieve with the blockchain techn techology and and the things that are said about that is H the experience part I mean we all agree that for sports the experience is being on a stadium and seeing the players feeling near that that situation is probably the the the the best opportunity everyone that goes to a football match a World Cup an Olympic game can tell you the best experience in my life and we all agree on that okay the next step in my opinion for blockchain and I sound like The Devil's Advocate but that's not the my my my my goal this I I'm into this is okay how can blockchain help these Brands to deliver a similar experience outside the stadium I mean inside the stadium is easy you got it you always have that with you now how can you deliver that outside the stadium it's with the virtual reality it's metaverse I don't like to say that word because I want to say it's f I mean there are a lot of of products of options that blockchain brings we are in the middle of finding out which one is or if even if the main audience is going to accept that and embrace that and going back to your question H what I see with the with the crypto exchanges related with the sports is that it's mostly on just plain and simple sponsorship it's like you see the brand on the t-shirt and that's it and I'm lacking and the next step it's like what what's what's what more what what can you give me what H what's the way you are going to relate with the brand with the fans with the community that you're going to bring value because if not it's just a plain and simple sponsorship you get your brand on the T-shirt you get the photos and you hope people will come to your platform because you are there but again you can do a lot of things together with properties in many ways there are properties that are keen on relating with crypto Brands other that prefer maybe not to not to involve players but nevertheless you can do a lot and probably since I'm I'm saying what's the next step for sports property to relate I also from my side say Okay crypto exchanges what's the next step is just plain and simple sponsorship or you can make the next step even with video games I mean it's it's just everything part of a big community and again we are all looking for the same audience Community users name it as you want but we want to engage we want to give them back something we need to find out what well and talking about giving back and Community Etc I think that maybe world of women is a good example of how um a technology a technology a techn a technology company can also contribute to society through uh a service like what you're doing can you explain a little bit more about that absolutely I think that access is such a key part of what you're saying right only some of us are lucky to get into the stadium and get that feeling there's Millions more who will never get into the stadium and how do we give them that feeling and uh you know it's something that really resonates for me as well the reason that I'm on this stage today the reason that I'm in technology was because I had access I was in Silicon Valley I was able to join Google at an early time you know I had proximity to technology that really opened doors and so now it's all about how do we use these Technologies in in these communities to create new opportunities for those that are participating that never would uh before so for example with world of women you know one thing that we love to do is use the artists who are in our community give them unbelievable opportunities uh in our partnership with FC Barcelona we actually selected an artist re who is in our community to be the artist that did the art for the empowerment nft um this is an opportunity that you know she would not have had access to if she was not in the world of women Community um and one that we felt really excited about because only 5% of crypto art sales go to women artists and we know that there are way more women artists out there that um that need that recognition and so in these ways of leveraging these communities to create new opportunities to break through um is just another way that we're thinking about how we leverage this type of um scale and Community to break down barriers that we're not there before okay thank you one of the I mean I think that listen to you I think that the two main takeaways I'm taking from from this conversation is that obviously technology is not the the goal it's just the mean to achieve engagement with the consumer or with the customers or the client Etc and the other one is that some times or at least at this point it could be also more more interesting to focus on generating a community that could um Embrace this kind of uh product this kind this kind of of Technology but um as as we are getting to the to the end of this session I I would like you to just I'm sure that maybe in the audience there are companies that are considering um getting into this uh BL chain nfts uh World in order to um well create campaigns or base their campaigns on nfts or whatever what could be your your final advice for those that are just uh considering mainly based on your previous experience Maybe So based on the barriers you have faced uh before maybe that could be just to partner with someone that has experience doing that and and and then that will be easier but I I I I would like to to to to end this conversation with final advice from your side to to those that are now considering to to start a campaign using nfts or any kind of blockchain technology I would definitely recommend partnering with existing communities what world of women we love to partner with Brands to Think Through how um you can boost type this type of Engagement um so feel free to reach out to us um and then I think thinking through how can I give access to new audiences how can I give those audiences a way to engage such as a diso and how can I give them back whether it's through an nft or a new experience that you unlock with nft to build that closer and direct relationship with your consumers so uh I will say with one example why we are partnering uh partnering with all of women is because it's an opportunity for us to grow uh I mean only let's say TW uh 20% of our fans are women so it's really an opportunity to grow uh and and engagement is super important money is the last thing although it's important but is the last thing don't start a project uh thinking that you will make money uh think about the purpose and the values and so answer the why and then you will see and also as you said before it's important to connect it with the own values of the companies no not not only use technology by just being in the hype or being this is something that is Hot Topic right now but also check if you can connect it with the with the values as a with as a club like football club Barcelona thank you uh from my side I will advise that putting on first the the user or the gamer or fan or whatever before the before the product because sometimes it's get like a lot of mess very difficult prototypes no one's can to deal with it and and then the consumers are not going understand which is the objective to have it so because how many times we had here like what is the point to have it there in refer in referring of the nftd right so making make things with a longterm Vision try to create everything that you're doing um and think about the the consumer will be a key point Thank You H I don't feel to be in a position to advise anyone whatsoever but H what I do believe and encourage everyone since you are related with this is to try to find the the the that solution that option that makes the difference that brings that H that spark that brings that similarity to to the experience that we have when we go to a match H or anything that can help both a huge brand maybe an Olympic Games maybe FIFA maybe FC Barcelona but also the smallest and because sports fans are fans of big clubs but they usually play on a small clubs maybe that's also a huge way to relate with that and finally Again The Devil's Advocate maybe there's no h solution maybe blockchain technology won't bring any boost engagement that's something that we need to find out also I mean h i i i remember Sports talking about okay we need to bring H live stream streamers we need to bring video games we need to bring that audience okay they are trying to get that audience but it's difficult now it's let's bring blockchain let's bring nft it's difficult in five years we'll be I don't know you name it so probably it's not the final solution it's a way to help it's a an added value that you will come I mean young Generations we all have I don't no not not everyone but many of us have kids and you every three months they change their their their what they do the application they use so you okay now it's Bal let's go to B real no more so that that's something to think about I I would advise on not advise I would go on on that find try to find the way but maybe there's not any through what we do let's hope we do that there there there is an opportunity let's hope one of you find it or many of you find it and we can all celebrate with that okay well thank you very much all and I think we we we we are done with this I think I I hope you have find this uh interesting at least myself I've learned a lot from from your experience so thank you very much and I will ask you for a big round of applause for for this amazing speak yes thank you