renew: According to its FAQ page, Starbucks announced on Friday that it would be ending its NFT program in beta to “prepare for the next steps as we continue to develop the program.”
Last month, we spoke with the program’s leader, Steve Kaczynski, on the Chain Reaction Podcast.On Friday, he tweeted His future with the company is uncertain:
The following is the original text of our interview with Kaczynski on February 22:
The NFT space may be down significantly from its all-time highs, but brands and loyalty programs looking to engage fans in new ways can still find value. Steve KaczynskiHe is the co-author of the book “The Everything Token” and the community leader of Starbucks Odyssey.
He said the company will expand “brand anchors” in closed areas such as rewards programs in 2024. “I think we’re going to see a lot of community-based brand building this year,” he shared on TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction podcast.
Starbucks launched Starbucks Odyssey in 2022 as its first foray into the web3 world. As previously reported by TechCrunch, the experience combines the company’s Starbucks Rewards loyalty program with NFTs to enhance the customer experience.
“We’re able to help people find their tribe,” Kaczynski said. “I found that the people who live in the Starbucks Odyssey community in California are very good friends with the people in Chicago, and they sometimes meet in real life. Without web3, this would never have happened.”
The loyalty program has a five-tier system, with more than 58,000 active participants at least in level one, Kaczynski said. “I can assure you that these people are not mostly or all web3 natives…it’s not just web3 people involved.”
Kaczynski said those who reached Level 5 of the program purchased “considerable amounts” from the secondary market. In December, for example, Starbucks announced it would send the first 20 participants to Costa Rica to visit the farms where the coffee giant produces its beans.
There are other “third-party utilities” that can be developed through NFTs, not only by large companies like Starbucks or Nike, but also by local businesses who want to launch loyalty programs or use tickets as an asset they can anchor and incentivize .
Kaczynski gave an example: Let’s say food brand Hot Pockets launched a promotion that offered players a 20% discount if they purchased the brand’s Fortnite skin and connected it to a crypto wallet. “Buyers are happy, eaters are happy, they get discounts and they’re in the ecosystem,” he said. “This person is not just a gamer, they are an active gamer who is engaged and willing to spend their disposable income on third-party things.”
Kaczynski said that when people think of NFTs, they often think of just expensive pictures of monkeys on the Internet — which, to be fair, is also part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club — but there’s a lot more value in owning an NFT.
“Imagine you walk into a museum and see a beautiful painting on the wall. You can take a picture of that painting, but it’s not worth anything. The painting on the wall is worth money because the museum owns it, it’s The original, they can prove both of those things,” Kaczynski said. “Until recently, you couldn’t do that with digital products,” until NFTs came along.
Kaczynski said that brands and companies have the ability to buy and sell, and “really having loyalty is a new concept that reduces one-wayness.” “While not all community members are involved in buying and selling… I think it’s important for a lot of people to have that option.”
This story was inspired by an episode of the TechCrunch podcast Chain Reaction. Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform to hear more stories and tips from entrepreneurs building today’s most innovative companies.
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