The world of Crypto and NFTs has seemed like a bit of a dream over the past few years – from the price of Bitcoin hitting the dizzying heights of $68K, to crypto-millionaires paying huge sums of money for a pixelated avatar.
Whilst some expect these internet phenomenons to wither away and die, a large community of blockchain enthusiasts expect Web3 and decentralized tech to be the next evolution of the internet.
Salesforce NFT Cloud
Towards the end of 2021 and the start of 2022, the world was struck by NFT-mania, with billions of dollars being spent on NFTs every single month. It seemed like any new movie, or product that was released, and NFT was being released alongside it.
So, in February 2022, news leaked that Salesforce were planning to launch an NFT Cloud four months before the official announcement. Whilst this was met with fierce resistance from employees due to trust and sustainability issues, this could be looked at as a blessing in disguise, as Salesforce majorly incorporated this feedback into the product.
When Salesforce officially announced their NFT Cloud at their Connections event in June 2022, NFT market trading volume had fallen sharply, dropping 60% in Q3 compared with Q2.
June ‘22 was the last update we heard from Salesforce about their NFT Cloud, with many of us thinking the project had been shelved, until today…
Salesforce Announce Web3
Today, Salesforce are announcing Web3, which enables brands to create connected customer experiences across Web2 and Web3 with a unified platform.
Web3 seems to be Salesforce’s new product category for a number of products, including the NFT Cloud which has been rebranded to NFT Management. This gives customers “the ability to create and manage NFT collections directly through Salesforce, view real-time customer insights, monitor blockchain activity, and automate processes with Salesforce Flow”.
Another product being announced is Web3 Connect: “A new API integration allows brands to create personalized, omnichannel experiences across Web2 and Web3, providing a 360-degree view of how customers interact with their NFT collections.”
Whilst some might continue to see this as ‘jumping on the bandwagon’, this announcement is particularly interesting for a few reasons…
- Salesforce have continued to push forward developing their Web3 initiatives, even though NFT-mania has faded from 2021/2022.
- They are working with global consulting partners to implement this product, such as Accenture, Deloitte Digital, and Vayner3 (Founded by Gary Vaynerchuk).
- They have three high-profile customer success stories, and support more than 275,000 NFT transactions.
Web3 Customer Success Stories
In early 2022, the mass-market were discovering NFTs, with many individuals (including me) being suckered into buying the latest NFT project that was going to make me a millionaire. I personally invested in a digital horse!
But this wasn’t reflected in one of the most compelling arguments for the NFT market: to create a community, build brand loyalty, and connect the digital and physical worlds.
This is why, in a survey conducted by Salesforce, 45% of consumers would be more interested in purchasing an NFT if it came from their favorite brand, and three out of four consumers who have purchased an NFT in the past, say purchasing a brand’s NFT makes them more loyal to that brand.
Today, Salesforce are giving us a glimpse into their pilot program for Web3, which supported more than 275,000 transactions for Crown Royal, Mattel, and Scotch & Soda.
Crown Royal
“Salesforce helped us reimagine and digitally scale Crown Royal’s Purple Bag Project by giving us a trusted partner to support our front-end commerce site and back-end data connector to support the #ThatDeservesACrown campaign. For every digital collectible claimed, we sent a care package to active duty U.S. military members around the world.”
Devin Nagy, Director, Technology and Emerging Platforms, Diageo North America
Mattel
“Salesforce Web3 enhances our NFT collections to help us connect with customers and bring our Web2 and Web3 systems together. Web3 Connect is powering invaluable insights into our audience and seamlessly bridging Web3 channels with the rest of our customer experience. We know we have a trusted partner with Salesforce, and are now able to provide an exciting user experience and gateway to Mattel’s iconic IP in a new way.”
Sven Gerjets, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Mattel
Scotch & Soda
“We wanted to work with a trusted partner, and choosing Salesforce Web3 was an easy decision. What could have taken months – creating and securely deploying our Club Soda 3.0 NFT pilot program – took less than two weeks. The seamless data integration into our CRM gave us real-time insight into the 30% net new customers we were able to reach and powered our personalized campaigns via Marketing Cloud.”
Claire Boots, Global CRM Manager, Scotch & Soda
Final Thoughts
Whilst interest in NFTs has definitely died down from the peaks of 2021 and 2022, the NFT market is showing signs of recovery, and from the customer success stories, companies are clearly happy with their results.
I personally remain cautiously optimistic for the future of NFTs. I can definitely relate to being passionate about certain brands, but are the NFTs compelling enough to push me to buy and engage?
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’t deny that Crypto and NFTs don’t stimulate an interesting conversation. And you never know, maybe some of our predictions about Web3 and NFTs could age as terribly as this prediction about the internet!