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Intro Notes, Plugs & Amendments 🔌🔧

This week I look at an interesting survey by , a survey conducted by agency MKTG called MKTG Sports + Entertainment Launches Frontier 2022: A Guide to Web3, Crypto and Metaverse

I picked out some of the key stats and figures, to give my thoughts on their relevance and importance.

I just want to make clear that this is *not* a paid piece (although, that’s not something I am against if the company/report/topic is appropriate and interesting to the audience) and I was sent the PR like anyone else. The truth is that not that many people have looked into the data behind the partnerships between sports & crypto entities, nor have they done much market research. So this was genuinely interesting to me.

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This Week’s Deep Dive:  Sport is struggling to get to grips with Web3

The topline takeaway from the report was ‘Sport is struggling to get to grips with Web3’. That’s true. But, if we look at the sponsorship deals done with shady actors in isolation— you can conclude that either that topline takeaway is correct, or that sports teams don’t care where their revenues come from. Both are probably true either way, making it seem like sports teams and brands have no idea what they’re doing. Don’t get me wrong, some of them don’t — but some simply do not care where the money comes from. That is the unfortunate truth.

We’ve seen that beyond crypto, so this is agnostic of this patricular industry. But let’s not get into other subjects.

In this edition of Sporting Crypto, I picked out 5 insights from the Frontier 2022 report and gave my thoughts!

This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. I mean, think about all the absolutely terrible Web3 activations you’ve seen brands execute. Think about how many bad sponsorship deals you have seen in sports between teams and web3 companies.

If 1 in 3 brand-side professionals have little to no expertise in Web3, are you surprised?

It is counter-intuitive though.

I’ve written several times that sports brands have prioritised revenue when it comes to Web3.

That *should* mean that, if there’s a lot of revenue on the table, then the investment required shouldn’t be an issue.

But with sports brands so far, there’s this idea that revenue can come thick and fast with little to no effort — if the revenue in question comes from the magic pot of ‘Web3’.

So surely, if we take into account the fact that 1 in 3 brand side professionals have little to no understanding when it comes to Web3, they should invest in resources that help them understand it.

This isn’t me selling myself or my services as a consultant or advisor, by the way, this is just logic.

I understand that purse strings for many brands in sports are tight, but surely with what they envision money wise to be available, isn’t it worth loosening them?

Of the 350 Sports Business professionals surveyed, 10-29% of them have no expertise, nor the ability to call upon expertise, in Web3.

Worse than stat number 1!

That’s quite frightening.

The amount of money that is flying around here should mean more due diligence is required, not less.

More research — not less.

More help and resources. Not thrusting this upon your current team when they’re already incredibly busy.

Some industry brands have a single individual who specialises in the sector, at 10%.

I would hazard a guess that at least half of these specialists have either 1) Got a title that only encompasses Web3; Head of innovation, Digital even a CMO at times 2) Have been simply asked to learn it on the job or 3) Have raised their hand and said they’re quite into crypto. All of these are fine to an extent, but the results you see both strategically will take more time. Which is again, fine. But people can only learn so quickly. I only felt comfortable talking and writing about crypto after working in and around it for 3-4 years.

This one is the most interesting one out of all five observations/statistics.

The reason is that if you asked the people surveyed to define the metaverse, there would be a big variety of responses.

The Metaverse right now is such a nebulous term. 

Everyone kind of knows it’s a thing, but no one knows exactly what it is. When you say Metverse to some people, they instantly think of virtual worlds that people hangout in.

The truth is — we’re already kind of in the Metaverse, I guess.

The augmentation of our lives beyond the physical is here and increasing at a rapid rate.

But actually, I think this is the most overinvested area by brands in general compared to the actual output and return they’ll see either monetarily or in terms of customer/fan engagement and retention.

What I mean by that in plain English:Sports brands have been sold such differing versions of what this thing actually is and what it should mean to them.

Some have been sold parcels of land in virtual worlds, and some have been told that digital wearables on digital avatars are what they should be pinning their strategy on.

The issue is that the usage rates of these virtual worlds, underpinned by blockchain, aren’t high.

This doesn’t mean they never will be. I’m quite bullish on it when there’s bigger convergence (between social, gaming and virtual worlds) in the future, but that feels a long time away.

Right now, most of the plays made by sports brands are PR stunts.

And look, if that works, it works. That’s good marketing.

The metaverse isn’t a fad, I don’t think.

But it’s certainly very raw as a concept, compared to the ideal that many sports industry leaders have been sold.

I hate to tell the 14% they’re wrong, but they very likely are. This thing won’t go away.

I also wonder what the 86% actually view Web3 as.

That definition is important because I’m unsure most sports business professionals have a real understanding of how Web3 can tangibly impact their businesses beyond what they currently see in front of them.

Some of the sponsorships, the NFT drops and fan tokens — will be seen as the absolute beginnings of this ‘thing’ in 3-5 years.

So 50% of people surveyed are somewhat concerned by the negative publicity that comes from fans, consumers and media across Web3 sponsorship and partnership.

Every single sports brand is seriously thinking about Web3 in some way, whether they think it’s a fad or not.

The truth is that whether this negative publicity or not is warranted should mean that you absolutely should be worried.

The 27% that aren’t, I feel should be because you should be as sensitive to the negative publicity as your fans are too nonsensical or dubious Web3 partnerships.

Remember that most sports fans have been conditioned into thinking Web3 is bad for the environment, a scam and a fad.

It’s your responsibility as a sports brand to show that this conditioned thinking is wrong, but also your responsibility to not shove something half-baked down your fanbases’ throat.

Conclusion

I really hope that reports and more research like this come to the fore. Because it really does help build out better hypotheses.

The more information we have from every part of the ‘supply’ chain the better things that can be built out.

More sports crypto stories & things to put your radar

• The PGA Tour is teaming up with Tom Brady’s Autograph to create exclusive digital collectibles. 

• LootMogul — a ‘Sports Metaverse’ group — have raised a $200m raise. 

• A sports charity called Street Child United is using NFTs to raise funds. I think we’ll see NFTs used to fundraise a lot more in the future.

• Sorare broke their MLB record high sales last week. 

• NBA Top Shot are ‘running it back’ to 1986-87 season with some moments. 

• Socios is to be the official partner of the 2022 Ballon D’or Awards. 

• Steve Aoki is the new official brand ambassador of DraftKings Marketplace. 

Great reads, great tweeting and more general ‘stuff’ that could impact you

• I was at the NFT UK event with Flannels and W1 Curates last week and it was awesome. NFT events are just so much more diverse and vibrant than crypto events.

• Layer 1 blockchains. Layer 2 blockchains. Layer 3 blockchains…

• This is an amazing slide by Matthew Ball, author of ‘Metaverse’. 

• NFTs no longer waste energy. The merge was successful and now that nonsensical narrative can disappear.

Thank you!

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This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice.These are my thoughts & opinions and do not represent the opinions of any other person, business or entity.