Modernize: Starbucks announced Friday interrupts the NFT programwhich was in beta, to “prepare for what’s to come as we continue to evolve the program,” according to an FAQ page.
We spoke with Steve Kaczynski, head of the program, on the Chain Reaction podcast last month. On Friday, he tweeted it His future at the company was uncertain:
Here’s our original interview with Kaczynski from February 22:
The NFT space may have declined significantly from all-time highs, but brands and loyalty programs looking to reach fans in new ways can still find value, he said. Steve Kaczynskico-author of the book “The Everything Token” and Community Lead for Starbucks Odyssey.
“Brand anchors” in limited areas such as rewards programs are something companies will expand on in 2024, he said. “I think this year we’re going to see a lot of community-based brand building,” he shared TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction podcast.
Starbucks launched Starbucks Odyssey in 2022 as its initial foray into the web3 world. The experience combined the company’s Starbucks Rewards loyalty program with NFTs to improve customer experiences, TechCrunch previously reported.
“We can help people find their tribe,” Kaczynski said. “I’ve seen that people who live in California in the Starbucks Odyssey community are really good friends with people in Chicago and have met in real life on occasion. This would never have happened without web3.”
The loyalty program has a five-tier system with more than 58,000 active participants in at least the first tier, Kaczynski said. “I can promise you that it’s not mostly or all web3 native people… it’s not just web3 people involved.”
Those who reached the fifth tier of the program bought a “decent amount” from the secondary markets, Kaczynski said. In December, for example, Starbucks announced it was sending its top 20 participants to Costa Rica to visit the coffee giant’s farms where beans are produced.
There are other “third-party utilities” that will be developed through NFTs, not just from big companies like Starbucks or Nike, but from local businesses that want to develop rewards programs or use tickets as an advantage that they can consolidate and give incentives.
Kaczynski cited this example: Let’s say Hot Pockets, the food brand, ran a promotion where it would give players a 20% discount if they bought the brand’s Fortnite skin and linked it to a crypto wallet. “The shopper is happy, the eater is happy and they’re getting a discount and they’re in the ecosystem,” he said. “That person isn’t just a player, they’re an active player who participates and is willing to spend disposable income on third-party stuff.”
When people think of NFTs, they often just think of expensive images of monkeys on the Internet—and to be fair, that’s a part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club—but there’s more value to owning NFTs, Kaczynski says.
“Imagine you go to a museum and you see a beautiful painting on the wall, you can take a picture of that painting, but it’s not worth any money. The picture on the wall is worth the money because the museum owns it, it’s the original, and they can prove both,” Kaczynski said. “Until recently you couldn’t do that with digital objects” until NFTs came along.
Brands and companies that have the ability to buy and sell and “actually own your loyalty is a new concept that makes it less one-way,” Kaczynski said. “While not everyone in the community is into buying and selling … I think for a lot of people, having that option is so important.”
This story was inspired by an episode of TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction podcast. Sign up in Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to hear more stories and advice from the entrepreneurs building today’s most innovative companies.
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