Starbucks’ On-Chain Loyalty Program is Kicking Butt… Why This Brand Strategy Works Ft: Adam Brotman
Sep 12, 2023
auto_awesome
Adam Brotman, expert in enhancing brand-customer relationships and digital marketing, discusses the success of Starbucks' blockchain-based loyalty program. Topics include community-building, storytelling, and the role of blockchain in digital collectibles and brand strategies.
Brands should prioritize building strong emotional connections through digital innovation, incorporating community, ownership, storytelling, and gamification.
Organizations should embrace experimentation with emerging technologies like AI, web3, and the metaverse to drive customer acquisition, loyalty, and frequency, fostering a culture that values continuous learning and improvement.
Deep dives
Incorporating web3 for a stronger customer relationship
To drive innovation and enhance customer relationships, brands should focus on innovative ways to use digital tools, such as web3, to establish a stronger emotional connection with their customers. This emphasis on emotional connection over transactional interactions is crucial, particularly with millennial and Gen Z audiences in a post-pandemic world. Brands can incorporate community, ownership, storytelling, and gamification to foster a deeper connection with their customers. By creating a sense of community, brands can tap into the storytelling abilities of their super fans and encourage customer engagement and participation. Web3 technology, such as NFTs, can further enhance this connection by offering digital collectibles, leveraging blockchain to establish ownership, scarcity, and value. Overall, brands should view web3 as a tool to enhance their customer relationship strategies but should prioritize building strong emotional connections through digital innovation.
Forum3's vision and platform: Hive 3
Forum3 is an innovative company building a platform called Hive 3, centered on community, gamification, storytelling, and AI. Hive 3 aims to provide a space for citizen creators to participate in challenges and compete for prizes. It offers entertaining and informative experiences for users to learn about AI's potential. As an advisory services firm, Forum3 has partnered with notable brands such as Starbucks to develop impactful projects like Starbucks Odyssey. Starbucks Odyssey is a case study that demonstrates the power of community, storytelling, and ownership in engaging loyalty members. Through this project, Starbucks has created a game for loyalty members to complete activities related to the brand's history and storytelling, earning polygon-based NFT stamps as rewards. These stamps can be collected, traded, and even used to select personalized benefits. Web 3 technology, including blockchain and NFTs, enables the digital collectible aspect of Starbucks Odyssey, creating an immersive and rewarding experience for customers.
The importance of experimentation and embracing emerging technologies
Driving innovation within organizations requires a willingness to experiment and embrace emerging technologies. Many brands face challenges in adopting these technologies due to fear of failure or complexity. However, organizations should prioritize experimentation and learning, understanding that innovation comes with inherent risks. Rather than solely focusing on short-term outcomes, brands should adopt a mindset that promotes continuous learning and improvement. Encouraging experimentation with technologies like AI, web3, and the metaverse provides an opportunity to engage younger generations and build stronger relationships with consumers. Embracing the concept of community, storytelling, gamification, and ownership can help organizations create a cohesive strategy to drive customer acquisition, loyalty, and frequency. By incorporating emerging technologies as enablers, brands can leverage the power of community, enhance storytelling efforts, and transform their relationships with customers.
Driving change and exploration of innovation within organizations
Driving change and exploration of innovation within organizations requires a strategic approach. It is important to create a culture that embraces experimentation and learning. Senior leaders, boards, and CEOs should actively support and encourage employees to explore digital opportunities. Fostering a mindset that values the speed of learning over fear of failure is crucial. Companies should emphasize the importance of customer-centric innovation and align with emerging technologies like AI, web3, and the metaverse. It is essential to overcome the misconceptions surrounding these technologies and emphasize the benefits they offer in terms of community building, storytelling, and gamification. By driving change and exploring innovation, organizations can stay ahead of the curve, meet the expectations of younger generations, and build stronger connections with their customers.
THE EPISODE: Adam Brotman helped envision and launch what's currently seen as the shining example of blockchain-based customer loyalty programs - the Starbucks Odyssey experience. Ashley chats with Adam to unpack what these programs can offer, and how blockchain technology & digital assets play pivotal roles in moving away from a short-term and transactional brand strategy, to a community-building approach which encourages storytelling, participation, and fun. He explains why on-chain loyalty programs are becoming easier to roll out, shares that most brands are afraid of experimentation (providing an opportunity to those willing to learn, pivot, and grow), and offers insights on how employees can drive innovation within their organizations. Adam also gives the audience a sneak peek into his current initiative, hive3.ai - where users can compete for great prizes from some of their favourite brands.
EPISODE RESOURCES Visit our website for guest info, transcripts, links, and resources for today's show.
GUEST: Adam Brotman, Forum3 co-founder & co-CEO, excels in enhancing brand-customer relationships and digital marketing through innovations such as loyalty schemes & mobile technology. His creativity earned him the #2 spot on Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People" in 2012 and the CDO Club named him CDO of the Year in 2015. Adam's rich professional background includes strategic leadership roles at J.Crew, where he initiated their first loyalty program, and notably at Starbucks. As their inaugural Chief Digital Officer, he orchestrated the development of Starbucks' mobile payment, ordering, and loyalty platform. Adam's current board commitments include MOD Pizza Company and Ruby Tuesday, and he has previously served on the boards of Neiman Marcus and Brooks Running Shoe Company.
HELP US GROW Please subscribe, leave a review, and connect with From The Blockchain on all social platforms.
GUEST QUOTE: "Think about Web3 as a technology or a capability set that can help enhance how you innovate your customer relationship transformation."
