National Geographic’s entry into the world of NFTs was a failure from the start. Despite announcing its embrace of non-fungible tokens on social media, the company quickly faced backlash from its community and technical problems. The Genesis Collection on Polygon featured unique works from popular photographers, but failed to deliver a proper mint.
Why Were National Geographic NFTs a Failure?
National Geographic’s first mistake was promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs on its social accounts, which was perceived as a scam by community members. This skepticism was compounded by technical problems with the Snowcrash platform used for minting the Genesis NFTs. Consequently, this led to customer complaints and trades taking place on only one platform. The negative response from the community also came from the bearish crypto market, where only the truly unique NFT projects execute successful mints.
What to Learn from the Web3 Community
To avoid similar failures, it is important to consider the reactions of the community and the current economic climate before entering the world of NFTs. This requires a deep understanding of the technology and the patience to educate the community on its benefits. Companies like Ubisoft, who faced similar criticism from their gaming community, provide valuable lessons on the importance of communication and transparency in the adoption of new technology. Companies entering the web3 space must choose wisely who they partner with. In this case, choosing the Snowcrash NFT platform certainly contributed to the failure with technical issues during the mint.
National Geographic’s introduction into NFTs serves as a cautionary lesson for companies looking to enter the web3 world. The importance of community response to technical issues becomes obvious when adopting new technology. Companies need to educate and onboard their communities, while communicating transparently to avoid similar failures in the future.