How To Fix NFTs’ Branding Problem – Forbes

Jordan is the CEO of MetaTope, a blockchain technology company.

By now, you’ve likely heard some variation of the phrase: “NFTs have a branding problem.” And, largely, it’s true. There are so many projects occupying so many spaces with so many talking heads both praising and denigrating them that it makes it hard for people to separate the projects with true value from those who are just a get-rich-quick scheme for founders.

Add to the branding problem the general feeling that most NFTs are still just pictures and couple it with the high-profile failures of certain projects, and you can see why people stay away.

Like in all industries, the branding problem is a multifaceted beast. It’s partly created by crypto “bros” and bad actors enriching themselves, but it’s also the typical reaction to emerging technology the general public simply doesn’t understand yet. At one time, storing music on a single portable device was undesirable.

No matter its origin, the branding problem makes something clear: the Web3 and NFT community needs to do a better job communicating the promise and value of NFT technology. That failure has hindered mass adoption and, understandably, given people a bad understanding of what NFTs are and the power of the underlying technology. It’s a failure of us, the proponents of the technology, not the general public—and we need to do something about it.

I’ve met too many builders in the space who think people will eventually educate themselves about how to interact with blockchain technology, passing the blame on to the public and invoking phrases like “some things just take time.” While ostensibly true, it’s also a passive route. As builders, we shouldn’t take this type of stance. We should be more proactive in our approach and give them ways to seamlessly interact with the blockchain.

One of the best ways we can do this is through realistic use cases. We need to give the public simple, practical and understandable use cases that introduce them to blockchain and NFT technology with such simplicity that they don’t even realize they’re using it.

Simple

First, the use case must be simple for general consumers wary of NFT technology. People understand what a picture is, but that’s too simplistic for our purposes. Instead, simplicity here must be a perk they can easily wrap their heads around and engage with, not just a concept of a thing like ownership or authenticity.

A perfect example of this is access to an exclusive perk or event, where an NFT can essentially act like a ticket to something. The main idea is to give people an easy way to interact with NFTs and physically engage with the thing they get out of the interaction.

Practical

It must be practical for people to purchase and engage with th