Australia Zoo NFT – The Future of Philanthropy. An interview with Mariella Meija, Meadow Labs, Creators of the Australia Zoo NFT

Transcript

Nick Abrahams:

Joining me today is Mariella Mejia. Sorry. Is that correct?

Mariella Mejia:

You did well. You were fantastic.

Nick Abrahams:

Okay. Okay. I was sweating that.

Mariella Mejia:

We are making you Hispanic now, Nick. You are a honorary Hispanic.

Nick Abrahams:

There we go. Well, there’s a whole story to that. Okay. Let’s start again. Joining me today on the show is Mariella Mejia, chief marketing officer at Meadow Labs, the organization who just did the NFT for Australia Zoo and the Irwin family. So Mariella, welcome to the show.

Mariella Mejia:

Thanks Nick. Thanks for having me.

Nick Abrahams:

Now, Mariella, you pop up everywhere in the NFT world and you are a particularly prolific tweeter. How did you end up… I mean, a storied career in marketing, and now, you’re sort of deep in the NFT game? What’s the track?

Mariella Mejia:

Well, firstly, I got to apologize for all my tweets about tuna, Nick. You were [inaudible 00:01:08]-

Nick Abrahams:

I didn’t want to mention all the tuna tweets. You do have a fascination with the tinned fish.

Mariella Mejia:

Especially for lunch. It’s a superior lunch meat, but look, that’s a different conversation.

Nick Abrahams:

I feel like a tuna NFT is on the cards anytime soon.

Mariella Mejia:

You can NFT anything, Nick, so you just watch this space.

Nick Abrahams:

The figital. I think the people at Safcol need to be getting a tuna NFT. There we go. There’s an idea right there.

Mariella Mejia:

Get in touch with Meadow Labs. We can do that quite easily, but to answer your question, Nick, I have had a really long career in marketing. I came from an events career, so you probably would’ve seen in one of my very long bios that I accidentally ended up in marketing through events. I found that I really enjoyed telling people about them rather than actually organizing them, and then that led me into a really long path into tech. I worked with some incredible tech companies in the UK. It was a dating company. It had a radio station, all very much aligned to tech. Worked for Event Pride as well, when I came back home in Australia, for a while, to get them launched in Australia, as they came over many, many, many years ago. Then that led me to creating my own marketing agency, which I ran for the last eight years, and worked with about 90 brands in eight years, got to see a hell of a lot for a marketer.

Mariella Mejia:

I happened to stumble across this fine gentleman, which I think everyone in the blockchain space knows, called Steve Vallas, and he cornered me one day and he said, “This blockchain thing has got a bit of legs. I think you would really like it.” I said to him, “No, no. I’ve got enough tech in my life. I don’t need another one,” but the hook was, for me, was providence. I was really interested to know where things came from, and why they came from, and how could we actually see that they came from where they said they were, so he hooked me in and next thing you know, we are collaborating on blockchain 2020. We kind of forked out and he ended up as the CEO of Blockchain Australia, and I was very lucky that when I said to him, “You know, I think this Web3 thing has some legs.” He said, “Mate, you’re late.” I was really lucky that when I was ready and the opportunity was right, I left my business and joined the incredible team at Meadow Labs.

Nick Abrahams:

Fantastic. I agree entirely, Steve, I think, has been an incredible catalyst for advances in Australia’s appreciation, particularly corporate Australia’s appreciation, of blockchain. I can understand, he’s like that snake from the Jungle Book with the mesmerizing eyes, where you can go and start talking to him and not believe in blockchain, and by the end of it, you’ll be buying some EVE. So what about-

Mariella Mejia:

That is a hundred percent Steve Vallas.

Nick Abrahams:

What about Meadow Labs? What does Meadow Labs do?

Mariella Mejia:

That’s a great question, Nick, and you know what? It’s one I get really often, because I think this is so new, this space, that it’s really challenging for people to understand. The way that I describe Meadow Labs, is that we take really big brands and we propel them at lightning speed, or as I like to think of blockchain, it runs in dog years, so one week is a month, and we propel them really quickly towards the NFT space. We take them from zero to drop and then beyond, which is particularly important in the NFT space.

Nick Abrahams:

Great. Just with that, because I think it’s important to understand for folks exactly how this works, so does this work when someone’s got a pretty well formed idea? A corporate comes in and goes, “You know what? We want to drop a new whiskey label or something like that as an NFT,” is it sort of that stage or will you work with them at the strategy level to say, “Well, what’s your Web3 strategy, and then, how does NFT, how does crypto, how does metaverse even fit into that?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, look, it’s a mixture of both. However, if you do have someone that is looking for a whiskey label and they want to test out their whiskey on anyone, I’m a wonderful candidate for that, so I’m very happy to help out.

Nick Abrahams:

We’ve learnt a lot about you. It’s whiskey and tinned tuna, Mm-hmm.

Mariella Mejia:

Whiskey and tinned tuna.

Nick Abrahams:

You’re a conundrum, Mariella, but I like it.

Mariella Mejia:

I’m a connoisseur. No, look, it’s actually both, so we get some companies come to us and they don’t have a Web3 strategy and we help them build it, and we take them through it, and then there’s other people that do come in with… They’ve spent a long time looking at innovation and they’re like, “Here’s what we want to do,” and we help them get through that as well. Our particular expertise, I think, at Meadow Labs is that we really quite empathetic and we really care about customer. The NFT projects we build, aren’t one and done. They’re actually one and here for a really long time.

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah. Look, the other part, I think is really important to what we do, is we ensure that whatever NFT project we do has some good in this world and we can dig into that a little bit deeper, but it’s one of the reasons I love working at Meadow Labs.

Nick Abrahams:

Fantastic. I think your point there, it’s not one and done. I mean, I often say to people with an NFT, it’s almost like having a child, because it’s very [inaudible 00:06:39]. They don’t just sort of exist ephemerally, they are ongoing digital assets, so we need to have thought about a life for them and so forth.

Nick Abrahams:

You mentioned doing good in the world, and I think one of the big projects that you’ve worked on recently, for Australia Zoo, and obviously the Irwin family holds a particular place, I think, in the heart of most Australians, and it was a big announcement when the Irwins came out with an NFT project. Can you talk to us a little bit about, I guess, how did that project even come about and how did you execute on it?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, that’s a really good question. Look, one of the highlights of, obviously, working at Meadow Labs is one of… The great projects that we get exposure to, and one of them is obviously the Irwins and Australia Zoo. The thing that I didn’t know about Australia Zoo until we started working with them is just how incredibly vast their impact is. You’ve got Australia Zoo, you’ve got their Wildlife Warriors, and then you’ve got the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, and they’ve got conservation projects all over the world. It’s absolutely phenomenal what the Irwins and their team do around the world for positivity.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah.

Mariella Mejia:

We partnered up to drop an NFT, so we started… It’s actually a collectible series of five and their aim is to really do good for the world, so it’s to help them continue with their conservation projects, to help them make the zoo even more sustainable. One of the key projects around this is… There’s incredible… I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Australia Zoo, Nick, but if you haven’t, you really have to go. It’s a phenomenal place, and they’ve got these shuttles that they take school groups and people around, and they’re running on diesel currently, but very soon with this project, they’ll be able to switch them over to electric. Plus a whole range of other positivity that comes out of it.

Nick Abrahams:

Right. I seem to recall, and I haven’t been to Australia Zoo, but I will absolutely put it on the list. I think, did I recall… because obviously with an NFT now, the big term is utility, and what’s the utility? I think there was something that you get VIP access to. There’s a special viewing platform, I think, or something. Could you talk a little bit about what’s the user experience? Why would I want to buy an Australia Zoo NFT?

Mariella Mejia:

That’s a great question, and look, what we’ve done is we’ve actually flipped the switch. Usually most people buy into an NFT project, because they get something, there’s utility behind it. What we’ve done with Australia Zoo, is we’ve actually turned it into a philanthropy roadmap.

Nick Abrahams:

Ah, okay.

Mariella Mejia:

Every NFT that you buy is actually doing good and we can actually track the good that we’re doing. We dropped one, which was Warrior Crocs. Obviously, Steve Irwin and crocs, are the best place to start, obviously, but one of the things that Australia Zoo do, is they do crocodile research in Wenlock River, which is in Far North Queensland, in the Steve Irwin Reserve. They tag crocs, a little bit like… I’m not sure if you’re familiar with EPIRBs, but anyone who’s…

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah. Sure.

Mariella Mejia:

Yep, EPIRBs in terms of the boating world, it’s like a tracker. What it allows them to do is actually do a lot of research on crocodiles. On their eating habits, their moving habits, what is happening with them in their surroundings, so that they can better conserve these prehistoric creatures, which is absolutely phenomenal.

Mariella Mejia:

Our first drop, we got to tag five crocs in the Wenlock River, which was phenomenal. There’s a lot of surprises along the way with Australia Zoo, so one of the surprises, although we don’t call it utility, but it’s a wonderful surprise, is we actually got to name one of those crocs.

Nick Abrahams:

Oh, right? Was that-

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah. So as a community we…

Nick Abrahams:

The community names the croc?

Mariella Mejia:

The community named the croc. There was some incredible names. There was one that was called Innerwild, which was my personal favorite, but it ended up being called Taco.

Nick Abrahams:

Oh, nice.

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah. It was lovely, and look, we got to name it as a community, but also in conjunction with the Irwins who got the shortlist in the end.

Mariella Mejia:

The beauty of Australia Zoo is that these NFTs are actually doing good in our world currently. Every NFT that people buy goes directly, a hundred percent of proceeds, go directly to Australia Zoo and Wildlife Warriors, and we actually get to make an impact in the world, which is an amazing thing for an NFT project.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah. So by owning that NFT, so I get sort of access to information and so forth around what that particular project is? It’s about growing, I guess, that community around a specific project?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, absolutely, and you get insights to what Australia Zoo is doing. For example, you also get behind the scenes insights. Robert Irwin pops in quite regularly to say hello to holders, which throws everyone into an absolute frenzy, which is fantastic.

Nick Abrahams:

I could well imagine.

Mariella Mejia:

It’s my favorite. I’ll send you a photo, Nick, but we put him in front of this gigantic screen and he has so much fun, because he’s like… It’s so positive. It’s so loving, which is, I think, such a Web3 audience. It’s very different to kind of Web2. It’s very positive, very loving, and also, we get to sneak peek. Recently we got to see David, the baby giraffe calf that was born. Hasn’t actually been shown to the general public, but it was shown to holders to say thank you, as being part of the project. There’s a lot of wonderful surprises that come their way. We’re just getting started in terms of surprises, so if you are keen, drop two is happening on the 23rd of August, and I can tell you, there is incredible surprises along the way.

Nick Abrahams:

Oh, fantastic. Well, I will keep an eye out for that, so that’s 23 August for drop two. Very good. I guess, what you’ve hit upon there, and we’ve mentioned the term a couple of times, which is, I think a little bit of a novel term in marketing speak, which is community. If you look at NFTs, they came out of… We had a big surge with sports and NBA Top Shots, and so forth. They have an inbuilt community, because sports have fans, but not that many brands have fans, like real hardcore fans. I guess there’s Apple and so forth, but generally speaking, I think brands talk more in terms of customers. Are you seeing this flip now, with big organizations, as they have to think more about, we’re actually building a community of people and how can we use NFTs to build that?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, absolutely. Look, I think the term community gets banded and thrown around in the NFT space over and over again. Almost to its detriment, because I don’t know about you, Nick, but for me community’s like, well what does it actually mean? You don’t really know what community means until you experience one.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah.

Mariella Mejia:

I think the really interesting thing, and using Australia Zoo as an example, although we’ve got another project, which is a very graffiti… It’s about graffiti and the art of graffiti, and that community’s really fascinating as well, but the beauty I think around community is what brings us together. What’s our commonality? Very much like you talked about in sports, it’s the love of this team, and that love of that team, everyone has a story as to how they came to love that team. NFTs are no different. I think the opportunity with brands here, and look, I’m guilty as charged as well.

Mariella Mejia:

Like I told you, I was a marketer in my own agency for eight years, so I was very transactional, and the beauty of Web3, I think, is what web two wanted to be, which is community. It’s less about the transaction, it’s one and done, and it’s more around, how do we nurture? How do we grow together? How do we build together? That’s, I think, the real beauty of NFT’s community, is a whole bunch of people coming together for a joint cause, whatever that cause might be. For Australia Zoo, obviously, it’s conservation of wildlife, and saving our planet. For our other project, Blackbook, which is all about graffiti, it’s for the love of art, and creating, and creativity, so very different projects, but the community aspect is what’s the one thing that kind brings us together.

Mariella Mejia:

The opportunities, I think, for brands here is that they’ve got customers, it’s actually flipping that switch, and rather than this transaction of like, streets that are going in opposite directions, one’s going, one’s coming, it’s the opportunity to actually have this two-way version where it’s, you help us build and we build for you, and we do this together. I think that’s a really wonderful opportunity for brands that we’re just starting to scratch.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah. Yeah, no, I think it’s fascinating. I know just in my own life, I have an old English sports car, which it was a very cheap sports car, but I’m rebuilding it, and there’s a group I’ve met through Facebook Groups, and it’s incredible that… I mean, that feels like an incredibly strong community that I would never have had previous to that. I think, we’ve got those examples of community that have been enabled by technology, and I guess, here the opportunity is, how can a brand facilitate that growing of community, but without getting overtly transactional, and that’ll be tricky? Just before we move on to the graffiti project, so with the Irwin’s project, so has that been a success? I guess, how do you measure success of such a thing?

Mariella Mejia:

Yes. Look, the answer is yes, I consider it a success. Our first drop sold out within 10 hours, which was a surprise, because we didn’t… Unlike most NFT projects, one of the things that we do is we don’t hype them up, because we want people to kind of come and participate because they want to participate, so it was incredibly successful. We had Robert Irwin on Sunrise the day before the drop, which was fantastic, talking about NFTs. Kochie still doesn’t know how to buy an NFT, but by the time I’m done, Nick, I’m going to get Kochie. It’s a personal challenge.

Nick Abrahams:

You’ll be able to get… Yeah. Good luck with that. That’ll be… Oh, hang on. I know the way to get him to buy an NFT. The Kochie NFT. There you go, his own NFT, then that’ll force him into it.

Mariella Mejia:

That’s so Kochie, isn’t it? But yeah, look, I’m convinced he’s going to buy an NFT, but we had him on Sunrise, which… Mainstream media, we didn’t think would give us a really big uptake, but it did. One of the greatest successes, for me, out of the Australia Zoo project is, yes, it sold out in 10 hours, we did incredible things with it, so we actually got to make an impact in our world, which I think is phenomenal. It’s that bridge between Web3 and what’s happening in our real world. But I think for me, the bit that I classify as success, is that there were people that had never purchased an NFT before, had never been involved in blockchain or crypto of any description, and they were the people that were like, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how I got here. I’m really passionate about this, and I’m curious.” We had so many newbies enter the space because of this project. We onboarded nearly 1500 wallets on-

Nick Abrahams:

Oh, Mariella. Oh that is fantastic-

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah. In 24 hours.

Nick Abrahams:

… because that’s a non-trivial task. I mean, that’s obviously one of the significant headaches for NFT projects, is how do you get off chain people on chain and into wallets?

Mariella Mejia:

Absolutely.

Nick Abrahams:

1500 wallets. That’s fantastic.

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah. In 24 hours.

Nick Abrahams:

Your customer experience must have been good.

Mariella Mejia:

We worked our tushies off for… It wasn’t just marketing, it was education, and it was, “We’re here with you.” What we did is we put Web2… like live chat. We just walked people through it. Web2 items in Web3, everyone was like, “Oh that’s so naff. The Web3 Maxi’s were like, “That’s so naff,” and we were like, “No, we’re going to stick to it, because we want to get more people in here.” Look, 1500 wallets in 24 hours is phenomenal. The fact that we’ve got new people into this space to see how it works, in a place that’s really safe and that’s really kind. I consider that an incredible success.

Nick Abrahams:

Oh that’s terrific. We shouldn’t leave this without talking about the sustainability aspect as well, because I think you built it on Algorand, and so, yeah, maybe a bit of thought on that, because I know there’s a strong narrative out there, that blockchain is eating the world. We appreciate there are aspects that are causing some issues and so forth, but can you talk about how you dealt with the sustainability aspect?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, absolutely. Look, Nick, if I had a dollar for every time that someone automatically, as soon as I said, “I work in blockchain,” they’re like, “It’s killing the planet,” and I’m like, “Well…” If I had a dollar, Nick, I would buy you something really nice. We talked about this. I said a house. You said a Lambo.

Nick Abrahams:

That’s right? Well, I think a Lambo with a bored ape etched into the bonnet. Now, that would be Web3. That’s the sort of thing I’m after, but failing that, it’s lovely to have you on the podcast. How did you deal with that, the sustainability argument?

Mariella Mejia:

Look, the Irwins and Australia Zoo would never go on a chain that is going to hurt the planet. It is so against their ethos, so against all the incredible hard work that they do. We build all our projects on Algorand. Algorand is the first carbon negative chain. Just recently, actually, on Earth Day, it’s now being done by smart contract, so every time that you do a transaction on Algorand, it’s carbon negative. The electricity and the energy usage is less than that of a tweet. If you’re sending me an angry tweet saying, “You’re killing the planet,” I’m going, “No, you’re killing the planet because Algorand is much less than a tweet.” It’s phenomenal that we’ve got the opportunity for this chain. One of the things I always say to people is, not all chains are equal, and so it really does require for us to read beyond the headlines and to actually learn more about what that actually means.

Nick Abrahams:

Terrific. Maybe just talk about, maybe your graffiti project and just sort of how that’s coming about.

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, of course. Oh look, it’s actually a favorite project of mine, because I had no idea. I knew nothing about graffiti, absolutely nothing at all. I used to get quite grumpy when I used to see graffiti everywhere, and sometimes there are spaces where I get grumpy, where I see graffiti, but this project and learning more about graffiti now has me rolling out my bin. So I roll out my green bin to some dodgy areas in my neighborhood to see if someone will tag it just so I can be like…

Nick Abrahams:

Really? Okay. That would be the bin filled with the empty bottles of scotch and tuna, so we will know it’s yours.

Mariella Mejia:

The recycle bin. But you know what? The interesting thing about graffiti is that there are many, many, many layers behind graffiti, and learning about them and understanding how they work together has been really fascinating, but also seeing how… and look graffiti is a form of expression, and it’s not for everybody, and I fully understand. I definitely don’t want my car to get graffitied, or your Lambo as well, Nick, but there is a lot of expression behind it, which is actually an avenue, especially for a lot of young men, to express themselves and express their creativity. Not always in the most appropriate areas, I understand, but it was a really interesting aspect.

Mariella Mejia:

We launched Blackbook, which is a digital black book for graffiti. We launched that alongside Sofles, who is an incredible graffiti artist based in Brisbane, but he’s all over the world. He’s incredibly famous for his graffiti. As soon as I say to someone, Sofles, they don’t know who that is. They don’t understand it, but every time we show them his artwork, it clicks. He’s got incredible pieces all over the world, Miami, New York. He’s got many in Melbourne, so Marvel Stadium, all the incredible artwork you see is by Sofles. He’s got an entire arena at Rod Laver, just outside Rod Laver, which is just beautiful, and you can see it, wherever you’re from, because his artwork’s really quite popping.

Mariella Mejia:

One of the wonderful things about Blackbook is that every proceed of NFT sales goes towards an accelerator fund, where we can bring other young artists and unknown artists into the space and propel them into the NFT arena as well. Again, a project that is very art based. The community’s fantastic and artistic, the things they create, from videos to art, to caricatures, and then to a project that does good by continuing to bring artists into the space, it’s phenomenal.

Nick Abrahams:

That’s fantastic. Now, one of your tweets, you talked about… It was in relation to the Tiffany and CryptoPunks collaboration where Tiffany made 12.5 million in 20 minutes from 250 NFTs, and you made the comment, “If we want mainstream adoption, it starts with us.” I think it’s an interesting point of view, because obviously that’s a lot of money and there’s, once again, a strong story there around how people would perceive this as, NFTs is just, it’s another ridiculous thing. I mean, how is it possible that 250 NFTs are worth $12.5 million? Can you just give us a bit of… some thoughts around, from a brand’s point of view, how to approach pricing and things like that?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, of course. Look, my particular kind of criticism around that is that we tend to report NFTs in a way that make them sound like get rich quick schemes.

Nick Abrahams:

Right. Yes, yeah.

Mariella Mejia:

This whole Tiffany’s thing of 12.5 in X amount of time and 200 NFTs, it gives it the wrong aura, I think, for NFTs, and so no wonder mainstream media’s going, “Hold on, we know about get rich quick schemes, they’re pyramids, they’re Ponzis, they’re blah, they’re X, Y, and Z,” so I think we actually need to change the way that we report them, because there are many NFT projects that aren’t making gazillions and billions in minutes, but are actually doing great things. Obviously, I’m very biased, because I would be, but there’s also other NFT projects that are failing and that shouldn’t have been in the space to begin with. My particular criticism around that, is that as an industry, we need to stop reporting and having those headlines. Yes, they grab people’s attentions, but very rarely do people read beyond and hear about the amount of work that has to go into making these and where that money’s going to go.

Mariella Mejia:

In terms of how we price things, it is very consumer centric. One of the things that we do at Meadow Labs is that we want it to be accessible. We’ve seen how Ethereum has very quickly priced people out of participating in NFTs. One of the things I love about Algorand is that anyone can participate in NFTs. Australia Zoo NFTs are about 50 to $60, so we’re looking at disposable income, because we don’t want it to hurt you if you lose your keys or et cetera, et cetera, but also, we want you to participate. In terms of pricing, the models differ between brands, but the one piece of advice that I would give everyone, and it’s something I keep saying to my team until they’re sick of me saying it, “Is this space allows us to be so consumer centric, let’s focus on them and let’s give them something back, and let’s get them to participate.” Very long-winded deep dive onto pricing and how we should be reporting NFT projects, but that’s the piece that I love about what we’re doing, is making it accessible to everybody

Nick Abrahams:

Now, and just one final tweet and you got a bit of heat on this in Twitter. You said, “We’re not even close to building the metaverse yet, or a metaverse yet.” There’s obviously, I mean there’s a whole industry now around metaverse and so forth. What did you mean by that?

Mariella Mejia:

Yeah, of course. Oh look, I love this conversation because I genuinely don’t-

Nick Abrahams:

Uh-oh. For the next hour and a half, Mariella said why we don’t have a metaverse yet.

Mariella Mejia:

I’m going to keep it short, I promise. Look, I think we’re miles away from the metaverse. We’re not even close. One of the things that I see is that there’s the incredible fascination with the metaverse. That we’re all going to live online, and I think to a degree, there’s an element of truth to that, but we are miles away from actual mainstream adoption of that. It’s a catch phrase that’s become really hot. You can go out to people and sell the metaverse, but when you actually look at the numbers, Nick, and I know that the average number, it’s grown, but when I started at Meadow Labs over a year ago was, the number of people that were active in NFTs was around a hundred thousand.

Nick Abrahams:

Right, right.

Mariella Mejia:

Then now, obviously, it’s a little bit bigger. I’m going to say it’s because, we obviously… We came on board, so of course Meadow Labs, it’s shifted everything, but we are so miles away from mainstream adoption of the metaverse. There’s so many things that have to come. There’s too many barriers to entry. It’s very expensive. It hasn’t been built yet. No one knows what it looks like. Everyone has a different idea of the metaverse, and on top of that, I think that it’s not until we bridge our real world to a digital version, that we’re actually going to see mainstream adoption for it. I stand by it. We’re not anywhere close near the metaverse.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah, yeah. No, I don’t disagree. I think there’s this industry that’s built up around and there are elements of it. I think gaming is interesting. I think there’s people who are spending quite a lot of time in games online, so I feel like, with metaverse, we’re looking for the business models of the future. We can look to gaming, because I think they’re quite immersive experiences, but yeah, I think this idea that normal folks who aren’t gamers are some way going to don some VR goggles and drop in to Ready Player One, I think it’s a ways off. No, I thought it was a great comment.

Nick Abrahams:

I think, just in terms of with NFTs and so forth, and I know you get calls from companies, and so forth, what’s your advice around an NFT strategy. If there’s people in marketing, sitting out there, right at the moment thinking, “Should we do an NFT or not?” What do you say to those folks?

Mariella Mejia:

Listen to the experts. One of the things around Web3 is that everything is a little bit backwards. It’s what you know, but it’s backwards. Marketing’s a perfect example. Most people think that marketing, in product marketing, at least, right? You start marketing at the front and then you launch your product, and then you let it go, and you’re just like, “Well, we did it,” until you get to the next product.

Nick Abrahams:

Right.

Mariella Mejia:

NFTs are not like that at all. Marketing actually starts once the drop begins. That’s when the nurture sequence starts. That’s when work really starts, in my eyes. I think any company that’s not willing to be a little bit agile and flexible, this space will hurt them and grate them along the way, so listen to the experts, the people that will hold your hand and walk you through this. There is somewhat of a formula. Then again, it’s such a new space that new formulas are there to be created, but for a brand to be successful, it has to have its own kind of flavor of Web3, to be able to take people into the next horizon.

Mariella Mejia:

In terms of brands, it’s work with the people that are going to have your back and are going to get you an outcome in Web3, and listen to their advice, because Web2 models work really well in Web2, and some of them work well in Web3, but not sustainable in Web3.

Nick Abrahams:

Yeah. No, and I love that idea that the marketing actually starts once you’ve dropped them. That sense of, it is like a baby. You’ve got to be responsible for this thing once you put it into the universe. Just finally, any projects you can talk about, give us a scoop on anything.

Mariella Mejia:

Sure. Look, I can’t say too much. I can’t tell you the brand, but Meadow Labs, we’re a small team, but we work very, very hard and very quickly, and we’ve got a tier one charity that is coming on board, which is going to be very exciting to see how we make an impact there. Our phone’s constantly ringing hot, so you never know, Nick, what we might be announcing around the corner.

Nick Abrahams:

Fantastic. Well, I look forward to more announcements. For those listening, do check out Mariella’s tweets. They’re very amusing and sometimes slightly controversial, except for the stuff about tinned tuna, of course. Thank you very much, Mariella. We wish you and the team at Meadow Labs all the success in the future, so thanks for joining us.

Mariella Mejia:

Thank you, Nick. I so appreciate you taking the time to let us share the great things that we’re doing in this space.

Nick Abrahams:

Terrific. Thank you.