According to MarkHub24’s review of Web3 marketing, Nike’s RTFKT and Starbucks Odyssey remain useful reminders of the real question behind every branded NFT: does it make the customer journey better, or does it simply add another thing to explain? For loyalty teams, that distinction matters more than the label “Web3.” A collectible, token or digital pass only earns its place when the value exchange is clear from the customer’s point of view.
The timing is especially relevant. Loyalty360 reports that grocery-program enrollment is rising while engagement is weakening, while other recent coverage points to cost-of-living pressure, rapid AI change and digital waste as forces reshaping loyalty investment. We do not need more accounts on a dashboard. We need reasons for people to come back.
The NFT is not the experience
MarkHub24 highlights how Nike, through RTFKT, and Starbucks, through Odyssey, brought NFTs and token-based mechanics into customer-engagement strategies. Their relevance is not that every brand should reproduce those programmes. It is that both examples put a familiar brand relationship at the centre: collecting, belonging, progressing, accessing something that feels worth showing up for.
That is where many Web3 pitches still create friction. They begin with the asset: mint this, trade that, join a wallet. But customers begin elsewhere. They ask, often silently: What do I get? What do I have to do? Will this still matter next week?
A digital membership layer should answer those questions in seconds. If an NFT provides entry to an event, earlier access to a limited product, recognition inside a community or a more personal rewards journey, the technology can stay quietly in the background. If its chief benefit is that it exists on a blockchain, the customer is being asked to do too much work for too little return.
Build from a loyalty moment, not a trend report
For brand managers, the practical starting point is a moment of genuine customer tension. Perhaps members lose excitement after joining. Perhaps a launch attracts attention but does not deepen repeat participation. Perhaps your best customers have no visible way to feel recognised beyond points and promotional emails.
Then design the utility around that moment. A token-gated invitation can create a sense of access. A digital collectible can mark participation in a shared occasion. A membership pass can make status portable across events, retail and community touchpoints. The point is not to make every interaction scarce; it is to make the right interactions more meaningful.
This also protects us from digital waste. Before adding a new collectible or member layer, teams should be able to explain its purpose in plain language: the behaviour it supports, the reward it unlocks and the reason a customer would care without being fluent in crypto.
What to take into the next planning meeting
Start with one value exchange that is already credible for your audience, then make it more frictionless. Do not ask customers to learn a new vocabulary before they can receive a benefit. Do not confuse enrollment with affinity. And do not treat community building as a campaign finish line; it is the ongoing work of giving members reasons to return, participate and feel seen.
The useful reality behind Web3 marketing is modest but powerful: digital ownership and access can strengthen a loyalty relationship when they serve a human experience first. For most brands, that is a much better brief than chasing hype.