My guest today is Diego Borgo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegoborgo/ ), Strategic Advisor to F500 brands on how to enter the Metaverse and Web3. Diego’s lifetime personal brand is clear: one, he is an outsider, having moved 35 times in 33 years; two he is always looking at things differently, and challenging the status quo; and three he aspires to build personal freedom, which goes beyond money, as it is about the freedom to do what he wants when he wants. His career in marketing started at 16 in 2007, where he helped brands like Samsung, Warner Bros and Microsoft understand the world of eSports. He then took those learnings to the client side at Adidas which is where he was introduced to web3. Most recently he has advised brands like Porsche, Salesforce and Shell on web3 strategies. He has a masterclass on bringing brands into the space, and it shows because his thinking is so clear on how to approach legacy brands and introduce web3.
We Discuss:
Why NFTs were the first unlock because he saw the technology as Brand plus Culture.
Why he always advises to follow your natural inclinations, do what feels natural, what feels almost like a magnet - if things are boring then switch it up.
Why echo chambers and group-think always need added perspective. In web3 we only talk about web3 so it can seem like a lot of the same thoughts, but if you go outside to random people they have no idea
How to bring web3 to F500 brands - reverse engineer the WHY by asking 2 questions:
(1)How do you think this will impact your business?
(2)How should we go about doing that?
The answer to these questions comes down to who is your target audience?
Is it a current customer base (non-Web3) or new audience (Web3)?
Porsche and Adidas wanted the Web3 natives, the degens
Shell wants to use NFTs for energy provenance or energy sharing
How do you know where to start with the audience?
-What is your brand strategy? Where do you want to be in 5-10 years?
-Where are you coming in as a consultant? Do they already have a team or are they in the education phase?
Reverse engineering your WHY, is your brand strategy, it is where you want to be in 5-10 years
-This is the ultimate question to determine what web3 strategy to use because if it is not consistent with brand strategy then it is bullshit
-If it does align with brand strategy then we look at the business side, the feasibility, what are some realistic impacts on the business - SPOILER ALERT - it is not always generating more revenue, there are other impacts it could have like loyalty, or CX
When should you not work with a company on web3 strategy?
-When the brand strategy does not align with the business case in a way that is realistic and consistent with web3 values
Current trends are look to current strategies like loyalty and membership, and using web3 as a way to make them stronger in the long run
Building belief inside an org
(1) Learn as a collective: (a) Create a way for the team to interact - POAP for a meeting; (b) Create a way for the team to see their customers interact - POAP for an event
(2) Look at the data: (a) what does their intent data (wallet data) say, how can we adjust strategy based on that data
What happens to the experience for a person as a consumer and as an employee when all of their interactions across websites and IRL are connected by a digital wallet?
Why brand is culture and culture is brand, and what happens when technology intersects that is when there will be a revolution
Three Levels of Partnerships
(1)Project-based - PFPs, Communities or Artists - align values
(2)Technology - how web3 partner is solving a problem that is relevant to F500, that they can’t solve themselves
(3)People - who are the people that real in Web3?
Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!
Web3 w/ Me - YouTube
