The biggest brands entering Web3 are focused on short-term monetization. They're missing the endgame entirely.
If you've been pitched an NFT project as "basically free money," you're not alone. With high-profile projects generating eye-catching headlines — Nike's RTFKT, Budweiser's Budverse — the idea that NFTs represent a new revenue stream for brands has taken hold. But there's a better model, and the brands that figure it out first will have a genuine long-term advantage.
The loss leader framework
A PlayStation 5 costs Sony approximately $450 to manufacture. By the time you account for packaging, shipping, and retailer margins, the $500 price tag barely covers costs. Sony doesn't care — because the console is a gateway to games, accessories, and a long-term ecosystem relationship with the customer. The same logic applies to Costco's food court and Gillette's razors: you sell the entry point cheap to build the relationship that drives long-term revenue elsewhere.
Brands should think about NFTs exactly this way. Not as a revenue stream — as a community-building investment.
What community is actually worth
Consider the math: what's it worth to your brand for a customer to use your image as their profile picture, wear your branded merchandise twice a month, and post about you on social media? A nano-influencer with 1,000–10,000 followers charges roughly $100 per Instagram post. A typical NFT project has 10,000 pieces. If half your collectors make a single post, you've received the equivalent of $500,000 in organic marketing — for free.
But the community itself is worth more than that math. Ten thousand genuinely engaged holders — people who identify with your brand, who show up in your Discord, who advocate to their networks — represent a kind of loyalty that paid media simply cannot buy.
Invest in the community, not at the community
The trap most brands fall into is treating their NFT holders as an audience to extract value from. The right approach is the opposite: give holders free exclusive merchandise, host events for them, give them early access to new products. Put the royalties from secondary sales — and RTFKT has generated over $20 million in royalties for Nike through secondary volume — right back into the community. The goal is not to profit from NFTs. The goal is to build something that people genuinely want to be part of.
Bored Ape Yacht Club figured this out. At this point, BAYC is a brand entity in its own right — known for celebrity endorsements, merchandise, and events that extend far beyond the original images. That's what community-focused thinking builds over time. The goodwill generated spills over into everything else the brand does. You can't put a price on it. That's precisely the point.
