It’s noticeable that the exposure rate of NFTs in mainstream media is getting higher and higher. Titles like ‘Celebrity issues NFTs to make big profits’ and ‘College student becomes rich by making his selfies NFT’ are easily seen, however, the more these articles circulate, the easier a misunderstanding will form: Issuing NFTs is a shortcut to getting rich, it will only bring you money without any loss.
Surely, people could gain money by launching NFTs. As we can see from the examples shared before, different creators and brands obtain fame, publicity effects, and even monetary income through the issuance of NFTs; all these will come true only if an appropriate strategy exists. Here, the focus should not only be placed on ‘strategy’ but whether it is ‘appropriate’ also matters. To understand this, let’s look at Jun Ji-hyun’s NFT.
According to the media reports, South Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun made a comeback and participated in the TV series ‘Mount Jiri’ as a heroine last year. The comeback of Jun, however, did not help the drama in gaining an outstanding result, but the ratings and reputations were unsatisfactory due to different factors, namely, the unattractive performance of Jun, the poor special effects, and the lack of freshness of the characters, etc. Moreover, the production company got involved and its stock price saw a fell for two consecutive weeks. The unsatisfactory result of the drama was just the first half of this ‘tragedy’- the company launched NFT products, which were featuring Jun Ji-hyun and actor Ju Ji-hoon in the play, after the drama was aired; an NFT exhibition was even held to build momentum. Efforts paid but just could not help to change the disadvantage. As a result, the related products were finally sold at about HK$120 and HK$130 respectively, marking the historically lowest auction price in UPBIT, a local NFT platform in South Korea.
Although the disappointing result, one cannot neglect the strategy of the production company: to ride on the popularity of the drama and launch the NFT. But the point is, it is just not ‘appropriate’.
First, the company did not take the market response seriously. It’s without any surprise that a good reputation of the drama can help to promote the NFTs. But in the case of ‘Mount Jiri’, the poor reputation and ratings were the most direct reaction of the audience towards it, thus, it is certainly not a good timing to launch the NFT products right after the end of the drama. Secondly, the lack of self-correction consciousness. Continuing from the above point, the inappropriate timing is a congenital deficiency, coupled with the unsatisfactory performance of the episodes, which means that the existing elements related to the episodes cannot impress the audience, but this series of NFT products have not been corrected based on this failure, not to mention adding other selling points or elements to ‘add value’. In other words, this NFT series is not a game-changer but a repeat of the same problem. The lack of understanding and reflection on the market and products made the failure result a destined one.
As a neutral tool, NFTs can bring you both benefits and losses, what we can learn from Jun Ji-hyun’s case is twofold: it is not only ‘why’ you launch NFT that matters, but also ‘how’, besides the courage to embrace new things, the understanding of the target audience and product value is also indispensable.
Every coin has two sides. When NFT has become a handy thing that all of us can launch one, it’s time for you to think twice and figure out an appropriate strategy.