Starbucks has been exploring Web3 for half a year. What has the Odyssey Plan done so far?

What progress has the Odyssey Plan made in Starbucks' six-month exploration of Web3?

Author: Web3 Brand Marketing

Starbucks has always been known for its innovative capabilities, and is currently embarking on the Odyssey program overseas, which has been mentioned in many public accounts about exploring Web3. However, so far, we have not seen an article that fully outlines the specific content involved in the Starbucks Odyssey plan.

This article will provide a detailed introduction to the Starbucks Odyssey plan from the following perspectives:

• Exploring issued NFTs (December 2022-July 2023)

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• Analysis of equity design

• Reducing participation barriers

• Experiencing digital communities

• In-depth analysis of data

Before we begin, let’s take a look at why it’s called the “Odyssey Plan”?

The author has deeply felt Starbucks’ determination and mission in this transformation.

Overview of NFTs

Since December of last year, Starbucks has issued a total of 10 series of NFTs (stamps), three of which are available for purchase, while the rest can be obtained by completing designated tasks. The design of NFTs is mostly closely related to the brand culture, covering the background stories of the first store, coffee beans, the sea monster on the logo, and collaboration with artists, among other aspects.

From the table below, we can see that Starbucks places great emphasis on maintaining a rhythm and a high level of activity in the issuance of stamps. In just five days after issuing 5,000 stamps on January 26, they issued another 30,000. This reasonable pace of issuance can maintain user enthusiasm and participation, and keep the Starbucks Odyssey plan active and attractive.

2. Diversified rewards

In terms of equity design, each stamp comes with a score related to its rarity. By accumulating more points, users will be able to unlock some unique benefits and experiences, thereby enhancing their understanding of Starbucks and coffee shops.

The choice of benefits available to users is also novel. In addition to common physical rewards, there are also a variety of digital rewards with brand culture promotion, such as virtual coffee making courses, unique merchandise, collaborations with artists, and exclusive activities invited to Starbucks Reserve Roastery.

This experiential equity design may be what loyalty program members really want.

Customer experience plays an important role in brand promotion, and the ROI of loyalty investment based on experience cannot be ignored. Starbucks is committed to optimizing the customer experience, ensuring that users receive high-quality services and unique experiences in the loyalty program, and this optimization will help establish a benign interaction relationship and improve long-term user participation.

3. Lower the participation threshold for Web2 users

In order to make it easier for users to participate in Web3 experiences, the Odyssey plan did not introduce encrypted wallets and cryptocurrencies as user login methods, but used Starbucks’s existing membership account.

This means that users do not need to use new wallet addresses, but only need to use a credit card to make purchases. Whether purchasing NFTs in the built-in market or purchasing from others, users can complete transactions conveniently. This design retains the operation flow similar to the interaction with Web2, greatly reducing the participation threshold for users.

It is convenient for existing Starbucks members to enter Web3, while providing new users with a simpler way to enter. This simplified operation process provides more opportunities for more users to experience the fusion of digital art and coffee culture, and opens the door to Web3 for a wide range of users.

4. Exclusive digital community experience

A while ago, I saw a view when surfing: “Without the community, Web3 is just code.” This view pointed out the importance of the community in establishing a truly vibrant and interactive digital ecosystem.

Starbucks established a digital community in November last year and has been widely collecting feedback from its members. The community is defined as a large group of coffee, Starbucks, and Web3 fans.

Within this digital community, users can not only chat and interact but also share their content about drinks, art, pets, or cup collections in different channels. In addition, users can vote on the rewards they want to receive. Such a design has obvious advantages in user experience. Through sharing and interaction, users can have a deeper understanding and participation in the world of Starbucks, as well as showcase and share their own interests and collections. Voting for rewards enhances user participation and community awareness.

Compared with the WeChat community commonly used in China, digital communities enable Starbucks to communicate with users in a more diverse way, making the connection between users and the brand closer, which helps strengthen users’ sense of identity and loyalty to the brand, and also provides Starbucks with more opportunities to understand user needs and listen to their voices.

V. Dopamine Data

From the data pulled, as of July 10th, Starbucks has issued a total of 1314 transactions from 10 series that were transferred from the Nifty Gateway platform. Currently, 260 addresses hold these 891 NFTs (one of which is an official address), which actually represents 259 users, with an average of 6 NFTs per user.

At the same time, 39.77% of users are willing to hold multiple Starbucks NFT works, showing their enthusiasm for the Starbucks Odyssey. In addition, 23.16% of users hold multiple NFTs in each series, demonstrating their broad interest in Starbucks brand, art creation, and digital collection.

*It should be noted that these conclusions are based on an analysis of the data we were able to obtain. Due to the lack of complete internal transaction data within the Nifty Gateway platform, the analysis may not be comprehensive.

VI. Conclusion

From the entire Odyssey plan, we can see that Starbucks has done well in controlling the rhythm, and it is also constantly optimizing by testing which type of benefits users are more interested in.

In the Odyssey plan, Starbucks focuses on creating benefits related to brand culture. Users can obtain unique digital rewards through participation in the plan, such as virtual coffee making courses, cooperation with artists, and participation in Starbucks Reserve Roastery. These experiences allow users to have a deeper understanding of the brand and enjoy the fun of interacting with the brand.

However, when considering the applicability of the Odyssey plan in the Chinese market, we must fully understand the Chinese market culture and user habits.

On the one hand, the innovation of Chinese Internet gameplay is far ahead of foreign countries, and users have already developed a certain degree of fatigue towards various gameplay, so it is particularly critical when designing NFT gameplay and benefits; on the other hand, although the Odyssey plan may not be completely applicable to the Chinese market, for various brands, in considering their own user operations, they can refer to the Web3 concept in the Odyssey plan and combine their own development situation to achieve a close connection between users and brand.

We will also continue to pay attention to the Odyssey plan…

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