In a bid to ride the NFT wave and break into the relatively nascent world of Web3, Porsche chose to issue an NFT collection of 7500 pieces on Monday, January 23rd. The NFTs were designed to celebrate the vehicle and grant holders exclusive rights of access to events and several Porsche merchandise. Porsche also said this was a way to allow crypto-savvy car junkies “help design Porsche’s future in the virtual world.” However, the mint of this collection did not go as planned.

NFT enthusiasts criticized it as a mere cash grab given that Porsche had set a relatively high mint price of 0.911 ETH, about $1475 at the time for an NFT collection with that large number of collectibles. Also, Porsche did little to no marketing, believing that their brand name was enough to send the floor price of this collection to the moon. 

At mint, the NFT collection did not sell out; only about 1800 NFTs out of 7500 have been sold. Porsche announced that “Our holders have spoken. We’re going to cut our supply and stop the mint from moving forward with creating the best experience for an exclusive community. More info in the next hours.” That was far from reality. Holders did not speak; they did not exist. The few folks that bought at mint quickly tried to sell off in secondary markets, which depressed the floor price to go below the mint price.

What Could Porsche Have Done Better?

Marketing:

Porsche could have spent money on promoting the collection. That would have gone hand in hand with the trust the brand has to get words out to a larger pool of Porsche fans and NFT enthusiasts. A blog or social media channel dedicated to it’s Web3 efforts would have been a good start, followed by a media presence at the very least!

Porsche should have teamed up with a Web3 agency to manage any industry communication. A native marketing agency, like Off-Chain Communications, could have helped align Porsche and the Web3 community better and run the PR and content marketing strategy for a successful mint. A native design studio for the NFT collection, or big artists in the space, could have made a large impact on their mint. Most Web3 brands have already built fanbases and networks, and Porsche could have leveraged that.

Porsche could have also signed sponsorship deals with NFT social media influencers. Several NFT influencers have grown sizable cult followings around themselves that will jump on anything they endorse. Porsche could have cheaply tapped into that for a better kick-off.

Mint Price:

To give the impression that Porsche was interested in Web3 involvement and was not just issuing NFTs “for the money,” the mint price should have been reduced to a very affordable range between 0.01 to 0.3 ETH. Porsche would have created more buzz and brought in a lot of faithful for the firm had the NFTs been this cheap.

Aftermath

As mentioned earlier, Porsche paused minting as backlashes intensified. That created a faux scarcity and led to skyrocketing prices. According to today’s data from Opensea, the floor price of the minted collection is 2.28 ETH, up 150% from the mint price. It is uncertain what Porsche intends to do with the remaining NFTs. If minting is resumed, current prices are likely to drop. If it is not, Porsche will have to live with the legacy of botching its first-ever foray into Web3.

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