NFTs are a new and exciting aspect of our budding world into cryptocurrency and crypto ownership. But there is so much that we do not understand about NFTs when we first start. It can be very difficult to understand why some NFTs are successful while others fail miserably and lose value.

Not all NFTs lose value and in fact, a lot of successful NFTs have certain characteristics and contexts that help them to become the success that they are. The ones that lose value also have certain characteristics but it can be hard to sit through all of the NFTs available and find the ones that will be successful and high in value later on.

Disclosure: I am not a financial adviser. The following article and everything on this website are for entertainment purposes only.

Signs of a Successful NFT

Generally speaking, it’s probably better to take the time to find a successful NFT than to lose money on an NFT that loses value quickly…I hate losing money, so personally, I take the time to examine the signs!

The signs and characteristics of a successful NFT that is likely to hold its value or grow its value are pretty simple. The NFTs that are highly successful and have high value are often rare, meaning not overly saturated and NFTs that are linked or created by popular artists, a creative agency, a celebrity, or a celebrity group.

These can be NFTs that are connected in some way to sports teams, famous A-list celebrities, or influencers of some kind.

This somewhat solidifies the NFT’s connection to social values. This means that the NFT is in some way connected to either pop culture or something that society pays a lot of attention to.

Successful NFTs can also be rip-offs or expansions from other NFTs or other social and pop-culture references, just take a look at the road CryptoPunks have paved for other collectibles. You can see this social pattern play out all the time on TV and in movies. Success replicates success. The formula is simple. When you know something works, you stick with it. You can find successful NFTs near other successful NFTs.

To go into more detail on successful NFTs this is the article you should check out:

NFT
Screenshot of Beeple’s NFT Titled “Politics are BS”

Signs of an Unsuccessful NFT

NFTs that lose value or are unsuccessful in resale or marketing also have certain characteristics. When people dive into the world of NFTs, they are looking for excitement, they are looking for Innovation, creativity, the spark of something new.

When an NFT cannot give a person that feeling of exciting newness, it often fails. It can be difficult to break through the rest of the NFTs and be successful when an NFT is not attracting any looks.

It is hard to attract attention to an NFT if the NFT is not unique and is also unknown.

Another factor of NFTs that are low or losing value is legal issues. The world of NFTs has been facing copyright critiques and issues for a while now, and that can play a huge aspect in the loss of value of an NFT.

Some other reasons NFTs become worthless can be corruption in the market, scams in the market, security issues with your crypto wallet or your market account, or the mismanagement of your cryptocurrency funds.

The Main Reasons Some NFTs Fail

Overused and Uncreative

The main reason that some NFTs plummet in value and appear unsuccessful is that they are worn out. Using a similar tactic or a similar vision for all of the NFTs you are marketing is not a smart marketing move.

You want to diversify your market. You want your products to be unique and stand out against the crowd thereby drawing attention and drawing in buyers.

Thus, the main reason that some NFTs lose value and fail is that they are not unique. They are not creative. They are not standing out against the sea of NFTs they float in.

Oversaturation

Oversaturation in any market is a huge indicator that engaging in this market is a financial risk. The NFT markets, while not completely oversaturated, are not the same as they were before the NFT popularity boom.

There are tons of different NFTs available on tons of different NFT markets and it can be extremely hard to find the right market and the right audience to market NFTs to.

This high-level saturation of NFTs in the NFT market also creates a very difficult environment for a new NFT to break through and become a valuable asset.

Oversaturation also applies to NFTs created by famous and popular creators. You will frequently see multi NFT editions in the thousands. What does that mean? It means that one of the ways NFT creators can make more money is by releasing an edition of one piece of art.

For instance, Beeple, one of the most popular NFT artists in the world, has released editions in the thousands of one piece of 3D art. One piece of art from an “edition” of say 1,000 is most likely not going to be worth as much as one unique individual piece or say the edition is only 25. Make sense?

Scams

Scams have been around for as long as Humanity. Scams are a way for scammers to make quick and relatively easy money or gain assets through con acts, theft, hacking, or cyber-attacks.

In the world of NFTs where everything is digitized and stored on the blockchain, information, assets, and NFTs are dangerously available for scammers, hackers, and people wishing to take what is rightfully yours.

One of the most common scams that target NFT owners is the Discord hack. Discord hack scams occur when a hacker can break into a Discord server end give themselves administrator access to the Discord server.

When once the hacker has administrator-level access to the Discord server, they can post a link advertising minting in the announcements. Next, anyone with access to the announcements channel can see the link, think that it is safe, and click the link.

Once the user clicks the link, the hacker can gain access to that person’s information, including their blockchain access and information. This is a very common way for people engaging in a Discord server about NFTs to get hacked and scammed.

Beware the copycats. One of the other popular scams I want to mention is copycats. People will essentially screenshot an NFT, mint it and say it’s an NFT created by the original creator. Totally uncool so be sure to always confirm who really created the NFT and who is selling it. Most NFT platforms do try to combat copying this but still, fraud happens.

This is one of the reasons people hate NFTS.

Lack of Appeal

NFTs can also suffer from a lack of appeal, where they just no longer or do not appeal to the social sphere.

We often underestimate the power of pop culture and social morality oh, but when it comes to a market-based world like our own, pop culture is one of the aspects that helps to drive the markets.

So when a football team wins the Super Bowl, their popularity and social status increase. Now, there is a large chance that their merchandise will sell more, more people will wear their jerseys, and so on.

It is the same with NFTs. You can monitor pop culture and pop culture references in tandem with social desires to find and pinpoint upcoming trends as well as trends that have lasted a long time.

When an NFT does not fit in with social desires and pop culture in that way, it can lose value as the trend disappears.

Addidas Branded NFT
Example of an Addidas NFT Collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club and PUNKS Comics

Why Branded NFTs Can Lose Value

Branded NFTs are considered nearly fail-proof by many people, but that is not the reality of the situation. Now it is true that branded NFTs are often very successful because they represent more than just the NFT, they represent the brand as well.

If a brand is trending or you are a pop culture superstar like Cocoa-Cola, it can be very easy to gain an audience, promote the NFTs, and create competition. But relying solely on the popularity of a brand is not always the key to success and the losses in this department can be huge.

So in what ways can brand NFTs lose value or fail in the market?

Trendiness

The first and biggest obstacle of branded NFTs is their reliance on the relevancy, exclusivity, and reputation of the brand. The more popular the brand is, the more attention their NFTs will get, the more money they will make.

When you buy a branded NFT, you are not just buying the NFT. Theoretically, you are buying the name of the brand as well. If you go to resell your branded NFT, you are selling an NFT that represents a brand. You are now relying on the relevancy of the brand, pop culture, and media. 

If the branded NFT came from a brand that goes out of style and you try to resell it, you likely will not get as many bites depending on the NFT. That is a big risk for some NFT collectors and a huge risk for NFT investors who want to have high resale value.

When a brand itself loses value or social relevancy, its NFT relevancy will likely follow suit. 

Predicted Failure

Many folks in the NFT world do not see branded NFTs as a long-term marketing strategy for companies. In recent times, NFTs have exploded in popularity, creating an insane amount of hype, conversation, and interest about NFTs.

But, like all popularity booms, it cannot last. So many companies are jumping on the bandwagon of selling NFTs to maintain social relevance. If the companies are using NFTs to stay socially relevant, that says something about their social relevance. 

It shows us that some of these companies are selling NFTs to stay in line with newer marketing techniques. The issue is that once the initial NFT craze has calmed and the NFT blockchain becomes more common and understood, these companies will not have the novelty of being one of the only companies in their industry to sell NFTs.

Once that novelty is gone, their social relevancy will plummet, causing their once valuable NFTs to lose a chunk of value. 

Also, there have been a lot of failed branded NFTs. Some companies see people on the blockchain as a new market demographic, one that has previously been untapped. So they create NFTs that they think will be pleasing to their target audience.

The issue with that is the people on the blockchain are constantly changing. The world of NFTs has so much variety and so many people from different demographics with different interests are using the blockchain. Companies think they have a simple target audience, but in reality, they are trying to target a huge and diverse population.

Marketing Nightmare 

WWE had an issue with branded NFTs when they released 500 NFTs called the “gold-tier” package, which cost $1,000. Buyers received an NFT and a box of WWE merchandise picked out by pro wrestler John Cena. WWE only sold 37 out of 500. 

WWE was trying to target two separate demographics with the gold tier package, wrestling fans, and NFT buyers.

However, a small portion of wrestling fans are NFT buyers and a small portion of NFT buyers are wrestling fans. WWE was trying to forcefully create a demographic to fit their marketing plan instead of creating their marketing plan to fit the demographic: wrestling fans. 

Anything Can Fail

NFTs are exciting and new. They make no sense to some people and to others they are the clearest thing in the world. But regardless of your NFT knowledge, everyone knows that anything can fail, NFT or not.

NFTs are very volatile. They depend on on-trend and social relevancy, they have demand but often do not have the supply, and they are a new, fresh take on crypto. They have gained attention and attracted a new age of investors and markets. 

But just because NFTs are a relatively new market for investors, it is still a market. The NFT blockchain is just like the stock market: companies launch something, if it gains public favor, the market does well and everyone gets paid. If public favor is not won, stocks go down and no one gets paid.

The same goes for NFTs. Someone drops a new NFT, people want it, resale value increases. If people want it and then suddenly don’t for some reason, value drops. If no one wants it to begin with, then of course the value goes through the floorboards.

Anything in life has the potential to fail, but that should not keep us from trying and experimenting with new concepts. NFTs are sometimes confusing and there is a learning curve, but it is easy to grasp once you understand that the NFT world is just like the real world!

Banking on popularity in real life and NFTs is a gamble. It may work and it might not but with practice and a commitment to learning from mistakes, you can figure it out.

Start small and work your way to where you want to be, just like in life. Take your time, ask questions, and pay attention to social relevancy, trends, and popularity predictions.  Especially educate yourself and here is a great start. Check out these three extremely popular articles:

  1. Why Can’t You Just Screenshot an NFT?
  2. How Much Does It Cost to Mint 10,000 NFTs?
  3. 9 Things to Do With NFTs After Buying Them

Sources

SB Nation

OpenSea