Some Nouns needs

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 1:31pm

So many props wanting to promote, advertise, and “market” to a potential fan base…

Far too many in relation to almost zero props to bring beautiful, well designed products to retail.

For all this talk of the “next Hello Kitty”, it seems there is little to no consideration put into why Sanrio never does any of these proposed activations, ad campaigns, and other (pricey) efforts, and instead focuses on beautiful, carefully curated product, with attention placed on where the brand is found, and which tribes to collaborate with ( and when not to ), supported by cafes, gallery exhibitions and events once a faithful tribe and ubiquity has been established .

The answer to the above is because not only do ads, activations and marketing not work, it can be damaging, to both new character brands and existing ones.

It is my hope that we see 100 props to actually put things into the world for every 1 prop to promote… and IMO, 1 is 1 too many.

We have nouns on the ground, and that’s as awesome as it gets. IMO, we’re good now. Awesome.

Other territories, like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong or China- would be a massive disservice to turn to “ads”. Awful idea.

It would be far cheaper, in general, to slowly, with care, bring incredible consumer goods into the world via nouns, create a sense of discovery and wonder, slowly over time… over years… become one with culture on a global scale, VS broadcasting via what are essentially ads.

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 3:13pm

one problem is the romance of BIG

In Korea, this nearly killed Where’s Waldo, but the home office is easily impressed by Mega Giant Space takeovers, as we have nothing like it back home. All of the home offices are impressed.

The locals see marketing.

An entire ecosystem from Korea to China is there to make your XYZ as big and romantic as you want…

brand killers, all of it.
Especially for something new without its tribe.

Now, if you did this in a territory where you put down the proper foundation, and you have 100,000 passionate people ready to be surprised by such, this sort of “BIG” activation could serve as a prompt for your tribe to be in AWE, feel wonder, and tell everyone else… but that’s never what these are there are for.

This is low hanging fruit used by those who don’t know what else to do.

From Sanrio, to Bathing Ape to Supreme, you don’t see them do “big” ads or activations for a reason.

If you have a movie opening next week? Awesome, let’s try this.

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 3:29pm

if we really want to skip the years of working towards making sure people are finding nouns in places they resonate with and identify with in favor of proliferation now, at least spend less.

Go big one time at licensing expo, Vegas, explain to people they are free to use nouns… the people at the show literally make everything you’ve ever seen with a character or Elvis or anything on it. All of it.
The people are all right here.

Invite them to the protocol… how many umbrella makers would love to be funded… BUT…

But have we done our homework?

The umbrella guy needs to move umbrellas. Unless he’s going into the MoMA where the unfamiliar is king… Ala discovery… Nouns umbrellas at WalMart make no sense to those shopping there.

So even as above, growing a tribe will always have to come first.

Playmobil could have talked Starbucks into doing the toys before the tribes were built… but would they have lines outside with millions waiting in the dark, in the freezing cold, week after week, in a market where adults simply do not buy toys ever, at all? No way.

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 3:31pm

Protocol, NFT project, token, meme, sneaker or character brand, we need our tribes first.

The crypto natives know. We won.

Real proliferation is discovery through wonder.

Tony the Tiger gets more eyeballs per hour than Hello Kitty.
So we want to be the next… Tony the Tiger?

Do we want eyeballs, or do we want the world to fall in love.

I vote for the love one.

BigshotKlim · January 18, 2023, 4:00pm

going to Licensing show with NOUNS will result in a year of random product and no QC control on any part of the process. after that year no one will look at the IP with any serious thought

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 4:05pm

Correct and agree.

We need to build the tribes first.

We can’t do that with marketing.

RabbitNoun · January 18, 2023, 7:37pm

Everything you are saying is interesting. But it sounds like you are saying that no one else besides yourself is allowed to operate in the countries you are talking about. Surely with Nouns being CC0 anyone can do whatever they want anywhere in the world? I am also saying this as you are pretty much stating that Prop 211 would be a waste of money and the people behind it don’t know what they are doing?

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 7:52pm

I should probably rephrase it then, as what I mean is, I’m hoping for thousands more.

The point is, there are so many proposals for marketing, and nothing for things to market. It seems like an overwhelming number of proposals focused on advertising, marketing, promoting… but where is at least a few more in the realm of high-quality consumer products, or if not things, perhaps places, such as a nouns café? You can open a café in Korea for a fraction of some of these costs suggested spent on marketing pushes.

Meanwhile, Sanrio does no advertising, no brand wraps or marketing,
Perhaps I worded that poorly.

I don’t want to be the only one. We need hundreds more.
Even 5 more would be awesome.

As for prop 211, I took over a mega luxury department store in China for free, with statues and displays… but we got there by earning that position through growing tribes… not by marketing. Marketing for the sake of eyeballs in some territories can make it very tough to do well later… and while yes, CCO, when it comes to funding by the DAO, wouldn’t we want to fund efforts in China to become one with culture VS marketing to it. I would hope to see 10000’s of such proposals, but there are none.

As for not knowing what they are doing, I asked for examples of that approach working in China in the past. I am hoping to learn of some. Haven’t seen as of yet, but looking forward to their reply.

The fact that anybody is here, knows what nouns is, and submits a prop is a thing of beauty, and there’s no way to knock someone for it… but the number of props to promote VS become the thing to promote is only increasing. (and promoting rarely works… its noise.)

IF we are going to China, lets go like this, at least:

but even Tokidoki had to spend years working up to that… they put down a base layer over time, through multiple maneuvers, to earn this in a way which works, so they weren’t just showing up out of nowhere.

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 8:24pm

I rephrased the title… as it isn’t a problem really at all.

I feel it’s a need.

We need lovely nounish things, books, glass work, ceramics… not a call for useless consumerism, but points of tactile culture growth. The lower in quantity the better.

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 9:02pm

And not just “things”, but perhaps places. A nouns café, where we can hold nouns art exhibitions with top creators across different disciplines, rotating out various works throughout the year.

If my own proposal goes through, I will dedicate a good portion of my time seeking out creators to make such proposals. In no way do I mean to convey that only I can do any of this, just the opposite.

bradq · January 18, 2023, 11:23pm

David, thought you might like to know about these based on those last thoughts…these were rattling around in my memory as your read the end of your post…

And this…

and…this was a prophouse winner that is now on Nouncil

5oceans persian rug

Maty.eth rugs…can’t find them here on Discourse but:

DAVID · January 18, 2023, 11:55pm

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing these.
Need more!

DAVID · January 19, 2023, 12:04am

When it comes to cafés, there are management companies to go to, for such things, depends. I don’t think a management company was used in this case, but something very simple, which serves more as an art gallery, this is a little bit over the top….

DAVID · January 19, 2023, 12:06am

I don’t know this YouTuber and the music is not part of what I have in mind, but this is a major staple in character culture in Japan, Café Uamou, attached boutique, and art space right on the border of Akihabara.