Session 07 Studio Mirai v1

Summary

In this engaging discussion, the co-founder of Studio Marai, Kotaro, and a product marketing expert delve into the world of NFTs and Web 3. They explore the importance of storytelling, branding, and community building as key to the success of NFT projects. Kotaro shares insights from his journey, emphasizing the significance of emotional utility and the evolution of NFTs from mere digital assets to dynamic, community-driven experiences. The conversation highlights the need for adaptation, communication, and creative marketing strategies to stand out in the competitive NFT space.

Takeaways

• 🚀 The importance of storytelling and branding in the NFT space was emphasized, as it helps create emotional connections and long-term engagement with the community.
• 🤝 The co-founder of Studio Marai, Kotaro, highlighted the significance of having a mentor or guide in the web3 space, especially for those new to the industry.
• 💡 Adaptation is key in the NFT industry, as there is no fixed roadmap due to the rapidly changing nature of the market and technology.
• 🗣️ Communication is vital for ongoing engagement with the community, regardless of the stage of project development.
• 🎨 The Prime Aian project by Studio Marai uses an innovative approach to NFT utility by allowing holders to 'color in' their NFTs, emphasizing the emotional utility of the process.
• 🔄 The concept of under-promising and over-delivering was mentioned as a strategy to manage expectations and ensure community satisfaction.
• 🌐 NFTs are seen as a vehicle to enable various use cases, such as gaming, commerce, and loyalty programs, rather than just a standalone technology.
• 🔄 The evolution of NFT projects was discussed, noting a shift from tech-focused to community and story-driven approaches for long-term success.
• 🎮 The potential for NFTs in gaming was identified as an area for future growth and development.
• 🏆 The necessity for stepping out of one's comfort zone, especially for founders, was underscored to drive project growth and community building.
• 🎭 The use of unique and creative tactics for community engagement, such as incorporating cultural elements like Japanese cards, was highlighted as a way to resonate with the audience.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the conversation between the two individuals in the script?

The conversation focuses on discussing the journey and experiences in the NFT and blockchain space, with an emphasis on storytelling, branding, and community building rather than technical aspects.

What is the role of the speaker from the SWE Foundation in the conversation?

The speaker from the SWE Foundation is involved in product marketing and is interested in exploring different use cases of blockchain technology, especially in terms of business models and branding.

Who is Kotaro and what is his background according to the script?

Kotaro is the co-founder of Studio Marai and is involved in creative, community, and content work for S. He is not a developer but has a strong background in storytelling and community building.

How did Studio Marai start and what was its initial focus?

Studio Marai started as an IP storytelling project without any utility other than the story itself. The project was initiated by Kotaro and his brother, with a focus on community building and developing an emotional connection with the assets.

What is the significance of the story of Nosi in the context of the conversation?

The story of Nosi is the anchoring narrative for the original collection called Tamashi, which helped in building the foundation of the community. It allowed holders to develop their characters within the story, creating a sense of connection and attachment to the NFTs.

How does the speaker from the SWE Foundation view the importance of storytelling in the NFT space?

The speaker believes that storytelling provides a sense of purpose and longevity to projects, helping to maintain community interest and engagement beyond the initial launch.

What is the concept behind the Prime Aian project mentioned in the script?

The Prime Aian project is about engaging the community through a coloring mechanism using an engagement token. It emphasizes emotional utility and the joy of seeing digital art come to life through user interaction.

What is the importance of adaptation and communication in the context of building an NFT project, as discussed in the script?

Adaptation is crucial for projects to evolve and respond to changing circumstances without being constrained by rigid roadmaps. Communication is vital for continuous engagement with the community, ensuring that the project remains transparent and connected with its audience.

How does the script highlight the importance of emotional utility in NFT projects?

The script suggests that emotional utility, such as the connection and joy users feel through interacting with the NFTs, is more important than functional utility, and it can significantly contribute to the success and longevity of a project.

What advice does Kotaro offer for new entrants to the NFT and blockchain space based on his experiences?

Kotaro advises new entrants to find a mentor to guide them, to focus on adaptation and be prepared to step out of their comfort zone. He also emphasizes the importance of building a strong brand and resonating with the community through unique and creative approaches.

What role do resources play in supporting the growth of new NFT projects, as discussed in the script?

Resources, such as those provided by the Foundation, play a critical role in supporting new projects by offering guidance in various areas like marketing, legal, social, and tech, which can help projects grow and succeed.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to the NFT Journey

The video script begins with an introduction to the topic of NFTs and the journey of exploring their use cases on the blockchain, specifically on the Solana blockchain. The conversation is set to be non-technical, focusing on storytelling and branding rather than the underlying technology. The speakers introduce themselves: one from the SWE Foundation with a focus on product marketing and the other, Kotaro, as the co-founder of Studio Marai with a background in creative and community work. The emphasis is on inclusivity for non-developers and the importance of community building and storytelling in the NFT space.

05:02

🌟 Building a Community and Storytelling in Web 3

This paragraph delves into the personal journey of the speaker, Kotaro, who was introduced to Web 3 by his brother, a tech-oriented individual. The narrative focuses on the establishment of Studio Marai as a storytelling project without immediate utility, other than the IP itself. The approach taken was to build value through community engagement and the development of an IP, with a grassroots strategy to grow the community. The importance of having a mission and a story that resonates with people is highlighted as a key to retaining community interest over time.

10:02

🎨 The Evolution of NFTs and the Role of Storytelling

The conversation continues with a discussion on the evolution of NFTs and the importance of storytelling in maintaining community interest. The speaker shares the story of 'Nosi', an original collection that allowed holders to influence the narrative of their characters, creating an emotional connection to the assets. The strategy of under-promising and over-delivering is mentioned, along with the adaptation of the story and community engagement over time. The paragraph emphasizes the significance of emotional utility in NFT projects and the dynamic nature of digital art and its ability to evolve.

15:04

🛠️ Balancing Technology and Storytelling in NFT Projects

This section of the script discusses the balance between technology and storytelling in NFT projects. It acknowledges the foundational role of technology in enabling new experiences but emphasizes that branding and community engagement are critical for long-term success. The speaker shares insights on how to approach the market, especially during bearish periods, and the importance of having a clear vision and roadmap for the project. The paragraph also touches on the progress of NFTs over the past two years and the need for continuous adaptation and communication with the community.

20:05

🤝 The Importance of Mentorship and Community Engagement

The speaker reflects on the importance of mentorship in navigating the NFT space, using his own experience with his brother as a guide. Key lessons learned are highlighted, including the need for adaptation without a fixed roadmap and the critical role of communication in engaging with the community. The paragraph underscores the value of being present and responsive to the community, hosting events, and maintaining a consistent dialogue. It also discusses the personal growth required for founders to step out of their comfort zones and adapt their communication styles to connect with their audience.

🌈 Creative Marketing Strategies and Building a Unique Brand

The final paragraph focuses on creative marketing strategies and the importance of standing out in the crowded NFT space. The speaker shares his approach to community engagement, which includes unique tactics like giving away culture boxes filled with cards, resonating with the audience's nostalgia. The importance of leaning into one's own brand identity and expanding upon it is emphasized, as well as the need for continuous innovation in marketing to maintain interest and engagement. The paragraph concludes with advice for potential NFT builders and community members on the value of resources and support networks in fostering growth and success.

Keywords

💡NFT (Non-Fungible Token)

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which is a unique digital asset that represents ownership of a specific item or piece of content on the blockchain. In the video, NFTs are discussed as a foundational technology for various use cases, emphasizing their role as a vehicle for enabling new experiences in gaming, art, and commerce, rather than just as a collectible item.

💡Web 3.0

Web 3.0 refers to the next generation of the internet, often associated with decentralized technologies such as blockchain, which enable user ownership of data and assets. The video discusses the journey of individuals and projects within the Web 3.0 space, highlighting the evolution of NFTs and their integration into various business models and communities.

💡Blockchain

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and NFTs, providing a secure and transparent way to record transactions. In the context of the video, the blockchain is the infrastructure that supports the creation and management of NFTs, allowing for the development of new business models and use cases.

💡Community Building

Community building is the process of creating and nurturing a group of people around a shared interest or goal. The video emphasizes the importance of community building in the success of NFT projects, with examples given of how engaging with a community can lead to long-term commitment and support.

💡Branding

Branding involves creating a unique identity and image for a product or service. In the video, branding is discussed as a critical aspect of NFT projects, with the speaker sharing how they have used storytelling and community engagement to build a strong brand for their NFT project, Studio Marai.

💡Storytelling

Storytelling is the art of telling stories to engage and inspire an audience. The video highlights the power of storytelling in the context of NFTs, showing how a compelling narrative can create an emotional connection between the community and the digital assets, as seen in the development of the 'Tamashi' collection.

💡Utility

Utility in the context of NFTs refers to the practical use or function of a token beyond its value as a collectible or investment. The video discusses the importance of focusing on 'emotional utility' and how it can drive engagement and value in NFT projects, such as the 'Prime Aian' project where NFTs can be colored in by community members.

💡IP (Intellectual Property)

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of developing IP in NFT projects, using the example of Studio Marai's storytelling project that started with no utility other than the story and characters they created.

💡Adaptation

Adaptation in this context refers to the ability to change and adjust to new circumstances or challenges. The video emphasizes the importance of adaptation in the NFT space, as projects need to evolve and respond to the dynamic nature of the market and community expectations, as illustrated by the evolution of the 'Prime Aian' project.

💡Engagement Token

An engagement token is a type of cryptocurrency that is earned by participating in community activities or interactions. In the video, the speaker mentions the use of an engagement token in their project, which allows community members to color their NFTs, thus incentivizing participation and interaction within the community.

💡On-Chain

On-chain refers to data or actions that are recorded on a blockchain. The video discusses the technical aspect of having 4K images stored 'on-chain,' meaning the high-resolution images of NFTs are recorded directly on the blockchain, which is a significant development in terms of the quality and detail of digital art.

Highlights

Introduction to the discussion on the NFT journey and its potential on the S blockchain.

Focus on storytelling and branding rather than technical aspects for non-developers.

Kotaro's background as co-founder of Studio Marai and his journey into web 3 space influenced by his brother.

The importance of community building and IP development without external funding.

The role of storytelling in creating value and emotional connections with digital assets.

The story of Nosi and its impact on community engagement and attachment to characters.

Adapting the project approach in a bear market and the importance of emotional utility in NFTs.

The evolution of NFTs and the shift from tech focus to broader community engagement.

The Prime Aian project and its unique approach to community engagement through coloring NFTs.

The significance of 4k on-chain art and the technical advancements in NFT projects.

The importance of consistent communication and adaptation in NFT project development.

The role of mentorship and the need for guidance in the web 3 space.

The challenges of being a founder in the NFT space and the necessity to step out of comfort zones.

The creative marketing tactics used by Studio Marai to stand out and engage the community.

The importance of tapping into cultural resonance and nostalgia in branding and community building.

Advice for new NFT builders on the importance of mentorship, adaptation, and communication.

The need for resources to support NFT projects in various aspects such as marketing, legal, and tech.

Transcripts

[Music]

we're we're here to talk a little bit

more understand about the nft journey

talk about different things you can do

specifically on the S blockchain and

really just take some time to learn

about your journey specifically so if

everyone's cool with that I want to

maybe just start with some introduction

so maybe on on my side I'm with the swe

foundation focus on product marketing

looking to explore a little bit around

you know different types of use cases

ways you can use the technology in a way

that gets to eventual business models

what about yourself uh my name is kotaro

I'm the co-founder of studio marai uh I

also do creative stuff Community stuff

and content stuff for S I love it I love

it and just just a caveat there not a

developer in any sense we're going to be

getting into that point this is not

intended to be a tech talk this is

intended to be more digging into

storytelling digging into branding that

type of stuff so if you're not a

developer don't worry this is the talk

for you so and randomly in the middle we

might throw up some Pokemon cards it's

always a part of it so cool well so with

that you give us a little bit of your

background maybe let's go a little bit

deeper so when you're you're thinking

about your your web 3 Journey we're

thinking about how we've all got here we

all have different Paths of how we

joined whether it's recently whether

you've been here for the years and years

to come these Journeys are always very

different and so it's really great to

hear from your side you working with

your brother specifically you know how

did that come to be how did you get into

the space where you are now yeah so I

kind of started web 3 you know because

of my brother uh if you guys know BL on

Twitter he talks a lot of stuff on

Twitter um and he was the CTO so he's

all he's always been Tech uh Tech heavy

uh and I'm like the creative heavy

brother um and around

2019 um he asked me to get in these

digital assets uh stuff like that uh cuz

he was already working in blockchain so

um we wanted to do something you know a

little bit of a family business uh so we

gave it a try um we started studing

marai as a um IP uh storytelling project

actually no utility the only utility was

um having a story having a IP uh we had

a writer who was uh who's actually one

of my best friends uh Mike uh Aldis for

on Twitter for people that know him MH

and basically we had to decide how we

wanted to create value without any

funding cuz we started off fresh no

knowledge how do we build uh you know

worth uh so we decided to do Focus and

double down on community building and IP

uh so that's kind of how the story

started sure community building is has

always been something that I've been

passionate about uh back in college I

was part of the um like Asian-American

Student Association I always hosted a

bunch of events uh so I kind of want to

bring that Vibe here uh we started by

really grassroot uh white gloving people

into the community and that's kind of

how it began no there's a couple words

you said that really resonated with me

there was Community there was

storytelling story even components that

weren't mentioned but really kind of

implied around like a mission

specifically a lot of those things

really stood out to me and the reason

why just for context so I've been in the

industry specifically in the space since

around like 2016 so I've seen a little

bit of the ups and downs of cycles and

I've always been very interested on like

the staying power so what keeps people

around is it just always the tech is it

always like personal kind of greed

oriented motivations or is there is

there a story is there a purpose of why

we do things and you know for you

specifically from like my familiar with

your project I've seen a lot of like how

there's an anchoring story to a lot of

how your releases end up going around

with the story of nzo I would kind of

love to learn a little bit more around

the story how does everything anchor

around that how does it keep people in

the ecosystem and just anchor to like a

long long longer term purpose yeah so

there's kind of two parts to that so the

story of nosi was originally um a place

where the original collection which is

called a tamashi um 100 one of ones uh

that's how we kind of built the

foundation of our entire Community uh

basically holders were able to

choose how their character developed uh

within the story if they if they held

the nft um and the the impact from that

was that people felt like they were

actually connected to their assets um

and but unfortunately back then they

didn't Own It ipfs storage we can talk

about that later um and the the story of

nosi sort of got people wanting kind of

like like assembling as well not

assembling becoming their character um

and people were getting attached they

wouldn't sell you know like stuff like

that and and it it started kind of going

crazy um that people were just in love

with the IP in love with the story um

for people that are coming later to our

events we have these Oh no you're

wearing it we have this um right this

manga tea we are actually converting our

entire story into a manga right now uh

so that will be ready probably around

September uh for people that don't want

to read um but wait what was did that

answer the question yeah it it was

around like that of story and kind of

the Affinity to that story as well like

so like the second part of that was um

sort of like the mission statement of

Mari exactly um like the why do people

stick around right uh so I think like

when we started building we started

building at the middle like kind of like

middle of the bear or like the beginning

of the bear um and that's when we

started building so there were a lot of

people that were sad and always looking

at their bags and um that's not the kind

of energy that we wanted to build uh we

are really focused on building a safe

space you come in here you just hang out

talk about your life join a Discord talk

open some Pokemon cards join some games

like that's kind of how it started right

um and now that we're three years in

that type of mentality of like not

really caring what's going on outside um

has kind of embedded into everyone that

joins and and and everyone just shares

it uh like organically now so I really

appreciate the idea of like not only the

the story in itself and the longevity of

that story how it sticks around through

various Cycles but even just the courage

to really start your project in a bare

Market specifically for for people that

are familiar with previous Cycles like

how they've come to be and the kind of

the mentality of how they're approached

you usually see a lot more of the tech

building the infrastructure side it's

very developer favoring and so to find

something where you might have to like

establish more of a non-technical story

and get people to buy in to that in an

area where like they might be a bit more

pessimistic to the industry more broadly

I think that's something that can't

really be undersold MH so you know with

that like you've you've continued to

progress like you've seen a lot of your

projects progressively start to come to

fruition I'd love to maybe talk a little

bit more about your most your most

recent project for anyone that saw on

the icons originally that that were

presented the prime a like project has

been something where this Community

Building Concept is really really come

to the Forefront and and and how people

really anchor and how you present

yourself your digital brand collectively

you know how is this project and evolved

your approach and how you interact with

your community yeah so for the prime aan

project

um some of the communities nfts are

black and white some of them are colored

uh so basically you have to use our like

engagement token uh to color them in and

you can only get it by engaging uh so

basically the utility of it is just

coloring like a coloring book um and

it's sort of blown like blown up because

I feel like people are too obsessed with

um utility that isn't really utility

right it's like um for like for me my

most important utility I always try to

put put in is emotional utility I think

that's the most important one sure um

and you know like when these people

support you for the emotional aspect of

it coloring a pfp like that's just

that's it's like so basic but at the

same time it gives people so much

happiness seeing it come to life uh we

actually have a level two coloring

coming soon where you can literally

customize every single piece of color uh

on the on the piece um they're also 4k

on chain which is you know first of It's

kind but totally totally well so what

I'm hearing then is that like there's

not only this idea of just like evolving

art like seeing like changes

customizations the the evolution beyond

your initial piece of art that was

created in the in the launch yeah but

also you know there's an underlying

technology story that is something that

I've always looked at thematically is

that you know Great Tech does not

necessarily be meant to be at the

Forefront so the idea of even you being

able to evolve like add more colors like

see things change this Dynamic nature to

it that's the underlying technology but

it's not necessarily the storytelling

side of things oh we have great Tech too

absolutely absolutely this is where your

brother comes in so but that's really

kind of been like a theme in general is

that and and this is more of a a comment

to the broader audience here for a lot

of people that aren't necessarily

technical you know tech tech is going to

be necessarily foundational to be able

to do cool things right when you look at

the evolution of like a digital image or

whatever uh type of asset you're like

necessarily working with you need

foundational Tech you need the ability

to store 4k on store on chain you need

the flexib ility of how nfts work all of

those foundationally from a tech side

are critical but at the same time though

you know The Branding and everything

that comes with it is critical because

you're not just looking at a one-off

launch where you launch it and you

forget about it this is something where

you're building a longer term Community

where you need to look at ways of how

you interact with that Community how you

think about the designing the

storytelling all of those pieces have to

come in because this is a longer term

commitment yeah yeah so I mean with that

I mean we've seen a and

around since 2021 uh they've been around

since originally the boom happened like

they were very minimal in terms of what

they were accomplishing people were more

exploring around the concept but now

we're we're about two years in so you

know I'm curious like I mean you you've

kind of seen some of this progression

happen you and your brother as well you

know how how do you think that nfts have

really evolved in terms of like the use

the perception of it the positive

negative side of things the buzzwords

even like how how has that evolved over

the last two years I think you can kind

of look look at how projects have

adapted you know like the bigger

projects from from eth you know you have

the bores you have the punks you have

isuki uh pugy um I think like since then

people have cared more about how the

outside thinks than how the inside

thinks sure uh so like take Pudgies

their best example um their whole thing

is Instagram marketing their shorts are

super viral um and that's how they kind

of get their IP out there right um and I

actually think that you know like with

us we had very Tech focus in the

beginning like super tech Focus we can

do this we can do this you can do this

and then we're trying to I'm trying to

tell my mom and she's like she she has

too much in Lo lost in the private key

right now uh she she doesn't remember

the C phrase um but a good sun move a

good sun move and like um there is just

so much like constraint since since

those days um and like now I see like as

people progress you see it with Zuki

they're making like an anime um with her

IP like people can actually outside of

of this whole space like they know that

we exist right so that's something that

stands out to me and I I think we're

we're thinking in the same direction was

like this idea you mentioned it about

engagement like kind of the relationship

that you're having like an expectation

that this isn't like a one-off thing but

rather looking at like consistent ways

to to find connection points with your

community yeah like that's something

where I'm seeing a lot more of it where

like when you look at some of the

initial launchers yeah there are a few

of like the one-offs that really just

establish Community pretty organically

the board apes and whatnot you know

those have stuck around and pretty pres

in a lot of the conference scene but a

lot of these initial one-offs that

happened on the smaller and medium scale

they they fizzled out because there

wasn't this longer term road map of you

know where do I want to take this like

three months down where do I want to

take this six months right all of that

collectively was just missing because it

was like this is an opportunity and I

want to work I want to meet that

opportunity quickly but I don't know

where I want to go with it afterwards

yeah that was something I always felt

was generally missing not only on the

Indie side but even the Enterprise side

there were things like AC and some of

these larger organizations were they

were Porsche exactly a lot of the

fashion brands as well they tried it but

then they didn't know what they wanted

to do with it or they weren't willing to

take that big next step to explore how

could this be a part of my business

model and how can I build a business

model around it

yeah yeah so that's really something

that stood out and I'm even kind of

curious to see like you know we're two

years into the NFC cycle like how could

that progress even two years down the

road what are things that are still

missing like those are questions that

are still on top of my mind gaming

gaming for sure so we play so that's

even something where when we think about

the future of nfts and then that's a

really good segue is um you know we hear

about different use cases we hear about

you we hear about nfts used as a use

case yeah in reality nfts are just a

vehicle to enable other use cases right

they enable better experiences with

gaming they enable better Commerce they

enable better types of payments they

enable loyalty like there's all these

different more use exactly yeah they're

more use cases and if we think about

nfts purely as just a piece of

technology and a vehicle to enable those

use cases we open a lot of doors about

really what's possible and again it

brings on more of the values of consumer

engagement loyalty some of those

components that is really The Sweet Spot

I'd imagine to where nfts come into play

yeah art comes into that because art is

the use case nfts are the vehicle right

right yeah cool cool so I mean I'm

really kind of curious then you you've

been in the game for a bit like you've

really seen a little bit on both sides

you know even when you look within like

not only the sweet Community but broader

the web 3 Community do you kind of see

any any mistakes anything that you think

people could be doing better lessons

that you've taken in your journey you

know what would you would you part on

the community here yeah I think like for

me three years so a little bit of

background I came in like not knowing

anything about blockchain or anything

like that the only person that kind of

guided me was my brother uh so like I

think for people that are coming in for

the first time they really need that one

person or else it's like you want to do

something you actually don't know how to

do it like you always need some sort of

mentor uh so I'm really happy that my

brother was there to be my mentor um but

like I think two there's like two two

really big lessons that I've learned

that I that I see that like we've as

Mariah has kind of used um is uh

adaptation and communication sure uh so

adaptation is so we have no road map

road maps I think are overrated uh and I

think for nft projects where you can't

predict right um and for us we always

had to adapt um coloring was kind of

adapted um the story was always adapted

um we had a lot of things that we wanted

to do before that just wasn't possible

with the amount of people that we had we

didn't want to promise anything too much

uh so like going with a model of like

under promising overd delivering I think

it's just always better um and then

communication so I think it's the thing

I like to tell people is one day in

crypto is one what wait one week in real

life is like a month in crypto one month

in real life is like soft rug in crypto

uh so like right there's a lot of people

that just because you're building

doesn't mean you can't engage with

people like you can talk to people you

can host spaces you can talk to people

in your Discord like we've been talking

to people like non-stop for three years

yeah at at one point we were hosting

events every single day for two years

yeah between two hours and8 hours every

single day 100% you know one thing

that's really stood out to me was like

people look at it almost as like a

barrier where for you like you had your

brother your brother provided some of

the technical balance to more of your

creative brand and so you had that

ability to take that step and start to

you know have someone that you could tag

team with and explore now some people

will be able to find that naturally some

people will have the gumption to be able

to go step out of their Zone and reach

out to people and find that Community

yeah but even like I would even argue

that someone that let's just say they

are just an artist uh even just those

functions and those skill sets are very

much lacking in the industry more

broadly people look at it as like if I

don't have technical skills you know I I

don't have a place in the space and in

reality I'd say that's incredibly far

from the truth yeah I think like for for

for me like starting off in the space

three years ago I was extremely

introverted I was so awkward I was that

guy that you would I would try to step

into conversation and they were like oh

hi um I'm I'm I'm cotaro um these are

nice

napkins like super just super awkward um

and like I sort of had to adapt because

Brian was even more introverted he's a

tech guy sure he doesn't really do the

BD um so I had to kind of I was forced

to learn it in order for my project to

grow uh so I went to every single

Builder house I talked to as many people

as I can try to be less awkward um like

three years ago I wouldn't be able to

sitay here I'll just be like uh and here

we are dancing in the background giving

Pokemon cards the audience um so like I

think stepping out of your comfort zone

like you have to do it like

if you're if you're building a project

if you're a Founder like it's not a

choice if you signed up to be a Founder

you have to do it yeah no that that

makes a lot of sense now I mean you you

specifically in a lot of like your

approaches and the way that you think

about The Branding inside you're you're

very good at thinking outside the box

some of the tactics that you do the way

you approach your community you know it

goes beyond just your traditional like

post on Twitter like write a blog post

or whatnot like you you find unique ways

on almost a daily basis and seeing it

today of how do I engage and like just

maintain unity and like collectivity

with your community yeah and so like if

let's say someone that like has more of

a traditional marketing background

they're thinking about the more

traditional marketing tactics like how

do you always like stay inspired stay

creative like how are you always

thinking about things like this and more

of an out-of the-box mindset I mean for

me um like my community knows I'm a

troll um so like and as long as we're

having fun as long as people remember

cuz like if you're doing doing the same

marketing as everyone else no one's

going to remember you tot like you have

to do something different you have to

you have to stand out right um or else

what's the point of doing it totally uh

so like wait what was a question no it's

just like your your creative approach to

it and just like how you maintain that

yeah yeah how I maintain it um always

having well like for me I I always have

a community to fall on like if I do

something stupid they're like okay this

is stupid but this is funny because it's

Scaro so they'll help me like support it

and stuff like that um but how do I keep

how do I well I mean I think it's just

really you you lean into who you are and

like the brand that you've built and I I

think you found ways to just kind of

stay within those lines but then

continuing to expand I mean the Pokemon

cards is a great example of that like

you found things where people really

attached them to who you are in your

community and they resonate with that

yeah I think for like for me like for

the prime aian for example it's kind of

taking it back to like manga being black

and white going into color going to

anime uh so people that generally love

like the prime aan like either Pokemon

cards one piece cards some sort of

Japanese culture maybe they watch Naruto

or Dragon Ball when they grew up um so

for me when we started doing these

culture boxes we gave away these boxes

of cards to people and they're like holy

crap like I haven't seen this since I

was a kid I'm like those were nfts

technically they were RNG they were

random and like them bringing it back

like I have so many people in my

community that forgot about like their

addiction and now because of

me they're they they found their

childhood back you you found that Niche

like that that resonance with something

and you really leaned into it you

weren't trying to just tackle some like

crazy buzzword or like trying to lean in

exclusively to the tech you found

something that really touched someone's

heart and like they connected with right

and they stuck around and you just kept

like digging in and finding ways to

expand finding ways to story tell around

that really established a consistent

brand which is something I've just I've

seen a lot from what you do so you know

as we're looking to close this out you

know and we're looking at like this

group of U potential nft Builders or

even just like community members that

aren't again very technical is there any

bits of like advice or like resources

that you would like to see if you were

like going through the same cycle again

like what did you what would advice

would you part on these people or what

resources do you feel like the

foundation could help to to encourage to

find the next Studio marai I think for

for foundation you know I think we spoke

about it a little bit last night um was

pretty much having these resources

available uh whether it's for marketing

whether it's for legal whether it's for

um social whether it's for Tech uh

having these resources like cuz like swe

Foundation is already like super

supportive yeah like shout out to

Christina I know she's not here but

shout out to Christina uh but like I

think having those resources available

for for people to kind of access I think

is really good yeah yeah well here's the

hoping that we can find more projects

that are uh able to take it all the way

because you you've definitely shown the

balance of not just the tech but just a

broader business model which I'm I'm

really encouraged to see so sir cool

well thank you guys so much and thanks

for listening we're uh we're here to

learn a little bit more about Prime

meion and I hope this helped

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