The Emotional Side of Technology

An obsession with performance has overshadowed the emotional side of marketing. Optimization efforts often focus on short-term gains and the latest trends at the expense of building customer relationships. NFTs — one of the latest tech trends — illustrate that human emotion is not only relevant but can still power impulse decision-making, like spending millions of dollars on virtual assets.

What only some marketers are talking about when it comes to NFTs is the psychological aspect — and the industry could capitalize on it.

First, the basics. NFTs are "non-fungible tokens." The technology powering them is the same blockchain engine behind cryptocurrencies, with a traceable digital fingerprint mapped end to end on a digital ledger. But the technology is a discussion for another time. What should be more widely discussed is the emotional connection — a form of instant gratification comparable to the rush of a like or comment on Instagram or Facebook. Only here, people are willing to spend millions to claim ownership of a digital asset they can't even touch.

Skin in the Game

Some examples of what people have spent to own digital assets:

• Jack Dorsey's original tweet — $2,915,835
• Everydays: The First 5000 Days — $69.3 million
• Clock — $52.7 million
• HUMAN ONE — $28.9 million
• CryptoPunk #5822 — $23.7 million
• CryptoPunk #7523 — $11.8 million
• TPunk #3442 — $10.5 million
• CryptoPunk #4156 — $10.26 million
• Nyan Cat — $631,875

The list keeps growing, and the digital bank keeps getting bigger. We live in a digitally driven economy; our old leather wallets are now digital. If you have a smart device within reach, you're part of this digital-first world.

How do we accurately apply monetary value to NFTs? Much like any marketplace, it comes down to what someone is willing to pay — except here, real dollars are spent and generated every day.

The Emotional Connection Marketers Already Know

Marketing's role in developing an emotional connection with consumers has shown for decades how far a brand can go. If I love a brand, I'm an ambassador and advocate for life — I don't think twice about purchasing. I'm physically and emotionally connected to the brand and the experience it provides; sometimes a sense of happiness and satisfaction is hard to explain or quantify.

Tools like brand positioning, advertising, and data-driven performance marketing have been used to craft the perfect message and narrative — storylines so compelling they captivate audiences and make us click to buy without hesitation. With an abundance of dollars pouring into the tech world, it's the perfect opportunity for marketing to shine.

Brands that merge the psychological divide between the physical and digital world can test and capitalize on digital assets that may prove even more valuable as we transition into a fully digital world.