Four months ago, we at The Smurfs’ Society took the Web3 space by surprise when we launched a fully on-chain NFT game that gathered over 85,000 wallets and entered the TOP100 Dapps.
Two weeks ago, we started phase two of our sequential drop that aims to kick off a pioneering Web3 community. This sequential drop gathers members in a variety of ways, from an investors bucket auction to a community access-only mint, and special sales for brand and artist collaborations. After the success of our on-chain play-to-earn game, Hacker Smurf sale, and the recent bucket auction, the project has seen over 850 ETH in transactions (cf the list of our collections).
The Sequential Drop: A new model for an evolving Web3 world.
With secondary sales diminishing as a significant revenue stream from NFT projects, Web3 brands have to reinvent new economic models to sustain long-term plans.
Having spent almost a year developing our first collection, we believe that NFT projects now have to utilize sequential drops instead of classic sales. This gives teams the possibility to build over time, demonstrate traction, and be able to take advantage as collection values increase over time. Far from FOMO and short-sighted pressure relative to the current bear market, this creates a steady revenue stream to build more innovative projects that can also grow with and adapt to the market.
The first two sequences of our drop serve two well-defined objectives:
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Activating a mint price discovery mechanism led by the market:
The first sequence of the drop took place on April 18, when we sold all 3,000 NFTs from our bucket auction at 0.1731 ETH. Until now, most projects have operated their sales with arbitrarily fixed prices and non-transparent private presales. Our choice was to experiment with a new price-formation mechanism that lets the market decide on the mint price. We feel strongly that our bucket auction, created in partnership with Rarible, determined a fair price that balances the initial investment that has gone into the project with the expectations of our community. -
Rewarding the existing community gathered during the gamification phase: Now, the next phase of our drop sequence starts with the minting of access crystals. These crystals are exclusive 1 for 1 tickets to the mint, which were won by our members during the early access gamification phases or purchased directly from players on the secondary market. In this drop, holders exchange their access crystals (on Polygon) for Legendary Smurf NFTs (on Ethereum) in a seamless, custom-made experience. The mint price is based on the price determined during the bucket auction (0.1731 ETH). But to reward our community for being early supporters, each access crystal comes with a discount, ranging from 15% to 80% off the mint price, depending on rank.
The other big advantage to minting during the access crystal phase is that members get to choose which Smurf character they want. During the bucket auction, winners were dropped random Smurfs whereas access crystals are tied to a specific Smurf. In addition to utilities that will be connected to every NFT in the Legendary collection, each Smurf character will have its own individual rewards (see some examples listed below), giving added value to each particular Smurf.
The next sequences will build on an ambitious rewards program powered by collabs and utilities.
Our vision is to be the catalyst for a thriving and vibrant community that pushes the boundaries of Web3 ecosystems. To do this, we are building the most ambitious list of utilities for Legendary Smurf Holders that will drive long-term value for both individuals and the community.
We have already partnered with a dozen big Web3 names (The Sandbox, Lens Protocol, ZenGo, Rarible, P00lS, etc.), over 100 Web3 communities, and have started announcing collaborations with an incredible group of artists such as André, Philippe Druillet, Richard Orlinski, Fafi Birtak, Antonyo Marest, Chase, and many others still to come.
Utilities will be broken down into two major categories. First, there are collective utilities for all collection holders. These include things like access to partner platforms and ecosystems, collection drops and presales, exclusive VIP events, holder-only advantages in our fully on-chain game, and more.
The other utilities are tied to individual Smurf characters. For example, Basketball Smurf holders will get a chance to have a one-of-a-kind experience with NBA star Carmelo Anthony, Magician Smurf holders will get an exclusive interaction with a famous IRL magician, Lone Smurf holders will have a chance to win a physical Statuette created by sci-fi legend Philippe Druillet, etc. With a unique reward for each Smurf, there’s something for everyone in the collection.
An ambitious project to build the foundation of the next bull run, supported by many builders
Many industry leaders have been following us for months and believe Web3 needs projects like ours to recover and build the next bull run. Several of them placed large bids in the bucket auction to secure their Legendary Smurfs and show their support for the project. Some notable bidders include:
@borgetsebastien, The Sandbox’ CEO is a lifelong fan of the Smurfs and a strong believer in the convergence of Web2 and Web3. He was one of the very first bidders of the bucket auction.
@raphfac, the co-founder of the prestigious collection World of Women, also shared support: ‘Been almost 2 years since I met the founders of @SmurfsSociety, (...) Despite the memeaverse we're in, I still believe in serious people bringing serious results, so I'm all behind their bucket auction.’
Many other Web3 builders, such as @chlagousami, CEO of CrosstheAges, @kostaeth from RTFKT, and @bruhagan from Sorare have shared their support and joined the Smurfs’ Society among other notable NFT collectors.
Web3 is just getting started. Let’s build the foundations of the next bull market together.
More than ever, it's necessary to build great Web3 projects in this bear market. Our first sale was a success in the current context of the industry, and we’re excited to see our community members become Legendary holders in the crystal mint and take a more active role in the development of our project.
Members who join during these two phases will be integral in the upcoming sequences. We can’t wait to work together on the next stages as we tap into the incredible network of partners in our ecosystem.
With the second phase of the Smurfs’ Society sequential drop, we’re demonstrating our commitment to bringing innovation to the Web3 space. We strongly believe this is necessary for any project that wants to grow in the current bear market. And we’re just getting started.