Guest post Lesley Bielby, CEO of DiGo Being a Gen Xer in an increasingly young industry can have its challenges – but there are also some clear advantages. There isn’t much in our industry that I haven’t already seen, including experiencing and surviving the fearmongering provoked by the launch of first, Web1, and then Web2, with the final acceptance and celebration of the new possibilities that each ultimately created. Why Web2 and Web3 Need to Find Common Ground All those years ago, clients were skeptical of both Web1 and Web2’s new digital and social tools as well as platforms. They often waited to see when and how the competition would jump in and then relished the failures, but then pulled their hair in frustration when some early adopter competitors achieved roaring successes. Back then, wary of looking and feeling like laggards, clients feared dealing directly with digital and social experts. And their ad agencies were not able to fully advise them on how to best enter these new realms with objectivity and authority. This is because back then, most agencies built digital then social media departments in walled silos, rather than integrating these new and younger disciplines into the traditional agency structure immediately, to allow each group to learn and grow simultaneously. So, ad agencies stayed behind the curve for some time. And now here we are in the midst of a similar dynamic in the next generation of the internet – Web3 – where I can see that another chasm between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ guard is in danger of being created. This time it isn’t so much within the walls of ad agencies, but specifically between NFT creators and big brand CMOs. NFTs have been in our midst for quite some time now. And as is often the case, their adoption curve has been classic – early adopters took advantage of the opportunities early on while secondary adopters and early mainstreamers have been standing back – waiting to see how the chips (or should I say crypto) will fall. Some brands like Reddit successfully jumped in early and recognised the need to ‘cross the chasm’ to talk to more mainstream audiences, by changing the whole dialogue around NFTs. They marketed NFTs as collectibles and tokens as coins, offering NFT education as well as a lower entry price point that was attractive to Web2 audiences. Others, such as Porsche’s doomed 911 7500 edition collection NFT project, failed to attract audiences through a confusing minting process and a lack of transparency that had Web3 communities blow up Twitter with their groans of deep disapproval. Witnessing such failures make big brand CMOs hesitant to act. Yet, after witnessing successes, and under constant pressure to add value for positive growth, FOMO definitely becomes a key factor here. On the other side, NFT creators are desperate to add value to their collections for fans and for themselves (because an over dependence on fluctuating NFT royalties is just not sustainable). Plus, after witnessing the recent and successful real world Pudgy Penguin toy launch on Amazon – they have FOMO all of their own. It seems to me that for both Web2 and Web3 to achieve success in this space, each entity actually needs the other. But each seems incapable of getting alignment – because each speaks an entirely different language. First, there’s the Gen Z NFT creators, who have frequently come from and speak the language of Crypto or gaming or both. Second, there’s the “Boomer” –as in the Web3 community dubbing anyone over 25 a “Boomer” – CMOs with classic brand training, low tenure and high churn, who do not want to ruin their own reputation, as well as that of their brands while on their watch. It doesn’t have to be the way it was in the Web1 and Web2 eras. Let’s learn from those mistakes. Yes, innovative Gen Zers – you have to push against the old guard and the old way of doing things to find a better way. But resist overtly rejecting ALL the generations of expertise that has come before you....