95% of Web3 projects don't tell stories, have you stepped on these landmines?

Original Title: “95% of Web3 Fails at Storytelling - Here’s The Quick Fix”

Written by: @leonabboud_, Founder and CEO of Unfungible

Compiled by: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor’s Note: This article emphasizes the importance of Web3 brand storytelling. First, stories need high stakes and conflict to resonate with people. Second, brands should not position themselves as heroes but rather make the customers or community the protagonists of the story. The story should create an emotional connection with the audience, allowing them to see themselves in the narrative through simple phrases like “The reason I share this story is…” By combining these three elements, brands can touch hearts, leave a lasting impression, and foster long-term customer retention.

The following is the original content (for ease of reading and understanding, the original content has been edited):

95% of Web3 projects fail in storytelling - here’s a quick fix.

Imagine a team that invested thousands of dollars in content, published content for several weeks, and spent thousands of dollars hiring influencers to promote it. In the end, they invested tens of thousands of dollars, but the project gained no traction. The team fell into despair.

“Where have all the people gone?” the CEO asked the marketing team. The team’s only response was: “The market is not good.”

Web3 is actually an ongoing battle for attention. But attention alone is not enough; attention combined with retention is the real key.

So, how can we improve retention? The secret is — telling stories.

Now, I will give you a crash course in storytelling using three key elements.

High risk: Without conflict, your story has no meaning.

Great stories are built on high risks. Without these high risks, there is no excitement, no challenges to overcome, and no reason for people to care.

Take Walt Disney as an example. In 1928, Walt Disney was running his own creative studio called Laugh-O-Gram, and he created some of the most popular animated films of that era, one of which was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald’s popularity gradually rose, and Walt felt he had succeeded. So what did he do next? He went to New York to renegotiate for a higher animation budget.

The events that followed still echo in the story I am telling you. When Walter went to renegotiate the budget, he encountered betrayal. His employer, Charles Mintz, not only rejected his proposal but also undermined Disney’s offer with a lower budget. This meant that Walter would have to work at a loss.

Worse still, Mintz had secretly signed contracts with all of Walter’s animators, inviting them to work for him. This caused Walter to lose his team, lose his business, and lose his future. At that moment, everything vanished, and Walter left the meeting with a sense of failure.

He boarded the train back to Los Angeles and sent a telegram to his brother, concealing the entire situation of the disaster. The telegram read: “Don’t worry, everything is fine; I will explain in detail when I arrive.” However, by the time he reached Los Angeles, he had already created a new character. And this new character was none other than Mickey Mouse.

Why should I share this story with you? Walter’s story is a commonly studied case in advertising copywriting and storytelling because it illustrates the most important principle of a good story: high stakes.

All the best stories have the biggest conflicts. If your brand doesn’t have conflict, then it has no purpose. Take Elon Musk as an example—there is immense conflict behind each of his brands. Tesla’s mission is “We are making electric vehicles to save the planet,” while his mission to Mars is “We are going to Mars to save humanity.” If your brand story lacks conflict, then it is meaningless.

You are not the hero of your own story.

This is the biggest mistake made by 95% of Web3 brands. They position themselves as heroes. This is something I learned from Donald Miller’s book “Building a StoryBrand.”

For example: When Pudgy Penguins launched their PENGU token, their marketing campaign was not centered around Luca Netz or the company’s success. Instead, the trailer began by talking about liquidity extractors, hinting that many projects appeared like beams of light, but during the coldest winter, Pudgy Penguins united to create light in the darkness.

Who is the hero in the story? It’s not Pudgy, but the community.

It is those people who persist during a bear market, those who continue to build when everything is collapsing. Nike actually does the same. “Just Do It” is not about Nike, but about athletes, about those who overcome obstacles and strive for greatness. Nike is just the guide in this story.

Apple’s legendary ad “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” is no different. The heroes in the ad are artists, dreamers, and rebels, those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world. Apple is just a tool that allows them to change the world.

If you are a Web3 founder, your brand is not the hero; your community is. Position them as the ones driving the movement, and you will have a truly meaningful brand.

Your story needs a personal ending.

Don’t tell a story just for the sake of telling a story.

A great story should return to the individual. I learned this through personal experience while in college. One day in 2019, a friend invited me to attend Toastmasters - a public speaking workshop held at my university.

I walked into this event, which took place in a rundown basement classroom. I had no idea what was going to happen. Ten minutes later, the organizer started calling people up to give impromptu speeches, two minutes each. No preparation, no scripts.

The first person went on stage and got stuck after 30 seconds. The second person spoke for a minute and then remained silent for the remaining 60 seconds. It was very painful for me to watch.

But what happened next made my heart race. My name was called out… it was my turn. I stood up, walked to the front, and began to speak. 25 seconds later, I suddenly forgot what to say. In an instant, I started to feel panic.

I started rambling to fill in the gaps, and I remember being the worst two minutes of my life. My time is (thankfully) finally over. With the adrenaline still running through me, I returned to the side of the classroom and continued to watch the other people’s impromptu presentations.

The upcoming impromptu speech segment is prepared for the club’s long-time members. We can call them “OGs.” When they took the stage, I noticed a few things, some of which I still remember to this day.

The best speakers are not those who can improvise for 2 minutes and tell a good story, but those who can connect the story with the audience.

I remember a guy who was called to the stage and told the story of his mother’s battle with cancer. He then magically connects the story to the listener, saying that everyone has their own battles, and it is in these moments that we need strength and faith the most.

I learned a simple technique in the public speaking course at the “Stage Academy”: to use the phrase, “The reason I share this story is…”.

This sentence shifts the protagonist of the story from yourself to the audience, suddenly making them the main characters.

Back to the story of that OG Toastmaster member, he connects the story with the audience in this way: “I share my mother’s story because, like her, each of us is facing our own challenges…”

This simple sentence connects the lessons with the audience’s own challenges, struggles, and desires. When the audience can see themselves in your story, you are not just building a brand, you are building emotions and connections.

This is why when you combine these three key elements, you have the ability to impress people and make them stay.

Summary:

Your story needs high risk.

Your customer is the hero of your story, not you.

Use simple phrases like “The reason I share this story is…” to connect any story with the audience.