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Analyzing the Effectiveness of Native Token Airdrop Campaigns in NFT Marketplaces

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Blockchain and Applications, 5th International Congress (BLOCKCHAIN 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 778))

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Abstract

NFT marketplaces are increasingly using free token airdrops as a customer acquisition strategy. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the airdrop campaigns of LooksRare and X2Y2 as a case study. Through this analysis, we identify key research questions about studying airdrops as a marketing strategy in this context. In the absence of a comprehensive financial model to analyze airdrop campaign effectiveness, we propose a set of key metrics. We find that while both campaigns managed to attract new customers, the LooksRare campaign was overall more successful by most metrics. However, customer conversion and retention rates are low on both platforms, suggesting that the airdrop campaigns may not be sustainable in the long term.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Trades between blocks 12 642 194 and 13 812 868 (only Ethereum) were considered.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support provided by the Doctorados Industriales project financed by the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) (IND2020/SOC-17536), and the NEOTEC program by the Spanish CDTI-E.P.E. (SNEO-20201032). This work has also been supported by the SPIRS Project with Grant Agreement No. 952622 under the EU H2020 research and innovation programme and by Madrid regional CYNAMON project (P2018/TCS-4566), co-financed by European Structural Funds ESF and FEDER. We also wish to extend a special thanks to Thomas Jay Rush (TrueBlocks LLC) for his valuable contributions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finance and Marketing Department, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Francisco Tomás y Valiente, 5, 28049, Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

    Paul Kuhle

  2. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de la Información, Serrano 144, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    David Arroyo

  3. Finance and Marketing Department, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and ECGI, C/Francisco Tomás y Valiente, 5, 28049, Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo de Andrés

Authors
  1. Paul Kuhle
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  2. David Arroyo
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  3. Pablo de Andrés
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Kuhle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    José Manuel Machado

  2. BISITE research group, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Javier Prieto

  3. Guarda Polytechnic Institute, Guarda, Portugal

    Paulo Vieira

  4. Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Hugo Peixoto

  5. Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    António Abelha

  6. Científicas, ITEFI, Instituto de Física Aplicada, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones, Madrid, Spain

    David Arroyo

  7. Pappelallee, IOTA Foundation, Berlin, Germany

    Luigi Vigneri

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Kuhle, P., Arroyo, D., de Andrés, P. (2023). Analyzing the Effectiveness of Native Token Airdrop Campaigns in NFT Marketplaces. In: Machado, J.M., et al. Blockchain and Applications, 5th International Congress. BLOCKCHAIN 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 778. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45155-3_37

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