Mimetic Desire: A mini case study
Source: https://www.azuki.com/
We didn’t intend to write a blog post for this week, but as it happened, curiosity led us down another rabbit hole to a mini post. Too long to be under “what we’re thinking”, too short compared to our usual long-form posts, but hopefully as interesting as a longer one!
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For those of us who missed it, a new brand is sweeping its way through the crypto sphere: Azuki.
At first glance, it is “just another profile pic NFT project”. Azukis were minted for 1 ETH apiece, and the entire collection of 8,700 NFTs released for mint sold out in three minutes. Who said NFTs were dead? Azukis even made it to getting their own article on Forbes. The cynics will once again point to the monetary excesses of the cryptosphere and mock the apparent nonsensical nature of what happened, but we have learnt never to write anything off at a first glance – there's more than enough time to write things off later.
Perhaps there’s something different about these. And the challenge we pose to you is this: take a look at the Azuki pictures and compare the feeling you get when you look at them against the feeling of looking at any other “famous” NFT profile pictures.
Chances are you’ll find something different, hard to put your finger on, but different.
One of the most fascinating concepts to show up on our reading lists the past few months is the idea of Mimetic Desire, thanks to the book “Wanting” by Luke Burgis, touching on the work of Rene Girard, better known as one of the greatest influences of Peter Thiel’s thinking.
Azuki is EXACTLY a case study in how mimetic desire is conjured up.
Take a look at their website, and what immediately pops up is their mission to build a brand. Not a game, not random rocks, not penguins – it's a skater-themed brand. This is not just another generative profile pic project: the spoiler here is that the reason Azukis sold out so quickly and are now trading at a floor price of around 8.3 ETH is because they look like us.
They are realistic enough for us to relate to, but also aspirational enough for us to desire to be them.
Chances are, looking through the gallery of Azukis, you’ll find a picture that looks like someone you admire. As described in Luke Burgis’s book, this is digital “Freshmanistan”. Azukis are desirable because they possess traits that are just out of reach for most individuals, traits that with just a little push might become reality.
And that is itself the seed of consumer marketing.
Azuki aims to become a brand – what's stopping them from licensing their brand, these looks of idealised human beings that are just within reach for the average person, onto apparel, shoes, skateboards etc? Could they easily become as desirable as the likes of Supreme, Vans or even Nike and Adidas? All it would take is for one celebrity (in “Celebristan”) to pick up an Azuki because they happen to like that look and virality in the “real world” becomes highly likely.
It certainly takes MUCH less effort to relate to a human image than an ape, penguin or (heaven forbid) a rock.
Now that’s a marketing strategy to really think about.
Mimetic Desire is a fascinating thing, and it’s one of those things that once you’re aware of, starts showing up everywhere, and that’s the point: recognising its effects is important not just when it comes to business models, but also when it comes to the very personal situations that each of us face every day.
If you know, you know.