Have you ever found yourself diving into piles and piles of paper just to find that one certificate that you need for your job, or university application? These certificates take up a lot of space and it can take a lot of time and effort to retrieve them. This is where POAP comes in where all certificates are digitalised.
What is POAP?
POAP stands for ‘Proof of Attendance Protocol’. It is a protocol that designs and mints NFT badges to reward and record attendance at an event which can be ceremonies, concerts, achievements or games. In other words, it is proof that verifies your presence in a specified event.
It was initially introduced in 2019 at the ETH Denver Convention where there was a convention hackathon during which hackers (participants) received POAPs as a reward for taking part in the event.
How it works
Similar to how you would receive a certificate, the NFT is usually given out for free to each attendee. However, event organisers might charge tickets for attending the event.
To create a POAP, there are a few requirements that need to be met first:
- It must be minted under POAP smart contract address
- It must have metadata related to a time or date period, which can be up to one year long.
- It must have an image associated with it.
Each NFT has its own unique serial number hence one can only receive a single NFT. After that attendees can collect it using either the POAP app or downloadable QR code links.
Although POAPs are NFTs and completely tradable on marketplaces, it is crucial to note that they hold little to no market value as they were not created for trading but rather for recording. On the other hand, certain POAPs can also carry monetary value in a sense of a ticket to an exclusive concert. Think of it as digital memorabilia of a Queen concert, its value can be tied to the legacy of a historical moment.
Advantages
POAP is a great fusion and utilisation of digital currencies in the physical world. There are many benefits to employing it to replace traditional physical certificates.
Traceability
Since POAPs runs on the Ethereum blockchain, (check out here on the detailed explanation of blockchain) event organisers can track attendance records of attendees easily. Moreover, information about each attendee is stored on-chain as well. This facilitates other marketing processes such as airdropping tokens and sending out newsletters.
Engagement and Community Building
POAPs can be used as part of a loyalty programme allowing companies to understand what projects and events their target audience is interested in. The more NFTs airdropped, the more attractive the event is to the targets.
At the same time, active members of the community will own more tokens than others. Companies can build a loyal customer base and incentivise community participation by giving more perks to those who claimed more POAPs.
Access to Exclusive Content
Another application of POAP includes permits for different events such as concerts and VIP clubs. As an event organiser, you can send them out to people as an invitation so that invitees can then gain entry using it.
At the same time, it acts as a gate to private chat rooms or clubs. Similar to Bored Ape Yacht Club, owners can treat it as a key to an exclusive DAO.
POAP is a helpful tool that holds huge potential. Many big brands have been employing it to identify their loyal followers and build communities. One of them is Adidas which dropped its first collectible on its Adidas CONFIRMED app in the late November of 2021. Rather than celebrating and recording attendance to an event, they launched their NFTs to identify their most loyal customers. The marketing strategy turned out to be a huge success as their NFT was quickly claimed before their announcement on Twitter.
The possibility of POAP stretches far beyond our imagination. It is a great instrument for marketing, and customer engagement so as a symbol of status. The platform will continue to expand so let’s stay tuned and witness the future ahead of us.
