In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, key Floki Inu team member FallDamage has revealed that the team is working on strengthening project fundamentals that could help the Viking-dogcoin to flip Shiba Inu this year.
We also chatted with metaverse marketer Floki Inu, who has been dubbed “Valhalla,” and when users might get their first glimpse of in-game rewards for winning. FallDamage also revealed the difficult birth of the project, how the initial developer ditched Floki Inu, and how the young pup was ultimately rescued and raised by his current team of core members.
Strong growth in 2021
Two thousand and twenty-one witnessed significant growth for Floki Inu (FLOKI) as the dogcoin surpassed 390,000 holders. The team also launched a string of global billboard campaigns, sponsored eight soccer teams, conducted a YouTube ad campaign, and announced ad spots on US TV networks including CNN, CNBC and Fox News.
With all these irons in the air, BeInCrypto asked the chief marketing officer if a Shiba Inu turnaround could be on the cards in 2022.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “We really do believe that over this next year we’re going to have more utility than Shiba, we’re hopeful to have more holders than Shiba, and so, if that’s the case, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to flip Shiba in terms of market cap.”
Theoretical discussions aside, the head of marketing struggled to explain that Floki Inu’s main goal is to improve and develop Floki Inu, rather than trying to reverse other projects. So while Shiba Inu may be the “Dogecoin Killer,” Floki Inu doesn’t see himself in similar terms.
FallDamage sees other important distinctions between the two.
“I think one of the interesting comparisons between Floki and Shiba is that we started the token and created the contract with the idea of development, and making sure we have the money for that development,” he said. -he declares. “As far as I know, the Shiba Inu – and I’m part of this community as well – don’t really have a marketing or development budget. For the most part, it is the whales that contribute to this project. They depend on the people who invest, while our project has money because we planned it from the start.
Wen Valhalla sir?
A potentially interesting element of Floki Inu is ‘Valhalla’, a promised metaverse GameFi environment that intends to pay users in FLOKI rewards. As FallDamage explains it, much of the recent work at Floki Inu has been behind the scenes working on Valhalla, and figuring out exactly how to make it a reality.
“We’re working on a game metaverse so it’s going to take a bit of time to work on, finalize and deploy, so we’re working on budgets. Thus, for three weeks, he [marketing] was a little slower because we’re trying to make sure we have our budget in place before we spend more on marketing.
The comments served to highlight the challenges for meme projects which aspire to real utility, with a small core team of members often juggling multiple in-project tasks, as well as full-time jobs and family life. FallDamage puts in around 20-30 hours on the project each week, down from over 40 hours due to increased family demands.
The dedicated marketer didn’t want to be drawn on exactly when users might get their first glimpse of the metaverse play to win from Valhalla, however, BeInCrypto understands that the first playable could arrive as early as the first quarter of 2022.
A challenging birth
One aspect of Floki Inu which FallDamage was keener to discuss was the birth of the project and how the initial developer hadn’t been fully honest with the community.
“Our initial developer toughened us up,” he explained. “He was taking a lot more money than he was making for advertising, he was not using any for marketing, we were hitting chips at an unprecedented rate. By the time we launched V2 (version 2), we had seven times as many tokens as we initially had when we launched V1. So it was inflationary like crazy instead of deflationary. We went to him and said, let’s solve this inflation problem and make sure that the money you take out for marketing is actually used for marketing. So after some negotiations he just ghosted us.
Despite the challenging circumstances of Floki Inu’s inception, or perhaps because of it, the project has now crystallized around a core team of dedicated members who are determined to see the dogcoin succeed. It will be interesting to follow the path of the project in 2022.
