NFTs (the famous Non-fungible tokens) are an inescapable reality that pioneering brands are increasingly familiar with.
Although some people are still getting the hang of the concept (if you don’t fully understand what an NFT is, don’t feel like an alien: surveys show that one in four Americans don’t either) , the fact is that this technology is on a meteoric rise (in 2021, NFTs increased by 11,000%). And some brands are adopting very creative strategies and generating equally dazzling results on their own.
Coachella, Super Bowl, Adidas, Dolce & Gabbana, and MAC are just a few of the many examples of brands and businesses that have strategically used NFTs to achieve better results in their campaigns and deliver a different and unique experience to their customers. clients.
In this article, we’ll explore these examples in more detail and show you how brands are using NFTs, what results they’re getting, and what insights you can absorb for your brand, whether or not using these new technologies.
Just to remind you… what are NFTs?
NFTs are unique, distinct, and irreplaceable codes recorded by the blockchain system, the same technology used in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
If you want to know more about the subject, we recommend that you read this article. Now let’s see how brands have used NFTs as part of their strategy!
Coachella Music and Arts Festival and NFT Blooming Flower
If you’re one of those people who loves a good music festival, you probably noticed that April’s big hit was the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. It is a festival popularly known for its duration, which is celebrated for two full weekends, and for the wide variety of artists from all over the world.
This year, in addition to the major attractions and guest artists, a specific attraction caught the attention of the participating public: NFTs. The festival offered all paying attendees an NFT digital image of a flower that bloomed on both Fridays of the festival.
Coachella 2022 also brought other technologies, such as metaverse and cashless payment, to blend face-to-face experiences with virtual marketing, becoming a good example of the importance of engagement marketing in the post-pandemic era.
NFT as event tickets
As you saw in the example above, NFTs provide benefits to today’s entertainment market, such as concerts, movies, and sports, because they are unique, distinct, and irreplaceable codes.
One of the benefits brands can have is generating a collectible for fans, like a ticket. From matchboxes to luxury cars, the collectibles market moves billions of dollars every year and piques the curiosity of people around the world. Some companies have realized the appeal of their consumers for their branded collectibles and have decided to join the passion of physical item collectors to the world of NFTs.
In order to bring the experience of collecting tickets to their consumers, some brands have already decided to launch their tickets in a fully digital version. This is the case of the NFL franchise, which has decided to transform the tickets of its biggest annual event, the Super Bowl, into NFT to collect.
Brazilian football club Vasco da Gama recently partnered with Block4 (a Brazilian company specializing in the creation of collectible NFTs) to issue NFT tickets to fans of the team.
In the world of entertainment, the AMC cinema chain distributed 86,000 NFTs among those who bought tickets for the film Spider-Man: No Coming Home. In the case of the Coachella festival, NFTs have been launched which guarantee lifetime access to the event. This was only possible thanks to blockchain technology.
By using NFT and blockchain technology for ticketing, brands and consumers benefit from security against counterfeiting of the items sold. With blockchain, a unique code is generated on the ticket and this code is easily verified by event organizers, and can even be created as a non-transferable locked code for resale. This proves the authenticity of the ticket and verifies that it is being sold by a legitimate organizer, thus preventing ticket counterfeiting and providing traceability for fraud control.
NFT as Commodity
Fashion industry companies are very enthusiastic about NFTs. Last March, the virtual platform Descentraland organized its first fashion show, creating a completely virtual and immersive Fashion Week. Brands such as Dolce & Gabanna, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21 and Paco Rabanne roamed fashion week and the platform generated fan engagement and set new precedents for fashion shows and public awareness. In addition to the experience of participating in a fashion show, the event also sold NFTs of clothing and accessories from the brands present on the shows.
NFT as exclusive
Some companies use NFTs to deliver unique experiences to their customers. This is the case of the Californian winery Robert Mondavi, which decided to launch the first wine label sold by NFT in the world. There are only 1996 collectable and traceable bottles using blockchain technology.
Each NFT wine sells for $3,500 and has a key to unlock a bottle buyback. That would be a potential income of $6.9 million. Not bad is not it ?
NFT for fundraising
Some brands are also known for their performance in social responsibility. NFTs offer new opportunities to change the way they fundraise for the social movements they support. MAC Cosmetics, for example, will be selling collectible NFTs to raise funds to support organizations fighting HIV/AIDS.
NFTs open new opportunities not only for brands but also for non-profit organizations. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has launched the sale of a collection of 1000 NFTs to raise funds for the promotion of Internet access for students in schools around the world. Hope for Haiti in partnership with FXG announced the launch of NFT to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
How are brands doing with NFTs?
Publicity or not, NFTs have been involving large values in the market since 2021, when they moved $25 billion, breaking the record since their inception.
Conscious brands have jumped on the NFT trend and are taking advantage of it. Adidas, for example, moved approximately $43 million from NFT in partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comics, and GMoney.
In addition to financial gains, brands have achieved branding results with their customers, providing them with exclusive experiences, creating a sense of community and attracting younger audiences more easily in step with new technologies. Breaking down the barriers between the physical and digital universes has provided a series of penetrations into previously unimaginable markets for brands, such as the gaming and entertainment market, and even visibility into social impact actions .
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