There is a fact large companies are in the business of users.
Most of them have built network economies that scale when the masses adopt their product. Traditional tech companies create revenue from the data of their users, but there is a new wave of people looking for ownership of their data, their assets and their identity. They want to see how their problems are solved in a way that resonates with their values of decentralization and sovereignty.
Web3, NFTs or the Metaverse are not going to change the world. The world is changing and these are solutions pumping up that resonate with the values and life of the society that is being developed.
People are losing trust in large organizations, in politicians, in the government, in medicine, among other things. So now people are adopting new technologies that help them to see with clarity what is happening on the side that they don’t control.
The future is in the hands of those who can build trust by delivering what they promise to solve real problems.
Today, our world is on the more centralized side with some governments having too much power, and they control everything from what you can say to how you can spend your money. That’s why many people demand more decentralization, and why cryptocurrency is popular”
CZ, CEO of Binance
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A Deeper Look at NFTs: Why Are They important?
NFTs have shown tremendous growth in the last two years, changing the way we buy and interact with digital assets. They created a new standard using decentralized technology that helps us to assign value to a digital item that now is identifiable because of the blockchain, which functions as a public ledger.
The blockchain records everything that happens related to that digital asset: purchases, sales, movements, and uses, among others. These records can’t be forged or altered due to the blockchain’s verification process.
Before NFTs it was hard, if not impossible, to trade digital assets without the need for a third party to validate the authenticity of the transaction.
Now, individuals are becoming empowered by a new medium that allows them to safely and securely transfer goods or information digitally: blockchain.
With that said, any company loyal consumers or an active community can (and should) be thinking about how NFTs could work as brand-building, engagement-driving, even revenue-generating tools.
Major brands are already experimenting with NFTs. As time goes by we realize the difference between brands that only use NFTs to create hype and speculation from those that use it to really get closer to the community and give real benefits.
Although these are digital products, the strategic bases have not changed much. The main goal should be to provide value and solve a problem that people have.
The key is to design an NFT strategy that’s focused on shared value creation and bringing customers closer to the brand, purpose, or products they already believe in.
Top 7 NFT use cases
Create Immersive Digital Experiences: H&M
Metaverse activations are unique in that they can fully immerse the user into a digital space that is visually interactive. A couple of months ago, H&M opened its digital doors to its first-ever virtual showroom.
Inside the virtual showroom, press and media could walk around, talk to other guests, and view the virtual collection, which was showcased as high-quality visuals — photo-realistic 3D rendered cloth materials and garments animated to simulate the movement of the cutting-edge materials.
In the hyper-realistic Metaverse, the Internet is no longer separate from one’s “real” life. Instead, our lives are moving into the digital world, and for the fashion industry, the virtual sphere offers new ways to bring to life new collections and campaigns.
Through this activation they presented the Innovation Story Cherish Waste Collection. This was the brand’s fifth drop for their Innovation Stories initiative, a series of themed collections dedicated to advancing fashion’s use of more sustainable materials, technologies, and production processes.
The showroom is a pilot made by H&Mbeyond, the innovation hub of the well-known Swedish fashion company H&M Group. Together with startups and innovators, its team drives forward future-oriented projects.
In the future, the Virtual Showroom is expected to host events such as launches, meetings, and concerts for larger audiences, all in addition to the presentation of new collections.
PD: There are also other big brands such as Samsung, JP Morgan, Tommy Hilfiger, among others.
The whole idea of this blockchain app is to allow fans to feel more connected to their favorite teams, and even influence decisions.
Socios.com is a decentralized sports app looking to bring football (soccer) fans closer to their clubs. The platform stands out as the world’s first fan-voting and reward platform powered by blockchain technology.
Fan Tokens give owners access to services provided by the various sports clubs. Benefits include:
- Voting rights. Holders of the tokens get to have a say in various decisions of their favorite football club, including bus design and kit design. They can vote within polls their club carries out.
- Matchday experience. Holders of the tokens get an opportunity to access the stadium during warm-ups and practice games.
- Watching matches as a VIP guest. Socios.com tokens allow holders to meet team members and have online meetings with players.
Other perks include winning match tickets, uniforms or club memorabilia, and interacting with other fans around the world. While offering many benefits, the key purpose of the token is to enhance interaction between teams and their supporters.
Sport clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, River Plate, Monaco and others already have fan tokens.
Adidas Originals released its first NFT drop of digital and physical products in December of 2021. For the NFT release, it had teamed up with notable names in the NFT community, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, gmoney, and the crew behind Punks Comic.
Share Revenue with the Community: Bacardi
Bacardi loves purpose-driven projects: It launched an NFT auction as the central component behind the latest iteration of Music Liberates Music, a program that the brand launched in 2017 to help aspiring musical artists to get professional exposure.
The NFT collection is about three musicians: Bambii, Denise De’ion, and Perfxn to create a set of Caribbean-inspired tracks, which were then minted into NFTs. These NFTs were then auctioned off through the program and listed on Sturdy Exchange.
This marketplace was created by the Sturdy Creative House and Digital Delve, a studio dedicated to creating and producing visual narratives in physical, live performances.
The artwork was made by Serwah Attafuah, a multidisciplinary artist and musician based on Dharug land/West Sydney, Australia. She creates surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands, populated by Afro-futuristic abstractions of self with strong ancestral and contemporary themes.
So what do you get if you buy the NFT? In addition to an early release of the full tracks, buyers also receive a “Fanvestor Kit” complete with poster layouts, stickers, and social-ready assets to help spread the word about the artists. In effect, the kits invite each fan to become a “social manager” who is equally invested in the music they love.
And why would they want to do that? That leads us to the coolest “extra” of all — every purchase of an NFT Mixtape gives the buyer a percentage of the songs’ streaming royalties for a year. So the more the tracks are played and loved, the more the owner earns.
Create New Product Lines for Digital Native Communities: Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co dove into the world of NFTs in collaboration with CryptoPunks – one of the most popular and expensive NFT projects of all times – to release a limited collection called ”NFTiff”.
There is a limited supply of 250 NFTs that allow you to transform your CryptoPunk into a bespoke pendant handcrafted by Tiffany & Co artisans. These NFTs were minted at a price of 30 ETH (50,000 usd), and though that may seem high, we must consider the cost of Tiffany products and CryptoPunk itself. The average CryptoPunk is now being sold at 70 ETH, and for 30 ETH, you can buy a piece of Tiffany jewelry as well as another rare NFT. Together, these are among the highly coveted crypto whales.
This collection was powered by Chain. Through an end-to-end service, they help leading brands launch their own customized and tailored NFT product that can be a digital and/or physical collectible powered by smart contracts and blockchain technology.
And if you still don’t believe in it, here is a fact: They have already sold all 250 NFTiffs in just over 20 minutes.
If you are a Web2 company that wants to enter Web3, you should definitely think about developing strong partnerships with protagonists of the digital economy. Tiffany did it perfectly but if you want another example, you can also check what Time Magazine did.
If you are a Web2 company that wants to enter Web3, you should definitely think about developing strong partnerships with protagonists of the digital economy. Tiffany did it perfectly but if you want another example, you can also check what Time Magazine did.
Use Crowdfunding: Zero Contact
NFTs can be used as a form of crowdfunding for film projects. By selling NFTs associated with a film, filmmakers can raise money to finance their project. This could be done in a number of ways, such as selling an NFT that gives the holder access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content or offering an NFT that allows the holder to be a character in the film.
This could be a great way for independent filmmakers to get their projects off the ground without having to rely on traditional methods.
Zero Contact became the first Hollywood feature film to be produced and released as an NFT on Vuele, the world’s first direct-to-customer full-length film distribution and viewing NFT platform. Vuele provides customers with two different choices of NFT bundles to collect, namely the “Exclusive Edition” (including the feature-length film, behind-the-scenes featurette, autographed digital poster, and three character bios at US$59) and the “Collector’s Edition” (only includes the feature-length film and an unsigned digital poster at US$25). The company grossed nearly US$100,000 by releasing and selling the film as an NFT.
Leverage Nostalgic Branding: Coca-Cola
The inaugural collection of Coca-Cola NFTs reimagines some of the brand’s iconic assets for the Metaverse — with dynamic motion, movement and multisensorial elements — inspired by shared moments of friendship.
Auctioned over 72 hours as a single “loot box” via the OpenSea marketplace, the four multi-sensory, friendship-inspired NFTs put a virtual-world spin on iconic Coca-Cola merchandise. The Friendship Box reimagines a vintage Coca-Cola cooler with dynamic motion and illumination featuring three other NFTs inside: a custom-designed Coca-Cola Bubble Jacket to be worn in the Decentraland 3D virtual reality platform; a Sound Visualizer illustrating the recognizable sonics of enjoying a Coca-Cola; and a Coca-Cola Friendship Card with refreshed artwork from 1948. The winning bidder also will receive an in-real-life, fully stocked Coca-Cola refrigerator.
Prior to the auction launch, Coca-Cola hosted a “can-top” party in Decentraland on International Friendship Day featuring music, giveaways and a first look at the Friendship Box. Additionally, representatives from Coca-Cola, Tafi, OpenSea and Decentraland Foundation hosted a live AMA (Ask Me Anything) chat on Decentraland’s Discord Channel to discuss the Coca-Cola Friendship Box NFT collaboration and what it means for the metaverse.
The auction ended at 217 ETH ($575,883.61 USD back then) and the proceeds from the NFT auction went to Special Olympics International.
A cross-functional team of Coca-Cola brand, design and licensing leads from the United States, Germany and Japan, and external agency partners including Virtue and Tafi, brought the project to life — from ideation and strategy, to development and execution — in less than two months.
Coca-Cola is one of the most collectible brands and Nickelodeon that also shares this strength has recently developed an NFT Project focused on giving exposure to the most recognizable icons of the brand.
McDonald’s has launched the return of their burger the McRib together with the McRibNFT. This is to promote and celebrate the comeback of the pork sandwich that characterized fast food in the 1980s. McDonald’s fan enter a raffle-like draw with 10 lucky winners who will receive the exclusive McRib NFT to add to their NFT collection.
Incentive the Users with Play-to-Earn Dynamics and In-Game Assets in the Form of NFTs: Axie Infinity
While the global gaming industry continues to grow across all markets, it remains structured in a way that primarily benefits game developers and perpetuates a one-directional flow of value where players spend money to unlock access to in-game assets and gameplay configurations. In contrast, blockchain-built games and decentralized applications (dApps) enable players to capture the utility and value of in-game purchases and asset acquisitions more effectively.
Blockchain technology in gaming is driven by NFTs, digital assets that represent in-game content. Traditional in-game purchases are one-time, non-transferrable investments that remain locked in a single gaming world. In contrast, using NFTs in gaming environments grants players ownership of their in-game assets instead of game developers. Through blockchain technology, gamers can save in-game purchases, sell them to other players, or move them into other supported games.
Let’s take the example of Axie Infinity: Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game in which players purchase NFTs of cute monsters and then pit them against each other in battles. Players can earn SLP tokens during gameplay and trade them for money at an exchange or spend it inside the game to upgrade their monster.
All the in-game assets are NFTs and apart from the incentive of playing to earn cryptocurrencies, Axie presents the incentive of reselling the assets. Once you no longer want that skin or weapon you can sell it to someone else who does. And the best thing is that every time that there is a resale, Axie continues to earn a percentage of the transaction.
Web 3
Web 3
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