“Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” ~ Palmer Luckey
Try to define the metaverse, and you’ll run into a similar scenario. No one seems quite able to pin down exactly what it is.
It’s part virtual reality, part augmented reality. A dash of Bladerunner and a splash of Snow Crash. And then there’s the growing digital economy aspect. A sort of Ready Player One meets Wall Street.
Guys like Palmer and Zuckerburg swear it’s the future. Not the way to the future, or the next big thing, but the future.
They say if you replace “metaverse” with “cyberspace” you’ll get an idea of just how all-encompassing the thing is. Others say we don’t even know if it is going to be much of anything at all.
All this confusion over what it is and isn’t, and what it might or might not be, does not help when trying to market a metaverse project.
Throw in something as equally confounding and hard to define as NFTs, and you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
Today, we’re going to look at two metaverse projects using NFTs successfully in their marketing. We’ll try to discern just what it is that has made them so successful, and how you can reproduce some of that success in marketing your own metaverse projects, too.
Table of Contents
The Sandbox’s NFT Marketing Strategy
Without LAND NFTs, The Sandbox gaming ecosystem would probably be just another (yawn) online gaming world.
The Sandbox’s NFTs, however, are making quite a stir in several worlds, including gaming, Wall Street, and Hollywood. Since 2019, The Sandbox has seen total sales of its virtual real estate amount to $211 million.
One piece of LAND sold for $450,000. A November 2021 deal between Atari and Republic Realm resulted in the most expensive sale of virtual real estate ever, at $4.3 million.
NFT Celebrity Influencers
Snoop Dogg, the rapper, built a mansion on his Sandbox LAND. Aardman Studios’ Shaun the Sheep characters can be used to play the game.
So what makes The Sandbox’s NFTs so desirable? Let’s look at three things The Sandbox can offer the NFT investor.
In-Game Virtual Currency Strategy
From Monopoly to Minecraft, opportunities for game players to become real estate tycoons abound. But you never really own Park Place or your swamp house full of Mooshrooms.
It’s still the property of the game’s creator. Like your Facebook or Twitter account, it’s not yours, even though without you, there’d be nothing there.
In The Sandbox, however, you have to use the game’s unique cryptocurrency, $SAND, to buy your plot of LAND. The transaction takes place on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike Monopoly money, $SAND has real value.
Your LAND is an NFT in and of itself. You own a piece of the actual game itself. You can do with it what you please, from building on it to reselling it to another player. And you’re not restricted to a 1 X 1 plot, either.
You can invest in an ESTATE of varying sizes, from a small 3 X 3 to an extra-large 24 X 24.
Limit NFT Access to Boost Demand
The Sandbox creators made sure to incorporate the “limited supply” aspect of every successful NFT project into their LANDs.
There are only 166,464 plots of LAND available in the game. The Sandbox plans to hold on to 26% of them. Still, once the remaining 123,840 are all sold, you’re not out of luck. Don’t despair.
You’ll just have to hope you can pick one up on a resale marketplace such as OpenSea.
This makes the ownership aspect of the game even more appealing. Who doesn’t want to own an original piece of something? And a highly unique piece of something, at that?
Mid-December of 2021 saw over 103,000 LANDs on the market.
Marketing Strategies for Axie Infinity and Sandbox
When you play a game like Axie Infinity, the NFTs pretty much are the game. You create them, breed them, battle with them. Without them, there isn’t much of a gaming experience.
The Sandbox is different. You can:
- Rent LAND from other players
- Use the in-game game builder to build your own games for others to play
- Play those games without owning LAND
- Build other ASSETS, such as digital art and architecture
- Explore and admire the ASSETS of others, whether or not you own LAND
- Host giveaways and contests to win some $SAND, the game’s cryptocurrency
- Create and sell your own NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace
The Sandbox’s creators envision creators using the game’s metaverse to create art museums, parks, and other recreational venues for fellow players to enjoy. Snoop Dogg even plans to give exclusive in-game concerts.
And take note of that last perk on the list. You can become an NFT creator in your own right, using their VoxEdit software. Become an active member of The Sandbox’s economy and give a whole new meaning to play-to-earn.
All of this makes The Sandbox much more than just another video game.
Related: How NFTs Are Used By Companies – Top 15 Most Interesting Ways
Decentraland’s NFT Marketing Strategy
What do the Australian Open Tournament, Samsung, Yahoo!, and Paris Hilton all have in common?
Decentraland’s metaverse, of course.
Partner With User Crypto Projects for Collaborations With Big Communities
January 2022 saw Omicron cases surging throughout Australia. That left many international, and even local, tennis fans wary of attending the AO Tournament in person.
So the organizers decided to do the smart thing and open the matches up to greater access by taking it into the metaverse.
“With this next wave of technology, global tennis fans will have the opportunity to be part of the 2022 Australian Open in a way never before available.” ~ Craig Tiley, Australian Open Tournament Director.
As if to prove just how hip and high tech Tiley and his tennis gang are, they’re also releasing 6776 NFTs, called “Art Ball NFTs.” Each one will correspond to a winning shot taken by a player throughout the Open.
Should one of the 11 championship-winning shots land on a player’s plot, they will be entitled to the actual physical ball used in that winning play.
Just a couple of days later, Samsung announced their first metaverse venture, Samsung 837X. Combination game and event, players will be allowed the opportunity to attend quests and events like concerts.
NFTs and exclusive limited-supply wearables for your Decentraland avatar will be made available as awards to players and attendees.
NFT Celebrities and Music Festivals Marketing to Create Real-Life Events
Yahoo! and Paris Hilton were involved in a four-day Metaverse music festival that saw over 80 artists perform. The web service giant joined other tech brands in sponsoring the event, and Hilton headlined the fourth and final evening of concerts.
Decentraland built 5 main stages for the event. There was also a fun fair with games and prizes, a VIP section, a sculpture garden, vendor stalls, and smaller performance venues like a jazz club. It was set up much as a festival in the “real” world would be.
Rap Music NFT Celebrities to Promote Your Vision
Decentraland is, in many ways, your typical virtual reality world. You can buy and sell LAND, just as in The Sandbox. Everything runs on the metaverse’s cryptocurrency, the MANA.
There’s a creators section where players can design scenes, artworks, and even games and adventures like a medieval dungeon maze. And of course, a marketplace, where everything from works of art to names for avatars to LAND can be bought and sold on the blockchain.
What has set Decentraland apart from the other ‘verses in the universe is the events. The aforementioned tennis tournament and the Metaverse Festival are perhaps the two largest currently, but there are scores of smaller events being advertised right now.
How about an art gallery launch, featuring the digital works of a Decentraland player? Or maybe a full-blown art festival is more to your liking?
Man vs. Machine is a collaboration between rapper Ice Cube and painter Trevor Jones, an NFT meets physical art meets music event. And it’s taking place in Decentraland’s metaverse. The buyer of each painting gets an exclusive NFT of their painting, as well.
Here’s an interview with Ice Cube and Jones, discussing the event.
There’s even a charity event to support the children’s aid group Crypsybear.
What makes Decetentraland appealing, it seems, is that it is so much more than just a video game or cyber reality. It is a multifaceted, player-owned (is that even the right word?) universe where pretty much anything can, and does, happen.
Hire an NFT Marketing Strategy Consultant
We’ve concluded that there are at least three things to learn from the way The Sandbox and Decentraland are using NFTs to their advantage. Let’s look at each in detail.
Your Metaverse Has to Be “Meta”
The dictionary definition of “meta” is “more comprehensive, transcending.” To succeed in the metaverse universe, your creation has to offer more, do more, be more, than the ordinary cyber or virtual world.
The Sandbox does it with its game-within-a-game elements and the ability of every player to become an NFT creator. Decentraland offers this and star-studded events including everything from sports to charity auctions.
Your Metaverse Has to Have a Cryptocurrency Connection
For a digital economy to work, a unique currency seems to be the answer.
While other games and worlds work off of Etherium’s ETH or Bitcoin’s BTC, the appeal just doesn’t seem to be as strong as it is with those original currencies used by the likes of Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and Decentraland.
How to Be a Successful NFT Collector
From the Doggfather to Shaun the Sheep, and Samsung to Adidas, The Sandbox and Decentraland have no shortage of big names to throw around. These celebrities and big-name brands attract a wide range of people to their worlds.
At Crowdcreate, we do something similar for our clients. We pair influencers, big and small, with their projects, attracting new and different audiences to ensure their projects’ success.
Strategize Your NFT Marketing Project With Consultants
If you’re involved with the next big metaverse project, you need to talk to us. We’ve helped many achieve their digital success dreams.
Contact us today, and we’ll get you matched up to the right names and have your strategy defined—even if no one else can define what you’ve created. We’ll just have to see it for ourselves, won’t we?
