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On this page:
- Which Companies Are Leveraging NFT Marketing Strategies?
- How NFTs can boost your company’s brand recognition?
- Strategies for your marketing campaign
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) can have a great impact on modern businesses, and it’s not only about their tech aspects. It’s interesting how NFTs might influence brand building efforts. Here’s some data for you that points to where the digital marketing world is nowadays heading and where we could see NFT marketing potentially finding its own space and recognition.
Global advertising revenue – where do we stand now?
2021 forecasts of global advertising revenue surpassed $650 billion in 2021. However, the CMO Survey demonstrated that traditional advertising methods will grow negatively at -0.2% in 2021. On the contrary, companies will increase their digital ad spending by 17%, taking the total expenses to $389 billion in 2021. Consequently, marketers will focus on social media platforms and a real-time chat network like Telegram marketing to ensure business success. In conjunction with social media, 82% of marketers leverage content marketing strategies to expand audience reach.
NFT - a disruptor or innovator?
However, there is a new guest in the advertising world with the potential to disrupt brand marketing once and for all.
NFT marketing strategies are emerging as the strongest contender in the advertising domain with their new and refreshing technological innovation. NFTs are now the buzzword across all sectors with Collins Dictionary electing it as the 2021 Word of the Year. The NFT market has grown enormously in 2021 with the total sales volume reaching $25 billionfrom just $95 million in 2020. In this article, we will explain how companies are adopting NFT marketing strategies to reach out to consumers and engage them. Let’s keep in mind that the cryptographic authentication and blockchain technology ensures that each digital asset is unique with its own metadata and security code.
NFTs can include artwork, collectibles, in-game assets, audio/video clips, virtual land, financial instruments, and the like. In fact, anything can be an NFT, but the ones that will have real value usually carry IP or some additional perks for holders.
Which Companies Are Leveraging NFT Marketing Strategies?
It all began in March 2021 when Beeple sold an NFT artwork called Everydays for a whopping $69 million. Soon after that, the then CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for $3 million.
In the blink of an eye, all major companies and brands started jumping into the NFT bandwagon. For example, the payments giant VISA brought a CryptoPunk NFT for $150K.
One of the sectors that stood out for the best NFT marketing practices is the fashion industry. Dolce & Gabbana released the Collezione Genesi collection from the luxury NFT marketplace UNXD that sold for $5.7 million. It opened up new frontiers for fashion enthusiasts who could get their hands on both the physical and digital versions.
In December 2021, Nike bought RTFKT that makes NFT shoes for the metaverse, thus diversifying its base for a digital clientele. Adidas also sold its ‘Into The Metaverse’ NFTs for $22 million.
To compete for the best NFT marketing strategy, brands like Louis Vuitton had developed NFT games to mark its 200th anniversary. Keeping with the trend, Burberry has partnered with Mythical Games to launch its own NFT collection. Gucci too has followed suit with its collaboration with Superplastic and 100 Thieves.
Food & Beverage companies aren’t too far behind, either. The American fast-food chain, Taco Bell, advertised their new potato-based dishes with special Taco NFTs. Some of these NFTs like the ‘Ever-Crunching Tacos” have received a resale bid ranging from $3K to $187K.
Beverage brand Coca-Cola auctioned its NFTs for $575K and donated the proceeds to the Special Olympics International. The NFTs contain a Bubble Jacket that buyers can wear in Decentraland, a Sound Visualizer, and a Friendship Card with artwork from 1948.
Robert Mondavi Winery in partnership with French porcelain brand, Bernardaud launched limited edition wine vessels as NFTs for its consumers. These NFTs will bolster the authenticity and traceability of the wine, along with a special digital-physical collection.
The list could be endless. Most companies and brands are leveraging NFTs as marketing stunts for now, but this fad continues as a major trend.. Make sure to talk to us if you’d like to join it and add the NFT experience to your brand!
How NFTs can boost your company’s brand recognition?
Unique NFT collectibles offer an exclusive brand experience to the customers, thereby generating brand awareness about the product. An NFT collection and NFT marketing efforts can create buzz that leads to exclusive events and product launches that further engage the audience.
One example is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The Bored Apes are a collection of NFTs that are running on the Ethereum blockchain. This club started out as an interesting project of unique profile pictures and has now become a rather exclusive community of holders–among which are celebrities and entrepreneurs–who can meet on VIP, club-only events.
Through creating the sense of exclusivity and scarcity, NFTs are the natural addition to luxury brands, but they can raise awareness for many other brands.
You could think of them as the modern-day collector items, such as collector editions of DVDs and games. This might boost the revenue, but it might do much more for the brand perception.
However, similarly to Bored Ape Yacht Club, your business could add NFTs to offer exclusive access to events, pre-sales, offers and more only to the actual holders. A similar project has been made by the famous entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk. His VeeFriends are his drawings but each comes with a different benefit, such as a ticket to a conference to be redeemed at a defined point in time, exclusive access to dinner with Gary, etc. You might get inspired and utilize them similarly.
All such efforts around NFTs can turn into a positive return in sales or brand awareness and engagement.
Here are actionable strategies that you can introduce into your companies marketing campaign:
Create Something With Long-lasting Value
Do not jump into NFTs with the sole purpose of making a quick profit. While it is easy to commission a celebrity and promote/sell your brand NFTs, it must not become a fad. Rather than focussing on a one-time sale, develop a strategy to provide value through your digital assets in the long run.
Provide an Authentic Experience
Your NFTs will not exist in a siloed digital ecosystem. On the contrary, these NFTs will create a seamless bridge between physical products and digital collectibles. Thus, they must reflect the values of the brand, and must carry their signature mark on them.
Focus On Community/Customer Base
Always remember that NFT communities play an extremely important part in the success of the project. Thus, it is necessary to find innovative ways of rewarding the NFT community for their contributions to the brand. Rather than a centralized profit structure, engage in collaborative projects, thereby making way for a distributed and decentralized revenue generation.
Learn About The Ecosystem
You should not get into NFTs without understanding the basics of the NFT industry and how NFT marketplaces work. Once you have the know-how, you will be better equipped to reach out to newer clientele. For example, one of the fundamentals of the NFT ecosystem is to create a buzz and backstory before NFT drops. So remember to build the hype before revealing NFTs to your consumers.
Care For The Environment
The world is moving towards more sustainable economy and while NFTs are great to market your products, some of them are extremely energy-intensive.For example, it is estimated that a single Ethereum-based NFT consumes as much as 100 kg of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to a one-hour flight.
This will change some day, with the move to a more efficient Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm on Ethereum, while there are already numerous blockchain platforms that offer lower energy consumption, such as Solana. There’s even Algorand which offsets all of its emissions, so the network is actually carbon-negative.
Set Your Brand For Success Over the Next Decade
No one really knows how the NFTs can develop over the next decade, so allow yourself not only to follow others, but get futuristic and innovative. Your company’s NFT platform is a dynamic place with adequate means of continual value generation. Thus, rather than having just a set of collectibles, you can think about designing NFT games, metaverse experiences, streams, characters for TV shows, and anything else that might communicate your brand values in the future.
It’s us, the early adopters who move the needle, so become one! And if you need a team to bring your NFT idea to market and build a marketplace around it–let’s get in touch!
