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NFTs and Brands
NBA Top Shot
Millions of basketball fans around the world share a deep passion for basketball trading cards. The NBA took this nostalgia for basketball cards and brought it into 2021 through NFTs. Instead of owning a physical card, you can now own a digital NBA highlight. That’s right! You can own a piece of NBA history! What does this mean?
Just like you would purchase a pack of sports cards, you can purchase a digital pack of NBA highlights. Packs are priced based on rarity. Let’s use NBA superstar, Stephen Curry, as an example. A common NBA Top Shot highlight might be Steph making a layup in a regular season game, and there might be 30,000 of these in existence. A rare highlight might be Steph hitting a 3-pointer in the playoffs, which holds more significance, and there may be only 1,000 NFTs in existence. Finally, there may be an iconic 3-pointer made by Steph in the NBA Finals which makes it a legendary highlight with only 50 in existence. When you buy a digital NBA highlights pack, you have the chance to “unwrap” one of these rare and coveted tokens. Through scarcity, brand value and exclusivity, the NBA has created a viral NFT concoction.
New Product Promotion: Pizza Hut’s Non-Fungible Pizzas
Last month, Pizza Hut Canada debuted “1 Byte Favourites”, a digital pixelated pizza used to promote four new pizza flavors that were coming to Canadian restaurants. These pieces sold for the 0.0001 ETH or $0.18, which was supposed to mimic the approximate cost of one bite of pizza. Each week, Pizza Hut released a new pixelated pizza slice that corresponded with one of the new pizza flavors. Although the original was listed for 0.0001 ETH, the digital art was quickly re-listed for 5 ETH or $8,824.07.
Giving Back: Charmin’s Non-Fungible Toilet Paper
Not only was Charmin a hot commodity during quarantine, they are now a buzzy digital asset too! Charmin created some silly NFTPs (or non-fungible toilet paper) in the form of digital gifs. Bids were seen as high as 0.15 ETH or $264.72. Not only did Charmin join the NFT conversation, but they used it as an opportunity to give back, donating all proceeds to Direct Relief as a part of their ongoing efforts to help those in need.
Giving Back: NFTaco Bell
Taco Bell created five NFTs (a mix of images, gifs and videos) and sold them in batches of five. Similar to Charmin, Taco Bell used this as an opportunity to give back. They connected their brand to a buzzy moment while also promoting their charitable foundation. Profits from NFT sales went to the Taco Bell Foundation, aimed at helping youth succeed.
While the NFTs were priced pretty inexpensively at 0.001 ETH or $1.79 (to mimic the affordability of Taco Bell’s menu), some collectors were asking for close to $200,000 resale.
Artist Partnership: Pringles new CryptoCrisp Flavor
Pringles created a new digital flavor, CryptoCrisp, and partnered with an artist to bring their NFT to life. Only 50 were created and proceeds were shared with the artist who created the animation.
The CryptoCrisp NFT was priced around $2, similar to the average price of an actual Pringles can, but bids quickly went as high as $600.
Nostalgic Relevance: Bratz Collectible Cards
Bratz partnered with Animoca to release NFTs in the form of collectible cards. The NFTs came in five rarity levels and the most rare one, “Shimmerin”, was redeemable for a physical Bratz doll. Bringing Bratz to the NFT world can be seen as a nostalgia play, similar to how the NBA brought basketball cards to the NFT world with Top Shot. If you thought Bratz were just for kids, think again. Bratz are back!
If your brand is looking to connect to culture, build brand relevance and increase cool factor, NFTs should be something you consider. They provide consumers a new, fun way to interact with your brand. And who knows, it could mean big bucks in the future, just ask digital artist Beeple, whose NFT sold for almost $70 million!
