Many NFT creators are struggling out there because they cannot market their own NFTs. Like many modern communities, this one is always evolving. So it’s important to know and learn the NFT promotion and marketing strategies to reach more audiences.
A Bit of History
In order to understand how NFT marketing and promotion work, it’s crucial to know how NFTs started. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) represent the ownership of almost anything, from digital art to virtual real estate. Opposite to money or cryptocurrency, each NFT is unique and has its own value.
May 3rd, 2014 was the day the first NFT known was published. A digital artist named Kevin McCoy created “Quantum”, a digital image that changes color and pulsates like an octopus.
It was not until years later that it started to gain more popularity. During 2017, most NFTs shifted to Ethereum, which introduced a set of standard tokens that allowed developers to create their own ones.
Cryptopunk “Pepe” memes and the videogame CryptoKitties were the first mainstream projects which gave people a lot of profit, making them really popular. This led to the NFT gaming scene and the metaverse projects gaining more attention from everyone, reaching their peak in 2021/22.
Has NFT Marketing Influenced Its Spread?
Marketing had a big role in making the NFTs the huge success they are right now. Its initial popularity was pushed even further thanks to promotion and new brands and influencers participating.
The chance of being whatever it can be, from art to audio, including videogames and collectibles of any kind, makes the possibilities endless, provoking markets to expand even more. For example, the first tweet made by Jack Dorsey was sold for almost 3 million dollars.
Marketers can develop what they please, and there’s always a target audience and specific groups that demand it. The introduction of major brands and their creative designs only helped it to grow and reach more individuals.
Most Famous NFT Marketing Examples
There are many NFT marketing examples that have spread its wave of fame. Its quick and massive notoriety has undoubtedly been helped by many websites, influencers, and famous people acquiring them. Many prominent brands started NFTs campaigns too, and the more renowned are:
Top Shot NBA
Top Shot NBA is a website where people can buy and sell video highlights of basketball players like trading cars, sponsored by the National Basketball Association.
Budweiser Cans Heritage Edition
Budweiser introduced an NFT collection called “Budverse Cans Heritage Edition”. It contained 1,936 unique digital cans, which represented the year when the industry released its first can.
Each NFT is unique and created with historic photos and artwork from Budweiser’s history. Each of these virtual cans also works like a key to enter the “Budverse”, where buyers can access to different rewards and surprises.
Adidas Mint
Partnering with PUNKS Comic and Bored Ape Yacht Club, Adidas created a limited edition of collectibles. It also included exclusive physical merchandise and digital applications.
Dolce and Gabbana Experience
Boson Protocol acquired The Glass Suit, designed by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, in 2021. Part of the Dolce & Gabbana’s Collezione Genesi, this NFT was a nine-piece luxury drop exclusively curated by UNXD, an NFT marketplace. It’s available both digitally and physically.
Bratz Collectible Cards
Bratz released NFTs in digital collectible cards on the WAX blockchain. Featuring both first-generation and newer Bratz dolls, they were available in five different levels, tagged by rarity. The most valuable card featuring the doll Shimmerin could be redeemed for a physical Bratz doll.
Nike’s CryptoKicks
Nike patented shoes as NFTs, known as CryptoKicks, in 2019. Digital assets were made for footwear, allowing users to exchange them. Each one of them has a digitalized ID code, allowing customers to mix different shoes together, resulting in a customized pair that can be built-in real life.
Hot Wheels NFT Garage Series
The famous toy manufacturer brand Mattel released a collectible series of Hot Wheels, with 40 different designs for consumers with a starting price of US$15 for each. The products included a pack of between 4 and 10 NFTs featuring an animated iconic design of the brand’s cars.
With a total of more than 5K NFTs redeemable for a physical version of exclusive Hot Wheels, every collector had a chance of 5% of getting a special token and owning a limited-edition toy vehicle in real life.
Ray-Ban Aviator
The sunglasses brand made an important collaboration with Meta (Facebook) on AR glasses and entered the NFT space featuring the brand’s iconic Aviator sunglasses as NFT. This piece of art was created by Oliver Latta, famous for his 3D motion designs.
Gucci Proof of Sovereignty
Italian fashion brand Gucci released an NFT-inspired Fall/Winter 2021 collection in an online auction hosted by Christie’s. The week-long auction ended with a final sale of US$25,000, which was donated to the organization UNICEF USA to aid the non-profit’s COVAX initiative.
Looking Into the Future of NFTs
Years ago, there could be some uncertainty about how NFTs were going to develop in the future. But today, it’s clear that they have come to stay, and will play a huge role in the upcoming years.
Currently, the market is changing a lot and its full potential has not been realized because a portion of people is still skeptical. But its unlimited options, influence, and spread are unstoppable, making it only a matter of time to be completely accepted.
Conclusion
There are many ways to engage and reach audiences, with many famous NFT marketing examples being successful. You only need to target the correct audience, and set up a website that offers feedback and communication.
It may seem hard, but it’s possible if the engagement is done correctly, allowing your brand to earn a name in this never-ending virtual world.
