024: Pre-Selling Physical Items with NFTs

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TL;DR

1. The Glenlivet: Launches NFT-Tethered Whiskey Collection

2. Fischer: Introduces 100th Anniversary Ski NFT-Bundle

3. Adidas: Brings Roblox Pop-Up Shop to Karlie Kloss’ Experience

4. Walmart: Expands Pudgy Penguin Toy Offering to More Stores

5. Coach: Launches Brand Campaign with Virtual Influencer

Around the Block…

1. The Glenlivet: Launches NFT-Tethered Whiskey Collection

• In celebration of the brand’s 200th anniversary, The Glenlivet has created an exclusive 12-bottle 50-year aged whiskey collection celebrating the liquor’s components - named ‘The Twelve Elements’

• Bottles in the collection are paired with an Ethereum NFT - which will be available to hold, trade, or redeem for the whiskey

• The bottle designs also feature AI-generated artwork

• The collection is available as of February 21st, with a starting price of over $43K - available for purchase in Ethereum or credit card

• Sources: The Glenlivet / Decrypt 

2. Fischer: Introduces 100th Anniversary Ski NFT-Bundle

• The winter sports equipment brand has introduced the 100-piece ‘100 Years NFT-Bundle’ to celebrate the notable company anniversary

• Purchasers of the bundle will receive a Solana NFT that is redeemable for a physical pair of RC4 skis & bindings in Fall 2024

• The bundle is available for sale on the Fischer website for $1,924 - standard purchase would be made via credit card; however, they mention that the purchase can be made with Solana cryptocurrency if the buyer opens a support ticket

• Sources: Fischer Sports 

3. Adidas: Brings Roblox Pop-Up Shop to Karlie Kloss’ Experience

• Adidas has created a pop-up shop within Karlie Kloss’ Roblox world ‘FASHION KLOSSETTE’ - as Kloss announced on her social accounts on January 30th

• Adidas continues its play of integrating into established third-party Roblox spaces - Karlie’s ‘FASHION KLOSSETTE’ was created August 2023 and has garnered over 28M visits

• Visitors to Karlie’s experience can browse & buy a sizeable collection of Adidas-branded items

• Sources: Roblox 

4. Walmart: Expands Pudgy Penguin Toy Offering to More Stores

• Pudgy Penguins, whose ethos is making Web3 accessible, is expanding its footprint in Walmart stores - now available in 3,000 locations, as well as offering new, exclusive product

• The brand initially debuted in 2,000 Walmart stores in September 2023

• Walmart will now carry 30 different toys priced around $3-12 each

• The toys are linked to a digitally connected blockchain experience via QR code

• Pudgy Penguins is also rewarding UGC content creation on YouTube, X, & TikTok, paying between $50-100 per video post that meets designated content requirements including tagging, length, & quality

• Sources: PR Newswire (Pudgy Penguins) / X (Pudgy Penguins)

5. Coach: Launches Brand Campaign with Virtual Influencer

• Coach launched it’s new brand campaign titled ‘Find Your Courage’, which is a blend of physical & virtual worlds

• The campaign includes celebrities such as Lil Nas X, Camila Mendez & Youngji Lee - alongside virtual influencer ‘Imma’ who can be found @imma.gram on Instagram (391K followers) or @imma.tokyo on TikTok (472K followers)

• The creative follows Imma around on her journey to meet celebrity brand ambassadors to learn ‘superpowers’ from them

• Coach also announced that the campaign will include ‘collaborations with gaming platforms where users can dress their avatars in teh Coach Spring collection, as well as a new multi-sensory iteration of The Coeach Tabby Shop’

• Sources: Coach / PR Newswire (Coach)

Chain Reactions!

• NFTs to Pre-Sell Items: We’ve seen a growing number of activations that use NFTs as a means for unlocking future experiences & physical goods - The Glenlivet Whiskey & Fischer Skis this week, Japan Airlines experiences last week. In these cases, NFTs act as a means for pre-selling items that will be delivered in the future, a great way to alter sales dynamics - while also bringing tracking & authentication functionalities that allow for resale.

• Integration into Existing Roblox Experiences: Adidas has been making moves in Roblox since first appearing this past December. They set up pop-up stores in seven existing experiences in their initial activation. Integration into the Karlie Kloss experience follows this same playbook to drive easy monetization opportunities through digital apparel/accessory sales while not needing to build their own experience & drive traffic. I imagine they will roll out their own experience soon, but this approach gives a good blueprint for other brands looking to enter Roblox without needing to fully build out an experience.

• Incentivizing UGC: I love Pudgy Penguin’s creative approach to encouraging user-generated content. We already know that toy unboxing content is huge on social - their extra push for content creation could be an affordable way to gain organic traction & leverage individual creator authority - in comparison to paid advertising.

DISCLAIMER: This content does not contain investment, tax, legal, financial or other advice & is not intended to be used in this way. It includes the opinions of the author & is strictly for informational purposes. Please do your own research.