#33: Estée Lauder Invests in Blockchain & Community-Powered Beauty Brand

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TL;DR

1. Estée Lauder: Invests in Community-Powered Beauty Brand

2. Nike: Releases Exclusive IRL Shoes & Game for .SWOOSH Members

3. Manchester City: Releases NFT Collections with Multiple Partners

4. Louis Vuitton: Unveils Jacket for Via Treasure Trunk NFT Holders

5. Gucci: Innovative Game Experience on ZEPETO Metaverse Platform

Around the Block…

1. Estée Lauder: Invests in Community-Powered Beauty Brand

• Estée Lauder was among the latest round of investors for the community-powered beauty brand KIKI World

• KIKI World raised $7 million, including investment from other groups such as a16z crypto, digital fashion group RedDao, & founder of connected clothing brand 9dcc g-money

• KIKI World is a beauty company that puts its community at the heart of their brand

  • Members can vote on options such as product & color that determine the products that are created

  • Members also receive points for voting, which can be used for product rewards & discounts

  • Their platform includes blockchain-tethered profiles & NFC-connected product

• KIKI World is also working on building software that will begin releasing in April 2024 enabling other brands to create their own community-driven activations through a suite of tools

• Sources: Forbes / Marketing Tech News / KIKI World

2. Nike: Releases Exclusive IRL Shoes & Game for .SWOOSH Members

• Nike is back in action with .SWOOSH - the latest homepage update touts the platform as ‘the home for Nike virtual products’

• For their latest activation, they offered .SWOOSH members access to an exclusive shoe, the Air Force 1 Low “404 Error”

  • With only 404 pairs available, members were able to complete a mini-game called ‘Galaxy Glitch’

  • The first 4,000 people to finish the game were granted access to the release which will be on Nike’s SNKRS platform on April 30

  • Shoes will be priced at $175 per pair

• Sources: .SWOOSH / X (.SWOOSH)

3. Manchester City: Multi-Year Partnership with NFT Platform Quidd & Releases New NFT Collection with OKX

• English football club, Manchester United, has announced a partnership with digital collectible marketplace platform Quidd

• The duo’s first activation will include free collectible packs - available to the first 10,000 ‘Cityzens’ (Manchester City’s free fan club)

  • Packs will include NFTs in the form of 200 unique & randomized digital playing cards

  • The partnership promises the ability for fans to unlock real-world rewards such as merchandise, tickets, & exclusive experiences

• Separately, Manchester City launched an NFT collection with their official cryptocurrency exchange sponsor OKX (which they previously partnered with in January)

  • This collection called ‘Unseen City Shirts’ will also allow collectors to receive real-world perks such as jerseys & matchday experiences

    • The collection was free to claim starting on April 23; with all NFTs claimed in 5 hours

  • Rewards will be distributed based on the rarity of NFTs owned which was revealed on April 26

  • Due to the demand, OKX will be releasing another batch of Man City NFTs on April 29

• Sources: Manchester City / Quidd / OKX / NFT Plazas

4. Louis Vuitton: Unveils Jacket for Via Treasure Trunk NFT Holders

• Louis Vuitton has launched its third exclusive product available to Via Treasure Trunk NFT holders

  • The Via Treasure Trunk is a collection of a few hundred Louis Vuitton Ethereum NFTs that were sold to pre-vetted buyers as soul-bound tokens for €39,000 in June 2023

  • Owners of the Via Treasure Trunk were promised the ability to purchase exclusive items with the fashion house promising around 2-3 items a year for the next three years

• The latest product drop is a varsity jacket designed by Pharrell Williams - available for sale to NFT holders for €7,900

  • The item is both a physical jacket & a digital collectible version

  • Physical jackets will be delivered in November or December

• This is the third item that has been made available exclusively to Via Treasure Trunk NFT holders, following an orange monogram ‘Speedy 40’ bag (~€8,500) & the Via Tile Trunk NFT (€6,000)

• Sources: Vogue Business / Louis Vuitton

5. Gucci: Innovative Game Experience on ZEPETO Metaverse Platform

• Gucci continues to evolve its presence within the metaverse-gaming app ZEPETO

  • Gucci launched their first activation within ZEPETO in Winter 2023, showcasing their Milan Fashion Week event - which was also streamed in Roblox & China’s QQ platform

• This recent activation ‘Gucci Valigeria Hide & Seek’ has garnered over 846K visits (30.4K recent visits)

  • The experience includes a virtual version of their travel-dedicated store in Paris, as well as a hide & seek game

  • Players who are in the top three on the leaderboard each week can win a neon duffle bag from the brand

• Sources: ZEPETO (Gucci Valigeria Hide & Seek) / Seoulz

Chain Reactions!

• Manchester City & the Tail of Two NFT Projects

  • Seems like the football club is going all in on NFTs & blockchain partnerships

  • It is an interesting approach to have two NFT projects with different partners (Quidd & OKX) launching at the same time - I guess the more, the merrier when it comes to free NFTs & potential fan rewards

  • Glad to see there is traction on both!

• Gucci’s Metaverse Presence

  • Gucci continues to be bullish in its metaverse presence

  • They have established themselves across platforms with activations in Zepeto, Roblox, QQ, The Sandbox - & also creating their Vision Pro app experience earlier this month

• Exclusivity!

  • Both Louis Vuitton & Nike’s .SWOOSH leaned into their exclusive approach this week with a limited volume item available to purchase for select groups

    • While Louis Vuitton staged the ultimate exclusivity play with its high-cost Via Treasure Trunk last year, Nike continues to lean in on this tactic that has worked so well for them in the sneaker space

    • Nike set up their exclusive shoe drop as a mechanism to gain more members to .SWOOSH - requiring people to sign up for the platform, then play the game for a chance at having an opportunity to purchase the limited volume item

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.