The NFT Craze Is Booming

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (on the blockchain or in real life) lately, you’re already at least somewhat aware of the NFT boom happening before our eyes. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens for those not in the know, function on the blockchain- but we’re going to focus more on what they mean for marketing leaders in this blog. If you’re looking for a great breakdown of all things NFTs, here’s an awesome Twitter thread to get you up to speed.

There are several ways to leverage NFTs for your brand- at Fidelitas, we MIGHT have a project in the works with some artists and athletes you might have heard of- but we’ll spill the beans on that project in another blog – Sorry, (Uncle) Charlie.  Because NFTs cost very little to create outside of compensating the artists, brands have an opportunity to create low-cost value-adds for their most passionate fans and new customers alike. Imagine including a limited run of NFTs with a product launch to generate additional awareness and buzz. To his credit, Gary Vee did exactly that in support of his book launch this past week.

Beyond product launches, brands like Taco Bell have used NFTs to garner earned media coverage while raising money for charity. Perhaps the savviest application of marketing prowess to NFTs was Visa’s purchase of a Cryptopunk for the low, low price of $150,000. Visa generated far more earned media coverage than the $150,000 outlay, but now the global brand and its savvy CMO have a six-figure asset on its balance sheet. How many times do marketing expenses produce long-term assets that double as investments beyond their initial ROI? Not many, unless you count acquiring email addresses through a CPL campaign on Facebook and Instagram- but Visa’s NFT play was next-level.

Here’s the crazy thing about NFTs- we’re still SUPER early in this. Open Sea, the largest marketplace for NFTs, only has a fraction of the accounts that Robinhood has. Think about the progression as day-trading JPGs continues to catch on and steal the attention of recreational retail equities traders?

If you’re not at least creating an Open Sea account and keeping an eye on the trends developing, you’re missing out on a key piece of the metaverse unfolding in front of us. Want help sorting out what all this means for your brand in the big picture of things? Drop us a line (or a Lazy Lion) and we’ll be in touch!