5 Examples of Brands Using NFTs to Grow Customer Engagement

NFTs are a very valuable commodity for marketers because they allow fans direct digital ownership of the brands and products they love. Even before the internet, brands have always struggled with how to give their raving fans a customized ownership experience that goes beyond buying products and potentially owning stock.

NFTs allow brands and marketers to give fans ownership on their terms. They can now own highlights of their favorite players or digital versions of their shoes and even their favorite foods. The technology serves as an enabler for word of mouth marketing as fans wants to show off their digital asset collections from their favorite brands and to that end will happily fill their digital feed with notes about their purchases and collections.

The exciting thing for brands and marketers is that we are still very early in the technology so even if you haven’t considered it for your brand, you’re not late to the party. In fact you could even develop a NFT strategy today and have a live drop to fans in a matter of weeks.

AVX helps brands develop their NFT programs and the following examples show what happens when brands dedicate the right time, effort and concept to their communities:

NBA (Top Shot)

This was the brand partnership that brought NFTs into the mainstream. The National Basketball Association made one of the best marketing partnerships in recent history when it licensed video assets to be sold as NFTs. In just a couple of months, over $230 million in NBA NFT moments were sold and that doesn’t even account for sales on the secondary market.  Even after the national media attention, fans are still snatching up highlight clips for around $20 each.

McDonalds

In late October the fast food giant had their fans in a frenzy when they announced McRib NFTs to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their here to today, gone tomorrow sandwich (availability, not calories). Their NFT launch tweet got 20x the amount of attention as the tweet announcing the return of the sandwich itself.  The brand subsequently announced new rounds of NFTs for their classic menu items like the Big Mac and their cones (though not for sale).

Hot Wheels

Mattel has hit a home run and shown how large SKU product bases can be configured and remade in the NFT space. Their collection features digital versions of the same metal cars you knew and loved with some obvious makeovers for 2022. They also allow you to buy a digital version of your favorite nostalgia car and redeem it for a physical version. What’s smart here is that the grown ups who long ago lost or sold their toy cars at a garage sale are now re-engaging with a brand that they otherwise wouldn’t.

Taco Bell

The fast food giant, like their rivals above, had consumers buzzing about the release of their own line of Taco NFTs. Thankfully these weren’t tied to a physical asset but the brand has done an incredible job staying in front of their consumers and their collection sold out within minutes of being offered online. The brand takes a lot of calculated risks but like their partnership with Doritos or their chihuahua asking for Taco Bell … it worked out well.

ASICS

In the coming months, most major sneaker brands will have their own NFTs but ASICS got there first and created a wonderful model for future token releases. Their 189 token set not only shows off their new design aesthetic but all proceeds from the sales go to their digital artist in residence program that will help up and coming artists get exposure for their work.

NFTs and Your Brand

If you’re looking to incorporate NFTs into your brand’s marketing program, AVX can help you with creative, marketing, reporting and launch execution. Contact us today and let’s chat!

As a bonus we even put together an entire launch guide to help you get your project organized.