A 250-year-old British auction house sold digital ownership i.e. Non-fungible Token (NFT) to a collage of 5,000 digital pictures for $69M. The digital art was created by a random artist in North America and bought by a South Asian dude. And when America’s longest-running TV show CBS 60 minutes features that story, you know what the average Joe is thinking. “How can I create and sell my own NFT?”

Are retailers and consumer brands riding the trend?

Read on for some analysis, business benefits, examples, and 👉 a 1-min demo video 👈.

First, what is a token? A bunch of numbers that uniquely identifies a digital asset. For a good intro, see these posts on NewStack and CNBC.

Second, what is fungible (interchangeable) about these tokens?

Image courtesy of ArzDigital

Now that you are an NFT expert, let’s see why a Retail or Consumer Goods brand should care.

NFT offers the following useful attributes around marketing and selling:

Two attributes stand out — Marketing currency and Programmable.

NFT is without a doubt a new marketing currency. Yes, the hype may fade, but there is a good possibility that the concept of digital ownership will survive.

What is fascinating about NFTs is that they could be both a product and a marketing tool.

The product is a digital asset that encapsulates some form of creativity or a moment in time. The idea of owning digital (bragging) rights to that moment are marketing on its own.

See the example below before you think I am crazy!

For techies, this idea of programming via Smart Contracts opens a world of possibilities.

Smart Contracts make NFT dynamic, monetizable, and serendipitous.

For example, you could tokenize your 1969 Mustang and give driving rights to token owners for a day at random. No, I didn’t make this up on the spot.

Another good example is Two Degrees – an NFT that will self-destruct if global temperatures rise 2°C. Ouch, that’s ironic in the context of crypto energy use and global warming.

You bet!

Today, you can buy Nike shoes you can’t wear, tacos you can’t eat, and Pringles you can’t bite.

Just Food published an article titled, Why NFTs can offer marketing opportunities for FMCG brands where they discuss ideas on how brands can leverage NFT pheno-mania.

NFTs essentially offer three areas of utility for CPG brands: as part of overall long-term brand building (marketing); for short-term promotional use (promotion); and to generate immediate awareness for a company and its brand.

Just Food – Why NFTs can offer marketing opportunities for FMCG brands

NFT is about creating buzz…I mean creating unique value that resonates with the brand, timed for market events, and that which makes it stand out. Then make it digitally scarce, i.e. mint only limited copies of it. For example, if you sell apple pies, limit it to 314 to make it subtly meaningful, or not.

To get the immediate attention you have to be a brand, a celebrity, an artist, or an innovator (e.g. solve world hunger, cure cancer).

Brands have an easy start – they have both market awareness and an audience. All they have to do is redirect their marketing prowess to creating digital assets.

Timing is key. One great example is Charmin toilet paper NFtP.

Here is the excerpt from the Just Food article:

Now, did you notice the above excerpt starts with, “The NFT must make sense.” Not sure I agree, as it can limit creativity.

Another good example is CNBC’s Haines Bottom that sold for $61,000. It’s a short video clip of Mark Haines calling the market bottom during the 2009 stock market crash.

The key attribute of a good NFT is the ability to capture an important message or moment in history.

To memorialize moments, mint NFTs!

I think that is a cute line, can I NFT that? Well, not so fast, I ain’t no celebrity 🙂

Well, then anything goes, mostly. You can literally state a fact like “Time is irreversible” or draw a picture and create an NFT out of it.

On a serious note, one great example is VeeFriends by Gary Vaynerchuk: “the main ambition of this project is to create meaningful intellectual property and create an extraordinary community. All tokens are a three-year admission token to VeeCon, an annual super-conference.”

Gary, a social marketing guru said,

“I know that NFTs will be here for the rest of my life.”

Gary Vee

Check out this $50 painting at Etsy which comes with an NFT to prove authenticity. If you are asking, “What do I do with this NFT,” it is the wrong question.

The point is, the market is willing to buy, and now the question is, are you selling it or not?

Absolutely!

• NFTs are

  • New marketing currency

  • Product + marketing medium

  • Useful to create brand awareness

  • Important to attract newer demographics (crypto gen…is that thing?)

  • Inexpensive and no supply constraints

  • Limited only by the creativity

So what are you waiting for? Go forth, and mint-away!

This 1-min demo video provides a simple NFT ownership experience.

For the techies, here is how I implemented it.

If you’re wondering how to connect your Web 2.0 application to Web 3.0/DApps, MuleSoft can help as we connect anything and change everything.