April 8, 2021

NFTs and How They’re Used in Marketing

By now you’ve likely seen the acronym NFT pop up online, but what is it and why has it become so popular? NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, can ideally be anything that exists digitally. They’re unique assets like images, videos, GIFs, or audio files that can be designed and purchased – like this original cat GIF that sold for nearly $600,000.

Unlike bitcoin, which is a cryptocurrency that’s fungible, NFTs are a bit different. If you trade one bitcoin for another, you’ll still have bitcoin. NFTs on the other hand are non-fungible, meaning that if you trade one (say, an image) for another (say, a GIF), even though you’ll still own an NFT, the digital asset itself will be different. Purchasing one is kind of like buying a first edition book or a rare piece of art, but instead it will be digital.

NFT-Pizza Hut

Courtesy of Pizza Hut

How Brands Are Using Them

While brands aren’t sure if the trend will catch on, it’s clear they want in on the action. Pizza Hut, for example, sold this digital pizza slice for $8,824, and watch brand Jacob & Co. plans to release the first of its kind digital watch, complete with everything that would come with a physical watch – a certificate of authenticity and a box.

Even though brands that have adopted the use of NFTs mainly sell physical items, the idea is that an NFT would become an add-on to physical purchases, or vice versa. Sneaker brand RTFKT Studios did this with a shoe drop, where they collaborated with a crypto-artist to design a pair of virtual sneakers, which sold out in 7 minutes for nearly $3.1 million total. Customers who purchased a pair could also redeem a physical pair of shoes if they wanted, and even had the option to virtually try them on through Snapchat.

NFT-Hyperbeast

Courtesy of Hyperbeast

Luxury brands are seeing NFTs as a marketing opportunity, while customers are seeing them as an opportunity to invest. With NFTs, brands small or large now have the opportunity to think outside the box and create unique digital assets, ones they otherwise might not have thought to create.