Big brands are launching web3 projects and campaigns, yet a majority of their audiences don’t even realize it.
Because web3 terminology can be quite technical, if you are not a software engineer then you probably tune out what sounds like a new language.
Fortunately, big brands are doing the learning for consumers and revolutionizing how marketers define brand community, loyalty programs, and much more. Big brands are arguably taking the first step to bridge the gap between individuals and web3 technology.
Much like the average consumer, I was unaware of all the commotion big brands are causing in the web3 ecosystem… Until I joined the Holder team.
I’ve been immersed in web3 for a month now and continually become fascinated with the endless ways brands can beef up their marketing and customer engagement strategies by leveraging an innovative marketing strategy and blockchain technology.
Below is a quick list of my favorite web3 campaigns from various traditional brands in web3. It's inspiring to watch how companies are converting consumers into loyal customers using this the blockchain.
Accessory Brands
Ray-Ban
Fashionably fast, Ray-Ban launched NFTs which were digital glasses that can be worn on digital avatars. Ray-Ban created this NFT collection in honor of customers continuing to express their uniqueness.
The NFTs were auctioned off on OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace. Like many brands active on web3, Ray-Ban made a large collection drop and donated all the proceeds to a charity.
Tiffany & Co.
Who would have thought a luxury jewelry brand would be on the frontier of using web3 technology in 2022. The launch of the “NFTiffs” is one of my personal favorite brand promotions in web3. Tiffany & Co. sold 250 NFTs, named “NFTiffs” to holders that owned original CryptoPunk NFTs. This is my favorite web3 campaign because it leans into the key aspects of web3 — it utilizes the interoperable and open protocol nature of the blockchain.
Essentially, the NFT was a rendering of a unique CryptoPunk-designed pendant. The NFTiffs were sold for about 30 ETH, which was equivalent to $50,000 at the time. Holders of the NFTiffs could cash in their Tiffany & Co. NFT for a real gold pendant, containing 30 precious stones. Tiffany & Co. designers crafted the custom pendants to reflect the 87 attributes and 159 colors represented in CryptoPunk’s collection of 10,000 NFTs.
Tiffany & Co. NFTs were only available to be purchased and redeemed by CryptoPunk holders. The NFT was exchangeable for the creation of a custom-designed pendant and an NFT digital artwork that resembled the final jewelry design. Uniquely, the renderings reflected the CryptoPunk owner’s original CryptoPunk NFT.
Beverage Brands
Starbucks
Not only did Starbucks launch a new loyalty program on the blockchain, but they created an entirely new brand and experience around it, called Starbucks Odyssey. Odyssey members get the chance to complete interactive activities, called “Journeys”, in order to collect “Journey Stamps”, which are NFTs. By doing this, members earn “Odyssey Points” to receive special offers and benefits through the program.
Sign me up!
Personally, I love seeing how brands use innovation to inspire customer loyalty. In fact, Starbucks isn’t the only brand building exclusive deals through the use of web3.
Pepsi
Talk about frontier brand promotions in web3, Pepsi is the pro. Pepsi was one of the first major brands to launch an NFT project in 2021. The campaign was a wild success for the brand — it was quite a mic. drop (no really, the campaign was named the “Pepsi Mic Drop”).
The Pepsi Mic Drop was a collection of 1,893 unique NFTs of Pepsi-branded microphones. The art and amount of NFTs were no mistake. The art reflects Pepsi’s history rooted in music and the amount of NFTs represents the year the iconic brand was born.
The launch became even more favorable due to the fact that it was free! All US citizens were eligible to mint an NFT from the collection.
Pepsi is clearly a pop-culture legend that deserves all the hype — maybe I am slightly biased because I would take Pepsi over Coca-Cola any day! To this day, Pepsi continues to roll out new web3 campaigns across a number of its brands, building its web3 audience and customer base.
Red Bull
Red Bull brought a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to web3 in 2021. They have sponsorships with a number of blockchains, launched their own NFTs, and more.
Oracle Red Bull Racing partnered with Tezos to create an NFT collection that reflected the brand's history and laid the future roadmap for where the brand is headed. The purpose of the collection was for fans to have the chance to own a piece of the company's history and stay connected during the disconnected time of the pandemic.
Red Bull Racing added a new partner to the web3 team in 2023 with Sui, who was named Oracle Red Bull Racing’s official blockchain partner. With the help of Mysten Labs, Red Bull focuses on building projects on the Sui blockchain that give racing fans a more interactive experience with Red Bull. It will be interesting to see how Red Bull converts more fans into loyal customers through this initiative.
Budweiser
Budweiser created an online community for all their web3 activities, called the Budverse. Holders of Budverse NFTs unlock exclusive benefits and rewards. Budweiser has taken a number of steps to immerse itself in web3 culture and purchased the Beer.eth ENS domain for 30 ETH (which was equivalent to $95,000) in 2021.
Not long after purchasing Beer.eth, Budweiser launched its first NFT collection called the Budverse Cans Heritage Edition. The collection was a look back at historic designs throughout Budweiser’s history and granted holders immediate access to the Budverse with exclusive benefits for them.
In 2022, Budverse started selling Fifa World Cup x Budverse NFTs. Each NFT in this collection acts as a live scoreboard for each World Cup game. This activation builds team pride while promoting Budweiser’s brand.
Budweiser also leveraged a number of dynamic web3 partnerships, including one with Zed Run to sell Budweiser-branded Zed Run racing horse NFTs. You can see the full collection and other Zed Run campaigns here.
Toy Brands
Barbie
Pop culture, entertainment, and crypto ecosystems have been reverting back to the nostalgic roots of Barbie. This year, Mattel, the creator of Barbie, partnered with Boss Beauties to launch a collection of Barbie NFTs.
The collection contains over 250 randomized options that represent Barbie careers. Collectors could buy initial packs for $25, which included four different Barbie NFTs. Within the four-pack, holders can expect to receive two commons, one uncommon, and one rare Barbie NFT.
Loyal Barbie fans and customers are enticed to purchase Barbie NFTs because the NFTs carry customer benefits in the digital and the real worlds.
In addition to attracting more consumers to web3, customers don’t even have to worry about using crypto — they were able to just pay with their credit cards and create a crypto wallet tied directly to their email address.
Overall, it is pleasing to watch Mattel and Boss Beauties attract more female consumers to the web3 world.
Hot Wheels
Parallel to Barbie, Mattel decided to also race into web3 with a Hot Wheels NFT collection called the “NFT Garage”.
Customers receive seven NFTs within one pack. The packs are selling at $25, the same as the Barbie NFT packs.
Mattel has publicized that the toy industry belongs in web3 and Mattel plans to stay ahead of the game.
It’s impressive to see Mattel really lean into web3 with multiple collections across multiple product lines. They understand that web3 technology represents a new way to launch products and engage audiences. It's not just a one-and-done campaign launch — instead, it's a new channel for them.
Athletic Brands
Nike
There’s no way we can discuss innovative web3 brands without mentioning Nike. The brand has seen staggering success after acquiring one of the leading NFT brands, RTFKT, in 2021. After the acquisition, Nike’s internal Nike Virtual Studios went on to launch one of the most robust web3 brand programs to date with .SWOOSH, which now has over 375,000 members.
Sneakerheads and Nike fans are flocking to become members. When you become a member of .SWOOSH, you unlock the opportunity to own NFTs, be a part of a large community, unlock special offers, receive access to exclusive tours, and even have the chance to co-create with Nike designers. They’ve already dropped exclusive Air Force One NFT collectibles and posters and have major plans for the future of .SWOOSH.
Nike’s web3 strategy is also moving heavily into gaming. In 2023, Nike also announced new partnerships with both EA Sports and Fortnite.
This makes great sense given that gamers make up 36% of the daily unique active wallets according to DappRadar’s May 2023 Industry Report.
Clearly, Nike has created multiple facets to engage with all Nike consumers. Nike believes their presence in web3 is not only developing a sense of community for its consumers, but it is also shaping culture.
Adidas
All competing brands tend to make similar strategic moves, hence why we saw Adidas enter web3 immediately after Nike did in 2021, continuing over 60 years of rivalry.
Within a couple of weeks of Nike’s acquisition of RTFKT, Adidas dropped an NFT collection, called “Into the Metaverse” in a ground-breaking partnership with existing NFT brands and influencers Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic, and gmoney. The initial drop gave holders access to claim exclusive Adidas apparel, but it has evolved into a much larger strategy and program inside Adidas. It enabled fans to purchase virtual merchandise and aesthetically dress their avatars for any Metaverse environment.
Watching Nike and Adidas get creative in their marketing efforts has been intriguing. Additionally, Adidas launched a web3 box hunt game, sending their audience on a scavenger hunt across the internet to find hidden boxes of virtual Adidas sweatshirts.
As the web3 world develops, Adidas is engaging with even more holders in unique ways. Normally, Adidas releases products with the highest demand first on their app, but they are putting a greater emphasis on rewarding their holders. Adidas is starting to honor its loyal web3 audience by offering preferred access to select drops if the customer is a holder of an Adidas NFT.
Puma
Expanding fashion, web3 awareness, and wed3 education, Puma dropped an NFT collection this year to celebrate Puma’s 75th anniversary. Puma’s CBO doesn’t think web3 is a fad, rather it is the future — “We see it as a way to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with our consumers.”
Puma has been orchestrating web3 initiatives since 2022 and has developed new strategies to compete in the athletic fashion sector again. Puma is challenging brands in web3 and the Metaverse with their 2023 campaign, the Black Station. Anyone can participate in the virtual experience, but only Puma holders that received an airdropped (from Puma) can purchase a digital "Rulebreaker” sneaker and claim two digital wearables.
With three major rivals in the same space, it begs the question of who is navigating web3 better- Nike, Adidas, or Puma?
Sports Brands
NBA
In their partnership with Dapper Labs, the NBA was one of the first major brands to bring NFTs to the masses — in fact, the creation of NBA Top Shot started an explosion of activity in the NFT market because of the streamlined accessibility.
Over one million fans across the world were registered as Top Shot users by 2021. Basketball fans are able to buy and own pivotal highlights and moments from the NBA season. The collection consists of officially-licensed digital clips and exclusive “Top Shot” collectibles.
I love seeing the NBA grow the basketball fandom and interact with fans beyond the stadium seats.
Being new to web3, I strongly appreciate that the NBA and Dapper Labs strategically lowered various barriers to entry so non-technical users could still participate in all the action. In the early days of Top Shot, users only bought collectibles with a credit card — users didn’t need to own a crypto wallet or have to use cryptocurrency to complete a purchase. The user simply knows they are buying a cool collectible that can be resold on the Top Shot marketplace.
NFL
Speaking of athletics, the NFL has also built out its web3 playbook with the assistance of Dapper Labs. Fans can “own the game like never before” with NFL ALL DAY. In this community, football fans are buying, selling, trading, and playing games to own officially-licensed NFL highlights.
Each video is considered to be an NFT that is collected in the fan's wallet. Holders compete with each other to build the best collection of rare football moments.
Beauty Brands
L’Oreal
With much contrast to sports, this year L’Oreal made its influential mark on the blockchain.
L’Oreal chose to empower female artists to support their internal campaign, Women of Worth. The philanthropic promotion consisted of five female artists auctioning off five NFTs created with variations of the color red. It was called “Reds of Worth” and helped empower female artists, support female change makers, and promote L’Oreal’s Reds of Worth Stain Lipstick.
Further promoting the values of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, L’Oreal formed a DAO called GORJS. The DAO and 1,000 NFTs were created with efforts to support 3D creators and digital makeup artists.
The brand believes that a new era of makeup artistry is on the rise.
Food Brands
Taco Bell
Taco Bell was the first restaurant to launch an NFT in 2017, selling out within 30 minutes. This paved the way for other fast-food brands to build similar on-chain marketing campaigns.
As more NFTacoBells are minted, the Taco Bell Foundation donates all the proceeds to youth charities that empower students to further their education.
Chipotle
The Tex-Mex restaurant, Chipotle, started dipping into web3 in 2021. The CMO of Chipotle, Chris Brandt, released a statement to explain the brand’s marketing strategy — “We want to build the next generation of Chipotle fandom by connecting with the web3 community.”
Chipotle started a crypto-movement when they enable customers to use cryptocurrency as a form of payment in 2021. In addition, Chipotle was the first restaurant to build branded games in the Metaverse, using blockchain technology. Simplifying the way consumers enter web3, Chipotle only required customers to log in with their Chipotle Reward credentials.
Mark your calendars for any upcoming Mexican food-honoring holidays — Chipotle is notorious for launching Chipotle-themed Metaverse games around days like National Burrito Day and National Avocado Day.
Within the games, customers win points that translate into real-life rewards. Chipotle generously handed out over $300,00 in crypto through the games “Burritos or Bitcoin” and “Buy the Dip”.
KFC
To honor Colonel Sanders’ 11 secret herbs and spices used to make “finger-lickin’ good” chicken, KFC collaborated with local artists to release 11 KFC NFTs.
Holders of the KFC NFTs not only hold limited-edition unique art in their crypto-wallet, but they also receive exclusive offers and promo codes to redeem in exchange for food.
If you have been inspired to leverage web3 technology in your marketing strategy, get in touch with the Holder team. We would love to help you build out a new campaign.
You can also learn more about the do’s and don’ts of NFT drops in the Holder blog: 5 Tips for Non-Crypto Brands to Avoid NFT Disasters
