NFTs Offer Deeper and More Meaningful Interactions for Fashion Brands
Web3 technology is emerging as a new avenue for digital marketers to engage with shoppers and build communities. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have gained traction as an effective tool to interact with shoppers, offering deeper and more meaningful interactions than a simple email address. The adoption of web3 technologies, including NFTs, is expected to increase in 2023 as more fashion brands experiment with these nascent technologies. Web3 is a nascent internet based on blockchain technology. Proponents of web3 say it offers a way forward for fashion’s digital marketers, who are contending with a number of challenges in reaching new audiences, including stricter data-privacy rules, rising customer acquisition costs, and social media’s rapid content cycle.
Web3 Adoption Expected to Increase in 2023 as Fashion Brands Experiment with NFTs
Digital marketers are turning to web3 as an alternative way to engage customers, building communities and loyalty with innovative tools like NFTs. NFTs offer several advantages to fashion brands. Brands can engage customers who hold their NFTs, whether purchased or claimed free after buying a physical product, by rewarding them with free items or exclusive access to gated products or experiences, using the crypto wallet containing their digital tokens as a unique identifier. NFTs linked to real-world goods can also serve to authenticate products and act as a gateway to related services, such as repairs. However, NFT technology is still young, and the web3 user experience can be clunky. NFT buyers, who are a niche in the broader market for now, often judge tokens by whether they can be flipped for a profit. It’s also still to be seen how useful NFTs can be for introducing a brand or its products to audiences it isn’t already connected with, and even if brands can build a community, it may require careful nurturing to thrive. Despite these challenges, some argue the days of cheaply buying attention online are over, and it’s time for brands to begin building an approach in line with this new reality. Marketers are going to have to learn this new playbook, where attention is more earned than bought. In web3, there’s a more pure way of speaking to a customer by incentivizing them by providing digital assets and benefits to them through NFTs.
Adidas Leads the Way in NFT Adoption with “Into the Metaverse” Collection
Adidas was an early leader in fashion to embrace NFTs, partnering with influential web3 names Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and Punks Comic to release a collection of 30,000 “Into the Metaverse” tokens in December 2021. Each token cost .2 ETH (Ether), or about $800 at the time. The German sportswear brand wasn’t focused on generating revenue from the NFT sales.
NFTs: Creating a Sense of Exclusivity and Building Stronger Relationships with Customers
Instead, they were more interested in launching a new community, a new membership model. Adidas has given its NFT holders exclusive physical products such as a tracksuit and beanie and recently allowed them to vote on the color of an upcoming release. Most of the community activity happens in a server on the chat platform Discord dedicated to the project with about 60,000 members. The brand plans to involve NFT holders more in the coming months as collaborators and co-creators, not just customers. While members of the crypto community tend to be the biggest audience engaging with these NFT projects, they’re not the only ones. Adidas’ relationship with this community is different than the usual brand-shopper dynamic, largely because of the unique experience and access to exclusive products that come with owning an NFT.
In conclusion, digital marketers are turning to web3 technologies like NFTs to engage with customers and build communities in 2023. While these technologies are still in their infancy, the potential benefits for fashion brands are significant. NFTs offer a more personal and meaningful connection with customers, as they allow for unique and authentic experiences that cannot be replicated. By leveraging NFTs, fashion brands can create limited edition collections, offer access to exclusive events, and provide personalized experiences to their most loyal customers. This creates a sense of exclusivity and builds a stronger relationship between the brand and its customers. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it’s important for fashion brands to stay ahead of the curve and embrace new technologies like NFTs to stay competitive and engage with customers in new and innovative ways.
