Original title: "What sparks can luxury brands and NFT collide with?" ", by Chenglin Pua

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“Collezione Genesi” NFT

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"Metaverse Blueprint" by RIMOWA

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NFT figures and accessories from Burberry

NFT figures and accessories from Burberry

In June 2021, Burberry announced that it is working with Los Angeles-based game company Mythical Games to launch a limited edition Blanko NFT virtual doll in its game "Blankos Block Party", and will be held at the 2021 Electronic Entertainment Show in Los Angeles (2021 Electronic Entertainment). Expo). Burberry's Blanko NFT virtual doll will debut in the game on August 11.

Blankos Block Party is an open-world multiplayer game where players collect, upgrade and sell NFT figures called Blankos. Burberry said that by introducing these interactive NFTs, "Blankos Block Party" is creating a new "game monetization" economy and paving the way for future digital ownership of games.

The newly launched Blanko NFT virtual figure is a shark character named Sharky B. Sharky B, the shark avatar, comes in a new colorway of the summer exclusive 'TB' logo inspired by the Animal Kingdom collection. Sharky B can also be trained to master abilities including increased speed and agility. It is also an NFT product that can be purchased, upgraded and sold within the Blankos Block Party marketplace. But the marketplace is currently in a testing phase. In addition, BURBERRY also launched its own brand of game NFT accessories, including jetpacks, armbands and pool shoes, which players can equip on their characters.

Rod Manley, Chief Marketing Officer, Burberry, said: "Games are a unique space where we test, learn and experiment with digital innovations that reflect our values. Partnering with Mythical Games feels like a natural next step that goes beyond our in-house games, Bringing the world of Burberry into an established setting."

LV launches NFT game

LV launches NFT game

In this mobile game called Louis the Game, players will play the protagonist Vivienne through six different worlds and collect 200 candles in the game to commemorate Louis Vuitton's birthday. Every time a candle is collected, a LV postcard will be randomly lit, and there is a very small probability of encountering a gold postcard. Players who win the golden postcard will be eligible for the lottery and automatically jump to an LV website, and the prize is LV limited 30 NFT digital artworks, designed by the artist Beeple (Mike Winkel-mann). Each NFT is a collectible that can only be found by playing the game and cannot be sold.

LV Games on the App Store

In this mobile game called Louis the Game, players will play the protagonist Vivienne through six different worlds and collect 200 candles in the game to commemorate Louis Vuitton's birthday. Every time a candle is collected, a LV postcard will be randomly lit, and there is a very small probability of encountering a gold postcard. Players who win the golden postcard will be eligible for the lottery and automatically jump to an LV website, and the prize is LV limited 30 NFT digital artworks, designed by the artist Beeple (Mike Winkel-mann). Each NFT is a collectible that can only be found by playing the game and cannot be sold.

In Louis the Game, players can run around, jump and collect items. In addition, players can also use different combinations of LV letters and color matching to customize character characteristics, and can learn about the past history of LV by collecting postcards and other souvenirs.

LV hopes to attract young customers (especially Generation Z consumers) through games. This is the first time LV has created a game and it is open to the public for free. In this way, LV also provides new consumers with an excellent opportunity to understand the essence of its brand.

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Gucci launches NFT short film

Italian luxury brand Gucci is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2021. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, in addition to launching a series of activities and new products, Gucci also participated in Proof of Sovereignty, an online auction project of Christie's newly launched NFT digital artwork, to enter the digital field.

The event is curated by Lady phoenix, a leading figure in the contemporary digital art world, and will run from May 25 to June 3, 2021. The event brought together the works of 18 digital artists, including the late new media master Nam June Paik, the emerging artist Marguerite de Courcelle known as "Coin Artist", well-known artists Jenny Holzer, Gerald Laing, and Estate Claudia Hart, Lethabo Huma, KESH and Tamiko Thiel et al.

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Gucci's first NFT work, the starting price is 20,000 US dollars (transactions are limited to Ethereum)

According to Alessandro Michele, this NFT piece conveys "the desire to usher in the bloom after the winter haze has passed", which also "marks the entry of this legendary brand into a historic moment and into a new digital and media space" . He hopes that Gucci can continue to move forward for the next century, and hopes that Gucci will flourish in the field of NFT encrypted artwork.

Gucci pledged to donate all the proceeds of the auction to the United Nations Foundation's American branch (Unicef ​​USA) to support the association's promotion of Covax, the global new crown vaccine implementation plan.

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Why are top luxury brands vying to enter the NFT market?

According to a report published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), counterfeit products accounted for $464 billion in 2019, or 2.5% of world trade. The most counterfeited products were bags and leather products (accounting for nearly 15 percent of seizures), followed by perfumes and cosmetics (less than 10 percent). This is a huge disservice to companies, especially luxury brands. Products with a strong brand image and low technical content are the preferred targets of counterfeiters. Therefore, certain products in the luxury brand industry have become the primary target of counterfeiting and become one of the most severely affected industries. Previously, digital works were easy targets for piracy, such as music, film and television works.

In 2021, many pieces of digital art and collectibles were sold at high "sky-high prices", which attracted widespread attention from the society. As a result, NFT frequently went out of the circle and rapidly expanded its popularity. In addition, the development of application scenarios such as games, music, sports, etc. continues to infiltrate NFT into real life. From simple and direct NFT sales to interactive NFT-related software applications, these scenarios that are closer to life enable NFT to continuously improve its performance and intrinsic value. NFT gradually digitizes life, and gradually integrates physical industry communities such as games, music, and mass fashion into encrypted elements, further opening the door between the encrypted community and the real world.

The uniqueness and non-counterfeiting of NFT have made luxury brands enter the NFT field one after another. Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, co-founder and CEO of Arianee, a company that creates digital assets for luxury brands, said: NFT brings the concepts of digital scarcity, authenticity and proof of ownership. And luxury brands are a world that highly values ​​the above characteristics, making NFTs very suitable for luxury brands.

Jamie Burke (Jamie Burke), founder and CEO of Outlier Ventures, an investment company that invests in blockchain and metaverse, also expressed his opinion on luxury brands' mutual entry into the NFT market: most luxury brands regard NFT as a New distribution channels. They want to interact with customers and extend their brand value as much as possible through NFT. Additionally, NFTs are well-suited for luxury brands as they are attributable, persistent, perpetual, and can be displayed in virtual spaces.

The successful case of NBA Top Shot has made luxury brands hope to flex their muscles in the NFT field

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James slam dunk highlights, from NBA Top Shot official website

Five months after NBA Top Shot launched, the platform has 964,000 registered users, 4.5 million transactions, and $609 million in sales. Caty Tedman, head of partnerships at Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, said Top Shot's popularity isn't limited to the cryptocurrency community, with 80 percent of transactions on the platform being done with credit cards.

Vogue Business once did an experiment to try to buy the NBA Top Shot star package, and successfully entered the online queue two minutes after the release. Vogue Business’s serial number is 257154, which confirms that even in the digital world, people are driven to collect Birkin luxury bags (a top series bag under Hermès, commonly known as Birkin bags, which have a high price in the second-hand market due to scarcity). The psychology of scarcity remains.

A key factor in NBA Top Shot’s success in attracting a large number of consumers outside of the cryptocurrency community is their ability to allow credit card payments. On most NFT websites, users have to go through a series of complicated operations—acquiring cryptocurrency from transactions, storing cryptocurrency, and figuring out the entire transaction process of the blockchain. What NBA Top Shot users get is a simple online shopping experience; all blockchain operations are performed in the background.

Tedman believes that luxury brands can also profit in the digital world, but advises luxury brands not to rush into the NFT game. "It's bound to take a while to find something of real value in each vertical," he said. Luxury brands do not necessarily have to do the same thing as NBA Top Shot when they try the NFT field. But he believes that communicating with consumers is conducive to maintaining consumers' love for a brand, and NFT is a relatively convenient way. Tedman, for example, ponders why fans love the NBA. And the answer is, they like the wonderful moments of the athletes every game. They then set about acquiring the rights to own those moments and building a platform where fans can collect and buy them.