Trend Watch: NFT

Marketing Trends
Written By Ksenia Denisova

Welcome to a new series covering all things trends, and how these trends impact the world of promotional products. Once a month, we’ll deep-dive into a current trend, share examples from the retail space, and inspire you to create beautiful merch for your next project!

While NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have been commonplace for a while, it’s no secret that many of us still don’t fully understand their purpose and application. While you may have many questions about NFTs, maybe you don’t exactly know what to ask, who to ask, and how to avoid looking like a tech amateur in the process. 

Various brands in nearly every industry have started using NFTs to propel their message, product, and purpose. From creatives in industries like fashion and music, legacy industries like food and beverage, to even NFT promo products, it’s clear that this is one trend that is not going away any time soon! 

NFT merch is increasingly being created to add an extra layer of connection with its audience, which levels up the game and creates a physical representation of a digital artform many are so passionate about. 

Let’s explore some of the best NFT examples from different industries to inspire you to get out of your comfort zone, and create great NFT swag!

NFT merch in Fashion

What better place to look for creative inspiration than three exceptional examples of NFT merch in the fashion industry! 

“Mr. Wrangler" NFT Collection was one of the first NFT drops that truly merged the physical and digital worlds. The NFT holders receive access to digital communities, one Decentraland metaverse wearable, and one VIP pass to a private performance by Leon Bridges at New York Fashion Week in September 2022 where Mr. Wrangler's ‘Legendary’ NFT will first be unveiled.

Adidas is another great example of how NFTs can be used to create a meaningful connection with an audience and unite the digital and physical worlds. The team at Adidas created an  NFT promo collection called ‘Into the Metaverse’ and if you own an NFT you are granted access to physical merch and open Metaverse virtual experience. This is a whole new way of distributing promotional products, by adding immense value and an experiental element to the merchandise!

NFT merch in Music

Just last week at Collision Conference 2022, one of North America's largest and fastest growing tech conferences hosted in Toronto, ON, musician Raine Maida – from rock band Our Lady Peace – shared his experience with NFT merch. For his NFT Collection, he used Drrops, an app that presents a new way in which artists can engage directly with their community by delivering everything from physical merch, to VIP experiences, and of course, NFTs. Maida remarked that NFTs are a great tool to create a unique and direct connection with his fans. Just like is the case for individual musicians, NFTs are a unique way to build trust and connection with customers for brands.

NFT Merch in Marketing

There will always be a demand for a special connection, VIP augmented experience and great merch! 

NFTs are increasingly starting to appear in the promotional product industry, introducing a new, exciting, and eco-friendly way of doing merch! A long-standing customer of commonsku,  Harper + Scott, recently launched H+S META, which is dedicated to creating digital assets and experiences, such as digital merchandise, NFTs, and virtualized events and showrooms. Those who embrace this exciting new merchandise format, and excitedly adapt their business to accommodate it will surely be winners over the next few years. 

At skucon 2022, Advoc8 shared their experience of a real NFT merch project for the year’s top 10 YouTube creators. As part of the campaign, they sent creators physical gifts showcasing the NFT with the ability to claim the virtual version on the blockchain. This creative activation allowed the creators to have both a physical keepsake of their hard work, and also a digital experience to share online with their following. Watch the full skucon recording to learn more about this outstanding example of experiential marketing.

Outside of the promotional products industry marketing specialists have started using this tool to revamp some of the old marketing campaigns. The classic ‘Got Milk’ campaign is a great example of NFT being used to revive an incredibly successful campaign for modern product promotion. 

“NFTs are big right now, so it makes sense for brands to ride the wave, especially if their target audience is younger consumers.” - says Brendan Menapace from Promo Marketing. 

It’s exciting and creatively inspiring to see how digital art can be turned into real physical products! The Doodles NFT collection has quickly become one of the most loved collections in the NFT industry. The Doodles in the collection have an easily recognized pastel aesthetic and a dedicated community of fans…it would come as no surprise that they created the Doodle Merch shop where they sell physical products in the famous Doodle aesthetics. What an exciting interlacement of virtual and physical worlds (and also a great opportunity for distributors)!

A great example of a promo supplier who pioneers in tech adoption is Wendell August Forge, a 99-year-old Promo Supplier who launched the NFT collection featuring many of its classic ornaments! It’s an of its kind collection, and it turned out to be a great gift idea!

Nick Casares, Head of Product at PolyientX, a Web3 tool to deliver NFTs, merch, digital goods, reward tokens, shared in his article about NFTs for marketers, “because NFTs are an emerging technology, many marketing teams lack the internal resources to staff even a small pilot test.”

Fear and resistance to change prevent companies from adopting new technologies like NFT and moving forward! 

commonsku has a series of articles on how to overcome resistance to change and integrate new technologies and software to move forward and grow!

Have a recent NFT project you’re proud of, or just have questions about applying this technology to your current business model? We’d love to hear from you! Send us a message or tag us on social @commonsku to get the conversation started.

commonsku is software specifically designed for the promotional products industry. It's a CRM, Order Management, and eCommerce platform wrapped up in one sophisticated hub. With software that intuitively connects distributors and suppliers, commonsku is like a breath of fresh air for your team. Learn more at commonsku.com

Ksenia Denisova
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