Cryptocurrency and blockchain are becoming more mainstream globally, and we’re seeing industries everywhere, including luxury, jump on board to maintain sustainability and relevance. Without a doubt, NFT marketing, when coupled with existing luxury brand marketing strategies, is proving to be an effective way for companies to connect with customers on a higher level.
How Are Luxury Brands Using NFTs in Marketing and Product Promotion?
In 2021, Prada, LVMH, and Cartier teamed up to create the Aura Blockchain ConsortiumOpens a new window . This blockchain solution platform can track product history and ownership while verifying product authenticity.
Gucci has also taken the initiative to implement NFTs by creating a digital sneaker platform. The company offers digital sneakers at around $12, a much more affordable option than physical products. This allows brand access without any actual desaturation. As a result, the brand gets new market exposure with creative promotional tactics.
Louis Vuitton and Burberry have also launched their own NFT collections, providing digital apparel for video games. Given that luxury fashion houses and video games generally do not appear to be the most aligned when it comes to demographics, these collaborations were quite innovative.
As we move closer to the dawn of the metaverse, we are seeing an enormous opportunity for fashion brands to make a top profit from offering their products on digital platforms. This move helps companies capitalize on the emotional attachment toward ownership and the desire to exhibit individualism and status through their products.
See More: The Case for Businesses To Create Their Own NFT Marketplace
What Are the Benefits of Using NFTs for Luxury Brand Marketing?
Considering the origin of haute couture, there’s no doubt that the ideal has always been to create a unique and special garment for a specific individual desiring to possess something that no one else has. However, when you look at different levels of product reinterpretation, like inspired-by items or even direct knockoffs, the appeal lessens.
As the counterfeit market grows, the appeal lessens further. Fake goods contribute to 3.3% of the world’s tradeOpens a new window , with an estimated value of $509 billion, according to OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office. Given the steady increase in counterfeit products and pirated goods, companies can benefit extensively from using NFTs because they return individuality and exclusivity to the luxury market.
By design, an NFT is something that simply cannot be copied without the original owner, who has exclusive ownership rights of the products. In a sense, NFTs return the relevance to haute couture in a new digital context and uniquely allow companies to protect their intellectual property.
How Can Your Brand Incorporate NFTs Into Your Luxury Marketing Strategy?
Three ways you can help your brand stay relevant in an ever-changing market include:
1. Creating charitable partnerships
Working with other well-known corporate partners to host auctions for charity allows NFT artists to use their creative powers to raise money for good causes. Consumers might be critical about spending money on NFTs that exploit the artist for the benefit of the luxury brand itself. But if the money benefits a charity, they’ll likely be more excited knowing their funds will have an impact.Â
Consider collaborating with celebrities to host an NFT auction to raise money for a cause that your organization supports and your consumers care deeply about. Several companies have collaborated with musicians, movie stars, and other celebrities to increase exposure to their products and services. In August 2021, for example, NFT platform Cryptograph and photographer Davis Factor worked together to auction off never-before-seen photographs of NBA star Kobe Bryant. All proceeds went to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation.Â
Rather than donating cash or crypto gifts, a generous collector can also choose to purchase NFTs and donate them to charity. If you decide to donate NFTs, it is important that you first ask the charity if they are comfortable holding onto the NFTs as an investment or if they would prefer to sell them and/or convert the proceeds they bring into a cash value.
2. Using NFTs to widen your collaboration capabilities
Fashion brands often collaborate with artists, guest designers, or bloggers. NFT collaborations are more unexpected and unique and can widen the potential pool of collaborators both parties work with. For example, designer Rebecca Minkoff worked with The Dematerialised and Yahoo to sell 400 digital garmentsOpens a new window in an auction at peer-to-peer marketplace OpenSea. NFTs also offer brands the ability to pay royalties to original creators whenever items are sold to new owners, ensuring ongoing collaborator compensation.
See More: NFTs: Functional Innovation or Cyber Weapons of Mass Destruction?
3. Memorializing key brand moments
While a large part of the NFT landscape is digital art collection, other items such as New York Times articles, viral tweets, and even memes have sold as NFTs. Thus, in theory, anything that can be rendered as a digital property can become one. If you have a flagship brick-and-mortar opening, a seasonal runway show, a product launch, or other key brand moments, utilize an artifact from the activity to archive a piece of your history and promote the moment.
Being a luxury brand is about innovation, individuality, and exclusivity, and adopting new avenues to reach target audiences can significantly enhance brand image. Implementing NFTs into your marketing strategy can provide your brand with new ways to widen your collaboration capabilities, boost collaborative and philanthropic efforts, and further solidify your legacy. Knowing how NFTs fit into the puzzle now will help brands grow into a future where luxury and its innovation, individuality, and exclusivity can continue to thrive.
How are you using NFTs in your marketing strategies to attract more customers? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .