NFT news
Warner Bros. is releasing NFTs for its iconic 2001 film “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring,” at web3.wb.com, the studio announced Thursday. The NFTs effectively function as an all-in-one digital experience and each include a 4K copy of the film, hours of bonus behind the scenes footage, lots of behind the scenes stills, and exclusive AR collectible assets inspired by the film.
Walmart appears to be venturing into the metaverse with plans to create its own cryptocurrency and collection of NFTs.
The big-box retailer filed several new trademarks late last month that indicate its intent to make and sell virtual goods.
In a separate filing, Walmart said it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
Digital cricket collectibles platform Rario on Thursday announced that it has partnered with former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to enter the non-fungible token (NFT) market.
With this partnership, Tendulkar not only serves as a strategic investor, but also makes it possible for fans to purchase his digital collectibles exclusively on the platform.
“It is a testament to our vision of making fandom more accessible. A world where stars don’t just exist on a distant flickering screen or in a crowded stadium, and fans don’t get to be passive observers but active participants,” Ankit Wadhwa, Co-founder and CEO of Rario, said in a statement.
New Starbucks Odyssey experience will offer members the ability to earn and buy digital collectible stamps (NFTs) that will unlock access to new, immersive coffee experiences
As one of the first companies to integrate NFTs with an industry-leading loyalty program at scale, Starbucks will create an accessible Web3 community that will enable new ways to engage with members and partners (employees)
Fasten your metaversal seatbelts, as Automobili Lamborghini is releasing a series of limited edition ‘World Tour’ themed NFTs this October. In collaboration with Web3 Pro™ and INVNT.ATOM™ (the Web3-focused digital innovation division of [INVNT GROUP]™), the iconic Italian company will release four unique “World tour” themed NFTs available for a limited time.
“The Epic Road Trip” collection launched in August has had super sports car fans and the crypto community racing to purchase a collection of four limited-edition NFTs released each month for 4 consecutive days, each available for 24 hours only.
Liverpool football club is deepening its ties with the crypto world by expanding a partnership with French blockchain-based sports startup Sorare, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Sorare, whose online fantasy sports game involves the sale of licensed digital sports cards which players can use to build teams which compete against each other, said it had an exclusive multi-year partnership with Liverpool to create content and experiences for fans.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech on Monday that the country’s plans for investing in digital transformation include non-fungible tokens (NFT) and metaverse services.
The country has steadily been promoting investment in digital technology, including through tax incentives for companies that embrace a digital future. In his speech to Japan’s parliament, Kishida said the country will continue to focus on “supporting the social implementation of digital technology” and will “promote efforts to expand the use of Web3 services that utilize the metaverse and NFTs.”
Japan’s federal foray into Web3 follows a trend of officials taking strides to implement Web3-related services in the country – rather than following the typical bureaucratic route that policies must often travel through. Kishida’s administration recently established a Web3 policy office under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which is focused on creating policies for the country’s gradual blockchain expansion.
In April, a task force launched by Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party and led by politician Akihisa Shiozaki released an “NFT White Paper,” which called Web3 the “the new frontier of the digital economy” and outlined plans to advance the national strategy on Web3.
Italian soccer club AC Milan is diving deeper into crypto with a new collection of NFTs from Solana-based esports franchise MonkeyLeague.
The new non-fungible token (NFT) partnership will let fans mint Rossoneri-branded wearables and give them access to game tournaments, such as football players playtesting the game.
It is not the first time AC Milan issued an NFT. In January 2021, the Italian soccer champion launched an NFT campaign and its AC Milan Fan Token (ACM) on the fan engagement and rewards app Socios.com. One month later, cryptocurrency trading platform Binance also listed the fan token.
Earlier this year, the club started new partnerships to issue official NFT video highlight moments and entered an NFT-based fantasy football game, allowing users to collect, trade and play with digital cards from AC Milan.
Burberry joins hands with Minecraft for skins (nft’s) for gamers
Hugo Boss is dropping a new collection of NFTs, this time under its Gen Z-geared brand Hugo, comprised of 3D characters that are designed to raise awareness around mental health. The drop, created in partnership with Singapore-based NFT collection Imaginary Ones, is the next step in a broader Web3 strategy for Hugo Boss, part of its rebranding earlier this year that was designed to update the label for a new customer base.
The collection is made up of 1,001 NFTs, titled “Embrace Your Emotions” (EYE), and is slated for an early November drop. Five characters represent emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger and love), and a sixth brings all five together. NFT holders will get access to merch, token-gated experiences and future drops, plus a 10 per cent discount on certain Hugo purchases over a 10-month period. There are two possible avenues to access a Hugo x Imaginary Ones EYE NFT. Five hundred allowlist spots are allocated to those who buy a phygital Hugo limited edition T-shirt, which has a QR code that links to an AR Snapchat effect. The remaining 500 are available to existing holders of Imaginary Ones’s genesis NFT collection and those who partake in mental-health related activities announced on Imaginary Ones’s Twitter and Discord platforms from 4 October.
Wrangler named the 20 winners of vintage limited-edition Wrangler jeans, the first of several upcoming releases with Deadfellaz, a Web3 media company and popular zombie-themed NFT collection.
Together with LTD.INC, Wrangler and Deadfellaz created an interactive storyline designed to let Deadfellaz fans (known as “The Horde”) determine the outcome of a digital comic strip drawn by conceptual artist Leon Lee. The completed comic was revealed on Monday and the engagement story winners–who entered the contest to win the 20 physical-meets-digital prizes by interacting with Wrangler on Twitter–were announced on Wednesday.
To mark this year’s New York Fashion Week (NYFW), Tommy Hilfiger wants to make its fashion show more exciting.
Other than its classic physical show, this year’s also features a virtual one.
SUPERPLASTIC‘s characters (such as Guggimon, DAYZEE, and Janky) will appear in the fashion show, which will take place on Tommy Hilfiger’s virtual land, Tommy Play, on Roblox.
Clothing from Tommy Hilfiger’s fall collection will be worn by all the characters.
In this experience, users will be able to win or purchase exclusive digital items, customize a digital balloon, where they will contribute to the onsite art installation and claim their proof of attendance protocol NFT, and also create a digital wallet through their mobile devices and receive a Tommy Factory NFT.
In February 2022, L’Oreal filed 17 trademark applications related to NFTs. These applications encompass some of the company’s most popular brands, including Redken, Maybelline, Kiehl’s, and others. If successful, the trademarks are to cover:
Interactive website for virtual reality game services; entertainment services.
Digital media, namely, collectables, art, tokens, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs); NFTs featuring collectable digital items, images, photographs, art, videos or audio recordings used with blockchain technology; digital tokens used with blockchain technology to represent a collectable item, for data storage.
Retail store services and online store services in relation to virtual goods.
While L’Oreal has not made any big moves in the virtual world, these trademark filings potentially indicate an intention for the company to set up shops in the metaverse to sell its virtual products as well as create NFTs for its brands.
French luxury brand, Hermes, has filed its first trademark application to protect its name in the Web3 space in August of 2022. This application followed after a lawsuit against Metabirkins founder Mason Rothschild in January for allegedly using the brand’s Birkin name to make money from sales and resales for his NFT Metabirkins collection. The lawsuit gave the company the necessary push to extend its IP protection to the realm of digital goods.
Besides NFTs and virtual reality, the trademark application also covers retail store services featuring digital wearables, an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of virtual goods, and financial services, including providing electronic transfer of a virtual currency for use in connection with digital collectables and NFTs.
Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci has a multi-faceted Web3 strategy, from NFTs to metaverse land to investing in a DAO and allowing cryptocurrency payments.
In the realm of NFTs, Gucci turned its Aria fashion collection into an NFT video In May 2021, which sold for $25,000 at auction house Christie’s Proof of Sovereignty sale. It followed with the launch of 1,000 NFTs in collaboration with the toy brand Superplastic in February, 2022. Each NFT, which sold for 1.5 ETH, or approximately $2,623 at the time, can be redeemed for a ceramic sculpture handmade in Italy and co-designed by Gucci.
The company also bet on the future of the metaverse around the same time as the Superplastic collaboration, buying an undisclosed amount of virtual land on The Sandbox to create themed experiences in its digital space dubbed Gucci Vault.
Gucci also bought $25,000 worth of RARE tokens in June 2022 to join the SuperRareDAO and launch a digital “Vault Art Space.”
Finally, some Gucci stores in the U.S. started accepting several cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and dogecoin as of May 2022. Ass of August 2022, that also includes apeCoin.
In February 2022, Victoria’s Secret filed four applications for digital collectables and media developed using blockchain technology, as well as online clothes and media for usage in virtual worlds. Additionally, Victoria’s Secret will offer “entertainment services, namely, providing online, non-downloaded clothing, undergarments, footwear, headwear, eyewear, bags, fashion accessories, photos, images, videos, and recorded footage for use in brutal environments and virtual fashion shows.”
Before the more mainstream Web3 push began, Nike was making moves, receiving a patent for “CryptoKicks,” a blockchain-linked sneaker. Nike also ran a blockchain trial with Macy’s and Auburn University’s RFID Lab in March, 2020, to better share product data across the retail supply chain.
But it was in December 2021, when Nike acquired NFT sneaker studio RTFKT Studios, that marked Nike’s major move in Web3. RTFKT is behind the 20,000-piece CloneX NFT collection, with a trading volume of 436 ETH ($584,240) as of this writing. In February 2022, RTFKT gave commercial rights to CloneX NFT holders, allowing them to create derivative projects, mint fan art and make and sell merchandise featuring their avatars.
Continuing its Web3 push well into the bear market, in April 2022, Nike launched a metaverse sneaker line called RTFKT x Nike Dunk Genesis CryptoKicks.
The fast-food giant filed ten trademark applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on February 4, covering both McDonald’s and McCafe for a virtual restaurant to deliver food in the metaverse and in real life. McDonald’s has also applied for its own intellectual property to cover “entertainment services,” specifically virtual and real-world concerts and events.
Fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana’s September 2021 NFT collection titled “Collezione Genesi” includes nine NFTs including “The Impossible Tiara,” a rare tiara adorned with diamonds and red emeralds. It launched on UNXD, a luxury marketplace on the Polygon network, where the two-day bidding for the collection fetched approximately $5.65 million. “The Doge Crown” NFT sold for the highest amount – 423.5 ETH, or around $1.3 million at the time.
Since the successful launch, D&G and UNXD have teamed up to create the DGFamily, an NFT community “for digital luxury and culture.”
Considered one of the most classic luxury brands, Tiffany entered the Web3 world with what, relatively speaking, is one of the most classic NFT projects, CryptoPunks.
In August 2022, Tiffany unveiled 250 digital necklaces for 30 ETH each (about $50,000 at that time) – available exclusively to the holders of CryptoPunk NFTs. These diamond-encrusted pendant NFTs allowed holders to redeem them for physical necklaces. One user flipped a Tiffany CryptoPunk necklace for almost double the price, 55 ETH, which remains the highest sale so far.
Adidas started putting some stakes in Web3 in November 2021. The brand acquired land in The Sandbox, though how it got the land remains unclear: The company either paid for it off-chain or was simply gifted them. In the same month, it also partnered with Coinbase, though it gave no details as to why and as of writing, no further information has been provided.
Then came a big splash. In December 2021, Adidas made a whopping $23.4 million in one afternoon with the debut of its “Into the Metaverse” NFT drop in collaboration with the Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic NFT creator Pixel Vault and private NFT collector gmoney.
In January 2022, Adidas and Prada launched an NFT project called the “adidas for Prada re-source” on the Polygon network, which allows fans to contribute with their own designs. As of writing, it has made 474 ETH (or about $616,000) in trading volume.
In April 2022, tennis tournament the Australian Open (AO) released a collection of 6,776 AO Art Ball NFTs in partnership with Sweet.io. AO also teamed up with metaverse design firm Run It Wild to create the metaverse version of its Rod Laver Arena.
Interestingly, the NFTs are not just a static art. Each ball tracks match metadata and was linked to a 19 cm x 19 cm section on a tennis court. A winning shot that lands on any section of the court is linked to an owner’s NFT. If one of the 11 championship points landed on the plot, the owner of the connected NFT was rewarded with a physical ball used in the game, encased in a custom handcrafted case. Each ball sold for around 0.07 ETH (about $90 at the time).
Finally, French fashion brand Lacoste ventured into Web3 with the launch of its NFT collection in June 2022. The 11,212-piece NFT collection is a reference to its polo shirt called L1212. Before its foray into a true Web3 venture, Lacoste also worked with Minecraft to feature its clothing line in the popular world-building game, which is often talked about as part of the metaverse with similar open-world games like RoBlox.
It’s not every day that you land on your next big idea while you’re trekking on horseback through Mongolia. But that’s exactly what happened for Jack Withinshaw (Founder and CEO at Airspeeder). Together with co-founder Matthew Pearson, Withinshaw is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in
Oscar Barranco Liébana (Integrated Operations Platform Director, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022) undertook an immense technological challenge in 2022 – enabling the smooth running of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar through integrated technology systems that covered everything from entertainment and accommodation to transport, sustainability, and much more. The Integrated Operations
Hot on the heels of a rapid global transition to digital, e-commerce is a highly competitive space – with companies competing to solve problems using the most efficient technologies. And LEAP offers the ideal place for brands to gain access to key technologies and new research that can elevate their business.
It’s not every day that you land on your next big idea while you’re trekking on horseback through Mongolia. But that’s exactly what happened for Jack Withinshaw (Founder and CEO at Airspeeder). Together with co-founder Matthew Pearson, Withinshaw is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in
Oscar Barranco Liébana (Integrated Operations Platform Director, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022) undertook an immense technological challenge in 2022 – enabling the smooth running of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar through integrated technology systems that covered everything from entertainment and accommodation to transport, sustainability, and much more. The Integrated Operations
Hot on the heels of a rapid global transition to digital, e-commerce is a highly competitive space – with companies competing to solve problems using the most efficient technologies. And LEAP offers the ideal place for brands to gain access to key technologies and new research that can elevate their business.
