Remember NFTs? The blockchain-based digital products that dominated headlines in 2022 and had brands such as Coca-Cola, Gap, TV chefs, and football clubs releasing virtual products to be bought, collected, and sold online. Over the last year, words like ‘Web 3’, ‘blockchain’, and ‘NFT’ have all slipped off the radar — party due to the boom […]

Remember NFTs? The blockchain-based digital products that dominated headlines in 2022 and had brands such as Coca-Cola, Gap, TV chefs, and football clubs releasing virtual products to be bought, collected, and sold online.

Over the last year, words like ‘Web 3’, ‘blockchain’, and ‘NFT’ have all slipped off the radar — party due to the boom in AI excitement — but mainly because it took a reputational hit following fraudulent marketplace charges and a series of loss making initiatives.

Recent headlines have seen reports claiming footballer Cristiano Ronaldo had been hit with a billion-dollar lawsuit after launching his NFT collection; the internet laughing as singer Justin Bieber’s ‘Bored Ape’ NFT plunged from $1.3 million to just $70,000; X removing support for NFT profile pictures just at the beginning of this year; and gaming firm GameStop announcing it is to close down its NFT marketplace next month.

Nonetheless, some brands are still trying to keep their digital tokens in the spotlight, like luxury watch brand IWC Schaffhausen.

In collaboration with Arianee, a Web 3 platform, IWC launched its NFT range in 2022. The range comes with a metaverse-style membership called IWC Diamond Hand Club, offering access to exclusive online and in-person events.

Looking back, its chief digital transformation officer, Katharina Doepke-Schelling, wanted to clarify that they didn’t launch it to join the hype at the time.

“So, I’m taking us back to 2021. It was right in the middle of the pandemic; it was winter, our boutiques were closed, our events were about to be cancelled, but we were also about to launch a collection,” explained Doepke-Schelling.

“We were brainstorming about how to get this experience towards the customer when they might be staying at home. That’s when we started partnering up and brainstorming how to use that new technology to support our strategic goals,” she said.

According to Doepke-Schelling, the watchmaker didn’t just want to jump on the hype train: “We didn’t want to just launch an NFT for the sake of launching an NFT. Rather, we wanted to emphasise our brand.”

Arianee’s co-founder, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, explains that when a customer purchases a watch, they will acquire a new blockchain-based wallet in their account.

“Inside this wallet is a digital passport, which an NFT is dropped into for each purchase. Super seamless, easy to use, no questions asked, not one more click,” he said.

Previous customers can also join the community and claim their NFTs by using their existing products or attending in-person events. After launching the NFTs, IWC invited customers to a small private concert with composer Hans Zimmer.

“We had two students that found us on an NFT forum join us there, and they were sitting next to the marketing manager helping to build this programme. He could give them all of the insights, and we recently got a message from one of the students who just graduated telling us his first watch was [an IWC] watch,” added Doepke-Schelling.

IWC NFT Watch

 

She explained how this example showcases the type of community IWC wants for the brand to build a loyal fanbase, “We don’t just use it to build loyalty within the customers we have, but also as an acquisition of the actual insignia.”

NFTs in 2024

 

In defence of NFTs, Hurstel highlighted the faults in how the Web 3 tool was previously viewed.

“The hype was all about a new kind of fully digital product that people get, that allows them to make more money in the future maybe,” he explains. “A lot of it was trying to make a little more money than the next guy.”

“When you look at what IWC has now as a marketing capability, it is the capability to distribute data.” Brands have a tokenisation engine built inside customers’ information systems with NFTs, says Hurstel.

Within that, brands have immediate access to dynamic data owned by the user.

“Normally what you do is collect emails, you collect birthdays, and you end up with this already immediately obsolete data that’s hard to protect and update,” he adds. “All of a sudden, when you change that towards data distribution capabilities, you’re able to put data in the hands of your users and let them use this data in a dynamic way.”

The co-founder enthuses that with this, brands can get to know their customers “like never before.”

“That has nothing to do with hype; that has to do with regaining control over the brand’s digital presence and relations while giving it back to them at the same time.”

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