On May 16, Nike ended the first digital shoe drop on their web3 marketplace .Swoosh. But what piqued the marketers’ interest while casting doubt on the collection’s reliability as NFTs?
Nike chose four virtual shoe designs from .Swoosh members, which are to be included in this sneaker launch. And Nike collaborated with those designers to bring their items to market.
These digital products, co-created with Nike customers and the brand, were randomly distributed among the 100,000 virtual creations made available by Nike in the previous week.
The designs were also saved within a digital facsimile of a Nike sneaker box. The fact that fans could purchase one of two boxes — “Classic Remix” or “New Wave” — for $19.82 made this NFT drop stand out. These boxes were only available to people who had a.Swoosh account. Each box included a 3D file that the user may potentially use to transfer the digital sneaker to other platforms, such as a game (if compatible), among other things.
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In November, Nike unveiled a beta version of its.Swoosh platform, promising that it would be utilized as a resource for Web3 education and a platform to buy and sell digital artifacts. Items purchased on. According to the platform, Swoosh can also be worn in video games and other immersive experiences.
But What Brought NFT Cynism To The Collection?
With the low price point and the involvement of the Nike fanbase, it’s evident that the business valued community involvement over hard returns with its latest sneaker rollout. In other words, it was a brand-building strategy aimed at connecting a group of people through content rather than finding clever ways to deceive them into watching an ad individually.
What exactly is that? Well, A glance at the .Swoosh website confirms this. It discusses how fans can use the marketplace to create, collect, sell, and, most importantly, display their digital wares. Nike has also promised fans access to items, experiences, content, and even more drops. Members will also be able to collaborate with others, compete in competitions, and win prizes.
Simply put, Nike reaches out to self-identified fans in NFT form with token-gated content and special experiences. It is not “selling a jpeg” or attempting to attract speculators.
It remains to be seen where this nets out. Nike is definitely in test-and-learn mode, which might continue for some time. Despite this, it is developing a platform through .Swoosh is where membership value can be defined, formalized, and ultimately marketed in a transparent and immutable way due to the marketplace being built on blockchain technology.
In truth, the concept of NFTs as media is still in its early stages. As in, it’ll almost certainly be met with distrust. However, the concept is beginning to catch the curiosity of a few marketers.
Starbucks, for example, has launched a tokenized loyalty program called “Odyssey”, where users may purchase and sell their NFTs in a marketplace. Starbucks, like Nike, refers to them as “digital Journey Stamps” – a homage to the fact that stamp collecting is a well-known and popular notion.
Related: Starbuck’s First Paid NFT Siren Collection ‘Stamps’ Sold Within 18 Minutes
Nike debuted into the metaverse in December 2021, paying an undisclosed price for the virtual footwear firm RTFKT. This investment aimed to increase its footprint in the rapidly expanding metaverse.
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