As a result, in 2024, the creation of brands, including gaming projects, based on NFTs will become a significant driver of Web3 adoption.
The next wave of successful NFT products will likely be very different from what we've seen before. Rather than focusing on a small number of high-value assets, many of these products will be produced in larger quantities and sold at more affordable prices, targeting a broader consumer market. The entire year of 2023 was marked by the trend of freemints (when NFTs could be obtained for free).
Increasing supply collections and preserving the meta for free distribution can kill trading, but will give the desired mass adoption. Most will buy NFTs not for speculation, but for use. Moreover, the mass market may not even realize that they are using NFTs.
We've already seen experiments with bulk NFTs from companies like Nike, Reddit, Starbucks and even Donald Trump.
In addition, brands such as Pudgy Penguins, Cool Cats and Kitaro Studios have released phygital items, where a physical product is linked to an NFT via a QR code.
In parallel, major players like Ticketmaster are testing NFTs for event tickets, memberships and other forms of fan engagement. Their product will allow event organizers to issue NFTs tied to tickets on the Flow blockchain.
The Live Nation subsidiary said event organizers could make these NFTs available before, during or after the event and even provide special experiences such as loyalty rewards or celebrity meet-and-greets - or simply offer memorabilia in NFT format.
Thus, 70,000 tickets were issued for Super Bowl LVI. Following this debut, the company says it has already created more than 5 million NFTs through its partners.
Among music festivals looking to integrate blockchain technology, Coachella is the most notable. With the release of Coachella collectible NFTs, AEG Worldwide has introduced a new example of using NFTs as memorabilia and lifetime passes.
While the Coachella collection (which was born out of a partnership with FTX) died for obvious reasons, the project opened the door to other initiatives such as Afterparty from Las Vegas and the Swedish music festival Way Out West.
With the release of Afterparty, Soin Holdings Inc. took on a project much like Coachella. Aiming to shake up the standard music festival model, Soin offered 1,500 NFTs that served as a pass to the two-day Afterparty festival.
On the other hand, Way Out West, backed by crowdfunding platform Corite, ran a similar campaign but on a smaller scale. Also drawing parallels to Coachella, Way Out auctioned off three lifetime tickets as NFTs. Corite also offered attendees the opportunity to monetize their festival moments and memorabilia as NFTs, but it lacked any festival pass mechanics.
Next up was Loudpunx, a massive PFP project launched by Rolling Loud, the world's largest hip-hop festival. Like previous ticketing projects, Loudpunx provides a unique set of permanent goodies for owners.
Such products enable consumers who are new to NFTs to easily and seamlessly begin using the new technology. Most often, phygital items are sold at prices that correspond to the regular price of a physical item.
Whereas in the early stages of NFTs people had to use complex cryptocurrency wallets for self-custody, these NFTs now often have a platform design that submerges blockchain technology into a system of partially or fully custodial wallets.
This moves away from the original idea of decentralization and sole ownership of digital assets. However, this does not prevent consumers from benefiting from the tokens and integrating them into their digital identity on social networks and other platforms. It also doesn't stop them from participating in the broader NFT ecosystem if they want to.
Meanwhile, if digital assets are more accessible – both technologically and in terms of price – this expands the potential market and lays a foundation on which brands can build.
For example, Starbucks Odyssey participants created entire third-party websites dedicated to the program and organized informal meetings and events without Starbucks' direct involvement.
