Tag: NFTs

Manila, Philippines – The local creative agency GIGIL, through its recent tech arm GIGIL Metama, has launched a new campaign initiative called ‘Divine ArchiTech’, which allows users to convert their prayers into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), allowing users to create NFTs to earn funds for their own faith-based cause.

The new initiative comes days before the Holy Week festivities by Catholics, namely Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

‘Divine ArchiTech’ combines faith and technology in a mission to help build churches around the world, while noting the lack of physical churches to service the faithful.

As part of the initiative, ‘Divine ArchiTech’ launched its pioneer project called ‘Made with Prayers’. By donating to the cause, you will gain access to this unique feature that allows you to convert your prayers and hopes using AI to create artwork that can be minted and stored in personal digital wallets. 

Aside from storing them in digital wallets, you may also choose to donate your artwork to the Divine ArchiTech’s gallery and allow them to mint it into an NFT to earn more funds for the cause.

The new NFT project follows its recent one where Kool Pals, a popular comedy group in the Philippines, launched an NFT project which turned hate comments into NFTs.

Singapore – POND’s, the skin care brand under Unilever, has teamed up with e-commerce platform Shopee to launch an interactive campaign ‘#PondsGlowStage’ to take Shopee users’ online shopping experience to the next level through interactive games, exclusive promotions and discounts on POND’S products and, for the first-time ever, to win limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The #PondsGlowStage NFT is an exclusive, first-of-its-kind digital collectible designed by artist Rifqi Ardiansyah. Fans will have a chance to redeem this exclusive NFT when they purchase POND’S products during the promotions. The NFT will give them access to exclusive benefits such as being the first to receive alerts on POND’S latest product releases and value deals in the future. 

During the special event, consumers can play the interactive POND’S Glow Stage Catch Game and earn points to redeem special giveaways. Players just need to tap and hold the shopping basket to catch as many of the falling POND’S products and elements they can within the time limit – all while avoiding harmful skin spots. 

Jopa Malantic, who was recently named as the global brand director at POND’S, said, “We are always seeking out the most innovative and engaging experiences for our consumers. As such we are thrilled to partner with Shopee once again – this time to offer the #PondsGlowStage, featuring the e-commerce platform’s first ever NFT Gift with Purchase.” 

He added, “In addition to providing the chance to win a limited edition NFT, #PondsGlowStage offers a fantastic interactive experience for our fans to engage with the brand and learn more about how our decades of science-backed expertise can help resolve their skin issues.”

Meanwhile, Pavan Challa, director of regional brand partnerships at Shopee, commented, “We are happy to deepen our long-standing partnership with POND’S through this new campaign, which is Shopee’s first collaboration with a brand for an NFT giveaway. Shopee continues to develop and explore new ways to engage and excite our users, and help our brand partners deepen their engagement with shoppers. As we continue to grow the beauty category on Shopee Mall, we look forward to working closely with brands such as POND’S to bring more innovative and exciting experiences to shoppers.”

Singapore – Department store company, The Shilla Duty Free, has partnered with skincare brand Dr.Jart+ to bring the world of travelling into the digital realm with the debut of the first Singapore Changi Airport-inspired travel-themed Non-Fungible Token (NFTs). 

Featuring iconic Singapore landmarks, the collaboration includes an exclusive set of two Non-Fungible Token (NFTs) and 9,000 Proof of Attendance Protocols (POAPs) while highlighting Singapore as a top travel destination, just as international travel continues to grow at Changi Airport in Singapore.

Featuring the work of graphic illustrator and 3D Art designer, Matssssal, the POAP and NFT artwork depicts Dr.Jart+’s white tiger mascot wearing an outfit inspired by the brand’s top-selling Cicapair franchise and its key ingredient, tiger grass.

In addition to the POAP, two one-of-a-kinds NFTs showcase the animated Dr.Jart+ white tiger mascot travelling through iconic landmarks in Changi Airport, a nod to the first-of-its-kind collaboration with The Shilla Duty Free at Singapore Changi Airport.

Bart Dubbeld, vice president and general manager at Dr.Jart+, Travel Retail Worldwide, said, “In partnership with The Shilla Duty Free, we are proud to bring this ethos to life in the form of NFTs inspired by Singapore’s Changi Airport. We look forward to taking travellers on a digital journey where they can discover not just an iconic destination, but also art and skincare.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Lee, managing director at Shilla Travel Retail in Singapore, noted, “As one of the world’s leading travel retailers, we will continue to create immersive brand activations with our partners to offer the best retail experience to travellers. We are thrilled to partner with Dr.Jart+ to enrich our offerings with innovative digital experiences and travel-exclusive products to delight our customers.”

As part of the collaboration, consumers and NFT enthusiasts worldwide can collect the complimentary POAP and stand to win one of the two limited edition NFTs through a contest from 10 until 31 August 2022. To enter, participants have to submit a Singapore or travel-inspired name, which should be in English with up to five words, for the set of limited edition NFTs on The Shilla Duty Free website. 

The top two creative submissions will each win one of the two NFTs and one year’s supply of skincare products from Dr.Jart+, which is worth S$1,000, with winners announced on 6 September 2022 via The Shilla Duty Free’s website, Facebook, and Instagram. The NFTs will be minted and released to each winner’s digital wallet address provided in the entry form.

Moreover, travellers to Changi Airport can also take home a set of the brand’s most popular masks – Dr.Jart+’s Dermask Water Jet Vital Hydra Solution 2+1 set (3 boxes x 5 sheets) at S$50. This travel-exclusive set is available at The Shilla Duty Free in Singapore Changi Airport Terminals 1 and 3.

Teo Chew Hoon, managing director of airside concessions at Changi Airport Group, commented, “We are excited to inspire the first travel-themed NFTs launched in collaboration between Shilla Duty Free and Dr.Jart+. The expansion into the digital realm enables travellers to discover a trove of exciting experiences and products available even before they embark on their journey at the airport.”

Singapore – Johnnie Walker has launched its first NFT collection created in collaboration with Virtue APAC’s Singapore hub, as part of a multi-experience campaign developed by Virtue APAC, the creative agency from VICE media.

All seven bottles from its rare Master of Flavour series valued at US $35,000 each, were sold in Ethereum cryptocurrency within three minutes, appealing to modern luxury consumers and crypto enthusiasts.

Johnnie Walker and creative agency Virtue powered by VICE worked in partnership with BlockBar.com, a direct to consumer NFT marketplace for luxury wines and spirits, to offer buyers the chance to own seven extremely rare, vaulted bottles of Blended Scotch Whisky paired with seven one-of-a-kind works of art.

Virtue managed overall strategic and creative conceptualisation for the Masters of Flavour campaign from its Singapore hub as well as developing a launch film and social assets.

Johnnie Walker Masters of Flavour is the third and final whisky in the Johnnie Walker Masters series of extremely rare Scotch, crafted from fleetingly rare whiskies, which are all aged for at least 48 years from four closed distilleries: Port Dundas, Brora, Glen Albyn and Glenury Royal. 

Each of the seven bottles unlock access to a coinciding and exclusive piece of digital artwork from Australian contemporary artist Kode Abdo, aka BossLogic. Known for his fancasts, he recently teamed up with footballer Lionel Messi to create a new series of artistic NFTs featuring the global sports icon. 

Extending the digital experience into the physical world, buyers can choose to keep the NFTs and redeem their purchase for an exclusive three-day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Immersing themselves in the history of Johnnie Walker, the exclusive money-can’t-buy experience includes a guided tour of the lowlands home of Johnnie Walker, including the Diageo archive and private tastings of rare collectable whiskies from the Diageo collection.

Chris Gurney, group creative director at Virtue APAC, said, “Johnnie Walker Masters Of Flavour is the ultimate expression of mastery, so our approach was to bring the 48-year-old whiskey making and packaging process to life through the craft and materials of the world’s leading artisans.”

According to Gurney, they have worked together with Bosslogic to reflect the creative narrative in his NFT artwork and to enhance the overall film direction. They also brought in acclaimed sound designer Maurizio Argentieri, best known for working on international music film scores including The Island, Zoolander 2 and Bread and Tulips. 
Meanwhile, Lyndon Govender, marketing director, Southeast Asia, Diageo, commented in the collaboration, “At Johnnie Walker we are continuously pushing the boundaries of innovation and creativity. This drop symbolises the future of luxury whisky ownership and consumer experience and we are proud to have worked closely with the team at Virtue to navigate this new world and create a campaign we are truly proud of.”

New York, USA – Global coffeehouse company Starbucks has announced that it is venturing into NFTs, as well as exploring other ventures in the Web3 space.

In a joint statement by Brady Brewer, chief marketing officer at Starbucks, and Adam Brotman, advisor at Starbucks, the company plans to create a series of branded NFT collections, the ownership of which initiates community membership, and allows for access to exclusive experiences and perks. 

The themes of these collections will be born of Starbucks artistic expressions, both heritage and newly created, as well as through world-class collaborations with other innovators and like-minded brands.

“We plan to take a phased approach here, willing to move fast, experiment, learn and collaborate. We plan to start with our first NFT collection, membership and community later this year, based on coffee art and storytelling. It will come with a host of unique experiences and benefits, worthy of a genesis NFT collection from Starbucks. And this first collection will form the core digital community and backbone against which we hope to build future collections and collaborations – all building on the same new ecosystem,” Brewer and Brotman said.

The company also believes that its Starbucks Digital Community Web3 platform has the potential to pioneer the combination of an approachable, widely accessible front-end, backed by the right blockchain technologies that are fast and inexpensive.

“We believe NFTs have broad potential to create an expanded, shared-ownership model for loyalty, the offering of unique experiences, community building, storytelling, and customer engagement. And, while doing so also being a source of accretive business that can benefit a number of stakeholders in the process, while creating a new type of digital ecosystem to complement Starbucks current digital platform offering,” the company added.

Hanoi, Vietnam – Aura Network, a Vietnamese non-fungible token (NFT) project, has recently raised US$2.5m in funding to leverage the adoption of NFTs and accelerate its vision of building an interoperable future for Internet users.

The funding round involves multiple blockchain partners, including Coin98 Ventures, GBV Capital, Impossible Finance, Kucoin Labs, Kyber Ventures, GUILDFI, Avatar by Avalanche, MEXC Pioneer, TPX Ventures, Redline Dao and OIG. Other notable business partners include Vanda Capital, Deo Network, Ahamove, Ecomobi and Pencil Group.

This seed funding will allow Aura Network to continue its aim of creating a universal framework for NFTs, maximising interoperability, and bringing Aura Network’s vision to the forefront of users globally. Additionally, building a strong community that supports Aura Network’s vision is imperative for its long-term ambitions.

As part of the funding round, Aura Network will release its Testnet at the end of Quarter 2 of 2022. Aura Network’s Mainnet will be launched in the third quarter of 2022. Aura Network is expected to be the leading layer-1 blockchain to assist users to access NFTs effortlessly.

Tran Hoang Giang, founder at Aura Network, said, “Aura Network is delighted that our strategic partners recognize our infrastructure capability. We believe in the potential growth of NFTs and the future of interoperability, as well as the strength of our community and ecosystem.”

Singapore — Web3 community platform Metasky has raised US$1.8m in a pre-seed token sale round led by Sequoia Capital India and Woodstock Fund. Metasky, founded in 2021 by Ankit Arora and Prakhar Sharma, positions itself as a bridge to Web3 and aims to elevate NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Metasky’s platform aims to convert people from being social media followers into engaged members of a brand’s digital world. The platform’s strategy is to work with influencers, creators, and brands closely to form a Web3 strategy for their followers with the help of its user-friendly tools for buying, storing, and using NFTs.

Metasky is launching a user-friendly Web3 Wallet that democratises access to the decentralised world by making it easy for anybody to buy and securely hold Crypto Assets such as NFTs and crypto tokens. Metasky’s wallet can seamlessly integrate inside an existing website or application, converting an existing app to a Web3 app. These assets can then be used to provide exclusive benefits to token holders. These benefits range from unlockable digital content of popular creators, exclusive chat rooms and live streams, to backstage access into their offline events.

Ankit Arora, co-founder at Metasky, said that Metasky itself is organised as a decentralised community, explaining that it is the most efficient way of aligning a group of people towards a shared goal.

“We want to walk the talk that decentralisation is important, but it is a means to an end. Concepts like NFTs only make sense if they are accompanied by a strong set of utilities, a passionate community, and real governance rights. We are building Web3 tools to serve this purpose,” Arora said.

Meanwhile, Shailesh Lakhani, managing director of Sequoia India, comments on Metasky’s potential, saying, “Ankit and Prakhar are accomplished company builders, and we are excited to work alongside them as they create a holistic platform for NFT communities.”

Metasky recently launched its first community-led project called “Tanukibles” – a play-to-earn game that has started its journey as an NFT collection. Tanukis are animals native to Japan, deeply embedded in Japanese mythology. Anyone can be a part of the production team of Tanukibles by getting one of 9999 limited edition Tanukis. Some Tanukis are rewarded to community participants on merit, others are scheduled to be up for public sale in April.