What Can Brands Learn From AS Roma’s $42 Million NFT Partnership in Italy?
Every week brings new announcements from the worlds of sports, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs, from Tom Brady’s deal with Draft Kings to Team Great Britain becoming the first Olympic team to establish an official NFT collection.
AS Roma, one of Italy’s most well-known clubs, established a $42 million, a three-year exclusive collaboration with blockchain fintech Zytara Labs this week. This relationship, according to Coindesk, is likely the most notable sponsorship arrangement between a soccer club and a blockchain business to date.
The DigitalBits blockchain, whose foundation is backing the deal, will be featured on the soccer team’s famed red and yellow shirts. The club will also use the DigitalBits blockchain to create digital player cards and digital collectible NFTs commemorating current and historic moments in the club’s nearly century-long history. They will also incorporate DigitalBits’ native token, XDB, as a new purchasing option. AS Roma followers will connect with the club via blockchain-based shared virtual worlds. Fans who own the team’s digital assets, NFTs, and XDB tokens will be rewarded with unique live experiences such as game-day activations from within the stadium.
So, what can brands learn from this collaboration? The following are three major lessons from this branding collaboration.
Getting A New Generation Of Fans Involved
The pandemic reduced extremely enticing chances for new brand integration transactions in the first half of 2020, pushing many firms to reassess their digital strategy. In addition, it prompted marketers to look to the metaverse for new methods to interact with younger consumers who are more tech-savvy and desire to form strong emotional bonds with brands. As a result, we’ve seen businesses eager to invest in the strategic integration of their logos and goods in new ways, allowing them to reveal their assets in new and significant ways.
“Partnerships like these are the start of NFT experiences that take fans beyond transactional purchases, which just grant ownership of a digital asset in an idle wallet.” According to Tommaso Di Bartolo, a Silicon Valley-based UC Berkeley faculty member, serial entrepreneur, author, and startup investor, brands and sports teams alike seek the extra Layer of NFT usefulness, which embodies gamification mechanics contextual meaning.
AS Roma is expanding the collective imagination of what it means for fans to be connected to their teams with this partnership. The future of branding is bright with new technologies like blockchain, which can help prioritize the security, speed, and cost-savings benefit of industries like professional sports and reach a new generation of fans who think digital-first and find the digital owner.
The Future of Branding and Tokenized Economies
New technology comes with a lot of responsibility. However, the ability to capitalize on new trends and technology can assist brands, large and small, redefine the relationship between the brand and the consumer.
This collaboration indicates that a huge and storied sports organization is looking for new methods to interact with its own players while bridging the gap between the club and its supporters. This is how brands and customer loyalty are defined in today’s world.
Giving fans access to virtual worlds and allowing them to access exclusive activations due to their fandom can be a game-changer for sports marketing with the capacity to integrate and accept native blockchain-based digital assets and collectibles.
“By bringing major sports companies like AS Roma into tokenized economies, we are proving that its athletes are walking brands, requiring constant attention to their name, image, and likeness,” said Andrew Rossow, internet attorney and CEO of AR Media Consulting.
Athletes Are Ready To Take Their NIL To The Next Level
Athletes are paying more attention to how they invest their money and monetize their own brands with the development of cryptocurrencies. AS Roma’s agreement allows the club to bring its athletes into the crypto ecosystem more quickly while also allowing them to understand digital currencies better.
Many players in the United States have already begun to move in this manner. For example, Sean Culkin of the Kansas City Chiefs recently revealed his decision to convert his whole NFL paycheck to Bitcoin, making him the first NFL player to do so, according to ESPN. In addition, for example, veteran offensive tackle Russell Okung of the Carolina Panthers revealed in December that around half of his 2020 paycheck would be converted to Bitcoin.
According to Rossow, this has the ability to reshape the way these contracts are written, compelling firms of all kinds to educate themselves on decentralized finance and financial literacy.
The power of cryptocurrencies is just beginning to be explored, thanks to the NCAA’s recent decision to allow collegiate athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness with professional agencies.
Hessert noted, “Many student-athletes who have begun to make money from their personal brands are putting out standard content marketing that represents the low hanging fruit.Those who are more clever and strategic are working with professional agents and stretching the boundaries of their personal brands. To differentiate themselves from hundreds of fresh new competitors, the most marketing-centric athletes will adopt a longer-term strategic strategy and learn to include AR, VR, and study NFTs.”
AS Roma, DigitalBits, and Zytara Labs hope that this collaboration will show how blockchain technology can strengthen the bond between sports teams and their fans and supporters on their way to reaching new audiences, allowing players to elevate and expand their brands further into the digital world.
Could this trademark application indicate that PayPal is developing an NFT market?
A trademark application for blockchain and cryptocurrency technology has been submitted by PayPal. Some claim that the file has something to do with Web3 and the metaverse, although it may be tied to an NFT marketplace.
A recent trademark application by PayPal has been found, and it suggests the development of a service pertaining to several facets of blockchain technology. The file, which was made on October 18, makes a notable allusion to the potential introduction of a non-fungible token (NFT) market.
For its logo, PayPal submitted two trademark applications. The first one concerns “downloadable software” for cryptocurrency trading and storage. The second discusses cryptocurrency-related payment processing services.
Although users may currently buy cryptocurrencies on PayPal’s platform, this filing suggests that there may be more to come. The concept of assets is substantially broader in the filing’s terminology. Mike Kondoudis, a trademark lawyer licensed by the USPTO, claimed on Twitter that this filing relates to NFTs and the metaverse.
Although there is no proof to support this, it would not be shocking if it were true. The finance business would be adding its name to a lengthy list of businesses that are starting to make inroads into the Web3 and metaverse spaces.
PayPal is investing more in cryptocurrency. Over the past two years, PayPal has intensified its focus on cryptocurrencies. First, the company made a huge announcement for the industry by saying that consumers would be able to purchase cryptocurrency on its platform.
However, it didn’t start enabling users to move those funds into wallets outside of the network until recently. It indicated that it would roll out additional crypto-related features in the latter part of last year. One of those additions might be an NFT marketplace.
It teamed up with Coinbase’s TRUST network more recently. This was viewed by many as an endorsement of the sector. The TRUST network upholds consumer security and privacy while adhering to the banking industry’s Travel Rule.
Increased Criticism of Payment Giant Additionally, PayPal has been in the spotlight for all the incorrect reasons. The business has recently come under fire for a contentious policy that penalized users for disseminating false information. Later, it claimed that false information was released with the amended policy. Crypto aficionados, however, were eager to point to this as evidence of the value of decentralization.
PayPal established a blockchain and cryptocurrency advisory committee earlier this year. According to the company’s management, working with governments is essential to overcoming obstacles and seizing possibilities.
Seba Bank, a cryptocurrency company, aims to store valuable NFTs
Seba Bank, a cryptocurrency company, has launched its first NFT service, a blue-chip NFT-specific institutional-grade, certified, and independently audited hot and cold storage custody product.
The launch comes in response to requests from customers to keep their NFTs with the bank alongside other crypto assets, such as the already-approved Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cryptopunk, and Clone X NFTs. The bank stated that new collections would be added based on customer demand.
With its newest offering, Seba Bank seeks to entice investors who view NFTs as an asset class and crypto natives. Not your keys, not your bitcoin is a well-known phrase in the crypto sphere, and adherents of this maxim could object to having their Apes or Punks stored with a third-party custodian.
Urs Bernegger, co-head of markets and investment solutions at Seba Bank, however, highlights a growing group of NFT holders who are more at ease handing up their NFTs and private keys to a company.
They don’t want the key because they aren’t even aware of how to handle and store it. He claimed that they’re more concerned with damaging the key than giving it to a bank.
It’s a significant issue. Between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins, according to Chainalysis, are trapped in inaccessible wallets. Numerous accounts of people have lost millions owing to losing private keys, including Russian officials, students, and engineers. Families have also been prevented from accessing substantial quantities of money following sudden deaths in which wallet owners had not disclosed their private keys.
Bernegger asserts institutional custody can be advantageous for native crypto users as well. There has been an increase in businesses providing services that employ NFTs as collateral for conventional banking services like loans.
Seba Bank is thinking about implementing these features in the future. Based in the crypto-friendly Swiss town of Zug, the four-year-old bank already backs several investing, credit, lending, and staking options for cryptocurrencies and might extend them to NFTs.
“Instead of traveling to the market, for instance, we could create a club for collectors and assist them in finding other collectors. There are a few things we have in mind, but we laid the groundwork by storing NFTs securely at first, “explained he.
The NFT album maker for Kings of Leon now includes a metaverse music venue
YellowHeart, a Web3 ticketing startup, is opening a metaverse music venue in an effort to transform how performers, teams, and event organizers distribute tickets and interact with fans.
The facility, constructed on Spatial, will feature Grammy-nominated blues musician G.Love as its opening act later this year. Fans can communicate with one another, participate in meet-and-greets before and after performances, and use several screens to view what is happening in various areas of the stadium simultaneously.
They will soon be able to order meals and drinks before the event, which will also be available as digital things.
The idea of an online concert has so far primarily been popularized by big gaming companies. The most well-liked virtual competitions have occurred on sites like Fortnite and Roblox. Ariana Grande’s Fortnite concert in August 2021 received 78 million viewers. Next month, Decentraland will host its second Metaverse Music Festival. Over 100 musicians are on the lineup, including well-known performers like Ozzy Osbourne and Soulja Boy.
In addition to throwing an event, YellowHeart, which assisted Kings of Leon in releasing an NFT version of their most recent album, stated that it hoped to accomplish more. It was established in 2017 with the lofty goal of revolutionizing the music ticketing sector as a whole, which has historically been dominated by powerful reselling organizations and exclusive ticketing relationships. These alliances frequently impose limitations on what purchasers can and cannot do with their tickets. Trying to resell a ticket for a concert you can’t go to might be a headache.
YellowHeart believes these issues can be resolved by returning control to artists and fans via web3 technology. Additionally, it may provide advantages that cannot be programmed into conventional tickets.
“These range from complete albums to personalized vinyl records, exclusive merchandise, and immersive visual art. Web3 tickets also allow performers to update fans on new tour dates, music releases, giveaway possibilities, and much more, according to the business.
It has already collaborated with well-known figures, including Julian Lennon, Maroon 5, and MGM Resorts. Contrary to the non-NFT versions offered on Spotify, iTunes, and other platforms, those obtained through YellowHeart entailed particular customer benefits.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.