Storytelling in Web3–6 NFT examples that reshape brand marketing in different industries
With the help of blockchain technology and Web3, individuals worldwide no longer have to know each other to collaborate. Creators can utilize innovative tools and platforms to better engage with their fans, and brands can create captivating content to promote their brand ideas and company vision.
As we saw in our previous article — 5 reasons why brands should master their Storytelling — more and more brands are using storytelling not only to connect with their consumers but also to stand out from the competition in order to increase their market share.
In this article, we share a few exciting examples of how brands from different industries successfully take advantage of storytelling in Web3 to bring traffic to their websites and promote their brands!
1 — Louis Vuitton — Learning the brand story in an addictive, adventure-based game
In celebration of its 200th anniversary, the renowned Louis Vuitton launched a mobile game called “Louis the Game” to invite players to embark on an adventure, learn about the brand’s story, and have fun! The game builds up six imaginary worlds and combines various stories about the brand with immersive and engaging storytelling. Players can customize their characters with Louis Vuitton designs, learn the brand’s culture and history by collecting 200 postcards and other memorabilia, and try to find the 10 embedded NFTs designed by the famous artist Beeple.
As a luxury brand, it is essential to create and maintain an exceptional brand image, and Louis Vuitton is proactively positioning itself for the future. The company has been exploring Web3 and NFTs to promote its brands to the younger generation and engage its customers. The game has had more than 2 million downloads, bringing brand storytelling to the next level.
2 — Gucci — Envisioning brand future via video storytelling
Marking its centennial in 2021, Gucci launched the Gucci Aria collection and a short video to pay tribute to the brand’s 100-year history, classic designs, and brand heritage. The company, dedicated to exploring digital creativities and innovation, launched its debut NFT inspired by the Gucci Aria collection. According to Christie’s, the short video NFT represents “a yearning to bloom and flourish after the shadow of winter has passed.” The door-opening scene at the beginning of the video demonstrates Gucci’s renewal after 100 years and the pursuit of continuous innovation. Storytelling does not necessarily have to be text- or audio-based, a short video without dialogue can also successfully convey the brand identity and showcase brand values.
3 — Microsoft — Showcasing brand values with educational games
Tech giant Microsoft has been shaping its brand by encouraging diversity and inclusion. In 2019, the brand cooperated with blockchain developer Enjin to build Azure Heroes, a platform delivering digital badge rewards to community members who coach, build, and share knowledge with the tech community. In 2021, to celebrate the 6th International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the collaboration went even further with the launch of the interactive educational game “Azure Space Mystery”. Participants can learn about the stories of four female scientists and earn Minecraft-compatible NFTs by proving their technical skills and solving coding challenges.
Unlike Louis Vuitton and Gucci, this game and the associated NFTs did not directly promote the brand of Microsoft. Instead, this educational project demonstrated the company’s determination to promote diversity and encourage technological education among developers. Cooperating with Minecraft, a sandbox game with millions of players worldwide, the initiative also raises the profile of NFTs and motivates new users to join the Azure Heroes community.
4 — Campbell’s — Strengthening brand identity with visual storytelling
The Campbell Soup Company has been actively participating in experimental advertising and utilizing storytelling to promote its brand image. In July 2021, the company partnered with well-known street-style artist, Sophia Chang, to launch the brand’s first NFT collection. The iconic red-and-white can design of the brand has already been deeply rooted in customers’ minds, but the new NFT label strengthens the brand image through visual storytelling and modern graphic design. The unique and vivid illustration surrounding the famed can creates nostalgia for the time-honored brand but also demonstrates the company’s creativity, willingness to innovate, and insistence on providing the best products to its loyal customer throughout the years.
5 — Our Theatre — Preserving cultural heritage through audio NFTs
Large corporations are not the only actors who are taking advantage of innovative storytelling to promote their brands on Web3: creators and NGOs can also benefit from creative storytelling to promote their work and values. Our Theatre is a contemporary theater in Taiwan, whose work focuses on folk culture and ordinary local citizens. Their latest theater performance, The State and Denki, tells a story of a girl meeting the only man on earth that still knows how to speak Cantonese in 2220, in a futuristic world where humans have lost their abilities to speak their mother tongue.
To encourage the audience to go to the theater and pay attention to the importance of cultural preservation, Our Theatre cooperated with the MINTVERSE, a co-creating literature NFT project, to airdrop NFTs to their audience. They invited respected elder Amalanamahlʉ salapuan, from the Indigenous Hla’alua tribe in southern Taiwan, to record his voice reciting 1,077 words in Hla’alua (Saaroa), which is categorized by UNESCO as a critically endangered language. The NFT campaign successfully helped the theater gain abundant media coverage, which not only allows more young people to learn about Our Theatre and their determination to preserve local dialects, but the recorded NFTs also preserve the legacy of an endangered language, culture, and stories that are gradually being forgotten.
6 — The Kantfish Universe — Promoting creative content through engaging storytelling
Italian artist Emanuele Giusto, known as Kantfish, has been publishing his texts, articles, photographs, and videos in different media across Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He firmly believes that the crypto revolution will revolutionize how people share values with each other, and therefore cooperate with READL, a platform dedicated to storytelling in Web3. Through this platform, he launched his universe on the blockchain.
Published in a decentralized network, authors can not only claim full ownership of their work but can also utilize their storytelling skills in Web3 to reach new readers and create innovative and immersive reading content. The CryptoJungla universe contains the book collection of Kantfish and some NFT collectibles, and the platform allows readers, fans, publishers, and artists to better interact with each other.
In a nutshell
Storytelling is as important for brands in Web3 as in Web2. Good storytelling can create a bond between brands and customers, help customers understand brand values, and better communicate with their target audiences. For luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, they applied the same strategic and design scrutiny to their digital projects as they have always done with their physical products, creating a high-quality experience to promote their brands and maintain their leading positions in the industry through innovative storytelling. Microsoft and Campbell’s utilized mini-game and graphic design respectively to promote their brand’s traditional and well-known values. At the same time, small associations and even individual creators can harness storytelling skills in Web3 to reach new audiences, promote the brand or organizational values, and create a more engaging experience for fans and customers alike.
With Readl we want to provide the tools to publishers, production houses, and web3 storytellers to bring their books and stories to the blockchain. We believe that technology is a tool of freedom and that it can be used to empower creators.
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