July has certainly started with some big-ticket items, from an interview with Al Kahn and the co-founders to a licensing partnership with the largest toy manufacturer in the world. We’ve also seen the spotlight begin to return to the OMI token, a sneak peek at the new VeVe Showrooms and a whole lot more!
Saying Goodbye to June
Before we dive too far into the new month, we just wanted to take a moment to share some of the highlights in June:
- Two new license announcements with Givenchy Beauty and Marvel
- Two new artist announcements with Ron English and Frank Kozik
- Compiled and revised token information to make things easy for new members of the community
There are also a range of new features in development, and almost too many community conversations to count, so if you missed any you can catch up on the whole month here!
Interview With Alfred Kahn
Al Kahn is the SVP of licensing for VeVe, and in this special interview he sits down for a chat with co-founders David and Dan to discuss the journey so far, the story of how VeVe came to be, the early successes of the platform and the future potential and capabilities on offer.
Even if you don’t recognise the name, Al Kahn has likely had an impact on your childhood in some way. A licensing hall of Famer, he has been responsible for 6/10 of the worlds most successful children's entertainment brands, including Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Cabbage Patch Kids and more.
Since coming on board in mid-2018, Al has been an integral part of the VeVe team, and although we have shared earlier interviews with you none have covered the breadth of topics or showcased Al’s collective knowledge and experience like this one.
If you haven’t had the time to watch this interview yet, we strongly suggest you do to see just how far-reaching the vision of the VeVe platform is, and its impact on the collectibles industry at large.
VeVe Collectible Releases
The first day of July was a big one, beginning with Frank Kozik's Labbits Series 1, and rounding out with the Back to the Future Hoverboards release. As expected both drops sold out quickly, and the Hoverboard release was also the first time Marty’s hoverboard has been available for retail sale complete and true to the film with the Mattel logo included.
More recently, VeVe collectors took one step closer to completing the first series of Ghostbusters as we released the incredible Ghost Trap. This cemented a number of firsts for the platform, with the Ghost Trap being the first NFT that interacts with another collectible, the first to have sound effects, and the first to feature an interactive animation!
If you haven’t seen it in AR yet check out the tweet below, and stay tuned Ghostbusters fans, there’s only one collectible left to complete the set!
Collectible Upgrades
The firsts kept pouring in over the past week, with two of our NFTs also receiving a little upgrade, from ‘ordinary’ editions to First Appearance. Big thanks to everyone in the community for bringing this to our attention, and congratulations to all the owners of these Batman Black and White collectibles!
Showroom Version 2 is Almost Here!
In the first few days of June, we (and Trevor!) were very happy to share the first image of version two of the VeVe Showroom. Since then we have released a much more comprehensive look at this new virtual space, which has undergone a complete redesign.
With an incredible array of new lighting, global illumination, an entirely new entrance, and of course, a beautiful patio area to enjoy the never-ending sunset, this revamp of the Showroom is a major upgrade in enjoying and showing off your collectibles!
Check out the article below for the finer details, and be sure to clap it while you’re there! 👏👏
Community AMA + Meet Alex!
Last Thursday we introduced the community to one of our newest recruits, Senior Director of Marketing- Alex Gonzales! If you’d like to get to know him or have any suggestions, you can follow Alex on Twitter and send him a big ECOMI Family welcome.
Co-founder Dan and Digital Production Manager Trevor also stopped by to join the conversation, and you can catch up on all the action here:
VeVe Welcomes: MGA Entertainment
In celebration of L.O.L. Day (7.07 upside down), we recently announced one of the biggest licensing partners to date- MGA Entertainment!
Micro-Games America Entertainment (MGA) is the largest toy manufacturer in the world and has been the fastest-growing consumer entertainment products company for the past five years.
We are incredibly excited to share that L.O.L. Surprise will soon be available to VeVe’s growing community of collectors, bringing a new and exciting experience that fans and families can enjoy together.
Although many of you may not have heard of MGA before, you’ve likely heard of some of their brands. Nowadays they are most well known for award-winning brands such as L.O.L. Surprise™, but many 90’s kids would probably also recognise brands like Bratz®, alongside Rainbow High™, Na! Na! Na! Surprise™ and Zapf Creation®.
“This is a very exciting step to be partnering with the world’s largest toy brand and we look forward to offering a new and exciting way for fans to play and engage.
With hundreds of thousands of satisfied adult fans, we look forward to creating offerings for younger fans.”
— David Yu, Co-Founder & CEO, VeVe.
The L.O.L. Surprise! toy line was launched in 2016, and the franchise quickly became one of the most successful lines of toys in the world, claiming:
- the top-selling toy of the year in the US in 2017- L.O.L. Surprise Tots
- Top 100 toy on Amazon in 2019-L.O.L. Amazing Surprise Playset
- Toy of the Year (for an unprecedented third year running!) in 2020- at the Annual Toy Industry Awards.
- Collectible Toy of the Year- 2020- L.O.L Surprise! Winter Disco
- Doll of the Year- 2020- L.O.L Surprise! O.M.G dolls!
With an incredible $9.15 Billion in revenue in 2020 alone, MGA is a true powerhouse of the toy industry and will be instrumental in bringing VeVe to younger audiences.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Taps breaks down this partnership, takes a look at the market size and community behind the brand, and compares MGA to other key industry players. While you’re there be sure to show his channel some support with a like, comment and sub!
Community Awareness for OMI
The awareness around NFT’s and VeVe has also resulted in renewed interest in the OMI token throughout the wider crypto community, with a range of crypto personalities and influencers mentioning OMI recently.
With crypto ranking sites showing the growth of OMI and its prominent position in the NFT ecosystem, things are looking bright for our favourite token!
If you haven’t seen these yet please show some support for all of these personalities from the ECOMI Fam! ⭕️
- Jason Pizzino: Altcoin Gem Hunting
- The Crypto Lark: Low Cap Crypto Gems
- Run Guys: 1 Altcoin to $1 million
- BitBoy Crypto’s Live Stream with Blockchain Boy, Jebb, and Mine Your Biz.
We’ve even caught talk of OMI in a few TikTok videos recently, and there’s a great Reddit thread circulating, so if you haven’t upvoted it yet or want to check it out hit this link.
VeVe Updates
It’s official. We’ve said goodbye to Clockgate!
After assessing a range of solutions it was decided that adding a countdown timer for all users was the best way to level the playing field for our collectible releases.
After testing this early iteration we’re happy to report there are some additional features coming to further support our collectors on Drop Day, and we’ll release more information on that shortly.
There have also been a number of backend optimisations and updates over the past week, and on the front end we have implemented some unity shader improvements for metallic surfaces, so your Superman and Dragon Girl’s have that extra POP!
VeVe Meme Masters
The first round of the inaugural VeVe Meme Masters Tournament was a roaring success! With almost 900 entries we want to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone who has participated so far, the laughs have been real and the creativity is truly exceptional 😂
But it’s not over yet!
The submissions have now been narrowed down to 16 and over the next week we’ll need your help and your opinions to narrow them down to the top 4!
Of course, with each round of voting, we also get one step closer to finally deciding who is the winner out of Team Rhys Vs. Team Trevor!
Over the weekend both of the lads jumped into a conversation to break down some of the memes, and chat about the next round of voting, and you can find all of the head-to-head matchups here.
Voting is now open so check out the video below and be sure to follow the event organisers to help us crown the first-ever VeVe Meme Master!
@nft_pirates @EcomiHomies @OgEcomiMemelord
Information on this channel is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice; all users are advised to do their research.
See disclaimer.
About ECOMI
ECOMI is the issuer of the OMI token. The OMI token is intended for use in the VeVe digital collectibles ecosystem. With millions of digital collectible NFTs sold since the beginning of 2021, and a range of international brands, artists, and IP partners releasing content through the platform, VeVe is the world’s leading digital collectible platform.
The OMI token is intended to amplify the collecting experience and, when available, will provide VeVe collectors with a range of unique ways to build and expand their digital collections.
For more information on the utility features available and being worked on, please visit VeVe.me, follow our socials for the most recent updates, and subscribe to the blog to get updates delivered to your inbox 📩
