Jeans Company Wrangler is the Next Brand to Hop on the NFT Train
There’s nothing quite like a bombardment of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and metaverse news to leave you thinking, “Um… what’s going on here?” That’s what I think when I read about Eminem, Steve Aoki, Shaquille O’Neal, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Paris Hilton buying Bored Apes (sorry, come again?), or about Nyan Cat sold as one. And by the time I thought I knew what was going on, the founder of Twitter sold an autographed tweet as an NFT.
You might be wondering: what is an NFT?
After literal hours of reading about it, I think I know. And whenever I see new updates about brands and celebrities investing in them, I’m beginning to have some semblance of what’s going on. So let’s dive in.
Let’s go back to the basics. What in the world is an NFT?
An NFT is a digital asset representing real-world objects like art, music, in-game items, and videos. They are bought and sold online with cryptocurrency, and they are encoded with the same software as many cryptos. Still confused? Yep. It stands for “non-fungible token.” All you need to know is that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. Think of it as a one-of-a-kind trading card. It’s non-fungible, meaning that if you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different.
NFTs started as a means to buy and sell digital artwork and are like physical collector’s items, only digital. So instead of getting an actual watercolor painting to hang on the wall, the buyer receives a digital file instead. And even brands have started to jump on the NFT bandwagon.
How are businesses involved with NFTs?
One of the main reasons NFTs are important to brands is that they can represent other forms of creative work like virtual real estate, virtual worlds, fashion, and more. With the emergence of the metaverse, NFTs have allowed brands to do new kinds of brand storytelling, brand experiences, and consumer interaction.
Brands have expressed much interest in NFTs as they look to be a part of the metaverse––a component of the Web3 infrastructure that represents the next era of the internet — and want to prove that virtual products can carry equity that appreciates over time just like physical products.
So now, let’s look at a specific example of a brand using NFTs.
Wrangler, Leon Bridges, and NFTs. The New Trio.
MarketingDive’s Peter Adam’s recently covered a story about jeans company Wrangler working with Grammy-winner Leon Bridges for the former’s introduction into the world of NFTs for its 75th-anniversary celebration. Under the “Mr. Wrangler” moniker, Leon Bridges is teaming up with the denim brand to launch a two-part NFT drop that gives fans access to inclusive events and content, both virtually and in real life.
“Fashion, technology and music influence us all, and I love the way Wrangler is interconnecting all three on this wild ride,” said Bridges. “Through Wrangler, I channel my Texas roots and the essence of who I am, so I’m honored to help the brand celebrate its history while continuing to write the future.”
This drop includes 75 digitally animated Icon-Tier NFTs featuring Bridges’ signature dance moves. Each NFT gives collectors access to the virtual Wrangler-branded metaverse and a VIP pass to a by-invitation-only, live private performance by Leon Bridges at New York Fashion Week in September 2022. Wrangler is also selling a Legendary-Tier NFT, which features a replica of the Wrangler custom denim jacket and jeans outfit created for Leon Bridges––the only other one in existence outside of Bridges’ possession. For fans who can’t get their hands on one of these NFTs, Wrangler will host an inclusive metaverse event called Wranglerverse in September 2022.
“[The] ‘Mr. Wrangler’ NFT Collection is the first NFT drop that truly merges the physical and digital worlds.”
My Thoughts
In truth, this article initially caught my eye because of Leon Bridges, a musician whom I listen to all of the time. But after delving deeper into the article, I became fascinated by Wrangler’s merging of the physical and digital world with NFTs. Indeed, while NFTs are not a novelty (they’ve been around since 2014), there is still much skepticism around them. Wrangler’s NFT drop comes amid a period of heightened scrutiny for the cryptocurrency space due to fraudulent activity. OpenSea, the largest NFT trading platform, was recently targeted by a phishing attack that’s estimated to have cost users millions.
It seems that Wrangler is trying to account for the skepticism around NFTs by attaching the digital products to real-world ones, such as the physical replica of Bridges’ outfit and a private concert from him. While much is still unknown about the longevity of the metaverse and NFTs, I believe that it’s another weapon in the arsenal for brands who want to become more relevant and innovative in the public’s eye, especially for younger consumers.
This strategy may even be wise for brands like Wrangler, which recognize the instability and skepticism around NFTs and decide to include physical assets to––for lack of a better term––prove the worth of the digital good. At the end of the day, brands are only using NFT to increase customer retention and drive sales. In my opinion, if not for these two outcomes, NFTs can be a massive waste of a marketing budget. Everything can be fun and games in the metaverse, but it’s not until a user makes an actual, non-cryptocurrency-based purchase that NFTs will show an effective ROI.
While saying all of this, I still think there’s a possibility that Web3 and cryptocurrencies can become extremely valuable and profitable for the companies that got started early.
“I could totally be wrong about all of this,” says Mr. Galligan. “But if it [NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, and Web3] succeeds, because I was early, should one not be rewarded for that risk?”
