adidas Doubles Down on Utility
adidas is becoming a leader in Web3 via their smart use of utility within their NFT program. Are they charting the course for major brands to follow?
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news includes:
Adidas leaning into utility with ALTs
AI hitting pop culture
Pixelmon surges on whale sweeps
$PEPE rockets while BTC / ETH cool off
New ATH for a CS:GO skin
👟 ALTs by adidas Lean Into Utility
While NFT holders are getting fed up with typical "utility" from PFP projects, there is one brand doing things right.
adidas.
And they're beginning to catch some steam.
ALTs by adidas is an "evolving NFT journey from adidas," combining elements of PFPs, interactive storytelling, and a healthy dose of utility.
ALT holders will participate in a series of steps to evolve and generate a PFP with certain traits (that they can choose), which dictates specific utility.
Here's How It Works
ALTs will evolve into PFPs via holder decisions and engagement
Each PFP will have universal utility within the adidas program
ALT[er] egos are the first set of traits that holders will choose or receive
The ego traits will determine custom utility
So there's a baseline of universal utility that everyone will receive, and then custom utility that holders can choose based on which aspect (verticals) of adidas they want to participate in.
And more engagement can lead to more utility.
What are the benefits?
Some of the universal utility features include exclusive access to:
bespoke physical and virtual products
physical and virtual experiences
co-creation opportunities
token-gated community channels (i.e. discord)
The custom utility is where things get interesting.
Based on which traits the holder has on their ALT[er] ego, they'll receive:
Exclusive or early access to physical and virtual products specific to your alter ego via the Adidas online and retail touchpoints
Access to tickets for events and performances specific to your alter ego
There are 8 initial traits representing different types of shoes, sports and gear, all with different rarities ranging from 17.5% to 3%.
And those traits define what kind of products and events the holder will have access to.
For instance, the Hoops trait (16%) provides access to "adidas basketball & other US sports athlete experiences."
The 2 most rare traits, Decos (3%) and Drips (3%) offer access to the co-creation opportunities with up-and-coming artists and specific fashion experiences, respectively.
Conclusion
This is a pretty smart and well-designed program from adidas.
Fans can engage with their project and represent their interests via PFPs (crowd-sourced marketing), and receive real rewards while doing so.
Early access to things like shoe drops, events, and exclusive experiences is exactly what a hardcore fan of a major brand would want.
And the market is showing that, with the ALTs holding a 0.46 ETH floor across their 17,000 NFT supply - almost $1,000 at time of writing.
“ALTS brings the entire breadth of adidas as a sports and lifestyle brand into the digital space,” said VP of the adidas /// studio, Erika Wykes-Sneyd, in an exclusive interview with Forbes last week. “Token holders will get special access behind the velvet rope.”
adidas continues to provide a blueprint for major brands on integrating with and launching Web3 projects.
Expect more innovation to come.
🤖AI Hits Pop Culture
Two major AI-related events occurred yesterday that shouldn't be ignored.
1. The NBA included AI and ChatGPT in an ad for the NBA Playoffs
2. An AI-generated song featuring Drake and The Weeknd went viral
The ad from the NBA which features Jack Harlow asking ChatGPT a question "What does AI know about the Playoffs?" shows just how mainstream AI is becoming (and perhaps a nod to the NBA's embrace of the new tech).
Wen NBA Top Shot or Sorare ChatGPT ads?
The AI-generated song is even more interesting.
The song titled "heart on my sleeve" already has 250,000 streams on Spotify. And many reviews are calling it a banger.
Are music artists done for in this new era of AI-generated music?
Or will they become superheroes, generating as much content as they want?
My bet is the latter. While the industry is certainly on the brink of major disruption, these tools seem to benefit leading artists more than hurt them.
They'll soon be able to generate as much content as they want, changing their role from creator to curator.
Like it or not, AI is hitting mainstream - and soon.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
Trading volume came in at 18k ETH on Sunday, in one of the lowest volume days since Blur farming began; OS Pro captured 8% share, with Blur holding 58% even with some intermittent bid/listing issues
Leading NFTs saw some solid green on the board after several days of bleeding and calls for capitulation
Pixelmon surged 36% to 1.15 ETH (it reached 1.4 at peak) as SpiritDAO has seemingly bought in
A Fewo 1/1 "Bittersweet" sold for 99 ETH ($210,000)
Kanpai Pandas outlined a new dynamic rarity system using Panda Points and featuring rewards
Memeland teased a new "GmShow" coming soon
Chimpers introduced a new arcade contest called "Quack Quest"
PROOF announced the second set of artists for its upcoming Diamond Exhibition, featuring Hideki Tsukamoto, Ippsketch, and more
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
The crypto market fell yesterday; BTC -1.4% $29,900; ETH even at $2,090
$PEPE token steals all attention, jumps over 800x and is 3rd in volume on the Ethereum chain behind just ETH BTC and USDC, leading calls that AltSZN has begun
A CSGO skin sold for around $400,000, a new ATH for that gam
People continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on in-game items
🚀 NFT Total Volume
Wrapped CryptoPunks (2,436 ETH, 53.7 ETH Floor)
BAYC (2,043 ETH, 54.2 ETH)
MAYC (1,751 ETH, 12.2 ETH)
Azuki (1,430 ETH; 15.9 ETH)
BAKC (1,042 ETH, 5.3 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
Pixelmon (36%, 1.15 ETH Floor)
God Hates NFTees (33%, 0.25 ETH)
Sappy Seals (12%, 0.65 ETH)
Pixelmon Trainers (8%, 0.38 ETH)
Clone X (6%, 2.52 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is a massive day of new drops and events.
The Memes are back, kicking off SZN3 with a card by major artist Deekay Motion. This one will likely set the tone for SZN3 price action and demand.
NBA Top Shot is leaning into the burn-to-redeem meta with its new Playoff Packs and Redemption function (join us live at 12 pm ET as we break it down today!).
And the long-awaited Moonbirds Mythics claims begin today, a major test of demand for the reeling PROOF ecosystem.
Code.Lawless (10:00 a.m. ET); 0.0082 ETH
Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET); 0.06529 ETH
NBA Top Shot: Playoff Packs (1:00 p.m. ET); $10 and $29
Scents of Spring by Florian Zumbrunn (1:00 p.m. ET); $300
Art Blocks Presents: Voyager by DisruptedStar (1:00 p.m. ET); Dutch auction
Candy: 2023 MLB Team Packs (1:00 p.m. ET)
Moonbirds - Mythics Eggs Claim (TBD)
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.