Nike is making waves in Web3 and the Metaverse.
In November 2021, the athleisure icon will launch a virtual experience on online gaming platform Roblox. Since then, the space, named Nikeland, has attracted 6.7 million visitors from around the world, with a total of over 21.6 million. While this isn’t his 82 million visits for Vans, Nike CEO John Donahue said the campaign was enough to expand “positive momentum and energy” as part of the company’s digital strategy. I believe we have achieved success.
Jake Stott is the co-founder and CEO of Hype, a Web3 agency.
In December 2021, The Swoosh went deep into Web3 and acquired non-fungible token (NFT) studio RTFKT. Against the backdrop of new purchases, Nike launched a series of his NFT drops in the following months. Cryptokicks is his collection of 20,000 sneaker NFTs, designed by artist Takashi Murakami, sold for his $134,000. The company has since toyed with exclusive drops for NFT holders and other phygital (physical and digital) items.
in numbers
Nike’s Web3 strategy paid off big.
According to the data, The Swoosh has made about $185 million in NFT sales and flaunts names like Adidas, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tiffany & Co., which together account for more than that. Generates less than half of sales.
But this all comes with a big asterisk.
Nike didn’t disclose the terms of its RTFKT acquisition, and in its latest earnings call, it didn’t specify the operating costs of its Web3 venture. It is impossible to say how financially successful or unsuccessful these campaigns have been. For reference, Nike’s projected annual revenue for 2022 is $46.7 billion.
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One thing is certain, though. Nike has quickly established himself as one of the most beloved brands in his early Web3 space.
Numbers don’t lie. His Discord server at RTFKT currently boasts just under 232,000 members. Adidas, by contrast, remains at around 57,000 at the time of writing. Web3 natives such as CryptoPunks and Bored Apes Yacht Club (both owned by Yuga Labs) also trail behind with 71,000 and 172,000 respectively.
for culture
Crypto Twitter applauds Nike’s familiarity with community building. But Nike’s move to Web3 isn’t just a community-building success story, it’s a perfect example of using a new culture to reach new audiences and beat the competition.
Culture has been central to Nike’s strategy for years. Forking out of sports performance, the brand has established itself as a cultural icon in sports, music, lifestyle and the arts. As an up-and-comer, it’s no surprise that he’s taking the same approach with Web3 and the metaverse.
During the 2019 earnings call, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings dropped a poignant line. [an online video game] More than HBO,” he said. “We think of ourselves as getting time away from other activities, time for entertainment.”
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In Hastings’ view, the race was not a so-called streaming war. As powerful as Disney’s catalog was, he understood that the real battle was for people’s attention.
Nike seems to have a similar perception of Web3 and the Metaverse. Swoosh isn’t just entering a sales contest with apparel giants like Adidas and Under Armor. Fighting for cultural relevance with challenging esports brands and upcoming digital fashion houses, many of which are gaining momentum in his Gen Z and gaming circles.
While the Fortnite demographic is still far from mainstream penetration, digital fashion brands and gaming organizations are pitching skins, wearables, and collectibles to carve out niches in internet culture and the digital economy. Some have even taken advantage of their mainstream popularity and expanded into physical commodities, the same goes for his Web3 favorite his Yuga Labs, which recently hit his $4 billion valuation. did.
FaZe Clan expected $50 million in revenue in 2021. This pales in comparison to his $12.7 billion for Nike in the first quarter of 2023.
By the time Netflix found itself in competition with Fortnite, the competition was already spiraling out of control. Swoosh doesn’t seem too keen on making the same mistake. Instead, Nike got him into the fabric of the Web3 culture before the competition even started.
That’s the beauty of the company’s Web3 play. Unlike other traditional brands that see Web3 as a new technology, Nike understands that technology is just one aspect of him in something bigger: the new cultural movement.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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