Nike & Adidas Just Doubled Down on NFTs...

Web 3.0 is Heating Up:

It’s shocking to see just how quickly companies we know and love are moving into “Web 3.0” - with the largest development of the last few weeks being Nike’s (NKE) ~$100M acquisition of a leading metaverse fashion and collectibles brand that’s effectively merging culture and gaming.

According to Nike’s press release announcing the acquisition..

And to be quite honest, despite crypto / NFT investors being very “anti big corporation” in some ways, this acquisition was very well-received by the broader crypto community.

In my experience, crypto / NFT investors — if that’s even a proper title for them — care most about decentralization, ownership, and building community. By the way, Nike specifically introduced this acquisition as “value-adding” …

instead of some sort of cash grab (like Adidas — we’ll talk about that here in a second), they’ve been given the thumbs up from Web 3.0 participants.

But is it a Cash Grab?

Alright, so companies are doing metaverse stuff — we get that. I’d personally argue Nike fits right in to this evolving Web 3.0 landscape as more people begin to care about their appearances in the digital world vs. in real life.

But what about all of the other companies and brands that are converging with the metaverse and Web 3 in a more.. “irresponsible” manner?

Let’s start by talking about what’s been deemed ‘cool and fine’ by the Web 3.0 community at large.

Your favorite Saturday hangout, Applebees, is launching a campaign called Metaverse Monday - allowing anyone the opportunity to purchase an NFT based on their iconic menu items.

The first buyer of the NFT will also receive instructions on how to redeem their NFT for “meals for a year,” which their website claims is worth about $1,300 in free Applebee’s meals.

I think this is cool! I mean, people out there are certainly into Web 3 — especially the metaverse — and Applebee’s is catering new products toward them. They’re selling these NFTs for $25 / each, which is a huge discount to their intrinsic value of $1,300 in free meals so everyone wins.

Applebee’s will get some buzz online, and someone will have free meals for an entire year — a win / win situation.

White Castle, credited for creating the world’s first fast-food hamburger chain (1921), recently took to Twitter to announce a slight name change on their account.

This “.eth” at the end of their name is pretty much them saying “We’re claiming a wallet address on the Ethereum blockchain as ours.” What they’ll do with this Ethereum wallet address - no one knows, but it’s certainly interesting.

Let’s now talk about what Adidas did this week - collaborating with a few notable NFT projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, to launch their own NFT collection Into the Metaverse.

According to a press release by the company..

Below is the NFT Adidas is selling to their community — a spin on the esteemed Bored Ape Yacht Club — for 0.2 ETH each, or about $800.

Adidas spent 46 ETH, or about ~$185,000, on OpenSea to purchase this NFT. The company did this to build rapport within the Bored Ape Yacht Club community — an NFT community a lot of people look up to.

I’d imagine Adidas was thinking.. “If we can get the ‘best’ community to like us, maybe all of the others will follow suit?”

Well, considering Adidas spent $185 thousand to “win over the approval of Web 3.0 community members,” and made $23 million from the launch.

Because of this “quick” 125X return on their investment (Bored Ape) — some people are beginning to think it was all a corporate cash grab.

To be honest with you, I don’t have a dog in this fight. The only NFT I own is the Poolsuite NFT I shared with you all here. Happily using its ownership to jam out to my favorite tunes on their exclusive website. It’ll be interesting to see how greedy (or not) corporations might become as Web 3.0 evolves.

It sort of reminds me of influencers receiving millions of dollars worth of a cryptocurrency in exchange for pumping it to their audiences — knowing damn well they’re going to sell and “rug pull” everyone without consequences.

I’m not saying Adidas has done or will do that — don’t be mistaken. I’m just keeping an eye on how specific companies are entering this incredibly lucrative space.

This company, through some strategic marketing, made $23 million in less than a day — compare that now to the $538 million in profits the company generated worldwide during the entire last quarter. That’s a potential 4% pad to their bottom line with very little cost. If corporations, like Adidas, are able to reap these lucrative NFT rewards at scale… we may end up seeing a very different Web 3.0 landscape in 2022.

What to Watch Out For:

Companies moving into Web 3.0 in a meaningful way — and by meaningful, I don’t mean offering JPEG images of your iconic menu items to NFT collectors.

I mean companies who are doubling down on enhancing the consumer digital experience as outlined in the Tweet thread below:

Feel free to let me know how you feel about this type of content and the Web3 / NFT / metaverse space in general. We’re all learning together here!

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.