There has been no shortage of brands that have become involved with NFTs recently, and Taco Bell’s project is one of them.
It’s always fascinating when a company of Taco Bell’s stature and passionate customer base attempts to innovate in the NFT space because there is relatively little precedent for them to compare to.
Taco Bell sold 25 unique non-fungible tokens in under half an hour, donating the proceeds to the Live Mas Scholarship. This demonstrates both the increasing popularity of NFTs and the vast potential that the technology presents for businesses.
The fact that you could purchase and own a small (and unique) slice of the Taco Bell business gives fans of the brand an opportunity to become more deeply invested in the brand and earn money off the back of it.
While this is technically possible if you invest in a publicly traded company, there is no other way of owning your own bespoke brand property.
This is how Taco Bell got into the NFT game and raised money for charity:
What did Taco Bell offer?
Back in 2021, Taco Bell offered a series of animated GIFs and digital art depicting their famous product – tacos. Only 25 were produced, and all sold out within thirty minutes, demonstrating both the power of the brand and the increasing popularity of the NFT market.
These NFTs also contained a $500 electronic voucher that was redeemable in Taco Bell restaurants, highlighting the close interoperability between the real and digital worlds.
Given that each NFT was sold for a single dollar, this was never going to be a great money-spinner for Taco Bell. Instead, it was a PR exercise that was undoubtedly aimed at a younger audience, to demonstrate its alignment with future technologies.
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What does this mean for the NFT market?
At first glance, the news that a fast-food brand has started selling digital artwork might sound faintly ridiculous, but the logic behind it and the wider message it sends out to the world about the NFT market is strong.
This was never about 25 pictures of pixelated tacos. It is about a well-established brand finding new ways to increase the loyalty and responsiveness of their customer base and dip their toe in the water with a technology that few businesses understand.
Taco Bell is far from the only business that has started offering NFTs, with everyone from Nike to Coca-Cola getting in on the act. Going forward it is likely that brands will find more imaginative ways to implement NFTs into their marketing strategies – whether it is offering digital products in the metaverse or allowing you to own a fraction of the brand’s intellectual property.
How else could brands use NFTs as a marketing tool?
The future of digital marketing is community-driven, not audience-oriented. The vast audiences that brands have accumulated on social media are largely passive, and arguably meaningless until you persuade them to act.
The forthcoming shift towards Web 3.0 and the metaverse raises the prospect of brand communities – which can be built through NFTs and DAOs.
If your community all own an NFT, they could be able to offer their guidance on future business strategy, vote on particular decisions, or help you to expand the brand through the second-hand sale of their NFTs.
At this stage, the possibilities are endless.
