NFTs are now going mainstream. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are taking over the world of art and they now seem to be featuring even in celebrations and events. Being an interesting conversation starter, several mainstream brands and retailers are incorporating holiday-themed NFTs into their products.
For instance, Macy’s which is one of the biggest department stores in America launched its “Macy’s Parade NFT” series on November 25 (Thanksgiving Day).
The vice president of digital marketing at Macy’s, Dave Torres, said that for over 90 years, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has represented the very best and pop culture. He explained that through the Thanksgiving parade, Macy’s has managed to create art in the sky and on the ground with many signature balloons coupled with floats.
Due to that, Torres insists that part of the goal behind this parade NFT project is to better understand the emerging trends while guaranteeing that Macy’s is ready to embrace the next frontier that comes with digital brand experiences. He stated:
As we immersed ourselves in this project, we saw an opportunity to align brand innovation with our charitable work for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in a way we’ve never imagined possible.”
Macy’s non-fungible tokens are powered by the Polygon blockchain underpinned by Sweet. Sweet is an enterprise NFT solutions provider. The CEO of Sweet, Tom Mizzone, said that Macy’s Parade NFT series comprised of parade balloons from the 95-year history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:
Each parade balloon has been carefully selected to represent a specific decade from the 1920s to the present, and each balloon has been captured and grafted into a series of 9,510 generative NFTs designed by the very talented NFT artist REOMETRY.”
Based on the statement by Mizzone, the Macy’s Parade NFT series is unique for many reasons, one of them being that just ten of the NFTs can be bought. He said from an official site:
Those ten are only available via an auction that is live on Sweet now and ends on November. 30. The other 9,500 NFTs will be available for free on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021, on a first-come, first-served basis.”
Mizzone also said that all the money generated from the ten NFTs available in the auction will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which is an American non-profit organization that supports children with critical illnesses.
In terms of the 9,500 free NFTs Macy’s gave away, Mizzone confirmed that Macy’s is moving beyond the traditional methods of charitable giving by setting an example in terms of leveraging NFT technology and smart contracts to deploy a perpetual initiative of giving:
Every time an owner of a Macy’s Parade NFT decides to sell his or her NFT in a compatible aftermarket, 10% of the sale price will be donated to Make-A-Wish. Essentially, you’ll have 9,500 NFT owners, when this is all said and done, and an open-ended future of donations to, in this case- Make-A-Wish. As more retail brands begin to see the opportunity that exists with NFTs, Macy’s is setting a precedent of what’s possible in the realm of giving back.”
Adding onto the NFT collection from Macy’s, American television personality and businesswoman Martha Stewart also launched Thanksgiving-themed NFTs on her site, MarthaFRESHMint. After the drop of her Halloween-inspired NFT collection, the Thanksgiving-themed collection becomes Stewart’s second NFT drop in 2021 and will feature audio recordings of Stewart’s Thanksgiving memories.
Notably, Stewart’s licensed “story-telling” Thanksgiving-themed collection was produced in collaboration with Tokns Commerce. Tokns is an NFT solutions provider for iconic brands and creators.
The CEO of Tokns, Jamie Tedford, said that the collection features more than 100 NFT collectibles that show a new take on iconic photos from the magazine Martha Stewart Living:
“With our featured drop, Martha has invented a new category we’re calling ‘Storytelling NFTs.’ This one-of-one NFT features exclusive audio of Martha recalling family Thanksgiving traditions and recounting the story of her first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving dinner — burnt Turkey and all.”
Based on Tedford’s statement, Stewart thinks that storytelling has now become a lost art that has become mostly challenging in the past several months of social distancing. Tedford concluded:
“We set out to establish NFTs as a medium to re-introduce storytelling and resurface this little-known story of Martha’s disastrous first Thanksgiving in her new home. Her iconic voice track and accompanying original music set a new standard for creating a rare, beautifully composed one-of-one NFT.”
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