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Tag: NFT

  • HeyHey, Olive Group bring ‘Oliverse’ wave on full display at ONFT

    HeyHey, Olive Group bring ‘Oliverse’ wave on full display at ONFT

    Mumbai: An online platform HeyHey has collaborated as a technology partner with Olive Group of restaurants recently to showcase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the event christened ‘ONFT’. It is the first Indian restaurant group to showcase NFTs.

    The two organizations came together for ‘ONFT’, an event which put some of the finest NFTs on full display to spread the word about a new medium that is set to revolutionize the world of art & their fans. The event is one of the first of its kind in India, and brings to light how brands and celebrities are entering the metaverse. This NFT exhibit was held at Olive Bar & Kitchen in Khar and was attended by personalities from the spheres of business, art, and entertainment.

    Indian cinema actor Sunny Leone attended the event with her husband Daniel Weber. Interestingly, Leone too has launched her NFT with HeyHey as the technology partner. She showcased her collection called ‘I Dream of Sunny’ along with other masterpieces from the entertainment industry. Some of these included ‘We Are Actors’ by Rahul Bose – a discourse on the struggle of the industry, another one by leading fashion designer – Narendra Kumar – based on the idea of how every coercion is overshadowed by a distraction and, ‘One@mumbai’ by JJ Valaya – founder of House of Valaya, a culmination of moving & imagery interpretations of some of the magical cities of this country.

    From within the NFT space, well-loved NFT artist Amrit Pal Singh displayed ‘Cleopatra Toy Face’ alongside stylist & creative director Kshitij Kankaria’s piece about raw authenticity. It was a collection of photographs where every image told a different story. Multi-disciplinary artist, Santanu Hazarika, also presented his NFT, called ‘Cat-fishing 2.0’. Among the exhibition was also 22-year-old NFT artist Kashish Arora’s ‘Catching Ether’.

    Olive Group founder and managing director AD Singh said, “Since we launched The Olive Group over 20 years ago, we’ve been fortunate to have always had our finger on the pulse of what our customers want and like. We’ve introduced many industry ‘firsts,’ and now, we’re excited to see what our integration into the metaverse means, both for our customers and us as a Group. We look forward to welcoming you all to the Oliverse.”

    HeyHey CEO and founder Caleb Franklin said, “We are delighted to work with illustrious names in the industry and showcase our expertise at the ‘ONFT’ event. The metaverse is the next big thing which will revolutionize the experiential marketing world and more opportunities ought to open up the different worlds in this space. We are glad to be associated with an outstanding restaurant chain and become the first in India to curate an event like this.”

    Other noteworthy personalities at the event included, Sandeep Goyal, Anisha Dixit, Taha Shaha alongside Sunny Leone & Daniel Weber, Narendra “Nari” Kumar, Santanu Hazarika.

    HeyHey has been associating with notable brands and individuals in the industry to create experiential engagement. At ‘ONFT’, buyers, audience and guests in attendance were taken on special NFT tours, and educated about the benefits of NFT that don’t just include collecting, but also real-world experiences that can be enhanced and accessed using these NFTs.

  • Sociowash bags digital mandate for Viacom18’s music and English entertainment brands

    Sociowash bags digital mandate for Viacom18’s music and English entertainment brands

    Digital marketing agency Sociowash has won the digital marketing mandate for Viacom18’s music brands MTV Beats, VH1 and KaanPhod, English entertainment brands Colors Infinity and Comedy Central, and multiformat content destination Fully Faltoo YouTube channel, with NFT marketplace fullyfaltoonft.com. 

    Sociowash will be responsible for reinforcing each brand’s digital presence by conceptualizing relevant content that users can engage with daily. In addition to that, the agency will also work towards creating content that not only reiterates the quirky vibe of the brands but also emphasizes on creating dynamic and thought-provoking content for its viewers. This partnership will serve to further enhance the digital presence of Viacom18’s Music and English Entertainment brands, multi format content destination Fully Faltoo YouTube channel and fullfaltoonft.com.

    All these responsibilities will be taken care of by the Mumbai branch of the Sociowash. The aim for Sociowash will be to synergize with these youth-centric brands and create active digital media content across all social platforms. Collectively, the brands under this mandate offer content across genres including comedy, music, snackable shows as well as Fully Faltoo NFT marketplace.

    Viacom 18 marketing head for youth, music and English entertainment cluster Utsav Chaudhuri said, “With a unique mix of multi-genre and multi-platform content, our brands MTV Beats, Vh1, KaanPhod, Colors Infinity, Comedy Central are synonymous with pop-culture, and our new brand Fully Faltoo along with its NFT ecosystem will leverage the emerging pop-trends. With Sociowash, we aim to further strengthen our digital strategy for our content to reach and engage with the youth.”

    “We at Sociowash have always believed in adding value to brands and maximising the digital footprint. After having done the same for the Viacom 18 network we are extremely delighted to have their YME cluster on board with us. Creating strategies that will resonate with the target audience, while using marketing for the good is what will positively help us and Viacom 18 reach greater heights,” commented Sociowash co-founder Pranav Agarwal.

  • CAMM Summit 2022: ‘Ad-tech to allow brands to take control of consumer experience’

    CAMM Summit 2022: ‘Ad-tech to allow brands to take control of consumer experience’

    Mumbai: Facebook rebranded to Meta in October last year and threw the marketing world into a frenzy by coining a new buzzword ‘metaverse.’ Marketers are often quoted saying that technologies such as AR/VR, blockchain, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will have a transformative effect on the advertising industry but the implementation of these technologies at scale still has ways to go.

    “In digital media, we’ve been comfortable talking in terms of reach, frequency, leads but suddenly there is a challenge that we’re all facing,” said Madison World vice president Kosal Malladi during a panel discussion held recently. The discussion was on ‘new technology experiences in content-tech, ad-tech and mar-tech’ organised by IndianTelevision.com during its Content-Tech, Ad-Tech, Mar-Tech and More (CAMM) Summit and Exhibition 2022. The virtual event was co-presented by PubMatic and industry partner Adjust.

    The challenge we’re facing, explained Malladi, is that while there are a lot of people giving ‘gyaan’ about the metaverse, blockchain and everything associated with it, they don’t know how to implement it. “Adtech and martech is evolving so quickly that if we don’t keep pace with the change, we’ll become dinosaurs.”

    The discussion was joined by eminent marketers, technologists and media strategists including AsiaAsia India lead product marketing and brand communications Kishen Ramaswamy, Tata Elxsi global practice head for media and new media Ajay Kumar Meher, Verse Innovation vice president monetisation, growth strategy and partnerships Venkatesh Adavi and MIQ India and SAARC head of growth and revenue Varun Mohan.

    Starting off the discussion on the applications of blockchain technology, Tata Elxsi’s Ajay Kumar Meher said, “There are people who’re asking the fundamental question of what is the practical use of a blockchain.”

    “Blockchain is a shared immutable ledger,” he explained. “It is a process of recording transactions that is unchangeable. It also helps in tracking assets that may be digital assets such as NFTs. Should the asset only be digital in nature? Not necessarily. The sale of a house may be recorded and registered on a blockchain so that the owner can be defined. This would prevent the same property from being sold multiple times to different people.”

    In the media and entertainment industry, “blockchain can manage content micropayments. Suppose a broadcaster is buying the rights to a movie and an artist has recorded a song that is played in the movie, then that artist can be paid a specific micropayment every time the movie is played,” said Meher.

    He added, “If a content owner would like to sell the rights to his content to various stakeholders via the blockchain then he will be able to track whether the content is being used as stipulated in the agreement. Another level of usage are royalty payments where we can define all the stakeholders in the piece of content and precisely know what is to be paid for a particular usage.”

    “Artists who are creating a lot of digital assets may leverage NFTs to define their ownership of that asset,” Meher further said.

    Meher shared several use cases on how blockchain could be deployed in the media industry including creating a blockchain-based exchange between advertisers, agencies and publishers to measure exactly how many ads are displayed on the publisher side.

    “The wastage of media will be controlled with far more engagement opportunities unlocked by ad-tech,” remarked MiQ India and SAARC head of growth and revenue Varun Mohan. “Ad-tech will play a vital role on the measurement side. Today, If I take the FMCG category as an example, they are facing a lot of challenges in monitoring data that is coming from offline channels. With ad-tech, brands will take ownership of consumer behaviour and engagement via multiple touchpoints that will help them plan their media activation.”

    Next Verse Innovation’s Venkatesh Adavi spoke about the use cases for AR/VR in India. He said, “AR is quite ahead in terms of adoption compared to other technologies. It is being used by both people who consume content as well as marketers and media companies who want to talk about their brands and products.”

    He added, “VR still suffers from issues such as proliferation of equipment, bandwidth and network coverage that needs to be there to enable the ecosystem. There’s still some heavy lifting required in terms of development of VR content and from an access point of view.”

    “AR technology is growing fast as there is a processor and camera in everyone’s hand via the smartphone. What we see on short video app Josh is that users live creating content that can be layered on AR. Brands are also catching up. We get a lot of brands who want to create AR effects, so that they can be a part of the content that consumers create.

    “The holy grail of marketing is engagement and AR gives a canvas to marketers to enable their products to be utilised in the videos that consumers are creating. If millions of consumers create videos using brands’ AR effects, then you get so much earned media,” surmised Adavi.

    AirAsia’s Kishen Ramaswamy spoke about potential use cases of the metaverse in the airline industry. “Metaverse is a combination of AR/VR but with a real-world economic model. Today, in general, people are more open to having virtual meetings over physical ones, especially in the corporate segment. This opens up people to have experiences outside the workplace. That is important for us as a brand and we’ve been focusing on creating experiences that our audiences would appreciate,” Ramaswamy said.

    “For a first-time flier booking a ticket, checking-in and picking your seats can be an intimidating experience,” he stated. “Why not create a metaverse experience where our customers can explore doing those things and learning on their own. For a brand, it is an opportunity to show what they can expect. We expect this use case to become a reality in the near future.”  

    Watch the panel discussion here:

  • Superstar Xchange to launch NFT for Hindi film ‘Jhund’

    Superstar Xchange to launch NFT for Hindi film ‘Jhund’

    Mumbai: US based Superstar Xchange in collaboration with Tezos India and TZ APAC are set to launch Bollywood industry’s first non-fungible token (NFT) ahead of the theatrical release of Hindi film “Jhund.”

    Superstar Xchange will be dropping two NFTs representing two unique posters from the film “Jhund” on 3 and 4 March respectively and the worldwide NFT drops will happen on Superstar Xchange’s official website on both the days at 5 p.m IST. Each of the buyers of these two NFTs will own a piece of the movie via unique and exclusive movie posters, and these NFTs can then be traded in the secondary market and/or also be shared on social media platforms, said the statement.

    Superstar Xchange is a NFT marketplace co-founded by Andrew Sternlight and renowned film producer Savita Raj Hiremath who has launched the film “Khosla Ka Ghosla.” The platform is dedicated to publishing NFTs on the Indian film industry. The Superstar Xchange platform has been built on top of the Tezos blockchain.

    “We are super excited and honoured to launch premium NFTs on Superstar Xchange for a big-ticket movie like ‘Jhund’ starring the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Given that film NFTs range from old to new films, both innovation and creativity are critical for this domain; and furthermore, the concept and uniqueness of a digital asset make NFTs stand out as an art form,” said Superstar Xchange founder Savita Raj Hiremath.

    “Through Superstar Xchange, we are crafting new opportunities for fans to connect with, even to participate in, the inspiring stories that stir our imaginations and shape our lives,” said Superstar Xchange co-founder Andrew Sternlight. “From an investment perspective, we expect our new creative digital asset class to offer its collectors strong, diversified returns.”

    “We are delighted and proud to join hands as a supporting partner with Superstar Xchange for the ‘Jhund’ NFT project,” said Tezos India resident Om Malviya. “We truly believe that green NFTs with low carbon footprint are the future, and Tezos is the leader in this space. Being the leading force in terms of promoting the Tezos ecosystem in India, we at Tezos India foresee a huge potential for Tezos-based NFTs in the Indian film industry in the years to come.”

    The film is directed by Nagraj Manjule of “Sairat” fame and features Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role. Produced by T-Series, Tandav Films Entertainment and Aatpat Films and distributed by Zee Studios, “Jhund” is slated for a worldwide release on 4 March. Inspired by a true story, the biographical film revolves around the life of a sports teacher Vijay Barse who took his slum soccer team to represent India in the Homeless World Cup held in Paris in 2015.

  • ASCI frames guidelines for virtual digital assets’ advertising and promotion

    ASCI frames guidelines for virtual digital assets’ advertising and promotion

    Mumbai: Noticing a significant uptick in advertising for Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) like NFT and Crypto, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has come up with guidelines for their advertising and promotion, effective from 1 April.

    Even as the Indian government continues to work on the framework for virtual digital assets, commonly referred to as crypto or NFT products, advertising for these products has been quite aggressive over the past few months.

    ASCI noted that several of these advertisements do not adequately disclose the risks associated with such products. In order to safeguard consumer interest, and to ensure that ads do not mislead or exploit consumers’ lack of expertise, ASCI has extensively consulted with different stakeholders including the government and the virtual digital asset industry to frame guidelines for virtual digital asset advertising.

    Advertisers and media owners must also ensure that all earlier advertisements must not appear in the public domain unless they comply with the guidelines post 15 April, said the association.

    These guidelines interpret, for virtual digital assets, Chapter 1 of the ASCI code, particularly clauses 1.1, 1.4 and 1.5. that require ads to be truthful, and not mislead consumers by implication, ambiguity, exaggeration or omission, and are not framed in a way that abuses their trust or exploits their lack of knowledge.

    It is important to note that these guidelines do not amount to any legal recognition or endorsement of the industry or the sector, as that is a matter of government policy. ASCI only provides self-regulation for content of ads that are permitted by law.

    All advertising for virtual digital assets and services needs to adhere to the following guidelines: 

    (1.1)         All ads for VDA products and VDA exchanges, or featuring VDAs, must carry the following disclaimer.

    “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.”

    Such a disclaimer must be made in the following manner so that it is ‘prominent’ and ‘unmissable’ by an average consumer:

    (a)    In print or static, equal to at least one-fifth of the advertising space at the bottom of the advertisement in an easy-to-read font, against a plain background, and to the maximum font size afforded by the space.

    (b)   In video, the disclaimer should be placed at the end of the advertisement against a plain background. A voice over must accompany the disclaimer in text. The voice over should be at a normal speaking pace and must not be hurried. In the case of long format video of over two minutes, the said disclaimer should be repeated at the beginning and at the end of the video. The disclaimer must remain on screen for a minimum of five seconds.

    (c)    In audio, the disclaimer must be spoken at the end of the advertisement. The voice over should be at a normal speaking pace and must not be hurried. In the case of long-format audio of over 90 seconds, the said disclaimer should be repeated at the beginning and at the end of the audio.

    (d)   In social media posts, such a disclaimer must be carried in both the caption as well as any picture or video attachments. The disclaimer within the caption must be placed upfront at the beginning of the post. Where social media posts or advertisements  have restrictions on text in the static picture, the disclaimer must be carried upfront in the caption before the fold.

    (e)    In disappearing stories or posts unaccompanied by text, the said disclaimer will need to be voiced at the end of the story in the manner laid out in points (a) or (b) above. If the video is 15 seconds or lesser, then the disclaimer may be carried in a prominent and visible manner as an overlay.

    (f)    In formats where there is a limit on characters, the following shortened disclaimer must be used “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and risky”, followed by a link to the full disclaimer.

    (g)   The disclaimer must be made in the dominant language of the advertisement

    (h)   In addition to the above, all disclaimers must meet the minimum requirements laid down in the ASCI guidelines for disclaimers.

    (2) The words ‘currency,’ ‘securities,’ ‘custodian’ and ‘depositories’ may not be used in advertisements of VDA products or services as consumers associate these terms with regulated products.

    (3) The information contained in advertisements shall not contradict the information or warnings that the regulated entities provide to customers in the marketing of VDA products from time to time.

    (4) Advertisements that provide information on the cost or profitability of VDA products shall contain clear, accurate, sufficient and updated information. For example, ‘zero cost’ will need to include all costs that the consumer might reasonably associate with the offer or transaction.

    (5) Information on past performance shall not be provided in any partial or biased manner. Returns for periods of less than 12 months shall not be included.

    (6) Every advertisement for VDA products must clearly give out the name of the advertiser and provide an easy way to contact them (phone number or email). This information should be presented in a manner that is easily understood by the average consumer.

    (7) No advertisement for VDA products or exchanges may show a minor, or someone who appears to be a minor, directly dealing with the product, or talking about the product.

    (8) No advertisement may show that VDA products or VDA trading could be a solution to money problems, personality problems or other such drawbacks.

    (9) No advertisement shall contain statements that promise or guarantee future increase in profits.

    (10) No advertisement may show that understanding VDA products is so easy that consumers do not have to think twice about investing.  Nothing in the ad should downplay the risks associated with the category.

    (11) VDA products may not be compared to any other asset class which is regulated.

    (12) Since this is a risky category, celebrities or prominent personalities who appear in VDA advertisements must take special care to ensure that they have done their due diligence about the statements and claims made in the advertisement, so as not to mislead consumers.

    “We had several rounds of discussion with the government, finance sector regulators, and industry stakeholders before framing these guidelines,” said ASCI chairman Subhash Kamath. “Advertising of virtual digital assets and services needs specific guidance, considering that this is a new and as yet an emerging way of investing. Hence, there is a need to make consumers aware of the risks and ask them to proceed with caution.”

     “We have seen a spate of advertising for virtual digital assets which could compromise consumer interest in the absence of some guardrails. Use of celebrities and high decibel advertising would attract consumers to these offerings, without full disclosure of the risks,” ASCI secretary-general Manisha Kapoor pointed out. “Given that this is, as of now, an unregulated space, it is even more important for advertising to be upfront regarding the risks associated with these products. Globally, this is an emerging technology and products in the virtual digital asset industry have seen significant volatility. We believe with these guidelines, advertisements would be fairer and more transparent.”

  • 3,000 Fully Faltoo NFTs sold out within 48 hrs of launch: Viacom18

    3,000 Fully Faltoo NFTs sold out within 48 hrs of launch: Viacom18

    Mumbai: The maiden NFT drop of 3013 tokens, consisting of 3000 loot and 13 rare tokens from Fully Faltoo collection curated by Viacom18’s youth, music and English entertainment cluster, was an instant success amongst the cluster’s superfans and NFT collectors, globally.

    The range of 3000 NFTs from the loot category, priced at $10 for each token, was sold out in less than 48 hours of its launch. Precisely, 40 per cent of the loot was sold in the first 30 minutes and 80 per cent within 24 hours, announced the media company on Wednesday. 

    The loot category consisted of collectibles inspired by ‘Bakra urf GOAT’ also known as the only legendary ‘OG POI – Prankster of India,’ ‘Rangu The Champ’ – a more passionate character who gave up on his old and boring lifestyle to find out a whole new spark in himself by lighting up his inner dopamine receptors – playback singing, ‘Winging it aka Wing it like Wingnesh’ – a charming guy amongst the ladies who is a  pretty fly for an NFT guy and ‘Many Me’ is You – the wearer of many hats who pulls ’em off with a whole lot of sass.

    While the loot is completely sold out, the rare category on FullyFaltooNFT.com which consists of 13 static and animated NFTs is currently open for bidding that ends on 21 February.

    Fully Faltoo continues to stay invested in the NFT ecosystem and will explore the utility value of these NFTs giving the cluster an opportunity to deepen engagement with its superfans and collectors.

  • The market for NFTs cannot be restricted by demographics: Anshul Ailawadi

    The market for NFTs cannot be restricted by demographics: Anshul Ailawadi

    Mumbai:  Viacom18 YME (Youth, Music, and English Entertainment) cluster stepped into the fast-emerging NFT-verse in January with the extension of its ‘FullyFaltoo’ franchise that went on from being a show on MTV and a brand solutions studio, to now an NFT marketplace that will launch its diverse range of digital collectibles. These exclusive collectibles will also have creations inspired by pop culture properties like ‘Roadies’ and ‘Bakra’.

    “The move was spurred by the thought that we have a really rich legacy of edgy and unique artwork that has played a key part in the life of most of our consumers. Taking this association a step further, how can we give them a chance to own it?” says Viacom18 head- youth, music, and English entertainment Anshul Ailawadi.

    The marketplace fullyfaltoonft.com is powered and facilitated by NFT ecosystem technology framework GuardianLink.io.

    Commenting on the partnership as well as the relevance of NFTs for iconic youth brands like MTV, Vh1, and Comedy Central in India, GuardianLink.io co-founder, and chairman Keyur Patel shares, “MTV resonates with GenZ at all three levels – brand, art, and emotions. With its understanding of the youth and a great legacy of popular art, MTV is poised for success in the NFTverse. I see this as the coming together of some of the most interesting creative assets by an interesting brand in an interesting space!”

    ‘NFT’ what?

    Non Fungible Token (NFT), essentially blockchain-certified digital art, is a rare, and unique asset deemed as a ‘collectible’. It appreciates over time in value as it is traded or auctioned.

    The technology involves three aspects. First is the basic tech that can be scaled to facilitate global participation in the NFT auction. Secondly, so as to make the process more inclusive, multiple payment gateways like credit/debit cards, UPI, and crypto are to be enabled. The third and specific aspect is that of ensuring the security of minting, transferring, and storing NFTs. This secures the NFTs against theft and forgery. Guardian’s high-impact NFTs are protected by its Anti.RIP technology and legitimacy protocol explained Patel.

    Just the way all talk about ‘Non Fungible Tokens’ starts with demystifying this apparently loaded term, Viacom18’s campaign around its NFT debut, too, begins with educating the audience about the basics.  

    “Aimed at both the brand loyalists as well as fence-sitters, our communication has a lot of explanatory stuff around what are NFTs, and how to engage with/trade them. Basically, the first phase of the campaign will be more about ‘trust building’, whereas, the subsequent phases will delve into technicalities like the risks and opportunities involved,” says Ailawadi.

    Even though heavily focused online, there’s also an on-air component to the promotions. Additionally, Viacom18 is targeting online spaces and communities such as Reddit and Discord that have audiences engaging in lively conversations around NFTs.

    Takers all across

    Ailawadi believes that the crypto revolution is spread across the country, and the market for NFTs, therefore, cannot be restricted by demographics. “We are clear about the fact that our brand loyalists will be the first set of adopters. They are present all over India, in the metros as well as in towns like Kochi and Chandigarh that are not tier1. ‘Fence sitters’ who understand that there is a legitimate offering backed by an iconic brand out there, will come next.” he asserts.

    Needless to say, the audience for NFT has a younger skew. However, refraining from generalising, Ailawadi adds, “there are risks associated with NFTs, so people who either do not understand or do not have an appetite for them should think before engaging with them.”

    While the digital natives have had a predominantly virtual mode of expression, interaction, and existence at large, when it comes to NFTs, the question that’s being asked is whether they would also like to own something unique virtually?   

    In this regard, Patel shares an insight stemming from the origins of the phenomenon. “Basically, NFTs got their momentum from the GenZ gamers who collect goods in the virtual space through in-game purchases. With the coming of NFTs, they realised that they can now have authentic stuff for their game that can not only be bought and stored but is also tradable. That’s when this whole thing picked up.”

    Why NFTs

    Non Fungible Tokens became a phenomenon last year when the digital artist known as Beeple sold an NFT of his art for $69million through an auction at Christie’s. That was the defining moment for the world of digital art. NFTs could make brands and celebs.

    What was yesterday just another digital fad for the uninitiated, is today a rare collectible for the loyalists and buffs, and it has the potential of evolving into a ‘utility’ or ‘asset’, sooner than anticipated. Giving an analogy, Patel observes that NFTs will be in the same space as a 140-character tweet which fetches nearly Rs four million today.

    Commenting further on the current and future value of NFTs, Aliwadi remarks, “Many of us had a predilection for collectibles like postal stamps, coins, or tazos in our younger days. While we always had the chance to collect and trade, the opportunity to authenticate and showcase them was limited. Collecting NFTs is the digital equivalent of philately or numismatic, which takes care of these two pain points as well. NFTs can be authenticated by virtue of having a digital signature, and once you are on a marketplace or prominently displaying them on social media platforms, the world will surely notice.”

    That’s about the current value of NFTs, but going forward the possibilities are enormous. “Imagine having a chance to attend MTV Supersonic backstage with an MTV NFT. That’s some time away though! We’ll eventually be there,” reckons Ailawadi. 

  • HT forays into web 3.0 with NFTs documenting 100 years of Indian history

    HT forays into web 3.0 with NFTs documenting 100 years of Indian history

    Mumbai: Hindustan Times has announced its foray into web 3.0 with the launch of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) under the banner of ‘HT Timeless Tokens,’ which will document India’s 100-year-old history as digital art.

    HT Timeless Tokens will include digitised versions of original historic creatives which were published in Hindustan Times through the decades.

    Some of the NFTs launched by HT include the iconic cover page of first republic day HT edition, and others inspired by events such as the success of the first missile launch, and India’s first historic win at the World Cup in 1983 against the West Indies.

    NFTs are a digital certificate of ownership of a piece of digital asset that can be bought and sold. The exclusive digital artworks launched by HT can be purchased with cryptocurrency and Fiat currency. They present an opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts to claim a piece of India’s glorious history filtered through the lens of Hindustan Times.

    To begin with, HT has launched NFTs celebrating India’s Republic Day on 26 January. They are available on Beyond Life, an NFT marketplace and platform that facilitates the creation, sale, and purchase of ownership rights to digital works of art via NFTs. Powered by GuardianLink.io – BeyondLife. Club is also responsible for launching two of the greatest NFT drops so far – Amitabh Bachchan’s rare exclusive NFT and Marvel creator Stan Lee’s exclusive NFT collection ‘Chakraverse.’

    “With industries like tech, finance, lifestyle, music and media advertising companies moving into the crypto/NFT ecosystem, new opportunities are set to be unlocked in the space of Web3,” said GuardianLink.io COO and founder Kamesh Elangovan. “The secondary marketplace for NFTs at GuardianLink.io will see more and more collectors investing with knowledge on the future monetisation of their NFTs. The partnership with Hindustan Times opens yet another avenue to explore the world of NFTs in the media and marketing industry.”

  • T-Series, Hungama join hands to foray into NFTs

    T-Series, Hungama join hands to foray into NFTs

    Mumbai: Music and film studio T-Series has announced its foray into Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in association with Hefty Entertainment – a division of digital media entertainment company Hungama. According to a statement, the association brings together the latter’s 90 million+ monthly active users (MAUs) across music, gaming and video to join hands with T-Series’ over 395 million YouTube subscribers base and 75 million followers on social media across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

    “The strategic partnership between the two companies is built on their 20-year-old, long-standing association. T-Series and Hungama will leverage their global distribution network and a library spanning two lakh songs, 65,000 music videos and 150+ films across Indian languages to create the next big digital revolution,” said the statement.

    “We are delighted to extend our two-decade-long alliance with Hungama, and to enable our community with access to the Metaverse,” said T-Series chairman and MD Bhushan Kumar. “Having set the ball rolling, we look forward to expanding and enhancing the value of our content that leads to the rapid expansion of the global digital entertainment industry, and offering a future full of potential, interactivity and collaboration for our communities around the globe.”

    The foray will witness the two entertainment brands raise the bar of entertainment creation and consumption via Hefty Entertainment (a Web 3.0 initiative by Hungama), and in partnership with Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development platform, Polygon. Hefty Metaverse will be built with the vision of fostering an ecosystem that helps to collaborate, interact and engage with flourishing web 3.0 communities.

    Hungama will create NFTs, rare collectibles and ‘money can’t buy experiences,’ in addition to unlocking special moments from T-Series’ catalogue of new and existing content.

    “We look forward to redefining content consumption with this Web 3.0 initiative as we find new ways to collaborate and engage with fans. We promise to give billions of fans of Bollywood, globally, an experience that will see value accrue to them on our platform,” said Hungama founder Neeraj Roy.

    “T-Series has demonstrated its leadership position on the back of innovation and adoption of new technology advancements to drive distribution across the ever-evolving digital landscape,” stated T-Series president Neeraj Kalyan. “T-Series and Hungama’s partnership is built on mutual trust and we will continue to consolidate into more meaningful avenues, akin to our foray in the NFT space.”

  • We want to be the poster boy for Web 3.0-led marketing in India: WATConsult’s Sahil Shah

    We want to be the poster boy for Web 3.0-led marketing in India: WATConsult’s Sahil Shah

    Hybrid digital agency, WATConsult from the Isobar India group celebrated its 15th anniversary this month by launching an NFT (Non-fungible Token) in the form of digital artwork. Titled ‘Once a WATizen, always a WATizen’, it contained the names of all its 1500+ employees- past and present- to commemorate the milestone. The digital-first agency, which saw some downs but mostly ups due to the pandemic, brought 2021 to a wrap with double-digit growth and a host of new client wins including 59 new mandates. These include brands like Cricbuzz, Licious, Sava Herbals, UB Group’s Kingfisher Radler & Heineken, Joy Cosmetics, Lead School, India Circus, Dr Oetker, BIAL to name a few.

    A key founding member, Sahil Shah has been with the agency for the last 13 years, and is credited with playing a significant role in shaping and building it.. Having joined the agency as a social media executive in 2009, Shah moved from being chief business officer- to managing partner in September 2021. He credits the agency’s recent successful run to the fact that post-2020, with client businesses bouncing back, everybody wanting to get into digital. He, however, does not discount the effort that went into building the brand up over the years, which he says has played its part in influencing the adoption of digital in the country to a large extent.

    As we tread into 2022, IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet caught up with the WATConsult head Sahil Shah spearheading the agency’s India operations for an extensive conversation on the agency’s foray into the metaverse and what it hopes to achieve by being a first-mover in the NFT space. He also shares forth on the rollercoaster of a year that 2021 was, his expectations from the new year, and insights on the trends that will dominate the digital marketing industry in the months to come …

    Edited excerpts:

    On the concept behind NFTs and how can marketers use NFTs as an opportunity for growth?  

    NFTS, in the simplest terms, is digital real estate that cannot be replicated and is owned by an individual or entity i.e. digital ownership. It’s on the blockchain in the Web 3.0 world, which of course on the internet itself, but a highly decentralised form of it. So, there you have this NFT marketplace such as the Opensea, on which you can list your NFT creative and it can be monetised by selling. And that’s the reason there is a humongous commerce opportunity with NFTs for even Brands, and brands need to realise this.

    Another usage of NFTs for Brands is as memorabilia or collectibles by using the power of its user community. Anything that’s ownable can be marketed this way- brand mascots or advertising creatives, or a public figure’s legacy in sports, entertainment or Bollywood. The collection would be unique – it is digital art and people want to own a piece of that art. For example, a brand like Amul, which has some iconic creatives, can list them on an OpenSea and get die-hard fans to actually auction for it and trade, resell and make a business of it! So the uses are many – as CSR, business, promotions, public figure marketing- the possibilities are endless.

    On celebrating the 15th anniversary with NFT

    As an agency, we have been known for doing a lot of new-age stuff. We have dabbled in and got into areas which the majority may not be cognisant of. So the thought behind such an initiative was to commemorate the 15-year milestone by actually building something that remains on the internet forever, and can be owned by each and every WATizen- past and present. And the answer was NFT because they are, by nature, “non-fungible” and the ownership lies within the people, the community, or the person who uploads or lists it on the marketplace.

    We came up with the idea of etching everybody’s name on the creative and making it a part of history and keeping it on the OpenSea marketplace Ethereum blockchain forever. So that way each and every one of us is a part of it and everybody has a part to play in it. Essentially, it’s a way to thank each and every person who built this company over the years by making them a part of our history forever.

    In fact, the same day we launched our NFT, one of our clients actually gave us a written brief on exploring something with an NFT for them. They want to be the first-movers in their industry in this space. So I’m excited about moving towards building not just “India-class” but “world-class” solutions for marketing in a Web 3.0 world. It’s of course early days, but we want to be the poster boy for everything related to Web 3.0-led marketing in India. In that sense, WATConsult has been the “blueprint” for other competing agencies to watch and learn, as we’ve been able to lead changes in the industry over the years. And with the NFTs we continue to do so.

    On his priorities since taking over as managing partner last year

    My priority is to make sure that we get three to four things very right: One, is everything that’s centered around the creative use of digital for, that’s the core of what WATConsult was, is, and will be. Second, we want to be extremely high on everything that’s around client delight and customer focus and make sure we deliver on it, which’s in a way linked to our revenue, growth, P&L, etc. Third, we always want to be the first movers and the early adopters, while continuing to be in the news for the innovations that we bring to the table. Additionally, ‘Talent’ and ‘People’ for me is a big focus area, besides revenue and recognition, and I want to make sure the company gives back to its people by different ways and means.

    On the industry’s new emerging categories

    I think one of the new and emerging categories is everything ‘new-tech’- so anything that’s born out of digital, such as financial tech or fintech, e-commerce, food tech- for instance, brands like Licious, Edtech, and so on. The kind of categories that are coming up are very exciting because they understand digital innately, being fully digital themselves.

    Having said that, while that’s one domain where digital businesses are booming and scaling up, there are also the businesses that are legacy brands but are wanting to embrace digital. For eg: One of our big wins in e-commerce solutioning was the UB Group, where we acquired the mandate for their entire commerce duties last year, which’s online selling of its Kingfisher Radler & Heineken non-alcoholic beverage category. We’ve been scaling up their business on Amazon, Flipkart, etc which has given great returns to a client whose business was 99 per cent offline. If we are able to move that metric from 99 to even 95 per cent and create like a 400 per cent growth in e-commerce sales then it would be a huge validation for both the client and us.

    On any major trends that the digital marketing industry witnessed this past year / is witnessing

    One big trend that sparked in 2020 was the fact that India woke up big time to short videos. For the TikTok revolution that started around 2018-2019 and then scaled up in 2020, 2021 has been by far the year for content consumption in a short format- which is a 5-20 seconder clips and visuals- that everybody from Facebook, Instagram to YouTube adopted. That was one clear shift in consumer content consumption that was happening. At the same time, users are also hooked on long-form web-based content on OTTs and online. The bottom line is that video in both short forms as well as the longest forms- kept on growing and it continues to do so as a primary piece of content consumption.

    The second was definitely ‘Bharat’, with the growing internet penetration in India’s hinterlands, which we were fortunate enough to latch onto and build a multi-lingual and regional/ localised service solution around it.

    Third is data-tech or data-led solutions. One of the things the industry is moving towards is everything that technology can aid. Technology today has the power to create a life-size, 3-D version of anything we want it to be, like a ‘Virtual Influencer’. This trend has already been explored in markets like the US, Korea, or Japan, and is an example of how Tech is going to influence a lot of content creation and even creatives per se, and this is just the beginning.

    Another thing that the world started opening up to towards the end of 2021 (the Oct-Nov-Dec period) was the idea of Web 3.0 with NFTs, Cryptos, the Metaverse etc. It’s still early stage and an up-and-coming trend, but I think in the next few years it will change the way we interact.

    On Expectations from 2022

    From the industry, my expectation is to continue the digital growth at around 40 per cent Y-O-Y. I know we are at scale but there is a lot that digital can still do for brands and marketers are realising it. So I just hope the digital part of the pie continues to grow.

    Secondly from a 2022 perspective and maybe for years to come, I think the world is going to be hybrid- the way we work is going to be hybrid. I don’t see the culture of people in offices from 9 to 5 for five or six days a week coming back. And it’s honestly okay and maybe even a good thing- it’s a healthy way to operate where people connect in groups, as well as, detach and work by themselves. So hybrid is here to stay, possibly even post-Covid.

    Additionally, adoption into Web 3.0 while we continue to do our campaigns in the Today. At least for WATConsult, I wish that we continue to think into the future while we execute in the present. So our focus will be to keep pushing the bar for creative use of technology in the marketing communications space and continue being the blueprint for others to follow.

    On any personal learnings, you will take into the next year

    Although I have seen various changes in the last 13 years with the agency, the last one and half to two years have been a huge shift in the way of working, and in my personal & professional beliefs. So one of the major learnings I want to take forward is to make sure I declutter from all the noise around and focus simply on just two or three things that I want to move towards, personally as well as professionally.