A Firefly Experiment at NFT.NYC
If you visited Times Square this week, you were surrounded by an NFT takeover during NFT.NYC – the leading annual non-fungible token event. Everything from digital billboards to our own Firefly screens showcased the brands, the talent, and the community behind the steadily-growing NFT movement happening across the globe.
THE EXPERIMENT
On New York City taxis, we showed off a collection of NFTs on our fleet of digital screens, featuring NFTs we crowdsourced through social media and a few from my own personal collection. The creative featured the hashtag #WAGMI, or “we’re all gonna make it.” The community of NFT owners at large understands the sentiment this phrase carries and how validating it is to see it echoed in the real world.
As a longtime follower of crypto projects, I worked with the creative team at Firefly to reserve available inventory geotargeted to specific locations in the city where event-goers were likely to see the activation. At Firefly, we reach the audiences that matter in the most relevant moments with the most relevant, contextual message, and this experiment was the perfect fit for our core strengths as a company.
It was also a chance to experiment with this new technology on our platform and offered NFT owners an opportunity to flex their collections in a new, street-level way.
THE RESULTS
What was most interesting about seeing the social chatter around NFT.NYC was the excitement of people watching an NFT takeover in Times Square. This activity prompted them to create images, videos, Reels, and TikToks, further amplifying OOH investment and taking it into new channels.
We estimate that our screens generated around 11 million impressions this week and that people even shared the images and videos to social media, adding additional earned media impressions. That's the power of this medium. Not only does it have an impact outside of the online world, but its influence is carried over into social media channels in which the NFT community is incredibly active.
Digital-out-of-home media is still highly-relevant, even in a community that mostly exists online. Platforms like Firefly provide the opportunity for people to get excited about seeing their name, art, or brand in lights.
WAGMI
As the OOH industry continues to bounce back from a difficult 2020 and gain momentum heading into 2022, there is an indication that partnering with large brands and crypto or financial companies on these types of projects is a win-win for everyone involved.
As brands dip their toes in the NFT waters, they see it come to life in the real world, build that awareness, and make connections with a community of raving fans. For NFT owners and artists, this type of corporate involvement strengthens the adoption of this technology and generates even more interest.
Our sales team is already working with other NFT brands and having a lot of conversations about this space. Experiments like ours are just the beginning, as we plan to get involved with other events, such as Bitcoin 2022 in Miami.
The future is digital. The future is bright. WAGMI.
Rob Madelmayer is the Vice President of Sales at Firefly. Continue the conversation by connecting with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
