2022.07.12 Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor’s NFT Expands Its Brand Experience
Hyundai Motor Company was the first automaker to join the NFT market - it was to provide a variety of brand experiences. But how is NFT related to brand experience?
Tokens such as cryptocurrencies can be exchanged one-to-one, but speaking of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), these are made non-substitutable for each other. By giving digital files a unique data value, each individual gets to have independent ownership.
NFT is characterized by non-counterfeiting. Because it is based on a blockchain that divides and stores data across multiple computers, all relevant information such as ownership and sales history remains - this works like having multiple witnesses. NFTs are digital pictures, and you can add functionality by adding code. For example, the token would be impossible to forge once the membership is granted, so it can be a powerful way to verify your membership.
Recently, various industries have been paying attention to the potential of NFT. A number of companies are showing interest beyond the information and communication industry. Just like buying limited edition items from your favorite brands, a fandom that collects NFTs has also begun. Hyundai Motor Company, too, issued its NFT. But do automakers have to do with NFTs? The Hyundai Motor Brand Communication team in charge of the NFT project explains:
“In the era of the growing influence of digital life, we tried to figure out how to deliver Hyundai Motor’s brand experience to our customers and decided that NFT could become a new digital way to form a fandom. As the era of Web 3.0 comes, we want to provide an experience where customers can directly participate in and communicate with the brand through NFT.” This can explain why they chose NFT as one of the ways to deliver brand experiences to customers in the digital age.
A computer graphic image that embodies the metamobility universe
The view of Hyundai Motor’s NFT brand is ‘Metamobility Universe’; This is an extension of the metamobility concept that Hyundai Motor Group unveiled at CES. Hyundai Motor Company’s view of the future they imagined - which transcends time and space with digital technology and removes restrictions on movement and experience - is included in NFT’s view.
In order to be part of the world of NFT, it is important to understand why people in the NFT market are so passionate about NFT, and to understand and get used to the culture they share. In order to deliver Hyundai Motor’s brand experience from the view of NFT enthusiasts, Hyundai Motor Company jumped into the NFT market for the first time through collaboration with ‘Meta Kongz.’
Meta Kongz is an NFT project using 10,000 randomly generated 3D gorilla images, and this is a newcomer in the NFT market. It gained a lot of attention as it ranked in the global TOP 100 in the NFT open market. Hyundai Motor announced its joining into the NFT world and released a video of its collaboration with Meta Kongz. The video became viral, recording more than 3.92 million views.
In the video, Meta Kongz flies into space with Pony and encounters a shooting star. The story - that Kongz transcends time and space through mobility - contains Hyundai Motor’s NFT worldview, the Metamobility Universe.
Since then, Hyundai has attracted the attention of enthusiasts with its special NFT. Before officially ‘minting’ the NFT, 30 ‘Hyundai x Meta Kongz Special Edition NFTs’ were pre-sold to its partners to commemorate their entry into the NFT market on April 20. It contains wonderful items such as hats, logo necklaces, and clothes that depicts the characteristics of Pony, a Hyundai Motor Company icon.
On May 9, Hyundai Motor started minting the official NFT with shooting stars in the collaboration video. A total of 10,000 were issued - 3,000 ‘whitelist’ tokens (rights to purchase them first, guaranteeing certain profits or rights), and 6,500 were provided to the ballot winners with purchase rights. It drew so much attention that more than 1 million applications surged into the 3,000 whitelist winners.
Shooting Star NFT, published by Hyundai Motor Company, contained a special story that reflected the metamobility universe worldview. It was not a typical meteorite fragment but a special being that fell on Earth with infinite energy. It was set to transform into a new form of metamobility depending on the place they wanted to explore. And on May 30, the first NFT story was completed as the shooting stars were transformed into ‘MobED (Mobile Eccentric Droid).’
Mobed is mobility that evolves in various ways according to the purpose of movement. It rides stably on irregular road surfaces and passes obstacles skillfully while maintaining perfect balance. It goes well with the metamobility universe worldview in that it transcends the limits of movement. But, why did NFT contain such a worldview and story? And what role will Mobed NFT play in the future? The Hyundai Motor Brand Communication team explains:
“Through NFT, this can first deliver the future mobility experience; it also tells a story about how an image or technology is implemented. Furthermore, we wanted to make people become familiar with and attached to unfamiliar technologies through cute-looking Mobed NFT. As members of the Hyundai NFT community, Mobed NFT holders can participate in the roadmap we prepared. Also, there will be several online and offline community events. And in the future, we plan to make these more special experiences when expanding to the metaverse.”
The brand experience through NFT continues with the community: free communication regardless of time and place is an essential element in the metamobility universe that Hyundai Motor Company NFT pursues. Hyundai Motor Company has started its official Discord and Twitter account for its NFT. The company currently has about 78,500 Twitter followers and about 106,900 Discord members. “We have staff at home and abroad to communicate in real-time, as members who will create a roadmap for the Metamobility Universe. Facing the global fandom and seeing the fan art that they made themselves, we were very moved and had fun,” explains the Hyundai Motor Brand Communication Team.
Furthermore, Hyundai Motor plans to expand its worldview by preparing various customer experiences such as goods, exhibitions, and collaborations so that customers can experience Mobed in a friendly and fun way. Mobed could become a character loved by customers around the world and emotionally convey Hyundai Motor’s vision for future mobility, and many look forward to the continuous expansion of the Metamobility Universe.
Hyundai NFT official website https://hyundai-nft.com
Hyundai NFT official Twitter @hyundai_nft
Hyundai NFT Discord https://discord.gg/hyundai-nft
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