Clinique’s first NFT ties to loyalty and products as uses expand
The biggest opportunity for the growth of physical goods sales is virtual goods, says Ryan David Mullins, Aglet’s CEO and creative director. The underlying thesis of Aglet, which uses location-based gameplay (similar to Pokémon Go), is the convergence of online and offline worlds, in which owning something physical increases desire for the virtual version, and vice versa, Mullins says.
“It’s a new phase because it requires a mental model shift from, ‘There are physical goods in material reality and then there are virtual goods in virtual worlds.’”
For one week this month, five digital Axel Arigato sneakers were dropped into Aglet’s in-game shop and available in in-game “Treasure Stash” locations worldwide. Players that collected all five received an in-game Axel Arigato Sock and Slipper shoe and entered to win a physical pair of sneakers.
Clinique is today becoming the first Estée Lauder brand to offer an NFT in a bid to drive loyalty and add marketing weight to its top products in a sign of more purposeful brand uses of non-fungible tokens.
Instead of selling NFTs, the beauty brand is giving shoppers who are signed to its rewards scheme the chance to receive free products for 10 years along with one of three editions of an NFT artwork. Called “Meta Optimist”, the NFT is a conceptual “molecule” that changes colors based on two of its most popular products: the Moisture Surge 100H moisturiser and Almost Lipstick Black Honey, a 50-year-old product that sporadically goes viral on social media thanks to its sheer colourway that claims to suit every skin tone (pictured at top).
People enter to win by sharing “stories of optimism” on Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter: the three winners receive Black Honey (often out of stock and currently unavailable), in addition to once-yearly physical products. For added excitement, the winners will be announced on social media by actors Emilia Clarke and Melissa Barrera, Clinique’s ambassadors.
Since this summer, fashion and beauty brands have been rapidly experimenting with various approaches to non-fungible tokens, which give digital items unique identities that enable scarcity and ownership. While the first wave of brand-created NFTs largely focused on creating and selling or giving away digital artworks, the industry has recently been entering a new phase of brand-created NFTs. Now, brands are connecting NFTs and digital products with more perks attached to them beyond collectible works of art, including building and rewarding loyalty, granting special access and promoting physical products.
By opening up NFT access only to its loyalty programme members, Clinique is both rewarding membership and incentivising others to join via sign up. The project was an effort to “modernise loyalty,” says Carolyn Dawkins, SVP of Clinique Global Online, consumer engagement and product marketing. “As we started to frame up this opportunity, sure, we could turn up with a piece of art with something that’s sellable, but it’s honestly not even where the NFT direction is moving and it’s not really connected to our brand. It’s rewarding the consumer for being so loyal and giving something back that transcends just a digital opportunity.”
