Non-Fungiable Tokens (NFTs) and Their Impact on Branding
Technology is a powerful force of change and opportunity in all areas of society. For firms who invest in and utilise technology effectively it is a highly effective way to gain competitive advantage. A huge challenge for firms of all types is in keeping up with new and emerging technologies, whilst at the same time managing the implementation of technologies which were new only very recently.
The fear and risks for firms is in missing critical new technologies, or going with new technologies which have no long-term, or even short-term potential for success. The risks and potential bonuses in going with the right new technology are huge and making the right call critical for a firm’s future success and competitiveness.
Where firms can go to for a rigorous analysis of what is new and also relevant and trustworthy is another challenge which adds to the problems. One great and trustworthy source of evidence and analysis of new technologies comes from the academic literature.
With these thoughts in mind, for your individual assignment you are to the following academic journal article on Non-Fungiable Tokens (NFTs) and their impact on branding.
Colicev, A (2023), “How can non-fungible tokens bring value to brands,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, March, 40, 1, 30-37.
How Can Non-Fungible Tokens Bring Value To Brands.pdfDownload How Can Non-Fungible Tokens Bring Value To Brands.pdf
Once you have read the paper which explores the issues, proceed to provide an analysis and critique of the thinking behind the author’s work. You will then apply what you have found from the paper to a brand of your choice and propose how that brand can capitalise on NFT technology, and utilise your findings so they can implement your ideas with greater effectiveness and efficiency. You are also required to further explore key readings over and above the recommended paper to give depth and rigour to your work.
Your word limit is 2,250 words excluding appendices and references (+/- 10%).
Ensure to adhere to APAv7 requirements. PLS PUT THE reference list
NFTs in Marketing
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Article Critique and Analysis
This is a journal article published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. The article is centered on how can non-fungible tokens bring value to brands. It is a very recent article whose author is affiliated to the University of Liverpool management school. The author declared that there was no competing interest or personal relationship that could have influence on his work. He also provided a list of references of materials he used in research. The article is also reviewed and has been published by a reputed journal publisher, Elsevier.
The main reason for authorship is centered on how businesses can create value for their brands through NFTs. The author argues that the brands can turn into an NFT their physical products such as shoes, shirts, or art to attract brand awareness, generate cross-selling opportunities, and spark stronger perceived ownership of certain brand elements CITATION Col23 \l 1033 (Colicev, 2023). He further notes that businesses can also tap into the community culture around NFTs to grow, build and strengthen their brands.
The author has articulated some key points about how brands can leverage on NFT technology to grow and reach new markets. The author has drawn from examples of companies like Anheuser-Busch which is an internationally recognized and well-reputed brand and how it has used this new technology for branding and marketing. Using such examples and how they incorporated the technology into their marketing strategy highlights to the reader why it is important to pay attention to the technology’s potential. The author has also listed some of the way the technology can be useful in marketing highlighting opportunities in each stage of marketing; pre-purchase stage, purchase stage and post market stages. Additionally, the author listed some challenges and future direction of the technology in relation to marketing and building brands. He highlighted how each potential research path can pan out to researchers as more literature and information about NFTs and marketing come to the fore.
On the other hand, the article seems like a personal opinion that has been cropped up with cherry picked information from various sources to support the author's point of view. The writing style resembles that of a blog where the author writes and opinion piece about a product or a service. There seems to be no defined scientific process anchored in a well-defined research question and a scientific process to answer the question. If the author had a question, it seemed vague as he has hardly provided a comprehensive answer to it. It is neither primary research or a secondary research article. There is no defined methodology of how the author researched and arrived to his conclusions on the subject. Additionally, the reader struggles to find how some of the content is relevant to the research question. It feels like a blog post or an article published to communicate the opinions of the author.
The article can be broken into two sections; how NFTs can be used to bring value to brands in pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase stages. The content in this section seems relevant to the topic. However, the second part of the article talks extensively about challenges and future research questions. The author has gone through the trouble of forming 20 research questions classified into 5 areas. Some of the areas do not seem relevant to the research question discussed in part 1 i.e. NFT value structure. While the concept of providing suggestions for future research is an important part of a peer-reviewed journal article, the author ought to have dedicated a shorter section to identify a few key areas where future research should be directed. Much of the article in this area seems irrelevant and unnecessarily long. Listing possible area of research and dedicating about half of the article to justify why research should be directed in this area seems unnecessary.
Secondly, some of the sources used in the article and included in the list of references are of low quality. A significant number of them are blog posts from personal blogs who seem to be upselling other products or skewed to promote the NFT and blockchain technology. Even some of the information on some companies that have embraced the technology is not cited from the company’s blogs, rather other blogs seemingly involved in affiliate marketing. Some of these sites are; bitcoinKE.io, Cointelegraph, Coindesk, adage.com, nonfungible.com etc. Some of these sites are marketing vehicles of the blockchain technology and skew their content towards affiliate marketing. Their quality is questionable and often do not include their authors or their authority in the respective industries. For example, the BitcoinKE and Cointelegraph sources did not include their authors. Concisely, the quality of some of the sources used in this article is questionable and hence casts a long shadow of doubt about the quality of the entire article.
Concisely, while the author raises important points on how businesses can leverage on NFTs to build their brands, he falls short in some key areas. First, the article does not seem to have followed a scientific research method to contribute new knowledge to the field. Secondly, the author has used low quality sources to support his points. This raises credibility and objectivity questions. However, the article provides important information on how businesses can leverage on this new technology to remain competitive in the market and grow, build and strengthen their brands.
You will then apply what you have found from the paper to a brand of your choice and propose how that brand can capitalize on NFT technology, and utilize your findings so they can implement your ideas with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Why Nike?
One of the industries the industries that can leverage on NFTs to grow and build their market is the sportswear companies like Nike. there are several reasons why Nike is the best brand to capitalize on NFT technology. First, the company has a strong brand around the world. It is one of the most recognizable and influential brands in the world and hence a digital asset of sch a company has value CITATION Fly15 \l 1033 (Flynn, 2015). A NFT from Nike can be traded in the NFTs markets and fetch good prices while at it. Secondly, the company has a renowned limited-edition culture. The company knows how to create value from tapping into their customer base’s desire and sense of exclusivity and desira...