July 27, 2022 | 5 min read
4 min
The brand’s upcoming release of digital collectibles is part of its continuing efforts to establish a strong presence in the burgeoning virtual marketplace.
Coca-Cola is celebrating its one-year anniversary in the metaverse with a new release of limited-edition digital collectibles. Scheduled for release on International Friendship Day (Saturday July 30), the collectibles will be airdropped by the brand “to members of [its] existing collectible community.”
The beverage giant made its metaverse debut last summer with its ‘Friendship Day Loot Box,’ which contained an assortment of one-of-one digital collectibles, including a virtually wearable NFT puffer jacket. Continuing its efforts to establish a strong foothold in the web3 space, the brand quickly followed up on that initial campaign with two digital collectible drops in 2022 – one on Hamburger Day (May 28), and another on International Pride Day (June 28).
Coca-Cola is dropping new digital collectibles on International Friendship Day / Coca-Cola
Anyone who owns collectibles from any of these previous drops will receive Coca-Cola’s new International Friendship Day collectible via Airdrop directly to their digital wallets this Saturday. “In the spirit of friendship,” the brand said in a press release, its latest digital collectible – ”which features a design inspired by the bubbles within every Coke bottle” – can be shared with one other person. “Once it is shared, the unique artwork will be revealed for both holders,” according to the brand.
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“Bringing people together in shared moments has always been at the heart of Coca-Cola,” Pratik Thakar, Coca-Cola’s Head of global creative strategy, said in a statement. “Entering the metaverse a year ago was our first step to connecting with people in a completely new and inspired way. International Friendship Day solidifies our commitment to the exciting and ever-changing digital world to build our community, while providing the perfect opportunity and milestone to thank and celebrate our friendship with people who have been part of our metaverse journey. We’re excited to expand our community and share moments of joy in Coca-Cola’s Real Magic universe.”
Coke’s strategy for breaking into the metaverse – and thus hypothetically garnering more appeal among a younger audience – has extended beyond digital collectibles. In April, the brand launched ‘Byte,’ a limited-edition, sugar-free cola, which was marketed as containing “the flavor of pixels” and specifically targeted at the increasingly massive gaming community.
The brand’s new digital collectibles were developed in collaboration with 3D content developer Tafi (which also worked on Coke’s 2021 Friendship Day digital collectibles drop) and the Vice-owned agency Virtue (which also worked on Coke’s Byte product launch).
Coca-Cola’s net revenues for the second quarter of 2022 were up roughly 12% compared to the same period last year, according to a press release published Tuesday.
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The Drum has launched The Drum Awards for the Metaverse to recognize those leading in this new frontier. These will celebrate the very best creativity, innovation, people and performance for metaverse, web3 and NFT activations, with expert judges from Journey, Meta and R/GA. Entries are open now, with the first deadline closing on November 17.
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