September 27, 2024
On July 30, 2021, Coca-Cola, the iconic beverage brand, ventured into digital collectibles, releasing their first NFT collection in celebration of International Friendship Day. This collection went up for auction as a single “loot box” through the OpenSea online marketplace.
To date, Coca-Cola has released a total of 9 collection, each one an experiment with collection mechanics, and on different blockchains. At the moment, Coke has not announced any special privileges or benefits to holding any of these NFTs, although they did hint at the possibility of them granting access to special events in the future.
We’ll dive into each collection, how Coca-Cola launched them, how they're doing, and discuss what this means for the future of brands and digital collectibles. Here's a quick high level look at the 9 collections.
Coca-Cola has always been synonymous with sharing happiness and creating memorable moments with friends. In keeping with this tradition, they've taken a leap into the digital realm by introducing their first-ever NFT collection. Designed exclusively for International Friendship Day, these digital collectibles showcase the brand's timeless appeal, while embracing modern technology.
The Friendship Loot collection features a series of visually stunning digital artworks, inspired by the brand's iconic elements and the spirit of friendship. The collection was auctioned over 72 hours from 7/30/21 to 8/2/21 as a single “loot box” on OpenSea. The winner of the auction would open the loot box to reveal 4 digital collectibles. They also received an actual, physical, fully stocked Coca-Cola refrigerator: The retro, made-in-Italy SMEG FAB28.
The winning bid was $575,883. All of the proceeds from the auction went to Special Olympics International.
The Friendship Box, when opened, revealed 4 digital collectibles:
1. Vintage Cooler: An animated, spinning Coca-Cola vintage cooler. The background features red and white vortex lights.
2. Bubble Jacket Wearable: Taking inspiration from the effervescence of Coca-Cola, the Bubble Jacket Wearable is a chic digital fashion piece with “subtle nods to Coke’s nostalgic delivery uniforms” designed for the metaverse. This NFT allows users to dress their digital avatars (in Decentraland) in a one-of-a-kind, branded Coca-Cola jacket.
3. Sound Visualizer: A Coca-Cola logo is surrounded by light flares, along with audio that features “the pop of a bottle opening, the sound of a beverage being poured over ice, the unmistakable fizz, and that first refreshing taste”.
4. Friendship Card: The Friendship Card reimagines Coke’s design for friendship from the 1940s as a digital collectible. It is animated, 3D, and bears the “Symbol of Friendship.
As a promotion for the Friendship Loot Box auction, Coke held a “can-top” party in Decentraland on International Friendship Day featuring music, giveaways and a first look at the Friendship Box. 20 lucky party attendees were gifted T-Shirt (10 red, 10 white) NFTs as participants prizes.
This collection was airdropped to participants on Aug-03 06:44 PM UTC, just a few hours after the Loot Box was opened on Aug-03 12:51 PM UTC.
Since the 1920s, Coke has been strongly associated with Christmas. So, for Christmas of ‘21, Coke worked with VeVe to release a Snow Globes collection on Monday, 20 December at 8AM PT. Collectors purchased an unrevealed “blind box” for $29. Later, they “opened” the box to reveal 1 of 4 snow globe designs, with varying rarity. The total collection size was 34,550 editions.
Starlight was a new limited edition flavor that Coke launched in April of ‘22. As a part of the launch, Coke again worked with Veve to release the Starlight NFT series.
The initial price for each NFT was $40, and the series featured 4 different designs, again with varying rarity. The total collection size was larger than Snow Globes with 38,940 editions.
On May 28, 2022, International Burger Day, Coke released a 4,000 edition digital animated art featuring a classic Coca-Cola bottle and a burger spinning and circling each other. Anyone could claim this combination via a Buoy Studio URL, connecting or creating a wallet, and claiming one for free. The collection was released on the Polygon network.
The Burger Day Collection is similar to other PFP (profile pic) collections where each NFT has different looks (and rarity level) upon reveal, depending on the resulting look for each of its 6 traits (which are background, burger material, type, Coke bottle, Frame, and PFP).
The last sale was approximately $3.39 on April 9 as of this writing.
On Jun 30, 2022, Coca-Cola released the Pride Bottle Collection for sale on Tafi’s website on the Polygon network. This collection was created in collaboration with Rick Minsi, who is a South African fashion designer and LGBTQIA+ advocate. This is a generative collection, similar to the Burger Day one, where traits and rarity of each NFT is determined upon minting. The total collection size is 136 editions, a reference to Coca-Cola brand’s 136-year history.
The artwork is a 5 second animation featuring spotlight(s) shining onto a Coke bottle, and breaking up into a kaleidoscope of colors. The colors used in Mnisi’s artwork has also been split up and painted onto different bottles.
The collection was initially priced at 335 MATIC ($167), and all of the proceeds from the initial sale and resale was donated to OUT LGBT Well-Being, as selected by the artist Mnisi.
The last sale occurred on July 30, 2022 for 0.25 ETH ($479). Only 1% (2 NFTs) is listed as of today with the lowest at 0.05 ETH ($100)
On the 1 year anniversary of Coke’s first NFT collection for Friendship Day 2021, Coco-Cola released a generative collection with a collection size of 4,267 editions. The collectible was airdropped to holders of the Pride, Hamburger Day, and the 2021 Friendship Day collection with no claiming necessary. This is a generative collection, with an interesting twist. In order to reveal the collectible, holders had to share their collectible with a friend by visiting the Tafi website.
The artwork is an animated image that features bubbles inside an outline of a Coke bottle, and has a total of 4 different traits (background, bubble, hue shift, level).
The last sale occurred on 4/11/23 for 0.004 ETH ($7.67). Only 2% (84 NFTs) are listed. The floor is 0.0049 ETH ($9).
The Halloween collection was launched a few days before Halloween via a very unique approach. Coca-Cola took over about 5 vending machines on the USC campus and put QR codes on these machines. Collectors scanned the QR code, and input their phone number and email, and claimed a digital Halloween bag for free. Coke said that this was meant to capture the magic of trick-or-treating with friends as when we were kids.
The bag contained either AR masks, Coachella passes, PUMA apparel, and other items like a pumpkin or a crystal ball. —treats were revealed and able to be claimed up to Halloween night.
Oddly enough, it looks like only 12 were ultimately minted, so the total collection size is small. None were sold since mint, nor are any listed for sale as of 4/12/23.
The most recent collection is the Holiday Caravan collection launched on Dec 21, 2022 on Veve for $30. The collectible features the iconic red delivery truck with Santa on the side.
For collections that are launched on Polygon, we can look at Opensea to see their performance. The largest of Coke's collection on Polygon is the Friendship Day 2022 Collection. Volume for the last 30 days is very low with just 0.22 ETH. It has a floor price of 0.0049 ETH and offers at 0.004 ETH. It's noteworthy that the collection has 53% unique owners, and only 2% are listed. This may speak to collectors of Coke's NFT wanting to continue holding them instead of flipping them.
The other collections on Polygon (Friendship Day 2021, Pride, and Halloween) have no volume or sales. We can't see trading activity on Veve so we can't estimate activity for Coke's other collections.
It's safe to say that secondary trading for Coke's NFTs is almost non-existent, with holders continuing to hold them instead of trading. New demand for Coke's NFT also seems negligible, possibly because there's no concrete plans from Coke on what benefits holders will receive.
Coca-Cola's NFT collection serves as a testament to the brand's willingness to experiment with new technologies and engage with cutting-edge trends. They released collections on different chains, with different partners, and via different mechanics, trying to see which one resonates with their customers and fans.
This is intentional, as Josh Schwarber, Sr Director of global digital design puts it, “The metaverse—which is borderless and ‘geo-less’—creates opportunities to connect with others like never before… We didn’t want to do this just to make an NFT. We wanted to inject the core principles of Coca-Cola and celebrate both our heritage and ties to friendship, while also doing something that hasn’t been done before.”
Coke’s forward-thinking mindset and willingness to experiment should inspire other companies to embrace innovation and adapt to the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
When designing their collection, Coca-Cola uses elements deeply aligned with their brand to deepen its connection with fans and customers . From the digital wearables to their animations, they used red from their logo, bubbles, and classic bottles to evoke feelings of nostalgia and brand association.
According to Josh Schwarber, “It was important to stay true to the brand by bringing people together through unique, surprise-and-delight moments of connection that feel right for Coke”.
Brands need to start thinking about using digital collectibles as a way to connect their customers to their brand, and further strengthen those emotional bonds visually. This is something we explored in a previous post here.
Lastly, Coke used collectibles as a way to further reinforce their mission “To refresh the world, To inspire moments of optimism and happiness, To create value and make a difference”.
In the collections where an auction or sale took place, proceeds and subsequent royalties were donated to causes that aligned with their mission. For Friendship Day, the proceeds went to Special Olympics International, and for Pride, the proceeds went to OUT LGBT Well-Being. Both support their commitment to making the world a better place.
Brands that want to further their mission and values can leverage the liquidity of digital collectibles to contribute to causes aligned with their missions and values. As more and more consumers expect more social responsibility from their brands, using digital collectibles on a transparent public ledger is a great way for brands to publicly, and transparently, demonstrate commitment to their mission and values.
Coca-Cola's entry into the NFT market is a game-changing moment for the world of business. However, general public awareness, as well as NFT collectors' demand, for Coke's collection are very low. We Are Still Early.
Similar to Starbuck's entry into the digital collectibles, large brands are still in experimentation mode, and have not fully marketed digital collectibles heavily to the general public.
While we have yet to see a large brand successfully launch and maintain collections with blue-chip valuations, it's great to see them try and experiment with web3 tech to find ways to resonate with their customers.
We hope more brands follow suit and wade into the web3 world, leading to a shift in customer awareness and expectations. Ideally, this opens up new opportunities for both established companies and startups. From revolutionizing marketing strategies to cultivating brand loyalty, NFTs hold the potential to reshape the way businesses operate in the digital age.
This article is written by Bambuu. We are building platforms that help businesses integrate Web3 digital assets to increase customer retention and brand awareness. If you're interested in working with us, join our waitlist here.
