Mars’ M&Ms Collaborates With Universal Music’s Bored Ape NFT Band KINGSHIP – Ledger Insights
Today, NFT music group KINGSHIP announced a partnership with Mars to sell limited edition packs of M&Ms featuring images of the band members. Apart from the Mars deal, the four musicians – Captain, KING, Arnell and Hud – are represented by NFTs, three of which are Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, and one is a Mutant Ape. KINGSHIP is a creation of 22:22, a label that is part of Universal Music.
As the metaverse takes off, these types of virtual bands will become commonplace, and KINGSHIP isn’t the only Bored Ape band. The same week that KINGSHIP was unveiled last November, Grammy-winning artist Timbaland unveiled the music label Ape-In Productions dedicated to Bored and Mutant Apes with TheZoo as the group’s first signing. The first release was a single titled ApeSh!t.
One of the boldest aspects of the KINGSHIP group is that 22.22 does not directly own the rights to the NFTs. They are licensed by owner Jimmy McNelis (J1mmy.eth).
After landing a deal with Mars, the group had to develop a story to go with the commercial. We’re not entirely convinced they pulled it off, but the fans are seemed to enjoy it.
When famous bands go on tour, their contracts often have a lot of demands. Without naming the group, it alludes to a rock band that insisted on a bowl of M&Ms backstage with all the brown candies removed. We had to use Google to find out it was Van Halen.
The story is that KINGSHIP discovered a cache of these discarded M&M’s at various venues. “The members of KINGSHIP knew that the key to living in the present is inclusion and bringing people of all backgrounds together. So they resisted the temptation to consume the candy and instead united all the colors of the M&M’S family,” the story says.
It sounds like they had fun coming up with the idea.
“KINGSHIP is a group dedicated to the art of storytelling, so it was a great opportunity for us to both pay tribute to rock’n’roll history, and one of the greatest bands of all time, but also create a unique fan experience for those who have joined to this community at the start of the journey, said Celine Joshua, founder of 22:22 and creator of KINGSHIP. “We are grateful to Mars and the team at M&M’S for this incredible partnership to help introduce KINGSHIP and NFT culture to the masses, alongside M&M’S, a true icon of pop culture.”
From the beginning, BAYC NFT owners have had the right to exploit the images commercially. BAYC founder Yuga Labs has now expanded it to other brands, including the recently acquired CryptoPunk collection.
