Nike launches NFT and Metaverse platform .Swoosh
Since 1964,
What once began with Phil Knight exporting innovative running shoes from Japan has grown into a worldwide portfolio of brands, marketplaces, cutting-edge products and a widespread community of passionate athletes.
Today, Nike Knight extends its original mission from over 50 years ago into the next era of sports through the web, digital experiences and blockchain technologies by unveiling its own metaverse platform, “.SWOOSH”.
The next chapter of sports
Nike’s .Swoosh will serve as the home for all of the brand’s virtual products as well as the platform for collecting Nike’s digital artifacts for online games and immersive experiences – yet to be announced.
The power of the blockchain has presented a whole new chapter of learning, building and creating new opportunities for brands, products and players to connect and unite with their supporters from anywhere in the world.
Therefore, over time, the .Swoosh will evolve to allow the Nike community to buy, sell, trade and even create new digital goods for a percentage of the royalty streams.
According to Nike’s first of many blog posts, the brand will slowly roll out a number of upcoming launches in the Web3 space for the .Swoosh.
Meanwhile, Nike is inviting its first group of participants to try out the beta, focusing on diversity and inclusion from loyal customers to those who don’t typically get access to new technological opportunities. Those with access will be able to create their own .Swoosh domain on Friday — which will serve as users’ online identity or “home” inside Nike’s metaverse.
Starting in 2023, the .Swoosh will begin experimenting with digital product sales and various tools for the gatherings such as IRL token-gated events or virtual activities.
For now, Nike told Complex that they will prioritize Web3 education with a six-city tour before selling virtual goods on a regular basis.
It should also be noted that the .Swoosh is a separate initiative from the Nike-owned Web3 studio, RTFKT. As a Web2 native brand, Nike will leverage the .Swoosh for its own unique products and build bridges established community to the larger Web3 ecosystem.
High-tech dedication
As the world’s largest sports brand today, Nike has continually prioritized digital innovation by staying ahead of the curve since 1999 with the debut of NikeID – a customization service for customers to virtually design and physically receive their very own personalized Nike merchandise.
In 2006, Nike teamed up with Apple to introduce a state-of-the-art iPod sensor that combined sports and music to allow users to track physical activity with a portable track player for the first time. Three years before the introduction of the Apple Watch, Nike unveiled its fitness equipment, the Fuelband, which worked with the iPhone and later became Nike’s app platform, Nike+.
The brand first saw itself as a growing technology company in 2019 with the launch of Nike Fit – a proprietary foot scanning solution to accurately measure and match each person’s foot size to the best-fitting product.
Just do it
With today’s emergence of the next generation of users and digitally native sports fans, Nike has been “just doing it” in the metaverse for almost two years now – since the launch of its first digital experience in the well-known gaming world, Roblox in November 2021.
As blockchain technology took over mainstream attention over the past year, Nike started 2022 strong by breaking headlines with the acquisition of Web3 studio, RTFKT in late December 2021.
With RTFKT, Nike really began to explore the metaverse of digital collectibles and experiences through the NFT sneaker collection, CryptoKicks, and partnerships with the famous Takashi Murakami and popular NFT artist FEWOCiOUS.
From there, RTFKT built a large virtual ecosystem with 20,000 digitally interactive characters and a metaverse environment with the arrival of CloneX. Nike has since tested various Web3 campaigns such as an auctioned CloneX avatar with historic auction house Christie’s and NFC-chipped clothing that comes with an authenticated digital copy.
Through the .Swoosh, CloneX holders will soon have early access to register and be able to purchase digital wearables for their clones on the .Swoosh marketplace.
In preparation for today’s announcement, Nike originally purchased the .Swoosh domain name for 19.72 ETH – a nod to the first appearance of the Nike Swoosh in 1972.
In August last year, Nike earned a new title as the top-grossing brand in NFT sales hits competitors such as Adidas and Dolce & Gabbana with thousands of transactions. As a result of years of success in the sports and retail industry, as well as recent wins in Web3, Nike fans will have a new and engaging experience with the .Swoosh in the coming months.
In other metaverse news, FFFace.me leverages metamarketing and AR fashion for customers to create branded content.
