Holidays in the Metaverse: Macy’s Parade Goes Virtual, Mattel Debuts Marketplace for Toy NFTs
Two of the biggest names in the holiday season – Macy’sproducer of the iconic Thanksgiving Day Parade, and toy manufacturer Mattel — is doubling down on the Web3 world this season with the debut of new virtual activations.
The 96thth edition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade can be experienced in the metaverse this year, and fans will have the chance to vote on which of five NFT projects will be turned into a real balloon for 97th edition of the parade in 2023. At the same time, Mattel is expanding its previous NFT projects for brands such as Hot Wheels and Barbie with the launch of a new NFT marketplace.
The Macy’s Parade marches into the metaverse
In 2021, Macy’s Parade made its first foray into Web3 with the release of 10 limited edition parade-inspired NFTs that were auctioned off to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This year, the retailer goes one step further and brings the entire parade into the metaverse with a digital experience powered by the OnCyber metaverse.
24 November 2022 at At 9 a.m. EST (the same time the real parade starts), the virtual parade will begin at macys.com/NFT. The event will be accessible on desktop or mobile without the need for a crypto wallet, login or VR headset, and will feature iconic parade balloons from nine decades during the holiday march – the same virtual balloons featured in last year’s NFT collection.
Within the virtual parade experience, visitors will also be able to explore five galleries of NFT collections from Chief Beauties, Cool cats, g money, SupDucks and VeeFriends. From the start of the virtual parade on 24 November until 4 December 2022, visitors can vote for their favorite project, with the winner set to be an IRL balloon in the 2023 parade. The first 100,000 fans to vote will also receive one free Macy’s Digital Collectibles.
To $50collectors can also create a virtual gallery pass to receive an OnCyber NFT gallery space, with 100% of the purchase price goes to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. During the voting period, additional votes will be awarded to NFT collectors who choose to mint, as well as to holders of Macy’s 2021 Parade NFTs, with voting rights based on the NFT rarity of those collectibles. Holders of NFTs from Boss Beauties, Cool Cats, gmoney, SupDucks and VeeFriends will also receive additional voting rights.
“Our origin collection of parade NFTs last year was so successful that we wanted to give our digital community the opportunity to choose a natural NFT design to transform into a real-life Macy’s Parade balloon, while creating an opportunity to raising critical funds for our partner Big Brothers Big Sisters of America,” said Will Coss, executive producer of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in a statement.
The 2022 Macy’s Parade Metaverse/NFT project was produced by Macy’s in partnership with Media.Monks and Transparent House.
A new space for digital toy collectors
Mattel is no stranger to the NFT world – the toy brand has launched a series of digital collectibles for both its Hot Wheels and Barbie brands over the past year, and now it’s launched its own NFT marketplace.
Placed on the company’s aggregator DTC platform Mattel Creations, the marketplace is built on the Flow blockchain. Designed for regular users, the marketplace will not require users to own cryptocurrency to make purchases and will also feature a peer-to-peer trading platform launched in early 2023. Also in early 2023, customers who own Hot Wheels Garage NFTs on the WAX blockchain will be able to transfer tokens to Flow in a 1-for-1 Exchange.
“Mattel is pioneering the future of gaming, constantly strengthening our connection with fans of all ages in both the physical and digital worlds,” said Ron Friedman, VP of Mattel Future Lab in a statement. “By launching our own marketplace, we are able to translate iconic Mattel IP into digital art, engage directly with our customers and provide a best-in-class user experience. This is the latest evolution of our digital endeavors and we see looking forward to sharing more drops soon inspired by some of the world’s favorite Mattel brands.”
The first offering on the Mattel Creations Digital Collectibles Marketplace will drop on December 15, 2022 — Series 4 of the Hot Wheels NFT Garage. Developed by the same team behind Hot Wheels Diecast Cars, Series 4 of Hot Wheels NFT Garage allows fans to collect valuable and rare digital artwork of iconic Mattel IP and features some of Hot Wheels’ most popular car designs in an all-new digital format.
The Series 4 artwork consists of 60 cars from McLaren, Chevrolet, Honda, Aston Martin, Oldsmobile, Pagani and Cadillac, as well as Hot Wheels originals. Sold in packages priced NOK $25 each, customers can purchase up to eight packages per transaction. Each package includes seven Hot Wheels NFTs: four basic, two epic and one guaranteed rare car. Collectors lucky enough to receive a Premium or Treasure Hunt digital collectible will be able to redeem them for one physical molded copy.
