NFT: Definition, examples, marketing benefits, tips
Learn what NFTs are, how brands are using them, and why they remain a core asset in many marketing programs.
The oft-cited 360-degree view of the customer is already commonplace in the automotive industry. With the help of customer experience management, CRM and customer data platforms, most vehicle brands today achieve a holistic perspective on their customers.
But there’s room for improvement. In the future of automotive CX, connected vehicles and new technological developments such as virtual reality, metaverse, and non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) allow a 1080-degree view of vehicle users. This will greatly influence marketing, sales and service in the automotive industry, improving efficiency and boosting customer experience.
Ultimately, it will triple engagement possibilities for more intensive customer relationships.
A 1080-degree view of the customer
The boundaries between the real and the digital world are blurring. But one crucial aspect keeps everything together: data. Know your customers and what they do in the real, physical world as well in the digital one. Support them in person and with their digital avatar in the metaverse.
Data helps brands understand customer needs and pain points along their journey. Automotive companies need to collect data from all sources to shape their engagements and make them contextual and relevant.
The first dimension is the customer. For an automotive company, a 360-degree view of the customer isn’t enough. The vehicle, or digital twin of it, plays a very important role as well: Date of purchase, delivery, maintenance intervals, authenticity of spare parts, service history and much more. Digitally connected vehicles produce more and more relevant data. Bringing those two dimensions together is sometimes challenging. but extremely rewarding.
But with new technologies and capabilities, there’s yet another dimension. Combining the 360-degree view of the customer with the vehicle forms a broader 720-degree view. Adding the new dimension of immersive experiences with NFTs, POAPs, and the metaverse forms a unique 1080-degree view of the customer.
The holistic view of all three dimensions, possibly already complemented by an overarching customer loyalty program, enables new insights, and provides comprehensive data that automotive brands can use to build new business models and revenue streams, better understand customer needs, and much more.
This doesn’t require that customers own the car themselves; they can rent it via a subscription model or share it with others via car sharing.
NFTs and POAPs for better automotive CX
Buying a new car often involves a long wait, which is usually anything else than pleasant. With the help of immersive technologies, car manufacturers can bridge this gap and create an emotional connection between the future driver and their car in production.
Non fungible tokens (NFTs) are enriched architectures based on blockchain technology. They provide individuals or companies with platform-independent digital proofs of ownership that are always available, easy to verify, and transferable
A moment that clearly will stick is when a customer purchases a car. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to get a unique NFT that represents your configured car: the color, rims and extras? It’s as unique as the actual car you’ll get, saved in an NFT.
While NFTs have already achieved a certain level of popularity in the art world as they can be used to offer digital collectibles in a forgery-proof manner, the concept of POAP is still relatively new. Based on the blockchain “Proof of Attendance Protocol,” POAPs are a special form of NFT given to customers to prove their attendance at an event or show.
Key moments such as a product launch or special events can now be documented with a POAP. Save them for a lifetime in a digital wallet, or proudly present them on social media. A user can opt-in to share the wallet content with others, which allows companies to leverage the information for marketing, loyalty activities, and more.
Perhaps the prospective car buyers also take part in an exclusive event that they want to tell their friends or family about. No doubt there are photos or videos of this as well. But with a POAP, there’s a way to create a unique, digital type of memory. And the car provider has the advantage of learning more about their clients.
For example, if they sees via a POAP that their customer has taken part in an exclusive golf event, the could target these people for their own golf activities.
The big challenge for the automotive industry today is that it has too few touchpoints with its target customer group. New touchpoints – whether in real life, via the vehicle, or in the virtual world – help raise awareness of a brand or product. They provide positive stimuli and shorten the perceived waiting time. If the journey is combined with a customer loyalty program, this effect is reinforced even further.
B2C examples: Improving the car buying experience
Automotive companies have always been quick to adapt new technologies to stay ahead of the curve. We already see examples of brands rolling out immersive technologies in new business models, channels, or simply as another source of data to complete the customer profile.
Kia America, the US-based subsidiary of the Korean car manufacturer, last year launched a campaign for its 2023 Kia Soul that offered viewers the opportunity to claim an NFT by scanning a QR code.
That was part of a 30-second-long spot: Three popular characters from the Dead Army Skeleton Klub (DASK), a group of computer-generated 3D skeletons whose NFTs can be collected and traded online, are shown in the commercial driving a new KIA Soul out to the country for a picnic. The limited-edition characters are popular in collector circles and, according to the vehicle manufacturer, “represent individuality as much as our new car model.”
By incorporating the NFT theme into a classic TV campaign, KIA has become the first vehicle manufacturer to succeed in addressing a larger number of consumers and creating awareness beyond the manageable tech-savvy, younger target group.
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The term metaverse is already ubiquitous. Also referred to as the next generation of the World Wide Web or Web3, it’s a virtual representation of the real world, or aspects of it. Last year, the British iconic car brand MINI presented what it billed as the first drivable metaverse at Gamescon in Cologne. This brand-owned MINIverse is intended to whet the appetite for new products like the “Mini Concept Aceman.”
As an experience and community brand of the BMW Group, MINIverse doesn’t work with classic avatars, meaning the digital images of people, but rather vehicles as virtual identities. The experience also offers gamified and interactive elements to let users become part of the global MINI community.
In the virtual 3D world, steep ramps, varied routes, and direct exchange with other MINI drivers through chat and emoji functions provide emotional access. The mobile-first approach appeals to a broad target group, which can use the MINIverse in all common browsers and directly via social media apps.
MINI demonstrates how a car brand uses new immersive experiences to connect with consumers and position itself as modern and progressive.
Such innovation offers enormous opportunities to create personalized experiences based on actual needs that go beyond the individual person and the vehicle.
Automotive CX opportunities in the B2B world
There also are many opportunities for using these new technologies in marketing, sales, and service in the B2B sector. For example, when an automotive company hands over a truck to a business customer, it can provide the digital NFT image of the commercial vehicle as well as the corresponding digital vehicle file (DVF). This DVF serves as a globally available, tamper-proof and digital version of all truck details.
Another example is a tire change. Instead of the customer looking for a service appointment, the dealer sends suggestions for an appointment that fits the availability of the service crew. Benefits for the customer could be double loyalty points or cash back. After completing the tire change, the process is documented in the DVF and a POAP is added as a certificate to the digital wallet.
In a harmonized flow between the truck owner and the automotive company, data is exchanged to validate the excellent condition of the truck.
This is a huge benefit when it comes to selling the vehicle to the next owner. Outside of regular maintenance windows, something can always happen; trucks are usually heavily used, sometimes in rough environments. Predictive maintenance plays a role here. A digitally connected truck can send data and parameters that are automatically analyzed by artificial intelligence for deviations from normal behavior, or there’s a specific error code in the board system that can be submitted to service.
Automotive subscription services: Car ownership steered a new way
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Based on the severity of the problem, an appointment can be scheduled immediately or the user receives a prompt that suggests next actions. In parallel, a dealer can make sure that necessary spare parts are available or ordered to get the truck back on the road as soon as possible.
With the blockchain-based DVF, service appointments and work are documented as well the authenticity of used spare parts. This is mandatory to prove consistent service history and genuine spare parts, which is critical if the truck is sold.
Should the vehicle be being offered on the market, there’s a tamper-proof digital history that works worldwide. SAP teams with Catena-X, an automotive network that’s a trustworthy, collaborative, open and secure data ecosystem. All players are networked in end-to-end value chains, in which all are on equal ground with sovereign control over their data.
Documentation of carbon footprint emissions is one of the network’s goals. With emission measurements, the DVF provides additional benefits when selling the truck, giving the owner the ability to drive it in highly regulated areas.
A globally available, digital certificate streamlines business, which represents another use case of a NFT. But it can also be used for faster warranty clarification, which can often be very time-consuming – especially for independent dealers – and prolongs the downtime of a commercial vehicle.
Shaping the future of the automotive industry
Getting to know your customer better has always been the top priority for delivering outstanding customer experience. All the data around a person, their interests, and transactions have been the foundation of a true 360-degree view.
Digital twins and vehicle information complete the view, which can also come from three-dimensional immersive worlds such as the metaverse or augmented and VR applications. With the help of digital products like NFTs and POAPs, which are trustworthy and tamper-proof, the industry can continue to find new ways to grow and flourish in the future.
The true 1080° view this enables, with three dimensions of customer, vehicle, and immersive experiences, will further transform the auto industry in the future and create much-needed competitive advantages.
Are there any questions, suggestions, further ideas? You can reach us at any time at this address: cxa@sap.com. From there, you can also request our detailed Point of View document on “1080° vision in the automotive industry,” which will be published soon.