Source: news.google.com
Brands are realizing that consumers are out of step with the innovative concepts of web3, leading many to master their tools, marketing and language to appeal to the everyday shopper. Web3-native fashion brand RSTLSS, created by London-based designer Charli Cohen, is leveraging apps and TikTok to appeal to groups including Roblox gamers and trend-setting teens in their tech world.
RSTLSS launched on December 15, after raising $3.5 million in March of investors, including metaverse angel investor Paris Hilton. Since then, he has minted all of his 1,000 NFT “keys” through an app. The unconventional app was developed to ease consumers into the world of RSTLS. It features drops, lore, customization opportunities, game integrations, and earning structures, including experience points and skill trees.
NFTs are typically launched through NFT marketplaces such as Opensea, but Cohen is hopeful that the RSTLSS app and web platform, due to launch in Q2, will become a default solution for adoption. massive web3.
Shari Glazer, web3 investor and founder of web3 branding company Kalos Labs, said that 2023 will be the start of web3 mass adoption. “Crypto winter has been an incredible building opportunity for people working on web3 infrastructure and tools,” Glazer said. “But [seamless] the incorporation of the general public has been the missing piece in this puzzle. The barriers to web3 are high for the average person. With Instagram launching its web3 program this year and Amazon possibly launching an NFT marketplace, you’ll see all the major social media players establish a presence starting this year.”
The RSTLSS app is currently hosting an NFT jacket launch, centered around a customizable digital jacket sold with a physical cufflink linked to an NFC chip. The unisex RSTLSS jacket doubles as a digital collectible as well as a designer skin for use on gaming platforms including Roblox, ready player me avatar platform, metaverse worlds and AR/VR social integrations. It will also work as a key for future releases: The Jacket gives the owner exclusive or early access to brand sales, updates, and collaborations. While there are plenty of digital token NFTs out there, not many are available through a dedicated brand-owned NFT app, and even fewer can be used in-game.
“Collectors download an app, currently in beta, and then the minting is done on iOS,” Cohen said. “It’s a very different UX and adds a different proposition to current NFT formats. We are trying to ensure a diverse base of holders, rather than letting individuals take the majority of the NFT supply.”
The app also works as an essential tool. The NFC chip on the physical jacket, which registers the garment on the chain, can only be scanned via the app. Also, only the app can unlock the AR lenses that allow users to try on the digital jacket. “We started developing the app in the spring of 2021. I thought, ‘If we can make this work through a mobile app, then we can make it work anywhere,’” he said. “An app is the most challenging place to tackle UX, so we invested a lot of resources to get it set up first.”
“There’s a release that we’re doing later this year that will bring a Tamagotchi-like element that will also be native to the app,” Cohen said, adding that he wanted the app to be more than just a sale. point. “It will also be for those who are just sitting on the tube and want to play around with personalization and garment creation.”
She added, “There has been a lot of skepticism around NFTs from the gaming community. There has to be a big rebranding and abstraction away from NFT, blockchain, web3, everything that has almost become this caricatured metaverse. But the gaming space is one of the only spaces where consumers exist digitally natively, understand the value of digital assets, and highly value their digital identity.”
Within games, especially on Roblox, “you have this huge economy of user-generated content, where people have realized that they can start building a brand and a business from creating and selling digital assets.” Cohen said. Roblox creator studios like House of Blueberry and creators like Samuel Jordan have built profitable businesses by working with brands like Natori, Stella McCartney, and Forever 21.
So far RSTLSS 1000 users are heavily skewed towards the traditional 20-30 year old web3 compiler. However, with further integration of the games, elements of the creator economy, and new approaches to social media, Cohen believes the user base will expand to be more inclusive. The brand is in talks with traditional brands for collaborations, but is prioritizing creativity and access first.
According to Cohen, teenage girls set trends and move culture forward. “Aside from this existing web3 and gaming communities that we wanted to launch into first, we’re focusing on teen girls,” she said. Roblox, where the RSTLSS skins will be available to buy and use this year, has 44% female users. Along with Roblox, RSTLSS is reaching target audiences on anime- and K-Pop-focused platforms, as well as social media.
According to Cohen, as gamers and creators move beyond Roblox, web3 will become the natural next step. It could also attract TikTokers, assuming it changes the current conversation. “Like within the gaming community, there is a lot of skepticism on TikTok around web3 and NFTs,” Cohen said. “We will work to change that narrative. Also, because RSTLSS has a lot of lore and storytelling, we will be creating story characters who have their own TikTok accounts.” TikTok accounts will launch in sync with the brand’s core browser experience next quarter.
“While we initially focused our social media activity on Twitter and Discord, we are progressively shifting our focus to TikTok,” Cohen said. Cohen’s eponymous tech clothing brand of 10 years uses TikTok, where he has 62,000 followers, as his main marketing platform.
Read More at news.google.com