Authentic Brands Group Taps Massive Potential of NFTs

Few companies stand to benefit from the sale of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, more than brand management firm Authentic Brands Group. That's because ABG owns a broad portfolio of brands, including A-list celebrity likenesses including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Shaquille O'Neal. “NFTs are something that we were watching and looking at, but, like most people, we were pleasantly surprised to see it explode onto the scene starting in February and early March,” Marc Rosen, president of entertainment at Authentic Brands, told Adweek. Authentic Brands' foray into NFTs has already proven lucrative with the auction in early May of The Muhammad Ali Collection. The last of the four pieces by digital artist Raf Grassetti, which was limited to a single edition, sold for nearly $250,000, according to a spokesperson. "Rather than just slapping Muhammad [Ali] on some card or something, we tried to go with premium products, where it was a thoughtful product," Rosen said of the effort. "And the work speaks for itself. It's something that took a lot of time to create." NFTs are all about community to usMarc Rosen, Authentic Brands The first of the pieces, which depicts boxing shoes similar to those worn by Ali, was an open edition available for $499. A second piece featured a pair of boxing gloves and was limited to a run of 500. A third piece, which portrayed Ali during different phases of his life and was limited to a run of 100, sold for $1,000 and $5,000, respectively. “We view NFT's as another place—NFTs are essentially all about community to us and about building out opportunities for our fans to engage with our brands and providing new experiences—for us to really experiment and find new ways to surprise and delight our fans,” Rosen said. For an encore, the marketing and branding conglomerate is selling a collection of NFTs featuring Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe to celebrate her birthday. The Marilyn Monroe Metamorphosis line will be sold via blockchain platform Ethernity Chain. Authentic Brands is selling several NFTs tied to the estate of actress Marilyn Monroe, which it owns. The pieces were created by the artists, Blunt Action, Starving Al, Aitana Basquiat, Grace Casas, Drella Drexler, Jason Ebeyer, Andre Holzmeister, Blake Kathryn, Vasya, Vincent Viriot and Bloo Woods and number 13 in total. Since the NFTs are currently being auctioned, the price is unavailable at this time. So many NFT possibilities Beyond the Ali- and Monroe-themed offerings, Rosen sees opportunity for all of Authentic Brands' holdings. “We want to always be on the latest trends, be forward thinking," Rosen said. That leads to "finding new audiences [and] new customers and really super-serving them, giving them fun new ways to play with our brands," he added. "That applies obviously to Muhammad [Ali], but it really applies to all of our brands." Though he declined to cite specific plans, Rosen pointed to potential in some of Sports Illustrated's magazine covers. ABG acquired the media brand for $110 million in 2019. The company is teaming with a number of sports legends for NFTs. He declined to name names, but hinted at a "great one" in hockey and an Olympian with gold medals draped around their neck. In fact, Rosen said Authentic Brands views NFTs "as something that is here for the long haul." Authentic Brands isn't worried about investors in NFTs misappropriating the intellectual property, stating the purchaser would have to obtain permission from the company if they wanted to use the imagery on a t-shirt, for example. Rosen likened it to buying an Andy Warhol painting or print, which gives the art collector the right to hang the work on their wall, but not the right to create a licensing business around the image itself. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread about It's not just the revenue the company will generate from the sale of NFTs that makes them so attractive. Authentic Brands also sees these offerings as a way to build interest in the brands themselves, particularly in international markets. On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, for example, Muhammad Ali's account traffic increased by 25% around the time of the NFT sale. "That's one very exciting data point because we're always looking to expand internationally," Rosen said. "And so we're hoping to recreate that sort of success with all the different launches that we're going to have and [with] all the different brands that we're going to have playing in the space, we want to see international penetration and growth." NFTs are a brand's best friend Regardless of the aim, NFTs are expected to be a significant driver of revenue for Authentic Brands now and into the future. "One of the things that we love about NFTs is that you participate in all of the future secondary sales. And so as the appreciation of these NFTs goes up over time, you're making money every single step of the way ... really in perpetuity," Rosen said. “Our strategy is not to 'cash out on a primary sale,'" he underscored. Rosen went on to say he foresees the assets increasing in value in the same way high quality art or collectibles like rare sports cards appreciate over time. "Ultimately, it's about giving people something that they want to cherish and hold on to and there's always a certain element of bragging rights associated with who gets to own these very rare assets," Rosen said. "It's all part of this next digital frontier." NFTs Are All the Rage, but Who’s Actually Buying Them?

Branding

Authentic Brands Group Taps Massive Potential of NFTs

Brand conglomerate sold Muhammed Ali NFT for $250,000

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Richard Collings