A large number of companies, including Budweiser, Pinkberry, and many others, are reportedly experimenting with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to drive their loyalty and rewards programs.
According to a report by CNBC, Web3 startup Hang aims to give some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Budweiser, Pinkberry and Bleacher Report, “the power of web3 through its NFT-based membership platform, using new reward mechanisms and technologies to increase customer loyalty and the LTV”.
On July 14, Hang launched its “no-code platform to seamlessly build and manage web-based membership programs3”, and announcement a $16 million Series A round led by Paradigm. With Hang, “program managers can easily configure membership rules and logic, add benefits and rewards, and connect to third-party services.”
Hang’s announcement went on to say:
“In this round, we are also proud to partner with Tiger Global, Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, Mr. Beast’s Night Ventures, Tiffany & Co.’s Alexandre Arnault, Green Bay Ventures, Shrug Capital , to Good Friends (founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds and Harry’s), Leore Avidar, CEO of Alt & Lob, Roger Ehrenberg/Eberg Capital, Dave Heath, CEO of Bomba, Scott Belsky, Impatient Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, K5 Global and several other amazing VCs and entrepreneurs.“
Hang co-founder and CEO Matt Smolin told CNBC that major brands are increasingly using loyalty programs as a way to engage and promote customer loyalty. He claimed that NFT loyalty programs are a great way for businesses to leverage the benefits of blockchain technology:
Because of blockchain technology, NFTs create a way for brands to incentivize their users to not only rank to a new level in their program, but also appreciate the value of the asset they own and can then be resold. [NFT] markets.
Smolin noted that most of his company’s activities are not aimed at “your typical crypto audience” and that their goal is to help solve real-world problems. He said the long-term success of Hang, and that of NFTs, would come from integrating existing transaction technologies, such as email and credit card, with blockchain and Web3 technologies.