It's an innovative way to bring together small business owners and creators from the black and LatinX communities and their audience.

Using NFT technology, we found a way to create the first ads that became digital art and paid for themselves — more than that, ads that generated incremental revenue for small entrepreneurs.

Elevate is Meta's program to help Black and LatinX entrepreneurs to grow. We provide free training, mentors, and partnerships to them.

The program also provides underrepresented SMBs and Artists an opportunity and access to emerging technologies.

So, we thought about a first-of-its-kind and collective approach to connect commerce and creators: what if instead of these small businesses paying for ads, the ads paid them back as NFTs?

Everything in these small businesses' ads is available for purchase: from the frames of their videos to their music, all using NFT technology.

We matched small businesses, NFT artists, and musicians to

collaborate and create 15-second ads in the artists' unique styles. The creators broke the videos down frame-by-frame and turned them into NFT collections. The profit was used to benefit the small businesses and the communities.

Elevate is Meta's program to help Black and LatinX entrepreneurs in the US to grow. We provide free training, mentors, and partnerships to them. The program also provides underrepresented SMBs and Artists an opportunity and access to emerging technologies.

We know that collaboration between artists and businesses can help produce unexpected results. So, we matched small businesses with NFT artists from their communities and let them work together to tell the businesses' brand story through15 second videos.

After the ads were created, the best frames were selected to be minted into NFTs and sold by the artists and small businesses. The profits from these NFTs went to help the businesses to grow.

1. We matched small businesses, NFT artists, and

musicians to collaborate and create 15-second ads.

2. The creators broke the videos down, frame by frame

3. Frames were turned into NFT collections and sold on a marketplace: https://collectivecollection.shop/

4. The profit was used to benefit small businesses and communities.

The process took about three months to produce and stayed for two months on Instagram Stories, Reels, and Discord, mainly in the United States - but it ended up having a global organic reach.

It was directed to digital art collectors and members, and followers of the communities.

More than 120,000 people were engaged in the launch. Half of the 300 NFTs were sold in the first 48 hours. Everything was sold within a month, and many are now up to reselling, bringing more profits to the SMBs.

More than that, the Non-Fungible Ads became an open idea that any underserved community can use and create ads that make a profit. A new way to help elevate small businesses and creators. More than ever, ads pay off.

We launched this project during 'Juneteenth', the month that celebrates Black history in the United States, by highlighting how it shaped our community and continues to inspire the future of Black creativity, commerce, and culture through emerging technologies.

Within the Black and Latinx & Hispanic community, SMBs and artists are often at the forefront of innovation - helping to shape our future. To celebrate Black and Latinx & Hispanic voices and elevate the next generation of innovators and pioneers, we launched the Non-Fungible Ads. The project provides SMBs and Artists an opportunity and access to emerging technologies.