There was a great deal of hype about the “metaverse,” but in truth there was no real “metaverse.” There was a series of disconnected platforms, each with its own language and “wearables,” and no streamlined navigation. We changed that by launching the first cross-platform wearable, the Genesis Curry Flow NFT. For the first time, a gamer could navigate through the leading platforms with their own wearable. Our 2,974 minted NFTs in five varying degrees of rarity offered in-game utility for the holder, allowing players access to tokens and boosts and delivering the promise of a true metaverse experience.

In December 2021, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was closing in on the world record for 3-point shots. Our client, Under Armour, planned to launch a highly anticipated sneaker in celebration of this incredible accomplishment, but unfortunately global supply chain problems meant the shoe would not reach the market in time. It also meant that there would be very little budget available to celebrate such an important moment. While the world watched in awe as Steph changed the basketball game for good, our task was to figure out what we could do without a traditional product and very little budget to live up to the moment and get Under Armour back into the cultural conversation it had lost to competitors Adidas and Nike in recent years.

Our idea was to change the metaverse irrevocably, just as Steph was permanently changing the game of basketball for good by launching the Genesis Curry Flow, the first wearable that a player can take with them as they move across platforms. By doing this, we would become the first true metaverse wearable, an accomplishment that could live up to the importance of this moment.

We launched 2,974 unique NFTs (a number picked to reflect the 3-pointer world record) in 5 discrete rarities, each one coming with a “shoe locker” where we designed the Genesis Curry Flow into the unique language of the leading metaverse platforms of Decentraland, The Sandbox, Gala Games and RKL. The locker connected directly to the platforms, meaning that, for the first time, the game player could enter the distinct worlds with the same unique sneaker, permanently changing the game and the metaverse.

It’s one thing to have an insight about the gaming world, or even to have a great idea about changing the metaverse for good, but when you have $0 to market your idea, that presents a different challenge. With no traditional media and no influencers to hype our drop, we instead developed another strategic first by turning the gaming platforms into media. The gaming platforms don’t do commercials or much of what might be seen as traditional marketing, but they have large, loyal gamer audiences on Twitter and Discord engaged in conversations about the games. We created high-quality video assets, essentially teasers, for our drop and invited the platforms to get as excited as we were about achieving the first true landmark of metaverse interoperability by sharing it with their audiences. The strategy worked beyond our wildest dreams, driving conversation and anticipation.

NFTs were promoted throughout the gaming social channels of Decentraland, Gala Games, The Sandbox, and RKL, followed by a video asset of our “Shoe Locker” teasing the interoperability. The video captured the core idea by revolving on an axis from one “world” to the next while keeping the sneaker and player central to each world. It glowed in Decentraland, a custom basketball court was built for game play in The Sandbox, and the sneaker earned Gala token in Gala Games.

The NFTs were built on the Polygon blockchain, a carbon neutral blockchain, and sold directly to buyers from a Curry Brand website that we created, with an embedded link to OpenSea, the primary NFT trading platform, where holders could immediately buy and sell the NFTs. These factors helped propel the sneakers to massive desirability — the rarest sneakers traded for a value upward of $55,000 at the height.

At the time of the drop, over 25 million people had visited our site. When the drop went live, 4.5 million tried to buy the digital sneaker, ensuring the shoes sold out in minutes. All proceeds from the initial sale went to UA’s charities, resulting in $1 million raised for Access to Sport. Secondary sales followed and continue to rise, with over $17 million in volume, contributing to greater funds for the charities, paying for the cost of the entire marketing campaign more than twice over, and setting a new standard for how to generate a true metaverse product.

Our campaign was No. 1 on Polygon for over a week, earning over 1.3 billion impressions with $0 paid media and an overall 98% positive sentiment. The campaign was also picked up by 30-plus media outlets, including Time, WSJ, Hypebeast, and CoinDesk, proving this truly was a cross-platform campaign.