Boxing legend Mike Tyson dropped his first NFT collection yesterday with the help of NFT creative agency 1ofOne, which launched this year. The collection contains art by digital artist Cory Van Lew depicting iconic moments from Tyson’s career that includes fan unlockable content and experiences. Fans who purchase one-of-ones will have the ability to go to spend a day with Mike Tyson at his ranch, receive boxing lessons from him, and get the chance to spar with one of his sparring partners with Tyson as their cornerman.
This is the first launch for the NFT agency, which also has upcoming collaborations with an electic group that includes Kenan Thompson, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, and Ruff Ryder. Jeff Hood, a managing partner at 1ofOne, says he predicts more retail adoption a broader adoption of NFTs as the trend continues to gain popularity, such as ticketing, community-based fan interaction, music releases, and more.
“The thing that's limiting the growth of NFTs is that it is all crypto native transactions,” Hood told Ad Age. “There's a limited number of people that have access to those wallets and understand how to leverage them. As more U.S. [currency], front end, lower price, retail transactions start to come into the space, you're going to see mass adoption of NFTs.”
The auction runs until this weekend. As of this article the highest bid for one of the items in the collection is over $33,000. However Hood says the agency doesn’t look to simply do one drop for a client and call it a day. The agency focuses on a longer-term strategy.
“A lot of times people overcomplicate the concept of NFT when the focus becomes the technology versus the reality of what it is, which is a digital good,” Hood says. “It's very logical if you look at someone like Mike Tyson, obviously he's very interested in art and working in NFTs from that standpoint, but we have projects planned for him around games and more collectibles and more aspects tying into his sports career in boxing. NFTs allow you to build multiple silos and ecosystems leveraging the technology.”
IPG’s latest return-to-office guidance
Interpublic Group of Cos.’ offices in the U.S and other markets where vaccines and testing are readily available will require employees to provide proof of vaccination or a negative result from a test taken within 72 hours of instances in which they will be in the office, CEO, Phillippe Krakowsky wrote in a Linkedin memo to his staff, titled "Moving Forward Together."
In the instance of an emergency, such as an unplanned client meeting, an unvaccinated employee who doesn’t have time to be able to get tested 72 hours in advance can provide a rapid test, a spokesman for IPG told Ad Age.
This policy will be implemented “in the coming weeks,” Krakowsy says, explaining that the holding company is “preparing to implement flexible work arrangements."
IPG is still considering asking employees of its U.S corporate offices to return to within commuting distance to their home office by mid-September, but those plans and actual return-to-office dates could be delayed, a spokesman confirmed. Corporate staff includes IPG’s executive leadership team and centralized IPG resources like investor relations, legal, payroll, corporate communications, and accounting.
“The specifics of how and when we'll be returning to the office are being driven by your senior management teams in keeping with your agency's culture and business/client needs,” Krakowsky says. “But, regardless of local regulations, we will continue to require masks in public spaces within our offices until there is more clarity on the state of the health situation.”
For more COVID-19 updates in the industry, check out our regularly updated list.
Lead creatives on the move
BBDO Minneapolis has named its first-ever chief creative officer. Laura Fegley joins after spending nearly a year at St. Louis agency HLK, where she served as senior VP and exec creative director. Fegley replaces Sue Batterton, who held the position for a couple of months before rejoining the Richards Group as its chief creative officer. Prior to that, Tim Mattimore held the exec creative director role before ultimately joining Digitas and leading creative for its Chicago office.
Prior to this new role, Fegley served as chief creative officer of Chicago-based agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul. She has also served as exec creative director for Colle McVoy and BBH New York. Fegley starts her new role on August 23 and will partner with President and CEO Neil White, as well as the creative department.
MullenLowe New York has brought on Ricard Valero to lead creative as the office’s new exec creative direcotr. He replaces Chris Rowson, who resigned from the agency earlier this year to be closer to his family in the U.K. during the pandemic,” according to a MullenLowe spokeswoman. Valero joins from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, where he was exec creative director, and will work alongside managing director Rebekah Pagis and head of strategy Jonny Gadd.
“Part of the appeal of joining MullenLowe New York is the freedom to lead the office with my own creative vision,” Valero said in a statement. “I’m allergic to everything that feels corporate in an agency, and Rebekah and Jonny are building an agency that puts creativity at the very heart of every single department. That’s the only way to deliver truly outstanding ideas: when all of us are responsible for the creative product.”
Coming home
ESPN has teamed up with McKinney for its latest creative campaign promoting the 2021 season of college football on ESPN. "Welcome Home" is the latest campaign since the “Who’s In?” campaign was introduced in 2014. The spot looks to capture the sentiment of “home” by showcasing traditional community and fandom elements of the sport with music that is a custom remix of “Coming Home” by Diddy ft. Sklar Grey from Grammy-nominated producer Swiff D. The creative launched this week across ESPN networks and is the first in a series of brand spots that will debut throughout the year.
