NFTs were a part of some of the most remarkable moments in advertising in 2021, helping lay the groundwork for brands to play in the coming metaverse. Classic brands like Pepsi and Budweiser tested the NFT waters, as did 21st Century brands like The Hundreds and RTFKT.

The technology around NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, has created new categories of digital products; fostered innovative online communities; developed virtual reality metaverses; and more. There is still plenty to be skeptical about, however, with concerns that NFTs could be used for illicit activity, like hiding shady financial transactions or creating multi-level marketing bubbles that are bound to pop. And not all brands with NFT drops have had success this year. For instance, McDonald’s McRib NFT campaign was tarnished by a troll who left a message with a racial slur inside a metadata field associated with McDonald’s crypto wallet. Also, some celebrity-backed NFT projects have been duds, as Bloomberg News pointed out. Wrestler and actor John Cena lamented that his WWE NFT was a “catastrophic failure,” when collectors shunned its steep $1,000 price point.

Despite some flops, there have been stunning marketing wins for brands, contributing to an NFT market that generated $10.7 billion in sales in the third quarter, up from $28 million in the third quarter of 2020, according to crypto-analytics firm DappRadar.

Here is a look at some of the most successful and innovative uses of NFTs by brands in 2021.

RTFKT Clone X Mintvial

These NFTs set off a frenzy of trading activity on marketplaces like OpenSea, where they sell for about 10 Ethereum, which is equal to about $40,000. DappRadar called RTFKT “one of the best performing digital fashion brands in the crypto space.” The NFT vials act as tickets to obtain stylish avatars generated by RTFKT. The Clone X community could use the avatars in virtual reality settings like The Sandbox and Decentraland. RTFKT also recently designed Clone X avatars with the artist Murakami, and those have sold for more than $700,000. This week, Nike bought RTFKT to advance its metaverse and digital apparel strategy.

The Hundreds Adam Bomb Squad

The Hundreds is an innovative streetwear and apparel collective. The community sold out 25,000 NFTs that were valued at about $1,000 each. The owners of the NFTs obtain perks as privileged members of The Hundreds’ community, where they will get early access to future digital drops, access to digital and real world events, special entry to warehouse sales, and more.

Behind the rankings: Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2021

Bored Ape Yacht Club

Bored Ape NFTs are impossible to ignore. The project, led by Yuga Labs, created some of the most in-demand NFTs, with 10,000 outrageously styled primate characters that trade for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Bored Ape Yacht Club generated more than $1 billion in sales, and the exclusive club is known to include some celebrity owners like Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone and Steph Curry. The characters have become valuable intellectual property popping up in the music, gaming and entertainment industries. Adidas recently got in on the Bored Ape action, too, purchasing one of the NFTs with the character that wears Adidas gear.

Budverse Cans Heritage Edition

In December, Anheuser-Busch InBev had a successful NFT drop, working with VaynerNFT, a division of VaynerMedia. The beermaker sold out 1,936 NFTs in about an hour, making close to $1 million. The digital can collectibles come with perks for the owners, as Budweiser is trying to develop a community for its most loyal consumers. Expect to see Budweiser do more in the NFT and crypto space as part of its marketing in the metaverse in 2022.

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

Pepsi Mic Drop

PepsiCo also worked with VaynerNFT on a popular NFT project with 1,893 tokens, a nod to 1893, the year the soft drink was invented. The collection was a tribute to the beverage maker’s affiliation with the music industry over the years. Some of the NFTs have sold for more than $4,000.

F1 Delta Time

Formula One racing has been soaring in popularity, especially since Netflix highlighted the sport in a widely viewed documentary series this year. The sport brand has a popular NFT project based on digital trading cards, that are often valued in the thousands of dollars. F1 Delta Time is a racing “blockchain game” that centers “around the collection and trading of unique Formula One Cars, Drivers and Components,” according to its page on OpenSea.

VeeFriends

Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerMedia, created an experimental NFT project called VeeFriends. In May, Vaynerchuk released 10,255 tokens based on his doodles, which garnered more than $20 million in sales in the first week. The NFTs created a new community for Vaynerchuk’s fans, awarding NFT owners access to special programs like VeeCon, a new conference coming in 2022. The project also served as a template for VaynerNFT to start working with more brands like AB InBev and PepsiCo on their NFT drops.

The 140 Collection by Twitter

In June, Twitter’s marketing team had a successful NFT drop when it released 140 digital pieces of art for free. The digital artworks had names like “Furry Twitter,” “Vitamin T” and “Reply Guy.” The Twitter NFTs have seen robust secondary market activity, where prices in some transactions have topped $200,000.

Atari x ZED RUN Skin Collection

Atari has been active in the NFT space all year. In March, the old school arcade brand teamed up with RTFKT to create limited edition NFT sneakers that were wearable in metaverse-based gaming worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland. In July, Atari worked with ZED RUN, creating 20 NFTs based on its classic game iconography that adorned virtual horses. ZED RUN is a virtual horse racing platform, where digital horses are bred and compete. The Asteroids horse design sold for around 14 Ethereum, which is worth about $57,000 at the current exchange rate.