Get Onchain with The Met, Hugo Boss, and Sotheby's Metaverse

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Double the HUGO, double the (onchain) fun

It’s been a big couple of weeks for Hugo Boss in the metaverse. First up, the launch of Planet Hugo, an environment of “unique, interconnected experiences” hosted in one of the world’s (and Gen Z’s) epicenters of connectivity and consumer personalization: Roblox.?

Hugo Boss launched the new initiative, which includes two 3D virtual environments (aka two gaming zones — Hugo Hangout and Hugo Fashion Match — where people can adorn F1 cars and their avatars in Hugo branding to earn free UGC tools) at an event in Berlin. VIP guests received a swag bag, complete with a denim jacket and iron-on NFC-chipped flower badge, which connects to yet another immersive virtual experience, this time on Snapchat.?

?Targeting its Gen-Z audience, HUGO harnessed the launch event as the perfect occasion to activate gaming and Metaverse spaces as key cultural focus territories,” said Hugo Boss’ SVP of Global Marketing and Brand Communications, Nadia Kokni.

If that wasn't enough to energize your pixels, Hugo Boss rolled out an upgraded loyalty program called Hugo Boss XP, an "omnichannel member experience" centered around the HUGO Boss customer app, which launches in the UK this month. The program is leveraging NFTs, which members can collect to unlock special products and experiences. There’s also the potential future option to trade tokens amidst the community and other traditional elements such as levels and points to reward product purchases and other engagements.??

?This new endeavor follows HUGO's initial foray in web3 in 2022 — a collaboration with Imaginary Ones on 1,0001 animated NFTs, which included purchasable phygital t-shirts, charitable contributions, and AR Snapchat lenses, alongside the brand's 2022 refresh.?

Our .02 ETH? HUGO is going hard on being everywhere, all at once, across the virtual and physical divide. In 2024, brands need to widen their scope to build experiences across multiple digital and physical touchpoints to excite and engage customers while increasing the reach of their products and IP.

From Snapchat to Roblox to the connective consumer-to-product tissue of NFC tags, HUGO is doing just that. Brands take note.

Sotheby’s & Alpha Centauri Kid look to the stars

Everyone's favorite bluechip metaverse, Sotheby's, is back with an exciting new Mojito-powered drop — this time from web3 art world OG and glitch art connoisseur Alpha Centauri Kid, also known as ACK. Once again guided by the Muse, the mysterious inspiration to his work, ACK's la nuit étoilée, 2021 riffs on a classic piece of star gazing (Van Gogh's Starry Night) for a limited edition of 300 NFTs. The collection’s public sale officially begins at 2 PM today, June 7, and you can grab one of the tokens for .2 ETH right here.?

Stay tuned for more on Mojito's role in the latest drop, and check out an interview with Alpha Centauri from PROOF here.

The Met isn’t done with the metaverse

Museums have continued looking to web3 and other next-generation technologies in creative ways. From The British Museum building in Sandbox to France’s Centre Pompidou and Mojito’s own work with the Toledo Museum of Art, the old world and the new are colliding onchain and off.?

Following its collaboration with Roblox on Replica, a project that enabled users to adorn their avatars in iconic wearables from the annals of art history (Medusa’s head of snakes; Van Gogh’s straw hat, etc.), the Metropolitan Museum of Art is learning into AI for a new project that similarly breathes new life, and tech, into classic works.

Turning its focus to a classic wedding dress designed by Callot Soeurs and worn by NYC 1930s socialite Natalie Potter, the museum teamed up with OpenAI and Chat GPT as part of the Meta Gala’s annual Costume Institute exhibition to create a custom chatbot trained on Potter’s personality.?

Visitors can scan a QR code to talk to “Potter'' about her famous dress (worn on her wedding day) and whatever other kind of small talk people engaged in at the time. As a pilot program on how AI can be used to engage museum visitors on the stories and psyches behind the art (or vintage threads) that once hung dormant on its walls, the collaboration demonstrates how brands and institutions are exploring new ways to extend the impact of their products and physical spaces to engage their audiences.

Perhaps now we’ll finally find out what Mona Lisa had on her mind.

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