Weekly Web3 Recap 08/06/2024

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Hey guys and welcome back to Web3 Biz n' Sports ?? - the newsletter that lives at the intersection of Web3 with business and sports. In today's edition we'll talk about the return of McLaren racing after their great case study in the 2023 F1 season, IKEA and their co-worker Roblox experience, Don Julio's onchain tequila, NHL collaborating with ESPN on Roblox, the ICC with a renewed partnership and a video about ATP Tour's Web3 work with Mark Epps.

?? McLaren Racing is back

In 2023 the Formula 1 team created one of the most mentioned and best case studies at the intersection of sports and Web3. The "23/23 digital collectibles" campaign enabled fans from all over the world to claim digital memorabilia for each race weekend of the season which resulted in almost 3 million claimed collectibles.

This season, however, fans had to wait quite long for a new campaign to be launched. Why? It's probably also due to a change of sponsors. Previously, McLaren has done their activations with Tezos that are no longer a sponsor. This year's activation is now done in partnership with the exchange OKX that also partnered with Man City.

But now as the 9th GP of the 2024 F1 season is coming, the "RACE REWIND DIGITAL COLLECTIBLES" have been introduced. It's once again a free-to-claim campaign that is available through OKX's marketplace. Collectibles will come in three rarities with according benefits/rewards such as experiences and merch.

Just like last year collecting all races of the season will qualify fans for a great giveaway at the end of the season. As far as I know all races that already happened will be airdropped to collectors of the Canadian GP. Link

My take: It's a pity that McLaren and OKX weren't able to launch the campaign at the beginning of the season. Beyond that the fan journey for the fan will suffer from the change of partner. Collectibles of last year's "23/23 digital collectibles" will be held in another wallet than the current one and fans have to go through a new onboarding journey. Also the "collectibles.mclaren.com" will not be used anymore and the experience will live outside the own ecosystem. It also seems that the collectibles will be limited to 100.000 per race which is not even half of last year's top GPs.

On the other hand the concept stays the same and is likely to feature some elements of the race itself (?) which would be quite cool. Also the rewards system go leveled up and seems more appealing to me since both all-season and immediate stuff is offered.

Overall I'm very interested to see if McLaren Racing will be able to continue its success with Web3 technology.

One thought I'd like to add: McLaren is executing their Web3 activities with Web3 sponsors and kind of depend on them regarding infrastructure. While this supports commercial success, it has a negative impact on the experience for fans. Consequently, building an infrastructure oneself that can then be integrated with partners seems like a great way to get rid of this problem - it's the interoperability part blockchain promises. On the other hand this will require an investment in some way or form and probably to move away from crypto- or Web3-native sponsors or at least rethink those partnerships.

???? IKEA's Roblox experience

The famous furniture store is set to launch it's virtual world experience "The Co-Worker Game" later this month. The immersive world will seemingly feature a virtual version of Ikea. Users will be able to work, explore and experience the virtual world across various facets of the Swedish store. Some of those users will also be paid to flex their skills, help customers, and get promoted to move departments, just like in the real world. Link

My take: It's quite interesting and fun to see how IKEA approaches virtual worlds. Hearing the announcement this could be the best employer branding initiative to win co-workers of the next generation of this year.

???? Don Julio 1942 onchain tequila

Don Julio - a Mexican tequila brand - has started an auction for a a limited-edition release of the iconic Don Julio 1942 with a special cask finish. There will be five variations that are finished in casks that previously held Bourbon, Ruby Port, Orange Wine, Madeira Wine and Crémant. Each cask is represented by a digital twin on the blockchain that can be bought in an auction. When the Tequila is being bottled at the beginning of next year, each of the cask digital assets will turn into 40 bottle NFTs which can be gifted, sold or simply redeemed and enjoyd in June 2025. Link

?? NHL and ESPN partner on Roblox

The National Hockey League and ESPN have teamed up on Roblox. The collaboration happens in the NHL Blast experience and is realised in the "ESPN Chaos Run" - basically a parkour course with ice hockey elements. Users that play the game will receive free UGC items in Roblox. The campaign is tied to the start of the Stanley Cup finals. Link

Btw. ESPN has already partnered with AO's Roblox experience too. Link

?? ICC x FanCraze

The International Cricket Council - the governing body of the second most popular sport in the world - and their partner FanCraze announced they've signed a multi-year extension of their partnership. In addition to the existing "ICC Crictos" moments platform, they will launch a Web3 fantasy game that will feature the video collectibles and will be called "ICC Crictos SuperTeam". As usual with fantasy games, SuperTeam will allow fans to build fantasy teams using their ICC Crictos and compete in contests to win amazing rewards on a daily basis, week after week, proving their cricketing prowess to the world. Link

??? Video of the Week:

A discussion with Stefan Kovach and Mark Epps about ATP Tour's exploration of Web3 technology and its impact on tennis. ATP Tour has commonly known already launched two art based Web3 activations and openly talks about using the tech stack to build a loyalty program for all tennis fans. Find it right here