Original text: "Discount sale + production reduction, Aston Martin NFT is still not sold out"

Author: Tangyuan

British sports car brand Aston Martin has also released NFT. This NFT series called Aston Martin NFT Vantage Series is reported to be launched by the brand in cooperation with mobile game manufacturer The Tiny Digital Factory. Unfortunately, the debut of luxury car NFT crashed.

On December 19, the Aston Martin NFT series was officially released to the public at a price of about US$50. However, the 3,000 NFTs originally planned for sale were unsalable before the deadline on December 23. The issuer started a magic operation and directly destroyed 300 NFTs. . What’s even more embarrassing is that even though the total issuance volume was reduced by 10%, it was still not sold out, and the final public sales volume stopped at 2,582 units. The whereabouts of the 118 NFTs that were not sold are also unknown.

The sales page shows that Aston Martin's sports car-shaped NFT will be combined with the subsequent blockchain racing game. This will undoubtedly broaden the way car companies issue NFT, and will eventually fall into brand marketing. But the spirit of the contract was compromised at the beginning, which is not a good thing for the brand.

However, the real marketing to the brand is probably the Infinite Drive mobile game platform developed by The Tiny Digital Factory, because there is almost no promotional information for this set of NFTs on Aston Martin’s official social channels, and Infinite Drive can be used to get Through licensing, he became a "partner" of this well-known luxury car brand. This reminds both brands and consumers that whether issuing NFT or purchasing NFT, it is important to identify the issuer, otherwise it is easy to set up traps for yourself.

Supercar NFT is slow to sell and even though 10% of it is “destroyed”, it’s still hard to regain its respect.

News of the launch of the "Aston Martin NFT Series" first came from the mobile game platform Infinite Drive, which is a racing mobile game application developed by a French company called The Tiny Digital Factory (TDF).

In November this year, the mobile game platform announced on its official Twitter and Discord communities that it would "cooperate with the British luxury car brand Aston Martin to issue" the Aston Martin NFT Vantage Series. Vantage is Aston Martin's well-known model, with prices exceeding one million yuan. Judging from the pictures released by the NFT sales channel, the design prototypes of this set of NFT are the racing car Vantage GT3, the sports car Vantage, and the classic supercar 1980 V8 Vantage that appeared in the movie "007: The Living Daylights".

Aston Martin Vantage NFT Collection

The news that the total number of Aston Martin NFTs is 3,000 came from the official community of Infinite Drive. On December 10th, European time, the official community of the gaming platform showed that these NFTs will be available to founders, whitelists, etc. User and public sales, the public sale time is scheduled for 9 days later.

On December 19, the Aston Martin sports car NFT public sale page with a total amount of "3000" appeared on the NFT trading platform Magic Eden. Since these NFTs are generated based on the blockchain network Polygon, and are priced in units of the network's native encrypted asset MATIC, the initial sale price is uniformly 66 MATIC, which is worth approximately US$50 at the time. With the blessing of a famous car brand, the price is much more affordable than NFT, which can easily cost hundreds of dollars. ‍‍

However, on December 23, the fifth day of the public sale, some users discovered that the total number of issuances on the page had changed to 2,700, and the number of NFTs on sale remained at 2,574. This makes people wonder, where did the missing 300 go? Shouldn’t the total amount of NFT issuance be coded in the smart contract? Can it be changed midway?

On December 23, Aston Martin NFT circulation increased from 3,000 to 2,700

A closer look revealed that in the early morning of December 23, Infinite Drive announced on the official community that it would reduce the total issuance to 2,700. The decision was made “after extensive consideration and analysis of user casting situations.” At this time, there are 22 hours left before the deadline for the public sale.

An embarrassing moment occurred. When the public sale ended, the original planned issuance had been reduced by 10%. This group of luxury car NFTs was still not sold out, and the final number of sales was 2,582. As for where the remaining 118 went, Infinite Drive did not explain.

The debut of NFT with Aston Martin's signature overturned. What's even worse is that as of December 27, the secondary market price of this set of NFT has reached 50 MATIC, which is about 40 US dollars, which is a sharp drop from the public sale price. 24.2%, and the number of crypto wallet addresses holding it is only 357.

This series has indeed not caught up with the good times of the NFT market. The current non-fungible tokens (NFT) are no longer as popular as they will be in 2021. Data shows that in November this year alone, the total market sales of leading NFT trading platforms such as OpenSea, Magic Eden, X2Y2, and Looks Rare were approximately US$394 million, a drop of more than 20% compared with October, and the transaction volume was at 2022 lowest recorded in years. Since December, the activity of independent wallets that interact with these NFT trading markets has also dropped significantly. Among them, the most well-known OpenSea has seen a 47% drop in user activity.

Car companies use NFT for marketing, causing more pitfalls and less profit

With such a tragic sales record, Aston Martin’s follow-up NFT plans are worrying.

According to information disclosed by Infinite Drive, holders of this group of NFT will have the opportunity to participate in the internal testing of related games. After the game is officially launched, they can participate in racing game competitions and racing activities to win crypto assets or NFT rewards. In addition, the brand Aston Martin can also customize special activities on the gaming platform and set the NFT of the same name as a participation condition to increase brand stickiness.

It can be seen that for consumers, this set of NFTs can not only collect and sell for profit, but also play games; for Aston Martin, NFTs can be used to market the brand. However, judging from the number of 357 wallet addresses holding NFT, the appeal of the game is worrying, and the decline in NFT prices has also cast doubt on its collection value. However, changing the quantity during the sales stage will inevitably result in unsalable products, and the negative impact on the brand is self-evident.

The real winner is the Infinite Drive gaming platform, whose news of "collaborating with the luxury car brand Aston Martin to launch NFT" spread widely at home and abroad. But if you look through Aston Martin’s official news channels, this group of NFTs has received almost no exposure.

So, why does this gaming platform dare to advertise itself in this way? According to the official website of the gaming platform, it has been authorized by more than 150 car brands to issue NFTs. In other words, the "cooperation" with Marston Martin mainly involves obtaining brand authorization. Luxury cars bring exposure to gaming platforms, but their own brand power is tarnished due to improper operations.

In fact, car manufacturers issuing NFT is nothing new, but there are few good examples. Metaverse Daily Explosion found that since 2021, more than 30 car brands have issued NFTs, including sports car brands such as Porsche, as well as common joint venture brands such as Chevrolet and Hyundai.

The purpose of NFT issuance by car companies is nothing more than marketing. It mainly uses digital collectibles as a scenario to create different gameplays, enhance brand power, or build momentum for products. The target group for the sale is young people who pursue new technological things. But there is more than one example of using NFT marketing to screw up. More bold car companies directly linked NFT to car sales, and the result was an immediate upset.

In June this year, Chevrolet issued an NFT called Corvette Z06, and the picture showed a green sports car. The starting price of this NFT on the SuperRare platform was 206 ETH, which was worth US$235,000 at the time. Chevrolet claims that buyers of this NFT will receive an identical physical sports car. Unfortunately, there were no bids and the auction ended in failure.

Corvette Z06 NFT sports car released by Chevrolet

Relatively speaking, Porsche is more cautious and has chosen a safer approach: combining it with public welfare. In August 2021, the car design sketch of Peter Varga, Porsche's exterior design director, appeared on the trading platform SuperRare in the form of NFT, and was eventually auctioned and sold at a price of 30.25 ETH. ETH is the native encrypted asset of the Ethereum blockchain network. Based on the unit price of ETH at the time, this design sketch sold for US$90,000. Porsche immediately announced that all proceeds would be donated to Viva con Agua, a German water sanitation non-profit organization.

South Korean car company Hyundai Motor was evaluated by a person in the automotive industry as "the company with the most Web3 thinking in the metaverse". It uses Web3 elements such as NFT in user loyalty, which is a bit like a "Web3 community". In July this year, Hyundai Motor launched an NFT membership program for its new electric car IONIQ6, claiming that it will unlock exclusive access to Web3 content for holders, including digital space, digital garage, etc. For example, holders have " IONIQ Citizenship" provides access to VIP rights and exclusive products in Hyundai's digital space.

It seems that when engaging in NFT marketing, it is best for car companies to explore on their own. After all, open source blockchain networks are readily available, and well-known brands do not have to worry about exposure. Even if they are looking for a third party to cooperate, they must choose a reliable one. Perhaps Infinite Drive and Aston Martin will take more practical actions against this group of NFTs that have been listed in the future, but I hope they can be more abiding and open next time, and make good use of the blockchain "Code is Law" The spirit of contract advocated.