There are various ways business, brands, and influencers can utilize the NFT technology in this “Web3” era to give value and a new sense of community to the market. Beyond the opportunity to start fresh, it really is a great new avenue to rekindle your market if you’re an existing entity in the industry. For this instance, I’d like to take it from the perspective of a Hollywood actor like Ben Stiller.

Why Stiller? No reason. Like Adam Sandler, I like Ben so it’s just a preference. I’m a feel good movie kind of watcher like that. Plus the initial thought I had was based around Ben’s “ZOOLANDER” franchise, so this article and thought process will revolve in that area. On another note, if you still haven’t, go watch “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – a personal aspirational fave of mine.

Now let’s assume there’s an upcoming Zoolander 3 in the works. How could an NFT collection of 10k images actually matter? How can it benefit both the artist and the supporter? What’s the sense in owning an image? The basic answer is ownership. Ownership of an asset in the NFT space creates a direct link between the creator and the buyer/ owner/ collector/ holder/ audience/ market. Name it however you like, but it basically gives you, as a brand, a means to empower, address, and give value to people who support you directly. So in this article, I’ll tackle on the possibilities of utilizing the technology, without touching too much on the aspect of design and rarities, more about use-cases.

PASSES
First things first, the ZOOLANDER NFTs should, without any question, give you access to watch the movie in partnered theaters for free.

Think of it in a way that the NFT collectors actually helped fund the movie itself, and the very least they could receive is a means to watch the movie anytime they want for free, maybe even be automatically entitled to the premiere. With any movie, unused inventory in the long term will occur, and it only makes sense to somewhat allocate that into moviegoers who support the title. In a sense, it’s priced it.

Moreover, people will have the bragging rights of watching the movie for free. Chances are, they’ll populate the establishment concerned, and possibly bring friends too. Partner establishments will benefit from having more walking bodies within their commercial space, which can trickle into more points of sales for the other surrounding businesses.

CAMEO
While there is definitely a variety of famous people out there, this is an edge Hollywood actors – an experience towards the movie/film industry. With that in mind, a promo such as a cameo role can be an allure to people!

Imagine, you’re just a normie from the other side of the world, you buy into the collection, and by a stroke of luck, you find yourself in the middle of a Hollywood set as part of a scene. It can be a very small role that gains you a split second, but how many chances do you have of getting that kind of experience from where you are right now? Now think further, and what if Ben decides that it’s a ‘model’ role who will walk down the same runway Derek Zoolander will?

FASHION
But maybe you’re not into acting, what else is there? Are you into fashion? A niche industry that the Zoolander franchise walks around on is the Fashion Industry. It comes as no surprise as to how fashion icons do cameos in the movie. With that network supporting the movie, one possibility is for the collection to award Fashion Show passes.

Be it for NYFW, PFW, or maybe a private invite-only show for a specific fashion brand, an airdrop to select wallets for passes on select days or shows isn’t that far off from becoming possible.

MERCH
Something that’s viable with any NFT collection, merch comes as one of the first exclusive access privileges. It’s certainly possible that the franchise can simply make Zoolander merch available for the public regardless of whether they’re NFT holders or not. Honestly, it makes more sense to make it as available as possible simply due to financial possibilities. But towards this concept, I think there’s an avenue to make special collabs that are only accessible via the NFT.

One of the things about fashion is scarcity makes it more sought after. Towards a sense of sustainability that’s rampant in the industry nowadays, I think it makes more sense to create limited pieces, collaborated with designers, and actually is made with better quality in this arena.

Beyond that, I think there’s an opportunity to collaborate with artists here to create various Warhol-esque “Zoolander” portraits. Thinking about it, that might even be the very basic concept of the NFT collection. Regardless of whether it is or it isn’t, there’s a possibility to somewhat immortalize the Magnum, Le Tigre, and Blue Steel looks and make it collectible.

INTERACTION
Now moving further into possible hangouts or meet & greets, imagine if you’re entitled to always come to events like such? While it’s funny to think there’s an open invite for 10k NFT holders, it’s never really a case where all 10k come.

Exclusive AMA members-only access to Discord channels, open invites to Zoolander cast meet & greets, or maybe an actual event open only to the NFT collection’s community.

SPONSOR BENEFITS
Sponsors will always play a role with famous people. While brand sponsors actually are more interested in supporting a big known entity, that can always flow down into benefiting more people along the pipeline.

Brands endlessly hold promos, discounts, and coupons. If this is an avenue where they can secure themselves a community that would support their products because of an actor they sponsor, which is almost always the case, then why not? That’s a win-win!

SUPPORTING A CAUSE
If you follow Ben Stiller, then you know how he’s an advocate for helping refugees. He can implement that advocacy into the collection by simply allocating a portion of the funds received into such causes. There’s opportunity for any creator to benefit a cause, bringing more attention and education into the issue at hand, and for individuals who collect to help a cause while receiving benefits.

DEFI
Now this is the tricky aspect of web3 and NFTs. There’s always a talk of how money works, and how it can possibly benefit the collector. While that’s a gray area and isn’t really required for any project to work, it’s a possibility the franchise can dip their feet in. Staking pools and further ‘evolutions’ of the NFT down the line, will always be a talk.

It’s a very complicated subject to make things simple, I’ll set a plausible scenario:

Zoolander NFT holders stake their Zoolanders, and receive an asset (let’s call it) Zoobucks. Zoobucks can actually be used to purchase items from sponsors at great discounts, exclusive merch, or be accumulated to purchase more sought after fashion show passes.

STILLERVERSE & CLOUT
Up to what extent the value NFTs can provide is really up to the creators or team behind it. That being said, it’s not impossible to convert or repurpose these NFTs to benefit another affiliated project in the near future.

The Zoolander movie phasing out of theaters doesn’t mean the benefits stop. They can be reinvigorated with things like being discounts to future movies that not only Ben Stiller creates, but supports, opening up collaborations with other production houses or brands. If Ben is watching the New York Knicks courtside this weekend, he can opt to do a draw for a lucky NFT holder. A Saturdate lunch in his favorite New York joint? Yup! A premiere to another Fockers-related movie? Definitely. How about if the moment we can finally have a Ready Player One multiverse, and the NFT enables you to take on the avatar of Mugatu? Why not?

It really is just a way on how you, as a brand/creator, can think of ways to re-engage people directly, and how you can make them feel valued, benefited, and cared for that’s enjoyable and is for the best interest of everybody as a whole, thereby making the assets sought after. Think of it in a way where you have a mailing list, but your mailing list actually a token that’s limited rather than free to opt-in, so logically it only means that people will be attracted to how beneficial it will be in holding a piece of it. You, as a brand, can and should leverage that.

The possibility of bringing value is endless.

Know somebody who could use this kind of insight for their NFT project? Send them this article!