Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) : Examining the Impact on Consumers and Marketing Strategies

This book focuses on the relevance of non-fungible token-based products in the current hyper-digitalized and hyper-connected world. Connecting the new NFTs' technologies with academic literature on marketing, the authors highlight future research streams as well as strategies and factors that marketers and managers can use to promote this new type of product. Starting with an overview of the nature and increasing importance of NFTs in marketing, the authors extensively examine the blockchain technology that underlies this new innovation along with its applications. Specifically, by reviewing the existing literature on NFTs, the authors explain the emerging topics and business opportunities offered by NFTs for intellectual property protection, development of new lifestyles, and forms of entertainment. The second part of the book investigates NFTs in three different contexts: art, music, and fashion. By exploring the key behavioral variables that underlie consumers' intentions to purchase NFT-based products (i.e., materialism, status consumption orientation, innovativeness), the authors discuss the various implications for advertising and marketing strategies in such industries. Offering a state-of-the-art look at this new technology, this book presents a guide for scholars and anyone looking for an understanding of NFTs and the opportunities they present. With a preface by Russell Belk. Andrea Sestino is Ph. D. Candidate in Management & Marketing at the University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Collaborator at the Cabinet of the Italian Minister of Economic Development in fields of artificial intelligence, Internet-of-things, and business digitalization, and R & D Specialist in applied industrial research for digital transition. He has published in international peer-reviewed journals. Gianluigi Guido (Ph. D., University of Cambridge, UK) is Full Professor of Marketing at the University of Salento, Italy, where he is Director of the Ph. D. Program in Digital Transformation and Sustainability. For Palgrave Macmillan, he has been the co-author of "Sustainable Luxury Brands" (2017), with forewords by R. Bagozzi and P. Kotler. Alessandro M. Peluso (Ph. D. in Quantitative Methods for Market Analysis) is Associate Professor of Business Management at the University of Salento, and Lecturer in Marketing at the LUISS University of Rome, Italy. He has published many research articles in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Marketing Research Foreword 5 Acknowledgments 7 Contents 8 About the Authors 11 List of Figures 14 List of Tables 15 Chapter 1: Introduction 16 1 The Phenomenon of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) 18 2 NFTs and the Consumer’s Extended Self 19 References 23 Chapter 2: The Concept and Technicalities of NFTs 25 1 Definition of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Their Value 25 1.1 The Origin of NFTs and Their Characteristics 27 1.2 The NFTs’ Creation Process 28 2 Blockchain: The Technology Behind NFTs 29 References 34 Chapter 3: A Review of the Marketing Literature on NFTs 37 1 A Systematic Approach 39 2 Main Topics and Business Opportunities 40 2.1 Intellectual Property 40 2.1.1 Digital Artworks 40 2.1.2 Academia 42 2.1.3 Memes and Viral Contents on the Web 42 2.2 Lifestyles 43 2.2.1 Sports and Leisure Time 43 2.2.2 Fashion 44 2.2.3 Virtual World 45 2.3 Entertainment 46 2.3.1 Music and Films 46 2.3.2 Videogames 47 2.3.3 Pornography and Other “Embarrassing Products” 47 3 Three Empirical Studies on Art, Music, and Fashion 48 References 50 Chapter 4: How Materialism Influences the Purchase of NFT-Based Artworks 56 1 Introduction 56 2 Theoretical Background 57 3 Methodology 59 4 Results 60 4.1 Sample Description 60 4.2 Descriptive and Reliability Statistics 60 4.3 Hypothesis Testing 61 5 Discussion and Implications 61 References 62 Chapter 5: The Roles of Materialism and Status Consumption Orientation in the Purchase of NFT-Based Music Compilations 65 1 Introduction 65 2 Theoretical Background 67 3 Methodology 68 4 Results 69 4.1 Sample Description 69 4.2 Descriptive and Reliability Statistics 70 4.3 Hypothesis Testing 70 5 Discussions and Implications 71 References 72 Chapter 6: The Interplay of Consumer Innovativeness and Status Consumption Orientation When Buying NFT-Based Fashion Products 75 1 Introduction 75 2 Theoretical Background 77 3 Methodology 79 4 Results 81 4.1 Sample Description 81 4.2 Descriptive and Reliability Statistics 81 4.3 Hypothesis Testing 81 5 Discussion and Implications 83 References 84 Chapter 7: Conclusions 88 1 When Consumption Goes Beyond Material Possessions 88 2 In Summary 90 References 92 References 94 Index 108