26% of Nike Brand revenue now comes from Nike Digital, the fastest-growing part of Nike’s marketplace.
Since the launch of Nikeland, a virtual world built by Nike inside the hit video game Roblox, the company has been visited by almost 7 million people from 224 countries. Here they could browse a digital store filled with Nike products and hang out with popular NBA players.
During the NBA All-Star Week back in February, NBA superstar LeBron James stepped into Nikeland to talk directly with fans about basketball, give a few virtual high fives, and help motivate people to get active, either on a basketball court or in their favorite physically-active VR games.
“On the Nikeland court, LeBron coached and engaged with players, and participants were rewarded for physical gameplay with the ability to unlock virtual products,” said Nike’s Chief Executive and President Jack Donahoe during a Q3 earnings call.
For Nike, the metaverse holds a lot of potential for big earnings. While other companies are still trying to figure out how their digital twin might fit into the metaverse, Nike is embracing its “Just Do It” attitude and jumping head-first into the fray. In December of 2021, Nike purchased leading fashion house RTFKT, now Nike Virtual Studios, before launching Nikeland this past November.
As of today, Nike Digital is the fastest-growing piece of Nike’s marketplace, representing 26% of the Nike Brand revenue.
Part of that is because Nike has embraced branded NFTs as part of their revenue structure. They were one of the first big brands to offer virtual goods to their consumers, creating a campaign focused on Nike branded NFTs that was more than a collectible or a fad.
Keep in mind that Nikeland is more than NFTs or stylish Nike clothing for your avatar. There are a lot of fun mini-games you can play with other people. Players have the ability to unlock superpowers, jump on trampolines, and more, and unlike sports in the real world that have a lot of rules, Nikeland sports have no rules.
Donahoe was incredibly excited about Nikeland’s numbers, explaining that the company plans on taking their best-in-class digital experiences and building out exciting web3 products and experiences in order to scale out the Nike community. Through his eyes, he wants the Nike community to create, share, and benefit from this metaverse experience.
“We’re pleased by the positive momentum and energy we’re already seeing in the space and we’re excited by the future as we continue to extend our digital leadership in the industry.”
During one of the panels at SXSW hosted by Val Vacante—an award-winning global innovator, occasional contributor for VRScout, and one of the Top 25 Women in Tech—along with Vicki Dobbs Beck from ILMxLABs, the two talked about how the NFT market saw a massive jump from $93 million in Q4 of 2020 to $2 Billion in Q1 of 2021. That is an insane 2,100% increase, with that number continuing to rise.
Nike is ready for that growth in both the real world and the metaverse. According to Donahoe, Nike increased their marketing and ad budget by 20% across the upcoming quarter which will equal around $854 Million.
That will surely help attract more people into the Nikeland metaverse. If you’ve never been to Nikeland, I highly recommend it. This is just the beginning for Nike and the metaverse.
Image Credit: Nike
