Since non-fungible tokens burst into the scene early last year, more established brands have joined in on the trend, including Adidas, the NBA, and Warner Bros. This year, the entertainment behemoth continues its experimentation in the NFT space with beloved characters from Looney Tunes set to dive into the blockchain world.
The company will be collaborating with NFT platform Nifty to launch the “Looney Tunes: What’s Up Block?” project, which is set to go on sale this summer. From the plethora of characters in the Looney Tunes universe, Tweety Bird is set to be the first character to be featured, with the iconic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to follow.
The What’s Up Block? project will take a different approach to the NFT space and take on a storytelling aspect of the IP, a strategy Warner Bros. will be employing to engage buyers. The project will also follow the traditional formula of granting owners access to unique events, merchandise discounts, and real-life rewards.
“We think that blockchain and NFTs and Web3, in general, is going to be a great evolution in entertainment,” said Josh Hackbarth, head of the NFT commercial development for Warner Bros. “It doesn’t need to be really deep, deep storytelling – it is about gags and gimmicks and really recognizable characters, so it was a fun one to dig into.”
“Looney Tunes is not afraid to make fun of itself or the broader pop culture as a whole,” Hackbarth elaborated. “It will be a bit tongue-in-cheek with how we are playing with blockchain technology, but what is more exciting is that we can use that to bring people into a new space to play.”
Before Looney Tunes, Warner Bros. released NFT projects of Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Matrix, and will continue to use the digital avatar features of its predecessors. However, nifty CEO Jeff Marsilio said that he thinks What’s Up Block? will be the first major NFT avatar project to use such characters. Additionally, the project will incorporate blockchain technology from the Palm NFT Network.
“There are lots of NFT projects, but there is only one Looney Tunes, so if we do it right and respect the IP, and respect the existing community, I think there is a large fandom to it,” said Marsilio. “When you own one of these avatars, that is sort of your membership in this community.”
