Yesterday (August 17), in the first round of the English Football League, Nottingham Forest played against Bournemouth at home. The two sides ended up in a 1-1 draw in this opening match. In order to support and welcome more fans in the new season, Nottingham Forest has spent millions of pounds in the past few months to renovate the fan stands and reception facilities at its City Stadium. In addition to the new look of the venue, this old club with a history of nearly 160 years has also introduced a new face, the crypto brand Floki, as its official partner in the new season.
Not only Nottingham Forest, Floki brand "enters" the Premier League
Nottingham Forest and Floki jointly announced their partnership on August 15. In the new season, the Floki brand will receive a lot of exposure through Nottingham Forest, including: 3 minutes of camera-facing LED advertising during all home games, brand display in the score release and substitution announcement after the club's game, full-page advertising on the match day program and the brand logo will appear on the cover. This cooperation also includes providing fans and Floki communities with some unique experiences, such as signed souvenirs, and the opportunity to play at the club's home stadium at the end of the season.
Two days before the official announcement of the partnership with Nottingham Forest, Floki just announced that it will become the advertising sponsor of the Premier League for the 2024-2025 season. The Premier League will start on August 17, when Floki and its MMORPG Valhalla will be displayed through LED sideline advertising boards during live matches and utilize a full TV lens advertising system. Floki said that throughout the season, its advertising is expected to receive 100 minutes of prime exposure time, and 40% of its advertising inventory will be displayed in matches that include the top clubs in the league to ensure maximum exposure for Valhalla.
The most promotional meme? Floki's marketing journey
In June 2021, Elon Musk, the "Godfather of Meme", wrote in a tweet: "My Shiba Inu will be named Floki", and the token Floki came into being. Perhaps it was because he "inherited" Musk's marketing and sales genes, and Floki, originally a meme, was born with marketing capabilities. The most impressive thing for most people was the sponsorship of the World Table Tennis Championships final, which was broadcast on China Central Television Sports Channel CCTV-5 in May last year, and appeared again at the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships at the beginning of this year, reaching more than 340 million viewers.
One of the most important factors for the Floki community to move from a meme coin to a crypto brand with hundreds of millions of viewers and exposure is the consistent efforts of the Floki community in publicity and marketing. For example, just two months after the birth of the Floki token, it announced a partnership with the charity of Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk to donate $1.4 million to the Million Gardens Movement initiated by him to jointly address food insecurity. Soon after, Floki frequently advertised in New York Times Square, Dubai Airport, Istanbul Airport, Australia, Barcelona and Madrid in Spain, etc.
As the world's largest sport, football has always been a sport that Floki focuses on, and its brand sponsorship also started from this sport. In November 2021, Floki successively sponsored Indian football clubs Goa and Kerala Blasters, Cadiz in La Liga, Napoli in Serie A, Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, Spartak Moscow Football Club in Russia, Twente Football Club in the Netherlands and Fenerbahce in the Turkish Football Super League. Its logo also appears on the collars, sleeves or home billboards of the jerseys of the above-mentioned clubs. Last year, Floki also focused on the cricket league and reached cooperation with Bhilwara Kings and Manipal Tigers.
Who is behind the development of Floki? According to its official website, the brand's core team quickly left the community less than two weeks after the release of the Floki token. It is currently led by cryptocurrency veteran, NFT expert and Ether Cards council member Mr. Brown Whale and blockchain veteran Jackie Xu. Core advisors include @100bviking and @SabreEthereum, the latter of which also serves as marketing creative director.
What is the Valhalla that Floki is pushing?
Valhalla is a web-based NFT strategy game powered by Floki. It uses the P2E GameFi mechanism to present a vast and open world to players. In the game, players can choose three abilities to use in battle, and need to choose a combat creature Vera, usually the initial Vera selected in the tutorial. The amulet is a prop used to capture Vera in the game, and there is a certain probability of successful capture. There are currently eight types of Vera, with very different appearances, attack methods and abilities, but all of them can be upgraded to improve their ability values.
The battles in the game are traditional turn-based, and players will move around the arena and use skills that consume magic points. After a few rounds, the arena will gradually shrink to limit movement, further enhancing the excitement and strategy of the game. In Valhalla's PVP mode, players need to compete with each other, allowing them to form and upgrade Vera combinations, predict each other's intentions, set traps and adopt different strategies. Valhalla's open world mode allows players to explore Floki Island, collect resources and interact with other players. Players can chase and capture Vera in this mode. Players can try to capture it with amulets when its health is low enough, that is, in a weak state. If the capture fails, the battle must continue until the end. Compared with PVP battles, the open world mode provides a more relaxed and exploratory experience.
Valhalla's main utility token is FLOKI, and the main vision of this game is to increase the adoption rate of this token, transfer a large number of FLOKI tokens from circulation to the Valhalla ecosystem, and become the main currency of the Valhalla world. To start the game, players need to deposit a certain amount of FLOKI in their wallet, which can be purchased from other players or on the market.
As an NFT Metaverse game, Valhalla's PlayToEarn mechanism is based on on-chain game interactions and upgradeable NFTs. Genesis NFTs in Valhalla are the key to players' exclusive benefits in the virtual world. They include four types of NFTs: ruby, diamond, silver, and bronze, corresponding to different levels of advantages such as special discounts, early access, and other practical benefits. In addition to Genesis NFTs, each Vera can be converted into an NFT that can be sold on the market after it is owned.
Players can also cast items into their own NFTs in the game, from legendary weapons to rare consumables and other general decorations, which can be sold and bid on the market as NFTs. These NFT collections have potential value both inside and outside the game. If Valhalla can continue to attract players to settle in, they may become tangible assets that appreciate over time.
