What is future of Phygital?
The word ‘phygital’ is a marketing term used to describe the blending of physical and digital experiences, with the word itself a combining of the two words ‘physical’ and ‘digital’. Chairman-CEO at Momentum Worldwide, Chris Weil, coined the term in 2007. The term was primarily used to describe the digital experiences that enhance physical experiences for consumer shopping.
The idea of a phygital experience can sound complex, but it is actually something many of us experience every day. To clarify, an example of is a customer ordering an item on their phone (digitally) to pick up in store (physically). Therefore, if you have ever ordered a meal on your phone or through a touch-screen kiosk, used online shopping, or scanned a QR code to find out more information about a product, then you have had a phygital experience.
Phygital shopping experience (Credit: The Fitting Room)
Up to now, phygital experiences have traditionally been created by adding a digital item to an existing physical product. However, with the meteoric growth of NFTs and Digital Assets, many more of us are buying digital products that have no physical component. Now, there is a growing trend of NFT brands bringing a physical aspect to their digital product. Enter the world of phygital NFTs.
Firstly, let’s recap what NFTs are. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital items that contain identifying information in the smart contract. It is the identifying information that makes each NFT complete unique, and not able to be swapped like-for-like (hence, non-fungible). NFTs have many uses, from a way to prove ownership, to in-game uses, or simply as a way of owning authenticated artwork. So, the key message here, is that NFTs are digital. Therefore, if you own NFT artwork, you own a digital piece of artwork, not physical.
So what are phygital NFTs? Put simply, phygital NFTs are a way for us to combine our physical world with our digital assets. From AR technology to display our NFT artwork IRL, to physical products redeemable via burning our NFTs, there is a whole range of uses for this technology. Phygital NFT is simply a term to cover an experience, product, or service, that is either represented by or linked to an NFT.
With so many ways to create a phygital NFT experience there are many examples to choose from. Therefore, we have broken this into different categories to showcase the uses of phygital NFTs.
Blockbar offers phygital NFTs with corresponding physical bottles. (Credit: Blockbar)
“The Whisky Barrel” , Scotland’s revered online whisky platform, launched a single barrel scotch whisky paired with its own Digital Provenance Certificate (NFT). While applying blockchain technology a single cask of peated Scotch, collectors can mitigate the risk of purchasing counterfeit whisky. Each of the bottles features a QR code tied to its corresponding Digital Provenance Certificate. This token provides digital proof of ownership and the provenance of each bottle.
QR code associated with Bottle #001 Digital Provenance Certificate
Metagolden’s “Ethereum Expedition.”
Italian fashion brand Diesel dropped their “phygital” NFT wearable in a collection titled D: Verse. The NFTs allow holders to access the Diesel NFT Community. Thus, they get the possibility to experience first-hand the next Fashion Show thanks to invitations or VIP access. Additionally, holders have limited edition garments and metaverse-ready wearables.
D:FUR by DIESEL (Credit: Rarible)
Givenchy and (b).STROY phygital NFT capsule collection
NFT artist FVCKRENDER teamed up with the creative marketplace Avant Arte to release two phygital sculptures. The sculptures – FEEL// and TOUCHED// – are physical artworks with accompanying NFTs.
The FVCKRENDER physical sculptures in collaboration with Avant Arte.
Damien Hirst burning his remaining artworks from his NFT experiment.
PBT, or physically-backed-token, is slightly different to phygital. Compared to typical phygital offerings, the key difference here is that the former usually separates the physical and digital items after minting. With PBT, users can own physical assets to unlock digital benefits and experiences.
Azuki’s Golden Skateboards are embedded with a PBT-based BEAN Chip, a cryptographic chip that connects the physical item to its digital token.
The interaction of our digital and physical worlds continues to grow, and phygital NFT uses grow with it. We can expect to see phygital technology growing due to the unmatchable benefits it offers. For example, one of the main arguments for NFTs is their authenticity. Whilst we can copy and counterfeit physical items, digital assets are authenticated on the blockchain. It is this that drives their scarcity and value. With phygital NFT tech, we can apply this scarcity to real-world objects. Imagine purchasing an antique and having a complete NFT ledger of every previous owner, along with the exact dates and prices that it was bought and sold. NFTs can build trust between buyers and collectors of scarce goods due to the tamper-proof smart contracts.
Finally, phygital NFTs exist to enhance our IRL experiences. For example, NFT ticketing provides exclusive access to IRL events. Further, token-gated clothing showcases that you are part of a certain digital community. So, whether you are looking to flex your digital assets in a physical way or authenticate your physical product on the blockchain, phygital NFTs are the answer. As the adoption of NFTs as a legitimate form of business grows, so will the want for phygital NFTs.
