Hotel JEN jumps on NFT hype with regional giveaway of Bruce Lee art via Instagram

Hotel chain JEN by Shangri-La has jumped on the growing hype of NFTs (also known as non-fungible tokens) and unveiled a giveaway of a NFT art piece featuring Bruce Lee. In an Instagram post, the brand encouraged consumers to participate in the giveaway by tagging a friend and following its Instagram page. The giveaway spans across eight cities where JEN has a presence in, namely Singapore, Johor, Penang, Hong Kong, Manila, Beijing, Shenyang, and Maldives, and ends on 15 April.

NFTs are tradable assets that are neither replaceable nor divisible. In comparison, a fungible asset is something with units that can be readily interchanged, such as money, CEO of Aqilliz Gowthaman Ragothaman told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE previously. For example, two US$5 notes carry the same value as one US$10. While NFTs can be traded just like any other asset class, every single token is unique, rare, and indivisible.

The social media post is accompanied with a caption that said Lee embodied the "New Asia"⁣ spirit with how he continually challenged stereotyping perceptions of Asian cultures and martial arts. Quoting Lee's famous line: "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own," JEN said Lee reminds everyone to be remain grateful for what they have while always pushing forward for more. JEN's Instagram post has since garnered 295 likes in less than 24 hours.

The post was done in collaboration with social media agency 8traordinary. In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Jeffrey Lim, founder and managing director, said: "NFTs have opened up new possibilities and opportunities for artists, brands and those who are in the creative industry. It is transforming how the world contributes and values art. I believe NFTs are here to stay and am excited to kickstart this ever-evolving journey with JEN, a trendsetter in Asia."

JEN's giveaway comes as NFTs have been gaining traction online lately, despite the NFTs surfacing in late 2017, according to research by NonFungible.com and L’Atelier. The cryptocurrency saw well-known personalities such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and American rock band Kings of Leon getting involved in it as well. Dorsey, for instance, tweeted a link to a platform named Valuables, putting his 21 March 2006 tweet up for bid.

There are also other examples of NFTs coming to play, such as the Nyan Cat meme creator selling an NFT for an equivalent of close to US$600,000 in February; artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, selling a digital image at British auction house Christie's for US$69.3 million; and TikTok skater Nathan Apodaca selling a viral video of his as an NFT for at least US$500,000. According to the Wall Street Journal, the first NFTs surfaced in late 2017.

NFTs are not just limited to the arts and entertainment scene. On the FMCG front, P&G's toilet paper brand Charmin also released its own NFT comprising three original pieces of digital toilet paper art. The company named it NFT(P).

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