‘NFTs’ have gained popularity in the last few years in the realm of blockchain technology. An acronym for non-fungible tokens, NFTs are unique digital assets which can be bought and sold in the crypto market. It uses blockchain technology to create a unique, original and scarce digital asset that has a digital certificate of ownership.

The ‘non-fungibility’ of an NFT can be attributed to its uniqueness and non-interchangeability. Let us take an example to understand the concept of ‘fungibility’ better. Suppose X has bought a gold ring worth INR 50,000. Now, this ring can be exchanged with another ring of the same type and design, and X would be okay with it. Therefore, this golden ring is fungible. On the other hand, if X has a ring which is a family heirloom passed down to him, the emotional value attached to the ring makes it irreplaceable. Therefore, even though someone offers to give X the amount of money that ring is worth, X would not agree to give away that ring. The family heirloom is unique and irreplaceable, hence, non-fungible. The same concept is applicable to unique digital assets in the case of NFTs.

Generally, NFTs are created in image format to represent digital artwork. However, tweets, MP3 files, MP4 files or any other type of digital file can also be made into an NFT. Cryptopunks and cryptokitties are some of the earliest NFTs sold in the crypto market. Some other examples of famous NFTs are-

• The first tweet of Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, “just setting up my twttr” was sold as an NFT for 2.9 million USD.

• Beeple’s legendary digital artwork, “Everydays- The First 5000 Days” was sold as an NFT for 69 million USD.

• An animation named Nyan Cat was sold for 590,000 USD.

• The NBA too has sold its top shots as NFTs for thousands of dollars.

NFTs are valuable because of their uniqueness and digitally certifiable ownership. Blockchain technology provides a unique signature that cannot be altered, which provides a fast and secure way to prove ownership.

Although NFTs have been in the market since 2017, the last couple of years have witnessed a tremendous surge in their trade. Taking into account their popularity and uniqueness, many businesses are investing in NFTs and using them as a tool to attract customers. NFTs also have potential in the online marketing space. However, such potential has not been properly explored yet. NFTs can be potentially utilized for digital marketing. As discussed above, any digital asset can be created into an NFT. A corporate entity can buy its own unique digital character as an NFT. The digital character can be considered as the digital extension of the entity in the metaverse. It can be used to increase the popularity of the company, thereby increasing the brand value. However, a simple digital character without any animation features will not have a substantial impact on the minds of the customers. This is where the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) comes into the picture. With the help of AI, it is possible to develop NFTs with a unique voice and other human-like features.

Let us understand how the integration of AI and NFTs can do wonders in the digital marketing space. Suppose a company buys a unique digital character as an NFT. This digital character can act as a brand avatar of the company. With the help of ML, the NFT can be made to speak in different languages by simply inserting a sample voice and plain text. This would enable the company to promote its business across all digital platforms using the NFT as its avatar which can communicate with its customers. AI makes the NFT ‘intelligent’ and enables it to engage with customers. AI can also be used to send personalized emails and messages containing the ‘talking’ digital avatar NFT to its customers. The uniqueness of an NFT, coupled with the feature of smart communication, makes it an intriguing tool for digital marketing and brand awareness.

NFTs and AI open up a whole new stream for companies in terms of customer engagement. The ongoing hype about NFTs and their uniqueness can be effectively utilized by companies to their benefit, especially in the realm of digital marketing. The question is, how do companies harness this potential? This is where vidBoard.ai comes into the picture. It is a generative AI platform that creates videos with photorealistic digital humans, at scale through the power of ML. The user is simply required to choose a background and an avatar, insert plain text, and with a click of a button, the AI technology converts the text into a high-quality video. The end-to-end video is fully transcribed and can be translated into more than 40 languages from around the world. You can also enhance your videos by adding slides, choosing templates, adding text, inserting video and image assets, including music, and animate the elements to bring your video to life. The generated video can then be exported for the purpose of online marketing. vidBoard.ai envisions bringing NFTs to life through voice and lip-syncing. A few years down the line, all you will be required to do is insert the NFT and your voice sample into the platform, type in the script, and the deep tech platform will convert it into a real-life NFT which speaks exactly like you! This makes vidBoard.ai the gateway to the integration of NFTs and ML.