The executive’s embrace of PFPs and NFT purchase marks a new era for the younger generation of the family behind LVMH. Arnault also retweeted a 10 December Tiffany account tweet, promoting a set of 501 unique NFTs by Urs Fischer reinterpreting Tiffany’s famous Jean Schlumberger brooch “Bird on a Rock”. The Swiss contemporary artist created a 3D sculpture called Chaos#101, representing the brand’s iconic brooch colliding with an orange habanero pepper. Tiffany then purchased the NFT, the brand confirmed. It sold for $182,000 on the Makersplace platform.
“The fact that Bernard Arnault pronounced the word metaverse and NFT is encouraging for our industry,” says Pierre Nicolas Hurstel, CEO and co-founder at Arianee, the French blockchain specialist. “And Alexandre Arnault changing his profile picture is probably also a good signal,” Hurstel adds.
Chairman Bernard Arnault likened the metaverse to the early 2000s internet boom during the LVMH annual earnings call last week. “Let’s be wary of bubble effects,” he said, adding, “It is not our objective to sell virtual sneakers at €10.”
The purchase of an NFT profile picture is often used as an avatar on social media to signify they are part of the NFT community. Jay-Z is among other famous NFT owners. Cryptopunks and Bored Apes are among the most popular, with Rtfkt’s Clone X avatars gaining traction, according to Hurstel. “The floor price of these avatars [the lowest price you can spend to acquire the NFT] is several hundreds of thousands dollars,” he notes.
“The graphic design touch that’s pixelated and playful contributes to the popularity of this PFP,” says Jean-Philippe Braud, co-founder of Stage 11, a startup that specialises in music for the metaverse.
Alexandre, the third of five children of Bernard Arnault, was previously CEO of LVMH-owned Rimowa. At Rimowa, he created a vocal marketing strategy based on artistic collaborations. At Tiffany, one of his first moves was to tap Jay-Z and Beyoncé for a campaign, which Arnault praised during the earnings call.
“I believe that, if Tiffany was still listed, it would be worth maybe twice as much…We are very confident in the evolution of Tiffany,” he said.
LVMH is a founding member of the non-profit Aura Blockchain Consortium, together with Prada and Richemont, which is designed to trace products with a digital identity based on a NFT. Last November, Givenchy launched 15 NFTs that can be used as profile pictures, created by creative director Matthew Williams in collaboration with graphic artist Chito.
And in January, LVMH announced Nelly Mensah has joined as VP of digital innovation and emerging solutions, a new position. The role is based in New York and reports to Anish Melwani, chairman and CEO of LVMH North America. Mensah’s Linkedin profile is more explicit: “VP of digital innovation at LVMH, global head of crypto and metaverse, Web3, gaming, NFT.”
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