Having an idol or a celebrity crush is essentially human. From simple adoration to collecting celebrity autographs, celebrity sports cards, and founding fan clubs, communities of fans fuel fandom culture movements.
Crypto is bringing a wind of change to classic interactions between fans and celebrities. This year, a YouTube millionaire Logan Paul invested $40 million in a sports card auction house and released millions of dollars worth of NFTs.
A Swiss-based company Olyseum is taking a step further in using crypto to create bonds between fans and their idols. The company shares the vision to create a social ecosystem that rewards fans for their loyalty and allows stars to be closer to their fan base.
For this reason, Olyseum has created the experiential NFT, which provides an extra layer of value that allows stars and fans to live experiences and monetize engagement, powering a celebrity-based economy.
In an exclusive interview with DailyCoin, Carlos Grenoir, CEO and co-founder of Olyseum, shared his thoughts on fan communities to better grasp the concept of the celebrity economy.
Engagement With the Idols
Olyseum was founded by neuroscientist Carlos Grenoir, famous hacker and cyber-security specialist Kevin Mitnick, and former FC Barcelona stars Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Iván de la Peña.
Grenoir shares that the initial idea of the platform was born while talking with FC Barcelona celebrities. They explained the complexities behind maintaining a good relationship with fans, which can be beneficial for both sides.
After distinguishing the problem, the team created a solution to help fans and celebrities have better experiences.
“We started thinking about a novel kind of social network, more collaborative and where the value is shared among the participants,” shares Grenoir.
Physical collectibles have been linked intrinsically to the world of fandom for decades. Diverse forms of memorabilia such as CDs, DVDs, cards, signed posters, and jerseys have generated enthusiasm among fans.
Olyseum wants to broaden this landscape, providing new types of celebrity-related collectibles that are novel, exciting, and meaningful for fans; personalized, physical, virtual, and tradeable.
By adding experience (represented as x) to NFT, Olyseum aims to go further than just being a simple NFT trading platform.
“Experiences can be in different formats like, for example, going into a match with Carles Puyol.
You can be playing a match on a famous video game, or you can be going physically to a match with them,” reveals Grenoir.
xNFTs include the right to have highly exclusive experiences with celebrities. The Olyseum team believes this is a game-changer because the right to approach celebrities will be tradeable, and the exclusivity will be distributed.
This redefines the world of fan engagement, which is purely a world of collecting passion, memories, and experiences.
Monetizing Engagement
As content creation and social engagement become an inseparable part of daily life for millions of fans and stars worldwide, Olyseum aims to become an ecosystem where everyday online activities are encouraged, valued, and rewarded.
The company works to create next-level fan engagement through monetization. Olyseum’s community can create, sell or lend xNFTs and experiences. Fans and stars are rewarded for their social participation through xNFTs.
Monetizing the engagement is incentivized for both fans and stars. On the platform, fans are rewarded for their dedication. Everyday fan activities, such as reading the sports news, watching videos, likes, shares, and social media interactions become sources of value generation.
Celebrities will also be motivated to participate in the Olyseum community as they can monetize their star power and elevate their brand, opening the door to unique promotional opportunities.
Using xNFTs, celebrities can sell in-person and virtual experiences for fans; content, such as illustrations, music tracks, movies or memorabilia; and rights to their reach. Aside from the sale of xNFTs and sponsorships, stars will also earn rewards from a percentage of the sale value every time an xNFT is resold.
The monetization process happens through OLY tokens. Just like fans fuel the celebrity economy, OLY tokens fuel the Olyseum platform. OLY tokens can be used to sell and purchase xNFTs, exclusive content, and to rent and borrow the rights to star-led experiences.
Everyone Can Be a Star in the Olyseum Metaverse.
As the company is currently onboarding celebrities to join this new crypto ecosystem, the question arises – who is considered a ‘star’ that can participate on the platform?
Grenoir reveals that they include not only household names but also local heroes that are not a typical celebrity as presented in the media:
“For example, now the doctor that is working to save lives or some philosopher for a lot of people are stars, but they are not covered stars, so we want to include them.
So regarding the selection process, it’s one by one, and where we see some interest for the audience, there will be a star here.” To empower new stars to come to the platform Olyseum has dedicated a section on their website where users can request a star:
“Now we have the stars, especially that we know and that our network wants to include there, but I mean we want to be open to all of these people that deserve some attention and some recognition,” says Grenoir.
Olyseum aims to be the bridge between crypto and the remaining world, providing a gateway for millions of global fans to enter the crypto sphere, with boundless potential for mass adoption.
On The Flipside
- Still, a lot of work needs to be done to include a critical mass of fans to create a foundational user base.
- The onboarding of celebrities is still at the initial phase.
- As with all metaverses, Olyseum will have to fight for the spotlight and its unique value proposition for users.
Why You Should Care?
- A new and creative approach to the relationship between fans and celebrities redefines the classical model.
- The opportunity to monetize fans’ and celebrities’ engagement is rewarding for both sides.
- Technology innovates social interactions, and NFT-based interactions could be a starting point for new ways for society to function.
You can watch the full interview here:
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