Rawlings
Primus NFT
Launching a 137 year old company into the Web3 world.
date. 2022
client. Rawlings
the story.
Dream Syndicate took Rawlings collectible baseball gloves to the next level with this first-of-its-kind NFT drop. Rawlings Sporting Goods, who manufacture the official baseball glove of major league baseball, wanted to future-proof their business by expanding into the emerging market known as “The Metaverse”. But, they needed help navigating the complex landscape of modern technologies, platforms, and marketplaces to identify a suitable entry point. So, we got to work probing any and all possible avenues for Rawlings to grow their physical product-based brand in this new digital-only space. We developed strategies for utilizing Augmented Reality in pre and post-sale consumer engagement, growing brand recognition through activations in networked socialized gaming platforms, and opening up a brand new avenue of brand engagement and sales through the Web3 space – which was ultimately the best fit for Rawlings’ goals. Thus was born the Rawlings PRIMUS NFT collection – a limited edition series of 461 NFTs tied to real-life baseball gloves – featuring four tiers of rarity, individually stamped models, and one-of-a-kind designs for both the NFTs and physical glove collectibles. The ultra-rare, limited edition physical gloves were designed and manufactured exclusively for this NFT drop, and will never be made again.
The NFTs, and corresponding physical collectible gloves, were produced in four distinct tiers of rarity: Pro (300 editions), Gold (150 editions), Platinum (10 editions), and The Lindor, a one-of-one NFT and glove designed and signed by NY Mets’ Francisco Lindor. Each NFT is custom numbered to match its physical counterpart for a truly one-of-a-kind digital collectible.
I took Dream Syndicate's idea and built out the campaign strategy, identifying and outlining the necessary promotional assets, creating and managing the promotional calendar, developing targeted messaging for social media platforms, banner ads, press releases, email blasts, contest and giveaway announcements, and much more. The Dream Syndicate team developed all of the digital assets: teaser videos, pre-reveal NFT graphics, glove photography, and a social media asset kit.
I was also responsible for building and managing the Rawlings Discord server. Discord is the primary method of communication for brands in the web3 space, responsible for; driving community engagement, project updates, allowlist management, and custom swag giveaways. Our team leveraged social media promotions and contests via Discord to build excitement and engage with Rawlings fans throughout the lead-up to, and immediately following the NFT drop. Members of the Discord were able to purchase their PRIMUS NFT before the public launch as part of the pre-sale ‘allowlist’ release.
