SNEAK PEEK
- Celebrating National Onion Day, Outback Steakhouse dropped limited edition NFTs.
- The Bloomin’ Bud NFTs could be redeemed for free food.
- Bloomin’ Brands will evaluate what worked and what didn’t before the next NFT campaign.
Baby onions look lovely with tiny buds and big, gleaming eyes. Teenage onions have additional personality and props with their stems tousled in various hairstyles. Grownup onions are completely bloomed, with deep-fried petals.
This defines the life cycle of a Bloomin’ Bud, Outback Steakhouse’s first series of NFTs. Outback is the flagship brand of Tampa’s Bloomin’ Brands restaurant group and gave away 8,000 plus free digital pictures on June 23 in one among the many first main shifts in metaverse advertising of the company.
On June 27th, i.e. National Onion Day, also the day when the onion bloomed, customers redeem the NFTs for a free Bloomin’ Onion and two Dr. Peppers.
🚨💧 #NFT DROP ALERT! 💧🚨
— Outback Steakhouse (@Outback) June 23, 2022
We’ve dropped limited edition #OutbackSteakhouse NFT’s to celebrate #NationalOnionDay. Mint now and get a FREE Bloomin’ Onion and 2 FREE @drpepper drinks on National Onion Day, Mon 6/27.
Free Mint ➡️ https://t.co/OQXo4JFkr0
*restrictions apply pic.twitter.com/somjCGm7e5
The NFTs were over in only 20 minutes.
Danielle Vona, Bloomin’ Brands chief marketing officer, said that neither promotions nor discounts or offers were the purpose. Rather it was about engaging the young, college sports fans and sports-based audiences in the platform.
In response to early indicators, the Bloomin’ Bud experiment has been a hit for the company and would expand through paid collaborations with college athletes.
William Luther, an associate professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University said that Outback’s approach of thinking how to use NFTs is quite standard. He further said:
The primary benefit to them is the publicity or the advertising value that comes with launching this NFT.
When Outback developed the campaign in March, both the NFT and cryptocurrency world were hit by unfortunate negative headlines. Considering the same, Vona said that they never felt they were entering into a space that would be a cause of concern for the company or brand. They were observing both the spaces and were prepared to make any changes if required.
Upon minting, NFTs can manage their own lifetime. Though Outback gave everyone a free NFT, owners were required to pay the transaction or gas fees in order to trade or sell them on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
According to OpenSea’s logs, Outback’s NFTs trades valued for $20, $30, $50 in ether. On June 25, one Bloomin’ Bud featuring laser eyes and rainbow waves was sold for more than $430, according to the value of ether to US dollars at that time.
