Blockchain, Tokens, NFTs, Oh my!
Tingtech solves a current problem for media partners boosting fan engagement both online and offline and also owning the customer relationship. Tingtech engages consumers via remote home engagement (TV and / or social media) and through live events by broadcasting rewards to incentivize consumer engagement while producing high quality customer data.
Media Partners in movies, professional sports and industry receive real time direct feedback on consumer engagement and verifiable data on customer preferences, habits, and purchasing providing stronger feedback loops while fans earn rewards creating a community both online and offline and TingTech can then monetize future demand creating a direct line from consumers to business.
Given the recent surge in sales of Beeple’s digital art and NBA Top Shot Moments, TT has been approached by conventional partners to help them understand how the Ting app can be used as a platform for delivery, exchange or rewards tied to NFT's that represent monetized media content they already have or would normally produce. Hence TT creates an even faster direct line from consumers to businesses in a “tokenized” world as a new world is unveiling before everyone’s eyes with TT as a mechanism to create additional hidden revenue streams for their partners.
Conversation with TingTech’s Co-Founder and CEO, Jim Mohen
AV: With the success of NBA Top Shots,Beeple, Kings of Leon and yes even Taco Bell using NFTs, how can TT use the app to monetize media content and how is the growth of NFTs going to lead to consumer funded businesses in the future?
JM: We’re really excited at Ting by the enormous positive change taking place in the world of fan engagement. NFT’s are playing a major role onboarding mainstream users into the world of crypto while solving a problem regarding the evolution of fan engagement. Crypto and blockchain offer enormous benefits but can be daunting for an average user to understand.
NFT’s offer a simple way thru web 3.0 services like digital wallets for users to earn, buy, sell and trade digital goods like artwork or collectibles through anonline marketplaces like Open Seas and Nifty Gateway. NBA Hot Shots takes simplicity a step further by allowing users to purchase NFT’s of their favoriteplayersthru traditional bank debit or credit cards. NFT collectibles purchased are stored on blockchain digital wallets with no need for the user to know or care a blockchain is involved.The technology has frenzy like following in just a few months because fan engagement is a serious challenge for many sports platforms with younger fans often not interested in sitting in front of the TV or streaming service for 3 or 4 hours to watch a game, and many fans displaced during Covid.
At TT, we use digital wallets interacting with our Fan Zone loyalty programs to connect directly with fans either remotely or at live events. Our platform supports NFT’s capable of holdinganything from digital bobbleheads to special moments at the event with your friends. The Ting app helps large platformsevolve in the way they interact with fans by engaging with them directly real time through their phone with innovative experiences. Some examples include creating Fan Zones with highly targeted engagement related to specific teams, players, and moments relevant to the audience. Rewards for engagement and giveaways can be provided through NFT tokens which continue to interact with fans throughout the season. One example would be an NFT as a digital ticket that also can also collect rewards, capture special moments, or unlock unique experienceswith your favorite player. NFT’s and our Fan Zone technology offer a new and supercharged way to reach fans on the fans terms.
AV: As live events were cancelled in 2020 from the pandemic, TT quickly pivoted to strengthen their media partners quest to boost fan engagement even further via streaming and social media which led to the “influencer” community? How did this real inflection point expand TT’s customer base and also help the conventional media partner reach a different audience i.e., the “influencer” community and the opportunity for cross rewards promotions?
JM: The influencer community has evolved into a powerhouse the past few years with the likes of Tik Tok,and with individual athletes and performersturning into social media pros. TT sees influencers as peers to major sports and entertainment platforms in the immediate future.
Consider a board room with the top fortune 500 CEO’s, the head of the NFL, NBA, and MLB and a 16-year-old Tik Tok star. The powerhouse in the room is the 16 year old Tik Tok star,with well over 100mm followers compared to say the Dallas Cowboys or General Motors with only a small fraction of that amount.As an influencer, Rob Gronkowski from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just released his own NFT’s on Open Seas and it was a huge success. The NFL was not involved in any way and it clearly conveyed the power of the individual athlete. This trend of influencers reaching fans directly will continue to explode in 2021 and beyond.
TT is 100% based on using blockchain smart contracts delivered thru mobile app interfaces to reach fans of large platforms and influencers directly.We turbo charge things with our unique ability to use blockchain plussound to transmit from any device in order to reach large or small audiences.
We’re excited about a fantastic concept for beta testing our app on the audio app Clubhouse. We love the app but it can be frustrating to interact with audiences in listen only mode. TT can deliver audio-basedinteraction thru sound tied to our blockchain as a perfect complement for an audio only app. In the beta, TT will allow moderators to generate dynamic polls to the “audience in the room” and run lotteries for giveaways like NFT’s or a bucket of Satoshi’s.We’ll be doing something that never been done before on one of the hottest new social media apps and integrating NFT’s with digital wallets.
AV: TingTech’s core IP is the system to broadcast value via sound to incentivize direct consumer engagement and this can be used to send tokens to someone watching the latest Disney film, watching a NFL game, etc. What are other IP adjacencies outside of the media space (mention also state lotteries)
JM: The space is only limited by all of our collective imaginations. Many of the biggest use case winners have probably not been dreamed up yet.Mark Cuban recently commented on adding blockchain technology to energize & monetize the Dallas Mavericks fan base: “We can sell virtual gear, sneakers, art, pictures, videos, experiences, anything our imagination can come up with we can sell.”
TT has been surprised by the wide range of proposed use cases, but essentially they all come down to uniting your follower base. One example I never considered was for religious purposes. We talked with a religious group consisting of more than 30,000 independent churches that effectively operateas independent franchises. Separately they are relatively small congregations but united they represent the purchasing power and influence of many millions of people. That power and influence can generate sponsorships, crowd funding, cross marketing promotions and new alliances that would never be possible as a single independent organization. TT and blockchain can help unite that base by engaging across the entire congregation and channeling that power as a united blockchain powered platform.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, we are working on a specific application for cannabis market that leverages all the great features of blockchain to solve many of the most pressing issues in the Cannabis industry. It’s really the same issue facing thereligious congregations in terms of uniting participants in the industry. Blockchain adds the additional benefits of full transparency for regulators, cashless payments to avoid federal banking restrictions, and provenance of products shipped from “seed to sale.” TT can offer a key role in uniting this based and facilitating an open market that rewards customers.