The creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have exploited their permissive commercialization rights to incorporate their Ethereum NFT graphics into a variety of products, including toys, clothing, restaurants, and alcohol packaging. However, special edition M&Ms now allow you to consume a few Bored Apes.
Today, the candy company Mars revealed that it has reached an agreement with the10:22PM of Universal Music Group (UMG) to produce limited-edition M&Ms based on Kingship, a virtual band made up of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club avatars.
Jane Hwang, vice president of Mars Wrigley Global, stated,
“Consumers’ expectations for what they want from their favorite brands [have] shifted, and at Mars, we know we need to be more innovative than ever with such a culturally famous brand like M&M’s.”
Jimmy “j1mmy” McNelis, an investor and businessman, founded the “metaverse band” known as Kingship using NFTs. This information was made public last November.
Following the example of the well-known virtual band Gorillaz, the label 10:22PM has developed characters based on the Bored Ape paintings and is writing unique music for the group, which will perform concerts in metaverse realms.
The band has also made available its own NFT “key cards” that grant owners exclusive privileges and access. Owners of NFT devices were granted priority access to the confectionery M&M’s.
As part of the agreement, Mars has produced branded M&M’s chocolate candies in restricted quantities that bear artwork of the Bored Apes and Kingship insignia. Just 10,000 of the candies in gift boxes and gift jars will be sold overall by Mars.
Partnership does not involve Yuga Labs NFT brand
The most well-liked project in the area is perhaps The Bored Ape Yacht Club. According to data from CryptoSlam, the NFT collection of Yuga Labs has produced almost $2.4 billion in secondary trading volume to date. Bored Ape-related NFTs have so far generated more than $5.6 billion in secondary trading when combined with follow-up and spin-off projects.
To be clear, neither Yuga Labs nor the genuine Bored Ape Yacht Club brand are partners in this M&M’s transaction. Instead, Bored Ape NFT owners can utilise their own photographs to make items and projects and, if they so choose, can licence that artwork to brands.
One such licence agreement is the Kingship agreement with UMG’s 10:22PM label, and this new Mars connection adds another layer to it. Additionally, photos of the bored ape have been used on the packaging of alcohol, marijuana, apparel, souvenirs, and more.
Bored Apes have also generated a lot of buzz in the music industry. Along with Kingship, popular producer and musician Timbaland has also created music centered upon his own Bored Ape alter ego. They further established a record label to encourage other musicians to follow suit.
Snoop Dogg is launching a dessert shop that is styled after one of his apes. The God of Rap, Eminem along with Snoop Dogg has also recorded a music video together that features their apes.