Bored Ape NFT images are now printed on M&M’s chocolate candies thanks to a licencing agreement between Mars and music label UMG.
In a nutshell, Mars is releasing limited-edition M&M’s candy with Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT imagery.
Mars struck a deal with Universal Music Group’s 10:22PM label, which licenced the Ape NFT images from a prominent collector.
The owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club have used their permissive commercialization rights to turn their Ethereum NFT imagery into everything from clothing to toys, alcohol packaging, and restaurants. But now you can eat a few Bored Apes in the form of limited-edition M&M’s.
Mars today announced a collaboration with Universal Music Group (UMG) label 10:22PM to create limited edition M&M’s based on Kingship, its virtual band comprised of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club avatars.
“Consumers’ expectations for what they want from their favourite brands have shifted,” said Mars Wrigley Global Vice President Jane Hwang in a statement.
Last November, Kingship was revealed as a “metaverse band” made up of NFTs owned by investor and entrepreneur Jimmy “j1mmy” McNelis. Following the model set by popular virtual band Gorillaz, the label 10:22PM has created personalities based on the Bored Ape illustrations and is developing original music for the group, which will perform concerts in metaverse worlds.
“Rider” – #KINGSHIPxMMS pic.twitter.com/dw0Igoo1Py
— KINGSHIP (@therealkingship) August 24, 2022
The band has also released its own NFT “key cards” that provide holders with exclusive benefits and access. NFT owners were given first access to the M&M’s candy.
Mars has released limited quantities of branded M&M’s chocolate candies with images of the Bored Apes and Kingship iconography as part of the agreement. Mars will sell a total of 10,000 packages of the candies in gift boxes and gift jars.
Decrypt reached out to UMG representatives for more information on the terms of the agreement and how the collaboration came about, but we did not receive a response right away.
An NFT is a blockchain token that functions as a deed of ownership for a virtual item, such as profile pictures, artwork, or collectibles. Brands have increasingly entered the NFT market through collaborations or their own digital collectible drops as the market has grown in size, reaching $25 billion in trading volume in 2021 alone.
The most popular project in the space is arguably the Bored Ape Yacht Club. According to CryptoSlam data, Yuga Labs’ NFT collection has generated nearly $2.4 billion in secondary trading volume to date. To date, Bored Ape-related NFTs have generated more than $5.6 billion in secondary trading when combined with follow-up and spin-off projects.
To be clear, this M&M’s partnership is not with Yuga Labs or the Bored Ape Yacht Club brand. Instead, Bored Ape NFT holders can use their own images to create products and projects, as well as licence that artwork to brands.
The Kingship deal with UMG’s 10:22PM label is an example of a licencing agreement, and the new Mars alliance adds another layer to it. Images of bored apes have also been used in fast food restaurants, marijuana and alcohol packaging, clothing, collectibles, and other products.
