Blue Diamond Almonds is a 100-year-old collective of almond growers defined by its legacy of quality. They were facing new competition in the non-dairy milk categories from brands unafraid to embrace a more provocative tone. With their most sought-after target – millennials – top of mind, we set about giving Almond Breeze a more modern, authentic voice in the social space. An NFT project began to make sense when we found an authentic role for the brand in the metaverse space.

As far as cultural themes in the metaverse go, you don’t get more prevalent than apes. Bored Apes. Cyber Apes. Galactic Apes. They’re everywhere. While there’s no shortage of ape-themed NFTs, there hasn’t been art created specifically for the apes themselves. To fuel the apes of the metaverse, Almond Breeze set out to bring its most buzzed-about flavor, closer to its virtual fans. Almond Breeze launched APEFUEL, a collection of 1000 NFTs based on the metaverse’s most popular ape projects and Almond Breeze Banana. Getting one was as simple as minting it yourself, for free. Three super rare NFTs came with a year’s supply of the product and a portion of proceeds from all aftermarket sales are donated to organizations supporting the next generation of almond growers, building equity in the brand’s quest to become the “Official Drink of the Metaverse”.

When it comes to social fandoms, this little almond milk brand has a big one. Already sitting on the throne of the most loved milk brand on TikTok, Almond Breeze set out to chart a new territory as the most loved milk brand in the metaverse. Fueled by the existing fanbase, this NFT project was designed to reach a new segment of millennial plant based milk drinkers by entering into their online world and contributing to the culture they love.

Pre-Launch: The warm up

Almond Breeze started teasing their entrance into the metaverse creating intrigue around what’s to come. An APEFUEL landing page went live alongside a teaser video to encourage people to join the waitlist to be the first to mint. Before launch, the waitlist was full with over 500 people ready to mint their APEFUEL NFT.

Launch: NFT Drop

Waitlist members had first access to mint. Then minting was open to the public and all 1,000 NFTs were claimed in days. Community management efforts on Twitter helped users through the process. Press rolled in with publications like Hypebeast, popular NFT blogs and Adweek generating buzz throughout the community.

Post-Launch: Hype up owners

When owners secured their NFTs, Almond Breeze hyped them up by retweeting their humble brags and building upon the chatter, generating over 38K engagements. After-market sales generated thousands of dollars in transactions.

APEFUEL not only launched Almond Breeze to the metaverse, but generated over $1.2M in value across earned media and earned social. During the activation, Almond Breeze saw a 234% increase in mentions on social media breaking the brand’s benchmark on Twitter by 2.5X with an 8.8% organic engagement rate. APEFUEL NFT owners are actively building a community around their ownership and continuing to auction their artwork for profit. After market transactions have generated thousands of dollars with a portion being donated to organizations supporting the next generation of almond growers.