We've all lived through some WILD tech upgrades, from moon missions to electric cars, wall phones to the Internet, computers in every pocket, streaming music to rotatable goalie pads, many of which we barely even notice anymore.
ONE SMALL COMPONENT - DIGITAL AD TECH
As an 'ad guy' who's worked in digital media for over 20 years, I was recently watching an NHL game, where that 'do we notice the tech' thought hit me again. Those rink-board ads you see on TV? Most of them aren’t what you see if you're a fan at the game. They’re digital overlays, beamed into your living room by targeted ads based on YOUR physical location, but totally invisible to fans in the arena.
Just a handful of years ago, that would’ve sounded like media sorcery. These days? Meh. We just crack another cold one & keep watching, barely paying a moment's notice.
The Ad Tech behind the scenes though, is real, and very complex...but do you care?
How about your phone? That unassuming rectangle pretty much knows exactly where you are at any moment. It's always listening to you, waiting for a quick ask to your digital servant (Siri, Alexa, Grok...pick your preferred digital butler).
You stroll past a digital billboard or sit at a bus stop with a digital ad sign, and boom - it can serve you an ad targeted specifically to that block, that street, that store behind you...or from the store you visited online an hour ago.
Twenty years ago we were thrilled if our flip phones had Snake. MINORITY REPORT seemed so far fetched it was as believable as a human Mars colony from Total Recall.
Today, that device in your pocket can practically read your mind with algorithms designed to keep you locked in, endlessly doom scrolling looking for the next laugh, while racking up BILLIONS of digital hours per users every single day.
George Orwell would be so impressed...
WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS?
The point: digital tech sneaks into our lives quietly, but becomes normal shockingly fast.
We barely blink.
So why, in a world where we accept invisible rink ads and hyper-targeted outdoor screens as normalized, do some people still insist digital collectibles could “never” be mainstream when digital wraps around almost everything we do?
Spoiler: They Already Are.
The VeVe platform has now sold over EIGHT MILLION digital, own-able (NFT) collectibles that can be enjoyed in 3D readable formats, augmented reality and resale should you choose. And that’s just one app - click this text link to read about many more!. Digital collectors are grabbing first appearances, key / historical / low mint numbers, and completing digital sets with the same energy (and occasional wallet pain) as physical collecting.
As another pair of fun examples, keep an eye on NHL BREAKAWAY & MLB NFTs on CANDY
Your digital collectibles can now include key video moments contained right in the asset of which you are just one of a small handful of owners, completely verified by DIGITAL LEDGER.
Once again, you certainly don't need to understand how the digital technology behind the asset works, just that...it does, and now provides an incredibly fun & exciting way to collect & own nostalgia important to you.
1989 LAPTOP PRICE
Some of you chaps, like me, are old enough to remember wanting one of these when they came out, as we could forsee their impact on our work lives t held. Others of course, FUDDED THE HELL OUTTA 'EM, yelling & ranting that they'd never go anywhere, as some said of iPhones or digital marketplaces like Amazon.
Yet again, you didn't need to know how to put one together, just that owning one meant something. And to whoever held onto their original iPhones without opening the box...
No, digital won’t replace physical.
Your slabs, long boxes, signatures, and grails are safe. What digital will do, IS DOING, is sit alongside them - as another format, another frontier, another technological advanced way to collect what you love, but now, in digital form.
Tech keeps evolving. Collecting does too. I've seen some incredible advancements in advertising technology that help businesses reduce waste, increase efficiency and help more customers align their needs & interests to those that can help fill those items.
IMHO, we're about to see an incredible explosion in the collectibles space that pairs digital technology with nostalgia, passion with show rooming & flexing the likes of which most never saw coming. Exciting times await!
Thanks for Reading!
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