[Feature] Siam Square Mookata's NFT launch- what's in it for customers?

Many of us may know Siam Square Mookata for its great food- some of us might even list it as one of our go-to places after a night out.

But did you know that it has also released its very own NFT collection? A play on the word “Mookata”, the collection is aptly named The Moopians. This digital collection is the franchise’s first foray into the metaverse.

Where do Moopians come from?

The Moopians are utility-focused NFTs that represent membership in Siam Square Mookata. Taking a break from the traditional loyalty card, owning a Moopian will entitle you to free food and special discounts when in any one of their participating outlets.

The idea itself came from wanting to create a viable alternative when exploring membership systems. Tsering Ng, brand strategist for Siam Square Mookata, wanted to find a new way to deliver value to her customers.

“We have always been known as a brand that appealed to young people, and we wanted to not only capitalise, but also continue building that brand identity. I felt that NFTs in the F&B space were really something that could be better utilised, and since NFTs were mainly traded by young people as well.” said Tsering Ng, brand strategist for Siam Square Mookata

These little chibi characters are entirely randomly generated, and possess traits of different rarities. Customers who spend more than $30 in one receipt will receive one Moopian for each multiple of $30 they spent.

Siam Square Mookata previously partnered with gaming company Moonton for their flagship game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and currently sponsors the e-sports team, Stellark Singapore.

“We really wanted a way to reward our regular customers, and we heard of other NFT projects with high entry costs for anyone interested in joining the club- and we really wanted to steer clear of that,” said Keith Lee, founder of Siam Square Mookata, “that’s why we designed the NFTs to be free for our customers. We wanted an NFT-based membership ecosystem, where customers are not just people who utilise NFTs for benefits, but also members who care about the ecosystem. ”

As such, the NFT project has none of the financial hype often associated with other projects, and instead focuses on the utility that the NFT itself can bring.

The NFT project was launched yesterday on Siam Square Mookata’s 10th anniversary, marking the project’s second phase. The NFTs are now available at all of the franchise’s participating outlets.

With the next phase in the project’s roadmap, phase three will introduce a point-based loyalty system for NFT holders, to provide loyal customers with extra rewards. Members will be able to use these points to exchange for clothes and accessories to decorate their Moopians.

Bringing the Web3 space closer to their customers

Siam Square Mookata is well aware that not all of their customers are Web3 natives, and while they might have been interested in getting on board the NFT project, actually minting, holding, or trading the NFT is a different story.

As such, Siam Square Mookata recommends the Sequence wallet to its customers receiving their NFTs - a smart contract wallet that can be accessed using Web2 identifiers such as social media and emails.

In this way, they hope to reduce the difficulty of setting up a wallet for their customers, thereby removing some barriers-to-entry that might’ve prevented the uninitiated from entering into Web3.

“The way we wanted to structure it is that everyone can be a member, and you can even have multiple NFTs, all different from one another- just like how in games we have different characters with different traits and different looks” saidTsering Ng, Brand Strategist for Siam Square Mookata

In the future, Siam Square Mookata hopes to partner with other companies to increase the utility of the NFTs for our users, and allow them to get discounts in other restaurants as well.”

Siam Square Mookata has already secured partnerships with other players in the food industry, including with Italian restaurant Pocoloco and other hawkers.

Moving forward, they are planning to work with other seafood companies and restaurants as well.

Additionally, they are also planning to reach out to other companies like IUIGA, to collaborate on NFT projects.

NFT projects are constantly being released in the race to be first in the Web3 world- often in pursuit of financial gain

But Siam Square Mookata’s release of its Moopians NFT collection represents a departure from the ways in which many companies have taken their NFTs. Rarely do we see companies decide to forego monetary gain and instead have their NFTs focus purely on utility.

As the Web3 scene continues to develop in Singapore, NFT projects such as this will greatly enhance the image of NFTs in consumers’ eyes- and perhaps transform them from projects associated with empty promises and rugs into something that actually fulfils their potential.