Women are Winning the Metaverse: How Female-Led Communities can Benefit Brands

There’s a bigger benefit than revenue alone waiting for brands in the metaverse. Unlike the rise of mobile or shift to social media, the promise of web3 is that it’s decentralized. This means it’s powered by the people, and increasingly those people are women.

While male-led NFT collections like BAYC and CryptoPunks have dominated the headlines, a myriad of new initiatives created by women are democratizing access to web3 and raising millions for social good. This creates a strategic partnership opportunity for socially-minded, future-focused brands to help women close the crypto gap – building trust, loyalty, and relevance in the process.

Currently, one in five men online in the U.S. own at least one NFT versus just 7% of women. Through the lens of web3 education and community, women are catching up by launching highly successful NFT collections, DAOs, and investment communities. This is a chance for brands to show Gen Z and millennial consumers they care about inclusivity and want to ensure women benefit from the metaverse business boom.

Below are five women-led web3 projects ideal to watch and potential collaborations can include a new limited edition set of NFTs within an existing collection, purchasing a series of NFTs from the project and integrating them into the brand’s marketing, or sponsoring an “air-drop” of free NFTS for consumers who may be priced out of certain communities. Moves like these can build authentic bonds with Gen Z consumers who value action over promises.

World of Women

Created by Yam Karkai in July of 2021 World of Women, is a 10k piece NFT collection on a mission to increase diversity and inclusivity in the NFT and web3 space, build new and equal opportunities for anyone to create and own NFTs, as well as educate/onboard the next generation of creators, artists, and developers.

Having generated an estimated $224 million in sales volume and ranking among the top NFT collections worldwide, World of Women is well on its way to reaching its goals. The collection is also expanding into feature films, TV, and live events with support from Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rimes, and KPMG.

Women Rise

Women Rise is a collection of 10k randomly generated and unique NFT art pieces created by Pakistani-born visual artist Maliha Abidi in April 2020. Representing women from around the world, traits transcend skin color and celebrate women activists, artists, scientists, and coders among others.

The collection has generated over $20 million in sales volume since its launch in April 2020 and is focused on advancing women's rights and girls' education through NFTs and Web 3.0. Their ultimate goal? Build the first school in the metaverse for the 258 million children around the world who have no access to education – 129 million of which are girls. To date, Women Rise has grown to 50k community members and donated close to $60k to groups like the Period Project and the Malala Fund.

BFF (Blockchain Friends Forever)

Started by over 50 leaders across industries (including Tyra Banks, Mila Kunis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Randi Zuckerberg and Rebecca Minkoff), BFF is on a mission to help women and non-binary people get educated, connected, and financially rewarded in crypto and web3.

Launched in early 2022 with a free class on all things crypto, BFF airdropped free NFTs to community members to serve as a “mint pass” to all future NFT collections. Those NFTs are now worth a collective $7 million, valuing the free airdrops at $3,700 each given the current price of Ethereum. With over 21k members in the BFF Discord community who share a passion for inclusivity and gender equality, combined with celebrity-led support, brands have an opportunity here to add value in meaningful ways that resonate with younger audiences and win earned media.

HUG

Founded by Randi Zuckerberg and Debbie Soon, HUG is focused on helping women, non-native English speakers, BIPOC, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, and LBGTQIA+ folks succeed in the space.

Early efforts include HUGhub - a community Do Your Own Research (DYOR) platform for discovering hug-worthy NFTs, groupHUG - a growth accelerator for post-mint NFT projects and up-and-coming 1/1 artists, as well as hedgeHUG - a hands-on advisory program for early-stage pre-mint NFT projects.

HUG has also raised an impressive $5 million (along with mentorship, strategic advice, and PR exposure) for Boss Beauties, Women Rise, Women and Weapons, and Curious Addys. Interestingly, HUG also facilitates brand partnerships aimed at helping the next generation of web3 entrepreneurs, creating an opening for strategic collaborations.

Boss Beauties

Boss Beauties brainstormed their 10k piece NFT collection by asking their community of Gen Z change-makers to imagine a series of digital portraits that captured the empowered women they want to see and be in the world. The collection was quickly created, sold out in an hour, and has generated $48 million in sales volume since launching in September of 2021. This success empowers Boss Beauties to follow through on its mission to provide mentorship programs and internships to women in High School and College, while funding scholarships for women in the community.

Boss Beauties became the first NFT collection displayed at The New York Stock Exchange followed by the United Nations for International Women’s Day. The community also offers turn-key solutions for brand partnerships, having launched collaborative NFT collections directly with brands like Rolling Stone, Hugo Boss, and Barbie.


The Takeaway

As brands continue to develop their roadmap to the metaverse, teaming up with breakthrough women-led communities like these can be an authentic, brand-safe first step with plenty of marketing upside.