Big brands are making interesting moves with it NFTsbut here’s an example that’s decidedly different from the typical consumer-facing fare: a food services and facilities management division of European giant Sodexo has just launched tokenized profile pictures (PFPs) for all its employees.
The Benefits and Rewards Services (BRS) division of Sodexo, which has recently been renamed Plusheeplans to roll out and go public in 2024. And the division has prepared a vibe shift to go along with that structural change, creating bold NFTs for employees in partnership with the Dfinity Foundation and NFT marketplace Yumi via the Blockchain for internet computers.
The artwork, called “The X Collection”, was created by a US-based applied artist Candace Marquet and shows digitally rendered people and animals. a Yumi blog post says the collection was inspired by six kinds of natural elements: clouds, land, water, light, air and fire.
Artwork from Plushee’s X Collection project. Image: Luxée
Broadly speaking, Sodexo offers a range of services, including school and workplace food services and facilities and workplace management. It is listed on Euronext Paris and serves 100 million consumers daily, according to its website, with some 422,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than 21 billion euros in the past fiscal year.
The Pluxee division benefits employees of a wide variety of companies — some 500,000 companies use the service, Pluxee says, serving more than 36 million users with things like meal cards and wellness programs. Plushee itself has about 5,000 employees.
Pluxee’s project consists of 5,000 digital collectibles – NFTs inspired by the 31 countries in which the company currently operates. The brand said in a press release that the initiative is a demonstration of its “belief in advanced technology”.
Right now, the main utility is using the digital assets as a profile picture for Plushee’s own employees. But it could also be intended as a showcase of what’s possible for companies that Pluxee serves, with the company saying in a release that it “marks a new use case for NFTs as tools to increase employee engagement and improve corporate culture.” to enrich.”
“At Pluxee, we are committed to creating personalized and lasting experiences, and these unique NFTs served this purpose perfectly,” said Suvodeep Das, Sodexo’s Global VP Multi-Benefits & Gift, via email. He added that the revelation caused “a lot of excitement” among employees.
“Across our teams, employees are now using these Pluxee-branded NFTs across multiple touchpoints and their own personal social networks,” said Das.
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The Pluxee employees can trade the digital collectibles among their colleagues and transfer the assets to their own wallets. However, Das said he doesn’t expect them to have resale value, and outlined no future utility.
Pluxee said it chose to partner with developer Dfinity and use the Internet Computer blockchain because of its energy efficiency and commitment to sustainability. As part of the drop, the company has pledged to donate €1 per NFT claimed – with a potential maximum of €5,000 or about $5,440 – to the Stop Hunger charitable initiative.
It is not the first time that Sodexo’s rewards brand has dabbled in blockchain. The company already offers a blockchain-based employee benefits solution in Chile and Uruguay, which the company called “the first of its kind” in the employee benefits industry.
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This business decline is the latest example of multinational corporations taking notice of Web3 technology, as mainstream brands continue to dip their toes into Web3 waters in hopes of finding new ways to engage consumers. Others have done it in a more customer-oriented way.
Coffee conglomerate Starbucks set up its crypto booth with an NFT-based rewards program called Starbucks Odyssey on Ethereum sidechain network Polygon, and has sold limited edition NFT collectibles to users. Amazon is also reportedly considering the launching a marketplace for NFTs tied to real world assets.
