Lay’s Romania makes an ImpactNFT by investing in miles of smiles
The Impact NFT Alliance was created to bring together a global community of people interested in the role that blockchain technology can have on society.
The project was specifically designed to catalyse a cross-industry alliance that can promote, explore and discuss ideas where NFTs can be used to drive social impact – in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Project Ark – a blockchain-powered conservation platform built between Carbonbase and the World Wildlife Fund Panda Labs – is an online marketplace for ImpactNFTs that fund animal and environmental conservation efforts. Ark’s most recent ImpactNFTs include its WWF Egg Genesis Drop, SnarkySharkz and Purple Penguins.
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, a unit of data stored on the digital leger that represent items like photos, videos, audios and other digital files.
According to Max Song, founder of Project Ark and CEO of Carbonbase, there are clear synergies between minting NFTs and making the world better – specifically between issuing NFT green bonds, ‘payments for environmental services’ and NFTs as carbon credits.
The power of a smile
Lay’s ImpactNFT is a first-of-its-kind for both PepsiCo and the brand, and incorporates social marketing with blockchain technology to get important messages out to blockchain newbies, conscious consumers and the general public.
An celebration of Lay’s Romania’s efforts to unite the nation through the ‘Share smiles with Lay’s’ campaign, Lay’s Smile NFT showcases the key elements of the initiative, namely, education, social and environment, with 100% of the proceeds going to four organisations recognised for their work in addressing some of Romania’s biggest challenges in these areas.
Let’s Do It, Romania! identifies polluted areas, organises clean up and has constructed the largest environmental education campaign in the country.
Bicycle-sharing service i'Velo, powered by GreenRevolution, has developed Romania’s first and largest network of automated bike stations with a proprietary app.
The Adi Hădean Association provides those in need with nourishment through social and education projects.
And finally, Teach For Romania trains teachers to bring creative approaches to the classroom and develops educational leadership to codify their vision for future generations.
“The Smiles by Lay’s NFT is a celebration of all the people and communities that got together through the Share Smiles with Lay’s campaign in Romania. We’re excited to transform this campaign into digital art,” said Vlad Vlădescu, senior brand manager of Lay’s Romania.
Added Song, “The Smile ImpactNFT is an example of cross-industry partnership that can drive social impact in a creative way that adds ongoing value.”
To guarantee a negligible carbon footprint, Project Ark has minted Lay’s NFT on the Polygon network – a Layer 2 protocol offering fast, economic and energy-efficient transactions, which is backed by the security of Ethereum open-source blockchain.
“We are built for minting NFTs with a positive impact. Our partnership with Project Ark fits perfectly within our ethos of energy-efficiency and accessibility,” said Amartya Hari Pilaka, Polygon’s NFT lead.
