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Unusual book promotions are not unheard of. The late Bryce Courtenay, a former advertising man, was renowned for dreaming up bold approaches to marketing his Blockbusters, while British artist Kit Williams included clues to find a buried golden hare in his 1979 illustrated treasure-hunt book, Masquerade. But, as one publishing executive said, if you pre-order a book the most you’re likely to get is a tote bag.
Offering an NFT is something different. An NFT is a digital asset representing objects such as art, music, in-game items and videos. They are often traded for cryptocurrencies, but have data encoded that makes them unique, meaning they can’t be traded like-for-like – they are non-fungible.
Vaynerchuk’s wheeze was to offer a global incentive for his followers to bulk-buy the book. Those who ordered them in a 24-hour period to 5pm (US eastern time) on August 28 and confirmed their eligibility with Vaynerchuk’s “team” will receive “a valuable gift” in their digital wallet by December 16.
Jim Demetriou, chief executive officer of HarperCollins, which publishes Vaynerchuk’s books, said he had never seen a promotion like the one for Twelve and Half. “It’s up there with Harry Potter.”