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| Image via Microsoft Designer |
It’s that time of year again… it’s shopping season! It’s not just Christmas. It’s not just Hanukkah. It’s not just New Years. It’s a whole lump of different winter holidays from different cultures for different reasons. Some are religious. Some are not. Some are even born to make a social statement. But whether you are lighting up firecrackers, or Yule logs, or even bonfires for Hogmanay, there’s always something heating up winter. You may have just celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas, or be preparing for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It seems like from November to January, everyone across the world wants a reason to party.
Sometimes those holidays like to cross borders in very confusing ways… why exactly does Britain have a Black Friday again? And Canadians, shouldn’t yours have been weeks ago?
I guess it’s just another sign that as we become more interconnected, the world keeps getting smaller… and hopefully that proves to be for the better.
But now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk shopping! Because I’ve noticed something lately, and it directly ties into my time at VeVe, and I wonder if you’ve noticed the same thing…
Because my gift giving habits have changed since I’ve been into digital collecting.
Mostly, because I find myself considering brands and items that I never would have thought twice about before that point. I’m going into comic stores and looking at DC Direct models I’d never have given a second thought to before. I’m picking up Tokidoki for my sister and my daughter, and looking over Digipens when I probably passed them ten times in the last six months without a second look before they came to the platform. I’m considering buying some stamp collecting books for my younger relatives when, five years ago, I would have thought that hobby was something that died out in the 80’s. And if that didn’t reignite nostalgia, I’m seeking out comics I once owned and had forgotten about… generally within a month of them reappearing on the platform.
Do you remember the first time you heard the word, ‘phygital’? I do… Dan said in an AMA and immediately got an overwhelming reaction of… “WTF kind of word is that? That’s a stupid word.” Followed by pretty much everyone I know getting on social media and trying to find a better conjunction.
It was a lost battle.
It was a lost battle from the very first drop on the VeVe platform.
Because the truth is that everything from that first drop was already phygital… they all had a physical counterpart. It didn’t matter if they were made at different times. It didn’t matter that they weren’t packaged together with a VeVe heart on it. The phygital was in everyone’s brain already, and I’ve heard enough stories to know that a lot of people lucky enough to be here from the start went out and bought the physical counterpart.
By the time I got to VeVe, comics were a big thing, and it led me back into stores where I used to bee-line to whatever was on my kid’s shopping list and buzz right back out again without a second thought. Now if someone on my list wants something out of a collectibles store, I need to schedule myself at least a three hour block. No matter what, you can bet that I come out of there not only with their item, but several other gifts, along with one or two I bought for myself so the kids could wrap them to give to me and I can pretend to be surprised when I open them.
I also have now gotten the: “My aunt gives the best gifts” title. This is a very prestigious title that I have earned not only from VeVe, but quite a number of digital collectibles platforms that work with different IP’s, increasing brand awareness, exposing us to artists we’ve never heard of, and ideas we’ve never considered before.
It’s just a shame that this exchange can’t go both ways.
The idea that gift cards can’t be done because of money laundering is a total lark, because everything from Visa to Roblox cards are constantly used for that purpose and… newsflash… they still make gift cards. And saying we can’t gift collectibles for that reason is also just as silly, because newsflash… bad actors happen everywhere.
Isn’t it a pity that digital collectibles aren’t on a system where money exchanges are traceable and there aren’t a bunch of nosy people watching anytime a collectible gets bought for a crazy price? I mean, it’s not like people go and announce it in posts with giant letters on X or anything like that.
But that, I guess, is a topic for another day. For now, phygital gift-giving is only one way.
Even so, it has definitely changed my habits when it comes to gift shopping! I wonder how many others can say the same.