TURN AUDIENCES INTO COMMUNITIES

CRO, one of the most successful German hip-hop artists of all time, used ZATAP’s technology for his "Crodies". These plush collectibles have a ZATAP NFC tag inside and come in six different colors. Each color represents a certain topic (i.e. red = "love", green = "hope", or purple = "joy") and each color gives buyers access to a unique experience.

It looks like a small version of an old-school cassette and has a tiny NFC tag inside. When fans tap it with their smartphone, they instantly unlock a digital hub filled with content from the artist and the released album. This new music format has already been approved for the charts in Germany and the United Kingdom, US charts will follow soon.

Fans received a bundle of a HOHNER harmonica and a physical cassette with an NFC tag embedded. But why are fans buying a cassette, assuming most of them don't own a cassette player anymore? Tapping the NFC tag with the smartphone unlocks exclusive studio videos and bonus tracks from the album Fête Foraine, turning this collectible into a living fan experience. The physical-digital connection transforms the act of owning music into an ongoing relationship between artist and fan.

Fans attending Cardi B's tour could tap NFC tags or scan QR codes integrated into roll-up banners and posters to enter an exclusive raffle and unlock access to limited-edition tour merch, rewarding those who showed up in person. Powered by ZATAP, the experience required no app download and was built in less than an hour.

US artist Ben Folds and his team used ZATAP technology on an overstock T-shirt. They added the NFC tags post-production via heat transfer, created a simple fan experience (with the ZATAP Phygital Studio) that included a personal video from Ben, and re-released the NFC-enabled T-shirt. The T-shirt became the best-selling merch item in Ben Folds' shop.

CRO, one of the most successful German hip-hop artists of all time, used ZATAP’s technology for his recent festival fan pass.