Dive Brief:

• L'Oréal Paris USA commissioned five female artists to create NFT art inspired by the six shades of red in its new Reds of Worth by Colour Riche lipstick line, the company said in a press release.
• The pieces will be auctioned on the OpenSea marketplace between Dec. 13-15, each with an opening floor price of $1,500. The artists, who retain 100% of the primary sales, will be in conversation with OpenSea, talent agency UTA and L'Oréal during a Twitter Spaces event on Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. ET.
• While L'Oréal joins brands such as McDonald's, Pepsi, Nike, and Coca-Cola in creating its own one-of-a-kind digital collectible art, the beauty brand is differentiating itself with a program that calls attention to the lack of representation for women in the burgeoning NFT field.

Dive Insight:

Only 16% of NFT artists are women, who have accounted for just 5% of NFT sales, according to ArtTactic research cited by L'Oréal. The Reds of Worth NFTs are meant to point out that disparity and help close the gap while reflecting the brand's mission of empowering women, per the press release.

While brands have broadly worked to emphasize diversity, equity and inclusion in their marketing messaging, staffing and partnerships, ArtTactic's November Art Market Report suggests the quickly growing digital collectible art sector has, for the most part, been overlooked by these efforts so far.

In the intro to its November report, ArtTactic founder Anders Petterson admitted the findings were "depressing."

"It might be a good idea to stop and ask ourselves what we want this digital universe to look like before we repeat our mistakes from the past," Petterson warned.

As with many other companies' entries into digital collectibles, proceeds from the sale of L'Oréal's NFTs will benefit a cause important to the brand. Half of up to one year of secondary market sales will be donated to L'Oréal's Women of Worth philanthropic initiative that recognizes women making extraordinary differences in their communities. The artists commissioned for the effort are Amber Vittoria, Arina BB, Hueman, Lili Tae and Puks. The program is being executed in partnership with talent, sports and entertainment company UTA.

The Twitter Spaces discussion will see the artists share more about their works, their inspirations from the program, and what they have learned as artists in the NFT space in an attempt to drive conversation around the effort on social media.

While NFTs have dominated marketing throughout the second half of 2021, L'Oréal hopes to stand out by focusing on creating a more inclusive space.

"Through this program, we want to bring attention to the gender disparity in the NFT space and hope that we can shine a light on the women already working within the sector while attracting more women artists and buyers," Maude Brunschwig, senior vice president of marketing, at L'Oréal Paris USA, said in a statement.