Rekt Is Reaching the Masses

Rektguy didn’t mint out its free NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain in 2022—however three years later, the model has change into extremely aware of the phrase “offered out,” with the Rekt Drinks model clearing out successive drops and reaching an increasing number of customers alongside the way in which.

The model, which weathered a brutal crypto bear market thanks partially to the energy of its fervent group, has now offered greater than 600,000 cans of Rekt Drinks, a non-alcoholic, flavored glowing water that is available in a wide range of completely different flavors. And this week, the model earned placement at 7-Eleven, beginning with a trio of shops in Southern California. 

Rekt Manufacturers co-founder Ovie Faruq (aka OSF) advised Decrypt that it’s “form of humorous” that the unique Rektguy NFT providing didn’t mint out. The mission, which began as an artwork assortment and a “facet quest” for Faruq, has since morphed its approach into a number one Web3 model, with drinks serving to it broaden past the blockchain.

(Disclosure: Ovie Faruq’s Canary Labs is an investor in DASTAN, the guardian firm of Rug Radio and Decrypt.)

“We kind of had a call to make. We did not actually promise something, there was no roadmap, no guarantees made—it was actually simply meant to be an artwork assortment,” he stated of Rektguy. “However over the subsequent two years, we appeared to simply have this actually tremendous sticky, tight-knit group that caught round.” 

It was throughout the summer time of 2023 when concepts began to blossom about potential expansions.

“We spoke some time about Rektguy versus Rekt as an idea. We had put the emblem on just a few issues, and it kind of felt like this Rekt factor might be a model,” Faruq stated, including that the objective turned getting the emblem in as many locations as attainable. 

Drinks felt like a pure connection, in accordance with Faruq, thanks partially to the power to fabricate them cheaply—plus the connection to Rektguy’s imagery, which incorporates a hooded skeleton holding a ingesting bottle.

With no expertise in drinks, the workforce introduced on an advisor who had began a drinks firm within the UK. By means of trial and error, they bought cans of Rekt into the arms of attendees at NFT Paris in 2024—they usually preferred it. 

“The suggestions was actually good. It was surprisingly good,” stated Faruq. “Contemplating we had no expertise in drinks, we simply form of like made up this drink to fuck round and discover out, so to talk. It was actually, actually good suggestions.” 

From there, the workforce determined to attempt to manufacture a much bigger batch and promote them, resulting in its first main sale of Liquidated Lime drinks final October—a set of 222,000 drinks that it offered out in 48 hours.

Previous to the sale, Rekt constructed out a rewards program to incentivize customers to interact with the model, rewarding Drank Factors to those that participated in social quests and drink purchasers as properly. By incomes factors, customers have been later eligible to assert Rekt Coin (REKT), an Ethereum-based token tied to the model. 

“I used to be actually impressed by the Solana cellphone,” stated Faruq in regards to the Solana Saga, an Android smartphone that originally confronted weak demand, however then offered out as soon as the Bonk meme coin supplied to patrons surged in worth. “Nobody touched it, tons of provide left—however as quickly as folks might declare a $500 BONK airdrop, the cellphone offered out in like 24 hours.” 

After its preliminary success, the model teamed up with Ethereum layer-2 community Summary for a drop of Summary Apple, a brand new taste of its glowing water, promoting out even quicker than earlier than.

“After that, we simply had tons of individuals reaching out to us for collaborations,” stated Faruq, whose model additionally dropped drinks through collabs with NFT market OpenSea and Solana decentralized change aggregator, Jupiter. 

However past the crypto partitions, the connections didn’t at all times come simply.

“Nobody’s actually heard of us outdoors of crypto. We did the primary sale, and individuals are kind of questioning if it is a one-hit surprise kind of factor,” he stated, including that the model’s crypto origins initially led to some skepticism, as properly. “You inform folks the story, they expressed some curiosity, however there wasn’t actually a ton of motion,” he added.

However after the Summary and OpenSea drops, the model began to select up some momentum that has carried into its placements in 7-Eleven shops, inserting Rekt alongside giants of the beverage trade.

“With 7-Eleven, I simply assume we had a really sturdy pitch to them,” stated Faruq. “That is the right product for a 7-Eleven retailer, and we are able to get a ton of individuals out to the shops once we launch it and make it some actually huge factor and a extremely good launch. They have been onboard.” 

The model carried out its first 7-Eleven activation on Thursday, overselling its preliminary deliberate provide of 600 cans within the course of. The cans have been priced at $2.80 a pop, or $10 for a 4-pack. One other occasion befell Friday, with the final set for Saturday. And early 4-pack patrons every day will earn an allotment of REKT tokens, as properly.

“​​[You] by no means actually know if folks will flip as much as stuff when it’s not a crypto occasion,” Faruq advised Decrypt of the preliminary Thursday occasion. “However we had a great turnout, and all of the drinks promoting out was clearly good.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward