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By John Glenday, Reporter

July 8, 2022 | 2 min read

Deutsche Telekom is putting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to work in support of youth volunteering projects across Europe, proving that the digital assets carry real-world currency.

#WhatWeValue has been developed with Saatchi & Saatchi to magnify the industriousness of young people by transforming perceptions of NFTs as a capitalist tool for monetary gain into a mechanism for broader social good.

Built around a new digital community, the initiative invites volunteers aged 18-30 from throughout Europe to lead varied projects ranging from gender and climate change to urban regeneration.

Those projects, which fulfill Deutsche Telekom’s brief, will be designated as a ‘Value NFT,’ which conveys practical benefits including customized support from the telecoms provider and access to a Discord community of like-minded people.

Ulrich Klenke, chief brand officer at Deutsche Telekom, said: “Volunteerism is a key example of how young people are using connected technologies to create real-world action and transform our lives for the better. We call this ‘digital optimism.’ With #WhatWeValue, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to gen Z, leveraging web3 technologies to supercharge the causes that matter most to them.”

Franki Goodwin, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, added: “Anticipating a backlash to the first wave of the NFT hype, Saatchi and Deutsche Telekom have built #WhatWeValue as a way to explore how we can harness web3 to impact change in the real world.”

The initiative has already signed on 100 projects across 10 countries, but is now requisitioning the NFT acronym as a means of leveraging the potential of web3 technologies to serve the public interest.

Brand Purpose NFTs Saatchi & Saatchi

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