Chronicle brings to the blockchain market, the next evolution of tradable digital collectibles from the world’s greatest brands. CMO Doug Neil, shares more details with us in this exclusive interview with TechBullion.
Please tell us more about yourself?
I’m Doug Neil and am joining Chronicle as Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. From 2006-2020, I was Executive Vice President of Global Digital Marketing for Universal Pictures where I oversaw 200 digital marketing campaigns for films such as DESPICABLE ME, JURASSIC WORLD, GET OUT, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, PITCH PERFECT, TED, etc. I was responsible for the online and mobile strategies for theatrical releases including website development, publicity, promotions, social media, creative strategy, digital analytics, data mining, emerging platforms and media placements. For the past year, I’ve been teaching courses in Entertainment Marketing as well as Digital Media and Marketing at UCLA’s Anderson School. I’m a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and was the 2017 recipient of the Hollywood in Pixels’ Silver Pixels Award for pioneering contributions to digital theatrical marketing. I have a MBA from Dartmouth College’s Tuck School and BA in Computer Science from The College of William and Mary.
What is Chronicle?
Launching in Q3 ‘21, Chronicle is building a fan-focused platform which will be an ecosystem for immersive, digital collectible trading cards (NFTs) with its own shop front and secondary marketplace. The Chronicle Marketplace allows fans and collectible card holders to buy, sell or trade collectibles from the Chronicle Store with each other, just like a virtual swap-meet. All digital collectibles will be authenticated on the blockchain.
Could you give us a walkthrough of the unique features and services Chronicle is bringing to the NFT market?
Fans are at the heart of Chronicle’s mission. Unlike other marketplaces that are targeting the crypto community, Chronicle is the first marketplace being built to be accessible for fans as they collect NFTs from their favorite brands. All collectibles are designed with the fan in mind and what will have the highest value to them. Some of the unique features of Chronicle include:
- Environmentally friendly infrastructure. Chronicle is committed to building a climate neutral marketplace by pursuing partners and technical solutions that are Proof of Stake driven with a fidelity to reducing their carbon footprint.
- Easy email sign-up. No cryptography or private keys required to access the platform.
- US$ onboarding. All transactions on Chronicle will be in US$ via Venmo, Paypal or similar payment app.
- Premium authenticated digital collectibles. All cards available will be from leading brands.
- Social media integration. Users will be able to display their collectibles on their social media profiles.
- Gamification. Fans will be incentivized for engaging on Chronicle to drive repeat visits.
- Rewards (XNL). Chronicle will be issuing its own token (XNL) as a reward to fans which can then be used for discounts, priority access and other benefits.
Can you tell us the story about how you first came to start working with Chronicle CEO, Tim Glover while at Universal Pictures?
I started working with Tim during the campaign for JURASSIC WORLD (over eight years ago). On their own, he and Jack Ewins had created a website that explored the mythology behind the corporation that was in the movie. This website caught the attention of the film’s director due to their extensive knowledge and passion for the Jurassic franchise which was represented in the site. As head of digital at Universal Pictures, I reached out to him to ask him to be part of the marketing campaign for JURASSIC WORLD – specifically from a fan’s perspective and to help build a website that we would use to further the narrative of Masrani Corporation in our campaign. He and Jack did a fantastic job with that site, which led us to engaging with them to build out a story extension for JURASSIC WORLD FALLEN KINGDOM around the Dinosaur Protection Group (which was an organization featured in the movie). I was quite impressed with his creative ability to find solutions and execute for what he was tasked.
Why did you choose to join the Chronicle team and what will your role be?
I am joining Chronicle as the Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. My role will be to engage, negotiate and onboard brands in the development of a NFT strategy on Chronicle. In addition, I will be responsible for marketing Chronicle, acquiring customers and ensuring revenue targets are met for all NFTs that are offered on the platform. It’s exciting to join a growing company with a very clear mission to connect with fans.
How will you be able to use your experiences at Universal Pictures, AOl, and the Disney Channel to help grow Chronicle?
My experience in digital marketing has made me acutely aware of the power of fans and the opportunity to provide unique experiences and offerings that will drive repeat visits to Chronicle. At Universal, my team successfully brought millions of fans and followers into the communities for the studio’s core franchises (The Fast and Furious Saga, Jurassic World, Minions, Shrek, Ted, etc.). These principles will be applied as we grow the fan communities on Chronicle.
What makes Jack Ewins and Manuel Bejarano the best to lead the Chronicle Studio?
In addition to being incredibly talented designers, Jack and Manuel are also avid fans of entertainment. I had the privilege of working with them on the JURASSIC WORLD films and witnessed their creativity and originality first hand. Now that I’ve had the chance to work with them at Chronicle, I’m able to see how their skills and their understanding of what’s important to fans translates into the optimal experience for the build of collectibles on our platform.
Chronicle recently secured $3.2M in an oversubscribed round from leading VCs, can you share any additional information about the raise and how these funds will be used?
The initial raise has been used to accelerate the development of the platform, hire executives and staff, grow the company’s business globally and build the in-house studio.
Any other information to share with our readers today?
We are looking forward to launching this quarter. We encourage your readers to follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChronicleXNL) or Telegram (https://t.me/chroniclecommunity) to stay up to date on the latest news from Chronicle.
For more information, visit the website: www.chronicle.io
