Stolen french fries, a Ghostbuster, and the life-changing grants funded by his NFTs.
An actor with an eight-year-old BlackBerry nicknamed “Bill Urray” (because the “M” is missing) is an unlikely technical luddite to enter the world of NFTs.
But to say Bill Murray’s done it successfully is quite an understatement. Quite frankly, he’s set a whole new precedent for how to produce a funny and equally heartwarming utility-based NFT art collection. You see for me, the ‘Bill Murray 1000‘ is the best NFT collection I’ve seen to date.
If I was to be super picky, the only tiny thorn in this collection’s side is the name. The ‘Bill Murray 1000’ let’s face it, it’s not the most catchy NFT collection title. Sorry, Bill. But yin to the un-catchy yang, the sum of the parts is absolutely incredible. I’ll go through them one by one shortly, but first, a very quick overview courtesy of the project’s website:
“A great NFT collection tells a great story. And there’s no better story than a Bill Murray story.
The Bill Murray 1000 is a unique biographical NFT project telling the story of iconic actor, comedian, and writer, Bill Murray – and a life very well-lived.”
Source: The Shack
The Bill Murray 1000 collection offers 100 story-based NFTs containing anecdotes, observations, advice, memories, Murray-isms, and more. The NFTs cover a broad spectrum of topics ranging from how Hunter S. Thompson saved Bill’s life to the day he met future President, John F. Kennedy. “
Furthermore “100% of proceeds from the auction of the Bill Murray 1000 Origin NFT, “A Great Story”, will directly benefit Chive Charities“
So that’s the project’s overview, but when you delve a little deeper (similar to the successful formula we identified behind The Economist’s NFT success) the collection is incredibly joined up across every important aspect; story, art, community, cause, and long-term giving. Let’s take a brief look at each.
Story-driven art
As you can see, the centrepiece of the 1000-asset collection is a photo-realistic acrylic-on-canvas portrait, by artist David Grizzle. The painting has then been augmented by visual attributes inspired by Bill’s many many antics. One hundred to be exact (each produced in ten different colour ways).
“Vote For Murray”, “No One Will Ever Believe You”, and “Smashing Mums”
The presidential NFT “Vote for Murray” represents the time he gatecrashed The White House completely unannounced and finished the day putting balls in the Oval Office with President Obama. “Smashing Mums” is based on his iconic (and entirely improvised) chrysanthemum-smashing monologue in the film Caddyshack. And “No one will ever believe you” is what he shouted after pilfering a few fries from an unsuspecting and rather surprised restaurant diner (this is quite a hobby for Bill, apparently).
As the project’s site states “Bill and his son Jackson personally reviewed, edited, and approved every story NFT in the collection. They also worked closely with author John Resig to add context to the stories we all know and love, while also contributing dozens of stories few have ever heard.”
Community & roadmap
As the site suggests, the collection is part of a wider project (theChive) many years in the making: “For more than a decade, theCHIVE has built a community of millions around Bill Murray. Now the Bill Murray 1000 NFT collection will offer Bill Murray 1000 NFT owners access to one-of-a-kind, in-person events with Bill Murray, rare coins minted for the collection, exclusive merchandise, and membership in ‘The Shack‘ – a Discord community filled with like-minded owners.”
From personal experience, their Discord community is buzzing and is certainly motivated by the four-stage roadmap: “This is just the beginning. You will be part of a new universe where you will participate in the forward-evolution of the NFT with amazing community incentives and a whole lot of charity.”
Unlike some digital token ‘coins’ associated with NFT projects, as these social media posts show, the rare coins NFT buyers receive are very shiny and tangible indeed. Brings quite the (dare I say it) ‘Phygital’ aspect.
Actual ‘IRL’ coins
Cause and long-term giving
You’d be forgiven for thinking the aforementioned ‘theChive’ was simply a Bill Murray fanzine. Due to phenomenal success, in 2012, Chive Charities was born out theChive community and “their desire to do good”. Over the past ten years, the organisation has provided over 500 grants serving rare medical individuals, first responders, Veterans, and military families.
The stories of those they’ve helped will likely bring a tear to your eye (it did mine). They sum up what they do far better than I can:
“In a perfect, mud-free world, Chive Charities wouldn’t exist, because these families wouldn’t have a need for a wheelchair-accessible van, life-saving medical equipment, or any of the other 545 grants we’ve provided in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. So instead, we find ourselves humbled by the individuals who need some help, and humbled by the individuals who give it. They might be in the mud, but Chive Charities is there to help get them out of it.”
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