Excedrin Launches Equal Bytes: An Artist Accelerator Program That Enables The NFT Space To Be More Inclusive & Equitable For Women Creators

Brand Partners with MakersPlace to Support Women Creators and Relieve their Digital Headaches

Warren, N.J., October 12, 2022 – Today, Excedrin, a leader in head pain relief for more than 50 years, announced Equal Bytes, a new artist accelerator program designed to make the digital art space more inclusive for women. NFTs, known as non-fungible tokens, are digital assets on a blockchain with unique identifiers that are unable to be replicated. Research shows that 77% of NFT sales go to male creators, and women make up less than 20% of the total NFT market.

Excedrin is teaming up with MakersPlace, the premier marketplace for rare and authentic digital fine art, to introduce Equal Bytes – a program designed to remove the headaches women creators face in the NFT marketplace. Through Equal Bytes, Excedrin and MakersPlace will look to close the gender gap by recruiting women creators to the MakersPlace platform and supporting the minting and sale of their first NFT. Equal Bytes will also guarantee bids for select artists, ensuring their first NFT translates to a sale.

Excedrin and MakersPlace will onboard new women creators and support them with setting up a cryptocurrency wallet and account, a free mint³, and a guaranteed bid of approximately $800 USD for a minimum of 100 women artists. MakersPlace will host the auctions and facilitate the bidding from Excedrin and also support current women creators on the MakersPlace platform by offering them the visibility they need to increase their NFT sales. By offering women creators support with the Equal Bytes program, Excedrin hopes to reverse the pervasive issue of gender inequality in the emerging digital art space.

“As a platform that features the world’s most creative minds, we’re excited to unveil this program with Excedrin to diversify and further empower our creatives,” said Craig Palmer, CEO of MakersPlace. “MakersPlace is a unique marketplace to discover and collect digital NFTs, and this Equal Bytes partnership will provide us with the opportunity to connect with a broader community of NFT and digital art supporters.”

As part of the application process, applicants will be asked to submit one piece of art they wish to sell and provide details on the headaches they experience as a woman creator in the cryptocurrency/NFT space. Once the Equal Bytes artists are determined, the MakersPlace community will vote, and select creators who amass the most likes will be invited to join MakersPlace’s Emerging Features program. The Emerging Features program offers creators increased visibility and exposure through MakersPlace’s digital and social channels to ultimately expand their reach. The artworks from Equal Bytes will then go live in an auction on November 21^st on MakersPlace where fans who vote will be entered for a chance to win select NFTs from the exhibit.

“Women are faced with inequalities and challenges daily. Whether it is in the workplace or in their personal life, they are forced to overcome hurdles. That is why we have so much heart for Equal Bytes, where we can help uplift women creators by removing some of the barriers that exist for them,” said Rishi Mulgund, Brand Director, Pain Relief (Excedrin and Voltaren), Haleon. “We hope through Equal Bytes we can pave the way for more women creators to enter the NFT space and ultimately support closing the gender equality gap that exists.”

Visit excedrinequalbytes.com to apply through 11/2 to Equal Bytes and learn more about the program. You must be 18+ to enter. View the terms and conditions here. For more information about headaches and Excedrin products, please visit Excedrin.com.

About Excedrin® Extra Strength

Excedrin® Extra Strength is a clinically proven formula of 2 pain fighters plus a booster, proven to relieve headaches. Excedrin® Extra Strength is an over-the-counter medicine that has a fast-acting formula that delivers powerful relief from headaches — for some, relief starts within 15 minutes.

About Haleon US

Haleon (NYSE: HLN) is a leading global consumer health company with a portfolio of brands trusted daily by millions of people. In the United States, the organization employs more than 4,700 people who are united by Haleon’s powerful purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity. Haleon’s products span five categories: Oral Health, Pain Relief, Respiratory Health, Digestive Health, and Wellness. Built on scientific expertise, innovation, and deep human understanding, Haleon’s brands include Abreva, Advil, Benefiber, Centrum, ChapStick^®, Emergen-C, Excedrin, Flonase, Gas-X, Natean, Nexium, Nicorette, Parodontax, Polident, Preparation H, Pronamel, Sensodyne, Robitussin, Theraflu, TUMS, Voltaren, and more.

For more information on Haleon and its brands, please visit haleon.com.

About MakersPlace

MakersPlace is the premier, trusted, and most innovative NFT marketplace for Art, Sports, and Entertainment. At MakersPlace, artists, creators, fans, and collectors can collaborate together in a trusted and brand-safe, curated market. Our mission is to enable a vibrant and sustainable future for creativity that pushes the boundaries of art by enabling dynamic creations integrating motion and sound and blurring the lines between digital and physical, traditional and modern. We provide artists and creators with the ability to protect and sell authentic, unique editions in innovative offerings enhanced by the industry’s most sophisticated set of white glove services designed to optimize success and reach a worldwide audience of collectors and fans. Since launching in 2018, MakersPlace is the market leader in accessibility as the first to accept payment in cryptocurrency (ETH) or credit cards (USD) and the first to eliminate the need to connect an external wallet to store purchases. In March 2021, MakersPlace catapulted digital art onto the global stage with the historic sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69.3 million – the record price for any digital artwork – in partnership with Christie’s auction house. Please visit makersplace.com

Meghan Sowa – Haleon
meghan.l.sowa@haleon.com

Jenna Glynn
jglynn@webershandwick.com

MakersPlace – Ditto PR
Makersplace@dittopr.co