Author: Arjun Chand, Bankless; Translated by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
Penguins are typically terrestrial creatures. However, the Pudgy Penguin NFT series is not subject to such limitations.
Pudgy holders have received thousands of dollars worth of airdrops from other projects. A strategic partnership with Walmart continues to pay dividends. With the launch of Abstract Chain (their own L2 roadmap), the atmosphere is perfect. It wasn’t always this way though.
Pudgy Penguins went through some tough times in early 2022. The reserve price dropped significantly. The same NFT that demands a premium today sold for less than 1ETH in over a month.
Rumors of mismanagement of funds by the founders, quarrels among team members, and broken promises caused trouble. The situation looked grim, and the community demanded a change in leadership.
Enter Luca Netz. On January 6, 2022, he took to Twitter (now X) to offer 750 ETH, or about $2.5 million, for Pudgy Penguins. By April 2022, it was official: Netz and his team took over Pudgy Penguins, acquiring the intellectual property rights and the right to receive royalties from secondary sales.
With a background in digital marketing and e-commerce, Luca excels at building consumer product brands, which is exactly what Pudgy Penguins needed.
Today’s story is about how Pudgy Penguins turned things around and became a brand on Walmart shelves. It was a masterclass in brand building, unfolding right before our eyes.
How Pudgy Penguins took over the world
In a recent Bankless podcast, Luca shared that after taking over the project, he spent time chatting with members on the Pudgy Discord. He tried to understand the community’s expectations for the project roadmap and what kind of brand they envisioned Pudgy Penguins to become.
These members are more than just people invested in the project; they are ambassadors of the brand. It is key that Luca has the support of the community around him, uniting them to achieve a great mission and lay the foundation for the future.
There are a lot of lessons learned about how Luca, the team, and the community approach various aspects of brand building.
Clear messaging and positioning
Once the community had agreed, the vision for Pudgy Penguins was set: to make Pudgy Penguins a globally known and loved brand – not just a cryptocurrency.
Luca's vision is to break down barriers and create it, rather than waiting for mass adoption. He wants to build an inclusive brand that resonates with people in the cryptocurrency industry, while also being loved by children and all demographics. He sees this as a way to bring cryptocurrency to families - fostering a positive, passionate community centered around a cute penguin character.
We’ve had a lot of mainstream adoption stories like NBA Top Shot, which brought NFTs to the masses by giving fans a new way to connect with their favorite players. We also had the spotlight a few years ago when celebrities went crazy for Bored Apes. But Pudgy Penguins is breaking new ground and taking it a step further, by building a brand with universal appeal, Web3’s first real attempt to take crypto and NFTs global.
Product Extensions
In May 2023, Pudgy Penguins expanded its brand into the physical world with the launch of Pudgy Toys. This new line includes plush toys, figurines, and other collectibles inspired by the digital series, available through its official website and major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.
In September 2023, Pudgy Penguins made a groundbreaking move. They were the first to announce a partnership with Walmart, which saw Pudgy Toys available in 2,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. Five months later, in April 2024, that number expanded to 3,1,000 stores.
The importance of this moment in establishing Pudgy Penguins as a global brand cannot be underestimated. Pudgy Penguins creating physical toys will change the world’s mindset about NFTs.
Until now, we have only thought of NFTs as digital collectibles, which they are, but they can be so much more than that, and Pudgys prove that. Not only does the Pudgy Penguin have the adorable art that everyone treasures, it now has added value and real-world utility.
Pudgy Penguins as a brand is not just for the typical crypto bros. There are cute penguin toys for kids, adorable plushies to give to your girlfriend for Valentine’s Day (this is obviously a joke, we know the crypto bros are all single), and figurines that your work buddy or your dad will love to have on their desk. This is a brand for everyone, with the cool benefits of web3 and blockchain at its core.
Pudgy Toys creates a new channel for people to be introduced to cryptocurrency. People can now walk into a Walmart store and pick up a Pudgy Toy off the shelf or add it to their shopping cart on Amazon simply because it catches their eye.
This strategic move has proven to be highly effective, with over one million plush toys sold within the first year of retail launch. Demonstrating the appeal of Pudgy Penguins, the brand recently entered into a partnership with Lotte Group to expand its presence in South Korea and solidify its position as a global phenomenon.
But there’s more — these aren’t just toys. They’re the inspiration for NFT collectibles, which come with a fun pass into the world of blockchain, where new toys can come to life in a digital playground called Pudgy World.
Pudgy World is an engaging on-chain experience hosted on zkSync. It is available to anyone who purchases a Pudgy Toy from Walmart. By scanning a QR code, customers can enter Pudgy World, where they can collect digital traits and personalize their Pudgy character.
To further build the best on-chain experience, Pudgy Penguins’ parent company, Igloo Inc., acquired Frame to develop Abstract Chain, a consumer-focused layer 2 blockchain built on Matter Labs’ ZK Stack.
This strategic move aims to leverage the Pudgy Penguins community, culture, and distribution to drive the consumer cryptocurrency revolution. To fuel this ambitious project, Igloo recently received an $11 million investment led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
Just like that, Pudgy Penguins cleverly introduced the general public to cryptocurrency through the simple act of purchasing a physical toy. A small step for Pudgy Penguins, a giant leap for Web3.
Marketing and content distribution
Pudgy Penguin’s marketing and content is as inclusive as their products. From GIFs that even your grandma would love to share on WhatsApp, to Instagram clips that your friends would want to repost, there’s something for everyone. Pudgy Penguins is slowly but surely conquering the hearts of people around the world with their charm. Here’s a detailed explanation of how they’re doing it.
1) GIF
The Pudgy team worked together to create and share GIFs and memes, and it paid off, with Pudgy Penguin GIFs now a common sight on social media platforms.
Catering to a wide audience, these GIFs range from crypto-specific terms (like “wen”) to universally relatable scenes (like penguins dancing), showcasing the team’s understanding of crypto culture and broader public interests.
The strategy has been widely successful, with Pudgy Penguins GIFs and stickers on GIPHY having been viewed 15 billion times.
2) Instagram Marketing
Pudgy Penguins kicked off the first year of Instagram marketing in crypto. They became popular organically on Instagram thanks to fun and relatable posts featuring the adorable Pudgy Penguins. Today, they have over 1.3 million followers on Instagram.
Their content is relatable to everyone, and you’ll often find your friends engaging with their posts and videos without even realizing they’re interacting with the NFT brand. This approach has proven to be very effective.
3) Open communication and transparency
Luca has a YouTube channel where he posts regularly to keep his subscribers updated on the behind-the-scenes efforts of the team developing the Pudgy Penguins.
Additionally, the "Inner Igloo" community call is held bi-weekly on Discord. It provides a platform for the community to interact with Luca and the team (and vice versa).
All of these initiatives highlight the team’s commitment to transparency and community building. This will go a long way toward maintaining a positive atmosphere in the community.
4) Industry leaders as organic brand ambassadors
Many great crypto teams often have someone on the leadership team use Pudgy Penguin as a profile picture on social media. Not only do they own the NFT, they actually carry it around with them, anchoring their identity around it. It’s not for nothing that a Pudgy owner says “I am my penguin and my penguin is me.”
These individuals are effectively ambassadors for Pudgy Penguins. Their adoption of the brand not only validates the project, but also elevates Pudgy Penguins to a status symbol in cryptocurrency.
The beauty of it is its authenticity; it’s not something you can recreate with clever marketing. It either happens naturally or it doesn’t. It’s a testament to Pudgy Penguins’ ability to unite people and make them feel like they’re part of something big, embodying the true spirit of web3 as a collective.
It has become an aspirational symbol; owning a Pudgy Penguin means you join a club of the best in the industry. This sense of belonging strengthens the brand’s cultural impact and storytelling.
The above initiatives are just a few examples of the marketing prowess of the Pudgy Penguins team. They are well versed in all forms of marketing across a variety of platforms, from Twitter to hosting top-notch real-life events.
Summarize
Bold product expansion, creative marketing, a loyal community, and a CEO hell-bent on building Web3’s first breakthrough brand. Pudgy Penguins has the perfect combination to become a globally recognized brand.
We are witnessing a story unfolding — a glimpse of how Web3 and blockchain will eventually reach the masses. And it is gaining momentum. Pudgy Penguins are winning the hearts of people everywhere.
Looking ahead, the brand will take another step forward by releasing a mobile game in 2025. The game will allow players to interact with their Pudgy Penguins in entirely new ways, further deepening the connection between users and the brand.
