In 2023, the "King of NFT" is none other than Pudgy Penguins. When the entire NFT market was in a downturn, the transaction volume and floor price of blue-chip NFT series such as BAYC, Moonbird, and Doodles fell sharply, but Pudgy Penguins went against the trend, and the floor price continued to rise, constantly breaking historical highs, and even broke the 18 ETH mark at the end of last month.
The rise of Pudgy Penguins is not only reflected in the surge in floor prices, but also in its deep understanding and practice of IP creation, community building and offline integration. At the same time, Pudgy Penguins' diversified layout of physical toys, games, etc. is also being rolled out and has achieved relatively remarkable results. These factors together have enabled them to stand out in the highly competitive NFT market and laid a solid foundation for future development.
How did Pudgy Penguins come about? What are the major plans for 2024? Is it possible to issue tokens? Will NFT holders receive airdrops similar to DYM in the future? In response to a series of community concerns, Foresight News conducted an exclusive interview with Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz to get a glimpse into the project's core competitiveness and future development plans.
What are Pudgy Penguins’ core competitive advantages?
Pudgy Penguins' outstanding performance did not happen overnight. From brand building, IP creation to the accumulation and sedimentation of online and offline joint marketing, every link has laid a solid foundation for the development of Pudgy Penguins.
Regarding Pudgy Penguins’ core competitive advantage, Luca Netz said, “We have globally recognized IP and have done large-scale marketing and distribution. Branding and marketing are the key to the development of the industry, and this is where Pudgy Penguins leads the NFT industry. When the technology is similar, we have to work hard on branding and marketing, and the power of branding is infinite.”
Brand Building
An excellent IP has characteristics such as strong sense of identity, high recognition and appropriate role positioning. The cute and cute image of Pudgy Penguins complements its role positioning. It not only meets the current young people's aesthetic pursuit of cuteness and cuteness, but also can trigger emotional resonance among audiences of different ages, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
As Luca Netz said, in addition to macro factors, one of the main reasons why many NFT series fell into a period of stagnation in 2023 was the lack of substance or content, and Pudgy Penguins has been building a real brand over the past two years.
In addition, the launch of physical dolls, plush dolls, decorative pins, etc. has made the character image of Pudgy Penguins more three-dimensional and full. This consistency of image enables fans to quickly establish a connection with the virtual image when they come into contact with the physical products, further deepening their identification with Pudgy Penguins. Regarding physical toys, Luca Netz told Foresight News that Pudgy Penguins sold more than 750,000 physical toys in seven months.
marketing
In Luca Netz's view, marketing is also one of Pudgy Penguins' most important core competitive advantages. In today's digital age with highly developed social media, a good IP needs to be good at using these platforms to expand its influence, dissemination and exposure, and enhance fans' sense of belonging and participation. Pudgy Penguins also focuses on launching interesting and creative content quickly and frequently to meet users' needs for freshness and immediacy.
Pudgy Penguins has adopted a series of targeted strategies to convey Pudgy Penguins' brand concept and product information to the target audience through channels such as social media and offline physical product sales.
Speaking with data, Luca Netz said that Pudgy Penguins receives billions of impressions every month.
Pudgy Penguins has more than 8,300 related GIFs on the animated GIF image search engine, with a cumulative total of 13.8 billion views;
Pudgy Penguins has 1.235 million followers on Instagram, with tens of thousands of likes on each post;
Pudgy Penguins has 250,000 followers on TikTok, the overseas version of Douyin, and has received 7.1 million likes. Among them, the first short video at the top has been played nearly 13 million times.
In addition to online marketing and activities, Pudgy Penguins also frequently appears at offline events such as the Miami Basel Art Fair, adding more exposure and influence to its brand. Regarding offline activities, according to Luca Netz, it has some more important plans in 2024.
IP authorization
Pudgy Penguins also establishes closer ties and shared win-win values with NFT holders, making Pudgy Penguins more competitive in the market by sharing its success and commercial value with holders.
Luca Netz said, “Pudgy Penguins recently paid millions of dollars in licensing royalties to Pudgy Penguins NFT holders who licensed the IP, and more Pudgy Penguins licenses will be obtained later. We hope to become the first franchise IP in the Web3 field and will become the next IP like Hello Kitty and Pokemon.”
Just at the end of last month, Pudgy Penguins released the IP licensing platform OverpassIP, which supports large-scale, transparent, on-chain authorization of IP holders. This also marks an important step for Pudgy Penguins in promoting NFT authorization and materialization.
At the same time, Pudgy Penguins launched the second chapter of the Pudgy Toys toy license application, which will bring 88 Pudgy Penguins and Lil Pudgys into real life and make them into plush toys, dolls and other physical toys, so that more fans and consumers can experience the charm of these fat penguins firsthand.
Pudgy Penguins joins the game, bringing a new interactive experience
In order to further expand its brand influence, explore new business models and provide richer and more diverse interactive experiences, Pudgy Penguins is also entering the gaming field. Luca Netz previously emphasized the importance of consumer-oriented products in the Web3 field.
Pudgy Penguins plans to launch two arcade games and the Pudgie World game in 2024, which is the implementation of this view. Luca Netz also said that providing excellent game products is its next short- and medium-term challenge and priority. Currently, 15 people work full-time at Pudgie World.
Regarding the two arcade games, one is a crane and the other is a two-player Runner Game. These games will be interesting and challenging, providing players with a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere, allowing players to have fun in the game and deepen their understanding of Pudgy Penguins.
In addition to arcade games, Pudgie World is another priority for Pudgy Penguins in 2024. Pudgie World is a game that Pudgy Penguins plans to launch in the first or second quarter of this year. The game is powered by zkSync and aims to create an interesting on-chain open world narrative experience that can be played by millions of people.
Pudgy World is a closed-loop digital experience for the physical Pudgy Penguins product, blending the real world and digital experience. Pudgy physical toy holders can scan the included QR code, create an account, redeem features and customize Forever Pudgy Penguin. An important part of the Pudgy World Alpha launch is the introduction of new characters Pudgy & Peaches.
Luca Netz's description of Pudgy World is exciting. He described it as a game similar to an MMO RPG, which is fun, simple and easy to use. Although there will be elements of NFT and wallets in the game, these will be abstracted, making the gaming experience closer to a regular game.
More importantly, the physical Pudgy toy is not just a simple doll, but also comes with a unique QR code, which can be scanned to access the Pudgy World game. The combination of physical toys and gaming experience can bring a new way of interaction and business model to Pudgy Penguins, breaking the limitations of traditional toys and allowing fans to move freely between reality and virtuality and enjoy a more immersive entertainment experience. At the same time, this will also greatly help enhance Pudgy Penguins' brand image and IP value.
To sum up, Pudgy Penguins's ability to stand out in the NFT field is indeed due to its recognizable character positioning, brand and IP building, online and offline interactive experience, innovative marketing strategies and upcoming gamification experience. These factors together constitute Pudgy Penguins' core competitive advantage, enabling it to stand out in the NFT field.
Scripts are easy to copy, but culture is not. However, Pudgy Penguins' experience is of great reference significance to other NFT project parties and entrepreneurs. It will inspire more teams and individuals to promote the development and innovation of the NFT field and jointly promote the prosperity and progress of the entire industry.
other problems
Luca Netz answers other questions from the community below.
Foresight News: How many people are there on the Pudgy Penguins team?
Luca Netz: Pudgy Penguins currently has a team of 60 people and is planning to expand the team by hiring creative directors, art directors, 2D illustrators, 2D animators, Web GL developers, etc.
Foresight News: Could you give us a rough idea of Pudgy Penguins’ income and expenditure?
Luca Netz: We had $10 million in the bank after we completed our seed round last year, and we have over $10 million in the bank now, and we just delivered $10 million in retail sales, and in terms of expenses, we are spending $400,000 to $500,000 a month, and I think we are doing a good job in terms of revenue and expenses.
Foresight News: What plans and ideas do you have for the future of Pudgy Penguins and what are your personal goals for 2024?
Luca Netz: I hope Pudgy Penguins will become the first franchise IP in the Web3 space, the next Hello Kitty, the next Pokemon. It takes a long time to build a brand like Pokemon or Disney, but I think we can go viral and quickly break through the mainstream market. I hope that by the end of this year, the mainstream market will really recognize us.
Foresight News: After Pudgy Penguins’ success in attracting attention, it is expected that some other NFT projects will explore the toy and licensing route. Do you think this is replicable?
Luca Netz: I do think a lot of other NFT projects will try to copy, but the difference is that we have the most lovable, unique characters and have the strongest community.
Foresight News: Is it possible for Pudgy Penguins to issue tokens?
In response to this question, Luca Netz gave a vague answer, saying, "We will always do what is in the best interests of the community and have been practicing this principle. I made a promise to them a long time ago and I plan to fulfill that promise, so this is the only answer I can give you." Luca Netz responded three times in a row to the possibility of issuing tokens, saying "no comment".
Foresight News: Dymension’s DYM airdrop distribution targets include Pudgy Penguins NFT holders. Will Pudgy Penguins NFT holders receive similar airdrops in the future?
Luca Netz: I think so. The Pudgy Penguins community is made up of some of the most important builders in cryptocurrency, many of whom are diamond hands and early adopters of cryptocurrency. Therefore, when you airdrop tokens to the Pudgy Penguins community, you will be able to attract attention. There are currently at least 4 protocols communicating with us, and Pudgy Penguins NFT holders will most likely receive similar airdrops in the future.
Foresight News: What do you think about the development trend of NFT? In your opinion, when will the NFT craze explode?
Luca Netz: I think the NFT craze will explode again in the next 6 to 12 months. The digital collectibles market has a lot of room for development. It currently only accounts for 1% of the collectibles market (physical collectibles account for 99%). For NFT investors, now is a very good opportunity and they need to actively pay attention to and participate in the development of the market.
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