I know it’s been a while since the Pudgy Penguins toys dropped. You may be thinking Chain Witcher is late to the party, but not really. Now that the hype has settled and aged, we can look with an objective eye. Yes, Pudgy Penguins are the cutest characters and deserve all the love that could ever exist in the world. However, this is something way more than a cute NFT or Toy. Everyone, hold your pens and take note because this project teaches you how to do business in web3.
Let me put it out there first. Harsh truth be told, Pudgy Penguins succeeded where Doodles have failed. Why? Pudgy Penguins are not waiting for mass adoption, they are creating it. The project’s leaders built a whole damn highway between web2 and web3. Finally, managing to bridge Venus and Mars. Without further ado, let’s see what this web3 revolution is all about.
Pudgy Penguins: Recap
Before we get into Pudgy Penguins new Toys, let’s recap a little about what the whole project is. If you’re curious about the details, we got the whole Pudgy Penguins NFT project story covered here. If you already know, here’s a brief timeline:
- Mid July 2021 → Pudgy Penguins launched in the middle of the NFT bull run and sold-out in under 20 minutes.
- December 2021 → Pudgy Penguins Downfall → unprofessional leaders and disappointing airdrop reveal
- Jan 2022 → Pudgy Penguins labeled as a scammy rug-pulling “Cash grab” project and the CEO had dirt in his past.
- April 2022 → Luca Netz acquired Pudgy Penguins for 750 ETH and became its new CEO
- REBIRTH OF PUDGY PENGUINS → floor price rise from 1.55 ETH to 4.44 ETH
- July 2022 → Focus on NFT IP rights and community → Announced Pudgy Penguins Toys
- August 2022 → Created GIFs generator
- May 2023 → Pudgy Toys & Pudgy World Launch
What Are Pudgy Penguin Toys?
In trying to give the community a better experience and help them benefit from their NFTs, the Pudgy Penguin team came up with the idea of utilizing the IP rights into toys. This is where the genius idea to bridge a digital experience and physical was born. There are 20,000 Pudgy Penguins Toys licensed from 16 NFT holders. These digital NFTs are transformed into six types of physical toy collectibles at affordable prices :
• Figures → $20
• Positive Penguin → $25
• Huggable Plush →$25
• Plush Buddies → $20
• Clip-on Plush → $13
• Igloo Collectibles → $9
You can find them on Amazon, but right now they are out of stock. Why? because all 20,000 Pudgy Penguins toys sold out in 48 hours as sales reached $500,000! Upon release these adorable toys dominated the Amazon charts at #1. They even beat out legacy brands such as Disney, Transformers, Pokémon, Barbie, and Legos!
Today is the beginning of a new era for Web3.
We’re happy to announce that Pudgy Toys and Pudgy World are now available. pic.twitter.com/UKbkIAJzvS
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) May 18, 2023
Impact of Pudgy Penguins Toys on Floor Price
Each pudgy penguins toy comes with its own certificate to have your digital forever friend. You just need to scan a QR code and follow simple instructions. Without even realizing, you mint your first NFT on the blockchain! In a nutshell, that’s what Pudgy World is about. The sensational sales of the toys successfully lifted the floor price of Pudgy Penguins from 4.6 ETH to its ATH at 6.2 ETH. Even though the hype has faded out a bit, the Pudgy Penguins floor price still holds itself above 5 ETH. Despite the shaky NFT market and struggling NFT collections.
How Do Pudgy Penguins Toys Benefit Their NFT Community?
If you’re still wondering why Pudgy Penguins Toys were such a big deal for the community, I got you. Of course, the profit from the toys’ sales does not go directly to the owners, but to the company. However, these toys were licensed from 16 NFT holders. So, just like royalty fees, the holders get a cut from the physical sale of the toy. That’s one way to directly benefit the person holding the NFT of the toy.
The broader question, however, was raised by Wale Swoosh in a thread. How can Pudgy Penguins Toys benefit the community as a whole? Not the ones who are getting direct cuts from their licensed NFTs. You can check out the full thread here or read my summarized version.
How The Pudgy Penguins Community Benefits
Pudgy Penguins strategy is to create an independent revenue stream outside the web3 bubble. Probably there is a huge portion of NFT holders buying these toys, but this will decrease in the future. Reaching the masses , the anti-NFT crowd, comes in handy by adopting this independent business model Pudgy Penguins is adopting:
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- You can gain new fans outside of Web3 who might eventually want to own a Pudgy Penguins NFT.
- You don’t have to rely on mint revenue, which means no extra costs for holders.
So even if there is no direct profit distribution from the sale of the toys to holders, it has many long-term positive effects. Pudgy Penguins finally found the magical formula to bridge web3 and web2. Through these phygital toys they put their holders first and reach new people at the same time.
This was Doodles mistake. Renouncing their Web3 roots and disappointing their holders by claiming that Doodles is no longer an NFT project. That was their sinking anchor toward mass adoption.
Why is Pudgy Penguins Toys a Revolution for Web3?
Pudgy Toys and Pudgy World are not only a major catalyst for Pudgy Penguins, they’re a huge moment for crypto and Web3. The Pudgy Penguin vision is to inspire a connection and provide the everyday consumer with a non-intimidating first look into NFTs. Pudgy Penguins’ next updates are even more exciting that the toys:
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- Overpass will turn holder IP licensing into a super simple process.
- Pudgy Penguins will produce children’s books and movies.
- Pudgy holders can monetize their NFT individually. But if their commercial earnings exceed $500,000 in annual revenue, those holders are expected to work with the Pudgy team and enter into a licensing agreement.
The innovation? IP leveraging. This is one of the smartest ways to utilize being a holder of a non-fine art NFT. Give the NFT characters life, backstory, a message, an aesthetic, and watch how it wins over everyone’s hearts. Who didn’t fall in love with Ice Age, Madagascar , and Toy Story growing up? Have a great narrative and push the limits with storytelling.
This strategy could be a lifesaver for an industry facing challenges in terms of sales volume, overall activity, and enthusiasm for the NFT space. While more time is needed to see how such products will prove effective in onboarding the NFT-skeptics, Pudgy Penguins will definitely go down in history for breaking the box of web3.
Pudgy Toys mark a special moment in history. They are the first mass-market product licensed DIRECTLY from the community.
This will be the first time that NFTs and blockchain technology are introduced to the everyday consumer, in a seamless, non-intimidating way. pic.twitter.com/SOSFAjEubN
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) May 18, 2023
Was It Just the Pudgy Penguins Toys?
So does this mean just create a toy of your NFT project and a web3 revolution happens? Nope. You’re missing the big picture. It’s all about the Pudgy Penguins’ marketing strategy. Which is a freaking masterclass of doing business in web3 and appealing for web2 mass adoption. The pudgy penguins toys were a means to bring their cute NFT character IP to the tangible world.
Here’s a brief recap of how Pudgy Penguins approached their Marketing Strategy:
- Downplay the technology behind their brand.
- Remarkably strong presence on Instagram.
- Provide feel-good content in the Pudgy aesthetic and character narrative.
- Web2 Followers will find zero mention of the words “NFT” or “blockchain.”
- Create GIFs for everyone to use.
- Constant presence and communication with their web3 and web2 followers.
- the Web2 consumer doesn’t have to like NFTs to like the Pudgy Penguins.
What Does Mass Adoption Look Like?
When a project can transcend NFTs and become a household name and IP around the world, that is mass adoption. What’s super smart is that toy purchasers think that they’re just getting a cute penguin figurine. The trojan horse here is that they’re also getting a ticket to a digital world.
Web2 Consumers fall in love with the IP and from there make a decision as to how they support the brand. Whether it is by buying physical products or using GIFs. The more people that know the IP, the more value goes back to the original NFT collection. A win-win situation for web2 and web3.
I’ll end the Pudgy Penguins Toys serenade with a noteworthy thread from the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Claynosaurz.
Toys. In hindsight it was obvious 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Ua7t1wyAmT
— Cab 🌋 (@Cabanimation) May 19, 2023