How Pudgy Penguins Became a Blue-Chip NFT Project

Penguins are notably earthbound creatures. The Pudgy Penguin NFT collection, however, is held back by no such constraint.

In fact, Pudgy's are currently on a moonshot not seen since the 2021 NFT craze. Pudgy holders have received airdrops worth thousands of dollars from other projects. A strategic partnership with Walmart continues to pay normie dividends. And with Abstract Chain, their own L2 on the roadmap, the vibes are immaculate. Though things were not always this way.

In early 2022, Pudgy Penguins experienced some rough sledding. The floor price was down bad. The same NFTs that demand a premium today were being sold for less than 1ETH for more than a month. 

Rumors of money mismanagement by the founders, whispers of fights among the team members, and broken promises,  stirred up trouble. Things looked grim, and the community demanded a change in leadership. 

Enter Luca Netz. On January 6th, 2022, he took to Twitter (now X), to offer 750 ETH, or roughly $2.5 million for Pudgy Penguins. By April 2022, it was official: Netz and his team took the reins of Pudgy Penguins, acquiring the IP and the right to receive royalties from secondary sales.

With a background in digital marketing and e-commerce, and a knack for building consumer product brands, Luca has been just what the Pudgy Penguins needed. 

Today’s story is about how Pudgy Penguins turned things around to become a brand you can find on the shelves of Walmart. This is a masterclass in brand building that's unfolding right before our eyes.

How Pudgy Penguins Are Taking Over the World

On a recent podcast on Bankless, Luca shared how when he took over the project, he spent time chatting with members in the Pudgy Discord. He sought to understand the community's aspirations for the project's roadmap and the kind of brand they envisioned Pudgy Penguins evolving into.

These members weren't just people who invested financially in the project; they were the brand's ambassadors. It was key that Luca had the community by his side, rallying them around a shared mission of achieving greatness, setting the stage for what was to come.

There are many lessons there in how Luca, the team, and the community approached various aspects of brand building

Clear Messaging and Positioning 

After aligning with the community, the vision for Pudgy Penguins was set: establish Pudgy Penguins as a recognizable and beloved brand across the world—not just crypto.

Luca's vision was to break barriers and instead of waiting for mass adoption, create it. He wanted to build an inclusive brand that resonated with people from the crypto industry and was also endearing to children and people from all demographics. He saw this as a way to introduce crypto to families – fostering a positive, welcoming community centered around the adorable Penguin characters.

We’ve had plenty of mainstream adoption stories, like NBA Top Shot that brought NFTs to the masses by giving fans a new way to connect with their favorite players. We’ve also had our moment in the spotlight with celebrities going gaga for Bored Apes a few years ago. But Pudgy Penguins are breaking ground and going one step further with Web3’s first real attempt at taking crypto and NFTs global, by building a brand that’s universally appealing.

Product Expansion 

In May 2023, Pudgy Penguins expanded its brand into the physical world with the launch of Pudgy Toys. This new line, featuring plushies, figurines, and other collectibles inspired by the digital collection, became available through its official website and on major e-commerce platforms, including Amazon.

It was in September 2023, when Pudgy Penguins made a groundbreaking move. In an industry first, they announced a partnership with Walmart, which saw Pudgy Toys being stocked in 2,000 Walmart locations across the United States. 5 months later in April 2024, this expanded to 3,1000 stores.

The importance of this moment in making Pudgy Penguins a global brand cannot be understated. Pudgy Penguins creating physical toys will change the mental models that the world has for NFTs.

Until now, we’ve only thought about NFTs as digital collectibles, which they are, but they can be so much more than that and Pudgys prove it. Not only does a Pudgy Penguin have adorable art that’s cherished by everyone, it now comes with added value and real-world utility. 

Pudgy Penguins as a brand isn’t just for the typical crypto bro. Adorable Penguin toys for kids, cuddly plushies that you can gift your girlfriend on Valentines (this is obviously a joke, we know crypto bros are as single as they come), and figurines that your your buddy at work or your dad would love on their desk. It's a brand that's for everyone, with the cool edge of web3 and blockchain at its core.

Pudgy Toys create a new funnel for onboarding people to crypto. People can now walk into a Walmart store and pick up a Pudgy Toy off the shelf, or add it to their carts on Amazon, just because it catches their eye.

This strategic move has proven highly effective, with over a million plush toys sold within the first year of retail launch. Demonstrating the appeal of Pudgy Penguins, the brand recently formed a partnership with Lotte Group to expand its reach into South Korea, solidifying its position as a global phenomenon.

But there's more—these aren't just toys. They’re an NFT collection inspired collectible that comes with a fun pass to the world of blockchain, where the new toy can come to life in a digital playground, called Pudgy World.

Pudgy World is an engaging onchain experience hosted on zkSync. It is accessible to anyone purchasing a Pudgy Toy from Walmart. By scanning a QR code, customers could enter Pudgy World, where they could collect digital traits and personalize their Pudgy characters. 

To go one step further in building the best onchain 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 a consumer crypto revolution accessible. To fuel this ambitious project, Igloo recently secured an $11 million investment led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

And just like that, with the simple act of buying a physical toy, Pudgy Penguins are ingeniously onboarding the general public to crypto. One small step for Pudgy Penguins, one giant leap for Web3.

Marketing and Content Distribution

Pudgy Penguin's marketing and content are as inclusive as their products. From GIFs even your grandma would love to share on WhatsApp, to relatable Instagram reels your friends will want to forward, there’s something for everyone. Slowly but surely, Pudgy Penguins are charming their way into the hearts of people across the world. Here’s a breakdown of how they’re doing it.

1) GIFs

The Pudgy team's concerted effort to create and share GIFs and memes has paid off, with Pudgy Penguin GIFs now a common find on social media platforms. 

These GIFs cater to a broad audience, featuring everything from crypto-specific jargon like ‘wen’ to universally relatable scenes like a Penguin busting dance moves, showcasing the team's understanding of both the crypto culture and the wider public's interests. 

This strategy has been widely successful and Pudgy Penguins GIFs and stickers on GIPHY have reached 15 billion views.

2) Instagram marketing 

Pudgy Penguins started the Instagram marketing meta in crypto. Thanks to the enjoyable and relatable posts that feature the lovable Pudgy Penguins, they’ve gone viral on Instagram organically. Today, they have over 1.3 million followers on Instagram. 

Their content is relatable for everyone, and often you’ll find your friends engaging with their posts and reels, without even realizing they’re engaging with an NFT brand. This approach has proven to be highly effective.

3) Open communication and transparency 

Luca has a YouTube channel where he posts regularly, giving subscribers a behind-the-scenes look at the team's efforts to grow Pudgy Penguins.

Additionally, there’s an 'Inner Igloo' community call held every two weeks on Discord. It gives the community a platform to engage with Luca and the team (and vice versa).

All these initiatives highlight the team’s commitment to transparency and building with the community. It goes a long way in keeping the vibes positive in the community.

4) Industry leaders as organic brand ambassadors 

Many great teams in crypto often have someone from the leadership team donning a Pudgy Penguin as their profile picture on social media. They don’t just own the NFT, but in fact take it with them everywhere, anchoring their identity around it. It’s not for no reason that Pudgy owners say ‘I am my penguin and my penguin is me’. 

These people are de facto ambassadors for Pudgy Penguins. Them adopting the brand not only validates the project but also elevates Pudgy Penguins to a symbol of status in crypto. 

The beauty of it lies in its authenticity; it's not something you can recreate with clever marketing. It either happens organically or it doesn't. It's proof of Pudgy Penguins' ability to unite people and make them feel they’re part of something big, embodying the true spirit of web3 as a collective.

It's become an aspirational symbol; owning a Pudgy Penguin means you're part of a club with some of the industry's best minds. This sense of belonging adds to the brand's cultural impact and story. 

The initiatives mentioned above are just a few examples of the Pudgy Penguins team's marketing prowess. They have a strong hold on all forms of marketing that spans various platforms, from Twitter to hosting top-notch real-life events.

Closing Thoughts

Bold product expansions, creative marketing, a loyal community, and a CEO that’s hell-bent on building Web3’s first breakout brand. Pudgy Penguins has the perfect mix to make it a universally recognisable brand.

We're witnessing a narrative unfold—a glimpse of how Web3 and blockchain could ultimately reach the masses. And it's gaining momentum. Pudgy Penguins are winning over hearts and minds everywhere.

Looking ahead, the brand is set to take another leap forward with the release of a mobile game in 2025. This game will allow players to interact with their Pudgy Penguins in a whole new way, further deepening the connection between users and the brand.