The current crypto bear market has caused major turmoil in the Web3 sector, which has negatively impacted the growth of many decentralized projects, including NFTs. This essentially makes it very difficult for any platform or collection to gain any traction in the current climate. However, some projects are built differently and are thriving, while others have failed. One such success story comes in the form of Pudgy Penguins NFTs.
What are Pudgy Penguins NFTs?
Pudgy penguins represents a collection of 8,888 collectible NFTs created on the Ethereum network in July 2021. The project was co-founded by Cole Villemain, Clayton Patterson and two pseudonymous members (“MickyJ” and “Jonah”). The Pudgy Penguins Collection is a classic PFP NFT that provides exclusive benefits to its holders (called “Pengus” or members of the “Huddle”), including access to events, experiences, IP licensing opportunities and much more.
At launch, the Pudgy Penguin NFTs were minted for 0.03 ETH and quickly sold out within 20 minutes of their release, allowing enthusiasts to seek them out on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea. After launch, the average bottom price Reportedly rose from 0.04 ETH in July to 3.49 ETH in August 2021. However, the bottom price fell from September to December 2021, dropping to 0.88 ETH. This decline was accompanied by several accusations against the founders, including a deviation from the project’s roadmap.
This development resulted in several Pengus (Pudgy Penguin holders) wrapping the Penguin NFTs METADROP in a new collection, preventing them from paying royalties to the accused founders and their team. At the launch of the NFT project, the founders announced their goals, which included creating an educational book for children about NFTs, a virtual game for the ecosystem, and a custom token for the ecosystem, among others. However, the community feared that the founders would abandon the project as nothing came of their original promises. This led to a partial decline in the project’s floor price from late 2021 to early 2022.
The game changer
With accusations flying around social media and the community (Twitter and Discord), Villemain and Patterson were kicked out of the company in January 2022 after a vote on Discord. Meanwhile, one of the Diamond hands of the PFP NFTs, who advocated rebalancing the original objectives of the project, was approached to buy the company at 888 ETH, which he declined and announced in a press release. tweet thread. However, after several buyout offers from reputable investors in the NFT space, Pudgy Penguins was sold to Luca Schnetzler (Netz) for 750 ETH in April 2022, relinquishing the founders.
The Netz Magic Wand
Amid the unfavorable NFT market of 2022, where several NFT prices plummeted, Netz and his team managed to right the Penguin’s ship on a favorable course, increasing daily sales and average price to over 3 ETH . Since then, the project has performed admirably in the bear market, reaching a price floor of 5.3 ETH (at the time of writing).
How Netz Pudgy Penguin Navigated Staying Relevant in the Bearish Market Trend
The acquisition of Pudgy Penguins from its original founders proved to be an exciting move for Netz, his team and the entire Pudgy Penguin community. His leadership has managed to brew lemonade from the lemon in the bearish market, restoring the project’s commitment to its objectives. Netz integrated an exciting business model from his entrepreneurial spirit, rebranding the Pudgy Penguin NFT ecosystem through the following models.
Getting back on track
Netz and his team quickly took action after acquiring the Pudgy Penguins. As a result, they reactivated the project’s original objectives and continued to achieve them. First, Netz has rebranded the company by securing and authenticating its official social media accounts on Instagram, Twitter, Discord, and TikTok. He further established the company’s brand colors, logos, voice and fonts and restated its mission. Within three weeks of the acquisition, the company hired key team members and began rolling out content and messaging to the community and potential customers.
Taking the bull by the horns
Netz wasn’t kidding when he said their goal is to dominate the NFT space through innovative products, partnerships and storytelling. On August 26, 2022, Pudgy Penguins announced his plan to release the planned Penguin-themed children’s book. The company partnered with Green Kids Club to realize and establish its storytelling goals.
Additionally, Pudgy Penguins founded the IP rights in December 2022, allowing Pengus to use their NFTs for commercial use and expect to earn up to $500,000 annually. IP rights also give owners the ability to sublicense their NFTs to a third party for commercial purposes. However, these rights are transferable once owners resell their NFT to another buyer.
Collaboration with renowned brands
On February 15, 2023, Pudgy Penguins partnered with Hologram Labs to integrate 3D models into Pudgy Penguins. This groundbreaking partnership allows Pengus to use their NFTs to create content on YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Vtube. Owners can also use their penguins in video calls.
Also Pudgy Penguins on February 20, 2023 partnered with Retail Monster in its effort to expand its project goals. This partnership paved the way for a new Pudgy Penguins toy, with Retail Monster becoming the official distributor at launch.
Community gatherings
Pudgy Penguins took another decisive step by organizing physical gatherings for its community members in February 2023. This initiative promotes virtual and physical community bonding among its members, and was held in New York City, Beijing, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Seouland Singapore. These meetups serve as makeup for the NFT Winter Art Basel event December 2022.
Add more to the luggage
Netz has continued his ambition to expand the Pudgy Penguins brand beyond the NFT space. As such, the company applied for trademarks in printed comic books, trading cards, candy, snacks, board games, hoodies, hats, virtual goods, multimedia, and so on.
Another milestone debut
On May 18, 2023, Pudgy Penguins revealed its Pudgy Toys and Pudgy Worldwhich marks its debut in the realm of Phygital collectibles.
The Pudgy World is a digital platform connecting newcomers to the decentralized space with NFTs and blockchain; it’s more like an introductory portal to the decentralized landscape. PMI Toys and Retail Monster distributed the physical Pudgy toys, which can be purchased at reputable retailers such as Amazon. Pudgy toys are not random toys in the store; they represent another stylish NFT collection. Recently (on September 26, 2023), Pudgy Toys, together with Pudgy World, expanded its market reach to 2,000 Walmart stores in the US, promoting Pudgy Toys and the Pudgy Penguins into the physical world at large.
Unlike failed updates to Azuki and DeGods’ NFT collections, the toy’s reveal was instrumental in increasing the average floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs to 6.2 ETH on May 20, 2023. Unlocking Pudgy Toys Unlocks effectively both Soulbound and tradable NFTs. Additionally, Pudgy Toys has raised the bar on NFTs by tying physical items to each item; It Reportedly sold more than $500,000 worth of toys on Amazon in the first two days, to claim first place ahead of other renowned brands.
The Pudgy Bridge
What is the point of an exclusive item with restrictions?
The Pudgy Bridge allows users to transfer the Penguins’ NFTs across multiple networks and interact with different ecosystems. Users can transfer their Pudgy Penguins NFT from the Ethereum network to Polygon via MetaMask, Coinbase wallet or WalletConnect using the bridge.
$9 million in financing
Every investor likes to put his money in a profitable investment basket. Such was the case with the multiple investors who raised $9 million in seed funding from Pudgy Penguins in May 2023. The funding was led by 1kx, with participation from renowned brands such as Big Brain Holdings, Kronos, Ethersole, LayerZero, Shima Capital, Old Fashion Research and more.
To maintain relevance, Netz doesn’t slow down at all; The team at Pudgy Penguin continues to strengthen the community and the entire NFT space. Apart from the groundbreaking success achieved, such as reviving the project from zero to millions of dollars, a total volume of over 187,000 ETH, an increase in the average floor price from 0.04 ETH to 5.3 ETH, and investing in seed funds, the company continues to unveil new projects to boost their development. focuses on the intended goals. These include:
- Soulbound Tokens (SBTs): PenguPins and truePengu
- SoulTransport
- Pudgy Clans
- Monthly MVP Soulbound Token for outstanding community members
- High quality internal collectibles
- Pudgy Penguin Metaverse Rumors
Want more? Connect with NFT Plazas
Sign up for the weekly newsletter
follow us on twitter
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational materials only. Individuals are required to fully research any product before making any form of investment.