The CEO of Pudgy Penguins — a nonfungible token project that recently launched a line of “phygitals” on Amazon despite the bear market — has offered one piece of sage advice to budding projects: Stop talking about crypto.
Speaking with Cointelegraph, 24-year-old entrepreneur Luca Netz said that many NFT projects overwhelm people with Web3 jargon and information, making it almost unapproachable for newcomers:
“If you look at the other NFTs in the space, can everyone really get it? […] I think they’re trying to drown crypto and Web3 down people’s throats. That’s not what people want. People want amazing products.”
Since he took over Pudgy Penguins in April 2022, Netz stated that the project has opted for a Web3/blockchain as a “back end, not front end” approach.
This essentially boils down to bringing as much attention to the IP as possible, in an easily digestible way, he said, adding:
“So our focus is really, how do we create a lovable character that everyone loves? And as the space evolves as the technology matures, you know, teach that user base that we’re in NFTs.”
“Everything that we do and everything that you’ll see us do is ‘how do we get more familiarity and brand awareness around our characters?’ and that’s really at the top of the totem pole for us,” he added.
We’re doing everything we said we would. The best part? We’re just getting started. https://t.co/iNEhoDkWvQ
— Luca Netz (@LucaNetz) May 20, 2023
Huggable Pudgy Penguins
One of the key initiatives that Netz has introduced is the physical or “phygital” Pudgy Penguins collectibles, which are designed from the IP of around 16 different NFTs from the collection.
Each toy comes with a scannable code that people can use to unlock blockchain-based digital penguin customizations to make their own unique NFT. All in a user-friendly way.
In a Twitter Spaces in late May, Netz claimed that toys pulled in $500,000 worth of sales from around 20,000 units within two days of debut on Amazon on May 18.
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