Interview: Jack, BlockBeats
Organized by: Sharon, Luccy, kaori, Joyce, BlockBeats
Editor: Jaleel, BlockBeats
At the end of July 2021, Pudgy Penguins was officially released. What surprised the team was that all 8,888 fat penguins were sold out in less than 20 minutes. What’s even more surprising is that a few days later, Pudgy Penguins took advantage of the “zoo” trend driven by BAYC and achieved a hundredfold increase.
However, shortly after the price of Pudge Penguins took off, the famous on-chain detective @zachxbt posted an article pointing out that the founder of Pudgy Penguins @ColeThereum had Rug experience in real life and on the blockchain, and had received funds to pay for shouting Order and other bad behaviors. However, under the hot market at that time, the charm of Pudgy Penguins did not seem to be compromised much.
Until early January 2022, 9x9x9 issued a long tweet accusing the Pudgy Penguins founding team of wanting to take the money and run away. 9x9x9 said that the Pudgy Penguins founding team wanted to sell the project to him at a price of 888 ETH, but what was sold would only be an empty shell and they would leave with all the income. Previously, 9x9x9 tried to acquire Pudgy Penguins, and the offer was 4,000 ETH in exchange for 20% of Pudgy Penguins shares. After the founding team of Pudgy Penguins got another money from backers by releasing a new series of Lil Pudgys, they actually found him again and tried to sell it cheap at a much lower price than before, and the team promised Game production, recruitment of developers and other things have not been done.
Related Reading:From losing hope to becoming the best seller on Amazon, what did the “Fat Penguin” brand do right?》
At the time, 9x9x9 owned 242 Pudgy Penguins and had minted 540 Lil Pudgys, so everyone believed his accusation. After all, what reason does a big position holder have to fud over his own positions?
The communitys dissatisfaction with the Pudgy Penguins founding team reached its peak, and they were so angry that they even voted to remove founder @ColeThereum on Discord. At the same time, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins also fell to a record low of 0.519 ETH.
Angry community demands change (Image: @Takeshi 48878925)
9x9x9 did not accept the offer of 888 ETH. The final savior offered 750 ETH and bought the project from the founding team of Pudgy Penguins. This person is Luca Netz, the current CEO of Pudgy Penguins.
Today, during the Token 2049 conference in Singapore, BlockBeats conducted an exclusive interview with Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins.
Team coaching change Heroes Return
Before becoming the CEO of Pudgy Penguins, Luca Netz tried to work as a rapper, and also entered the smart doorbell company Ring to try to be a serious office worker. Later, when Luca Netz worked for a solar panel company, he came into contact with e-commerce by chance and began to explore the drop shipping business. He discovered his potential in electronic marketing and took it to the extreme, becoming a millionaire at the age of 19.
This experience gave Luca Netz an e-commerce operation capability that is rare among talents in the NFT circle. This is the main reason why Fat Penguin is always sold out on Amazon.
After becoming associated with Fat Penguin, Luca Netz showed the entire community what can be described as fast arrangements and planning - from the brand positioning of the project, to future development plans and required talents, to community activity organization and related content production , exposure through multiple channels, etc., Luca Netz has arranged everything clearly. Luca Netz is not only the savior who took over the hot potato in the communitys mouth, but also acted as the return hero who brought the project back to life and took on a new look.
BlockBeats: When the whole FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) thing happened, why did you choose Pudgy Penguins? What value do you see in it?
Luca Netz：If you understand NFTs and their benefits, a lot of it has to do with community, intellectual property, and culture. From my perspective, these are the things that make Pudgy Penguins so great.
BlockBeats: Of all the other projects, why was Pudgy Penguins chosen in particular?
Luca Netz：I think Pudgy Penguins has the greatest potential for mass democratization of intellectual property. We have some of the most lovable and wonderful characters in the industry, and our characters appeal to people of all ethnic backgrounds and geographies. I think were ahead of everyone else on this
Why are Pudgy Penguins always sold out on Amazon?
Since December last year, the market value of the well-known NFT project Pudgy Pengunis has almost maintained a continuous growth momentum. At that time, it also attracted celebrities such as famous NBA star Stephen Curry and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to purchase it. On May 19 this year, Pudgy Penguins officially announced that its physical doll Pudgy Toys will be available on Amazon.com. Pudgy Toys quickly topped the new-product sales charts, beating out Barbie, Lego and Pokémon.
Pudgy Penguins NFT products have also attracted a large number of followers in the Chinese world because of their cute images, and are affectionately known as Pudgy Penguins. This Fat Penguin project has had experiences such as the founder being removed and the team changing coaches. The current CEO Luca Netz bought the project from the founding team of Fat Penguin for 750 ETH in April 2022. Behind his rough life, what will be the future development of Fat Penguin? The community cares a lot about this.
According to Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz, within two days after its release (although Pudgy Penguins only officially announced that the toy would be online on Amazon on May 19, it was already available for purchase on Amazon on May 17), the sales volume of Pudgy Toyz More than 20,000 units, with sales exceeding $500,000.
According to Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz on Twitter Space, within two days of its release (although Pudgy Penguins only officially announced that the toy would be available on Amazon on May 19, it was already available for purchase on Amazon on May 17). Toyz sold more than 20,000 units and generated sales of more than $500,000. This is really a ridiculously good data... because during the two days of sale, only American users can purchase it.
Because of this, Pudgy Penguins can be regarded as a legend in the NFT circle.
BlockBeats: When promoting digital collectibles, what special techniques can you use to meet the needs of more consumers?
Luca Netz：I think thats something weve learned in marketing over the last six years. We have the best marketing team not only in the NFT and Web3 space, but in the entire crypto space. Although there are other NFT projects that are also being commercialized, the results are not good.
BlockBeats: On Amazon, your products often sell out as soon as they become available. So what do you think your popularity is?
Luca Netz：Because we have a better marketing team, but about the technical details, I cant say, I cant let others know.
BlockBeats: You are building an IP market. What is the idea behind it?
Luca Netz：I think IP is a great way to provide utility to our holders, and its important to have a market to profitably and seamlessly distribute Web3 IP.
BlockBeats: How do you view and respond to upcoming royalty cuts? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Luca Netz：I dont think we will have any problems from a royalty perspective, but 99.9% of NFT projects will fail due to lack of royalties. But I think this is a bad thing, after all, growth is achieved through incentives, and there are no incentives for current projects making NFTs.
BlockBeats: What do you think of the future of PFP and NFT fields? Is the narrative still there?
Luca Netz：Yes, I totally think NFTs and PFPs have a future. I think it will come back bigger and better. In terms of narrative, its clear that people still tie their digital identities to the price of NFTs.
Fat Penguin is the Trojan Horse of the real world
From virtual to physical, Fat Penguin seems to advance the narrative of NFT into the web2 world. Some people question: Does Fat Penguin just exist as a toy?
Regarding this issue, Luca Netz once said in an interview with the media that Fat Penguin regards physical toys as a Trojan horse for the web3 ecosystem and NFT: Unfortunately, NFT revenue is not sustainable and cannot really grow. And These toys are designed to make the company more sustainable. At the same time, we want to create an intellectual property that transcends this ecosystem, and the way I know how to do that is through physical products.”
Indeed, physical products are the real bridge between the virtual world and the real world.
In a panel at this Token 2049 conference, Luca Netz also responded again: When you buy a Fat Penguin, scan the code to enter the collection interface of a digital collection, or any other web3 application interface. You will have access to crypto and web3. Any brand must show an amiable image as much as possible when reaching new users.
In addition, Luca Netz also said that providing people with emotional value is also one of the core points of NFTs foothold in the entire encryption industry - after all, who would refuse a cute fat penguin?
BlockBeats: What do you think is the greatest value of NFTs for people?
Luca Netz：I think peoples emotional attachment and emotional utility to characters are the core of NFTs ability to grow solidly in the market. If I buy a Pudgy Penguin toy for my niece, and I own a Pudgy Penguin NFT, it’s not because of the price, it’s because of the emotional connection I have as a member of this community. Those NFT or PFP projects that dont look very friendly, I think they will fail.
BlockBeats: So the future of PFP and NFT should just be cute images?
Luca Netz：Think about what is popular in Asia. What do you see on all the taxis? What do you see in every store and mall? Is it a cool masculine NFT, or a cute NFT? Definitely a cute NFT. This holds true all over the world, it has been proven everywhere.
BlockBeats: What consumer products do you plan to launch in the future, or are there any projects in the pipeline?
Luca Netz：More collectibles, more toys, and executed in a bigger and better way. At present, our products include various peripheral products, but mainly toys, which is also the direction we are most concerned about.
BlockBeats: Will you develop your own games?
Luca Netz：Youll find out soon, but I dont want to set too many expectations.
BlockBeats: When you bring these toys to market, are you using the same strategy as Web 2 companies, or are there other differences?
Luca Netz：Basically the strategy is the same, but as weve learned over the past few months, things happen one after another, so we need to have more Web 2-like strategies.
BlockBeats: What would you say to people who are building NFT projects?
Luca Netz：I would advise them to listen to the community and not ignore them, I think that should be the most important thing.
