Rhythm Exclusive Interview with Pudgy Penguins CEO: We Want to Surpass Hello Kitty, and We Want to Surpass Pokémon

He doesn't stockpile goods, only focuses on marketing and conversion, captures the trend effectively, and leaves the supply chain to others. This drop-shipping model helped him earn his first bucket of gold. Two years later, he sold the entire project as a package and made $8 million.

That year, he had just turned 18.

Later, he started to engage in genuine brand building, from category planning, storytelling, to channel strategy, attempting to set up a complete system.

Afterward, he shifted focus to real brand building. From category planning, storytelling, to channel strategy, he started to establish a complete system. He has built his own DTC brand and also helped old-school brands like Von Dutch re-enter the youth's vision.

He also founded the toy gun brand Gel Blaster and served as the CMO. During the post-pandemic window, he seized the attention of teenagers, created buzz on TikTok, and then penetrated offline retail superstores.

Luca is not just a marketer. He oversees product lines, focuses on content strategies, and studies how channels can be aligned. What he excels at is taking something from being seen, to being liked, and then making people willing to pay for it.

All the strategies of Pudgy Penguins had already taken shape at that time.

Pudgy Penguins was once one of the blue-chip NFT projects in 2021, but by 2022, the community was divided, the founding team was voted out by the community, market sentiment hit rock bottom, and the NFT's "IP cultural narrative" had basically been sentenced to death.

Without hesitation, in April 2022, Luca purchased the entire project for 750 ETH (approximately $2.5 million). He said Pudgy Penguins was the first NFT he bought. Besides nostalgia, what facilitated this acquisition was the sixth sense cultivated through years of brand experience. He saw the boundless potential in this chubby penguin.

Although he was not the founder of Pudgy Penguins, he gave Pudgy Penguins a new life.

Today's Pudgy Penguins is no longer the once faltering NFT avatar; it has defied the odds, becoming the face of the entire crypto world, serving as the entry point for many into Web3.

Not long ago, it rang the Nasdaq opening bell with the asset management company VanEck, becoming the first Web3 native IP to directly participate in such a ceremony. After this ceremony, listed companies like Coinbase, large enterprises, and celebrities all donned the penguin avatar, unanimously treating it as a new symbol, a mascot representing the entire finance industry.

Exclusive Interview:

Becoming the “Face” of the Crypto World

In July, Coinbase changed its X account avatar to a chubby penguin with the caption “New profile picture, who dis.” Following suit, several other crypto projects such as OpenSea, MoonPay, Polkadot, EigenCloud, and OKX also switched to Pudgy Penguins-themed avatars, as if they had rehearsed this coordinated move in advance. This influence has even permeated traditional finance.

VanEck, a reputable private investment management firm established in 1955, quietly changed its Twitter avatar to a chubby penguin as early as 2024. Then on June 23 of this year, they brought Pudgy Penguins to the Nasdaq stage, ringing the opening bell alongside Luca Netz. It was on that day that Luca posted on his LinkedIn: “Pudgy Penguins is the face of crypto.”

Insight Beating: Many celebrities and companies have recently changed their avatar to Pudgy Penguins. What is the story behind this trend?

Luca Netz: I believe this is simply the natural evolution of Pudgy Penguins up to this point. It has become the “face” and mascot of the crypto world. The key difference between it and other meme or NFT projects is that it truly resonates with everyone.

While Coinbase was one of the first to change their avatar, the fact that over 300 individuals/companies followed suit was not something we orchestrated behind the scenes; it just naturally happened. I think this is because everyone gradually came to the same conclusion as our internal team: Pudgy Penguins is the most beloved image in the crypto world.

Once a big company starts changing their avatar, whether you are a small business, a billionaire, or a whale, you naturally want to join this avatar-changing trend, and everyone is having a great time. This is actually the derivative effect after Pudgy Penguins were embraced by everyone as the mascot of the crypto world.

Dynamica Beating: Why Did Coinbase Change Their Avatar?

Luca Netz: Coinbase changed their avatar because of their social media intern Alex. He is actually a veteran Pudgy Penguins holder and community member, for about three years now. He posted a tweet on Twitter asking everyone which avatar he should switch to, and in the end, he chose Pudgy Penguins.

Later, indeed, some people came to us to customize avatars, and we helped out, but this was not an activity we planned ourselves. This type of thing has actually been happening for the past few years, such as Phantom changing avatars, Solana changing avatars, but it was only after Coinbase changed their avatar that it truly drove all mainstream exchanges and communities to follow suit.

We did not organize this event, but we did assist them in customizing avatars behind the scenes to enhance this trend.

Dynamica Beating: Why do Pudgy Penguins community members have so much energy, while other NFT communities do not? Like Bored Ape.

Luca Netz: If you feel like you missed out on the Bored Ape in 2020 or 2021, then you are catching the early stage of Pudgy Penguins now.

Back in the day, Bored Ape did indeed attract many celebrities to join, while Pudgy Penguins brought together celebrities, billionaires, crypto natives, and project teams. Honestly, I believe you will soon see a wave of enthusiasm even crazier than that time. Bored Ape did have a similar community momentum in the past, but this time it will be bigger.

From my perspective, a crucial point for Pudgy to have such a huge impact is its very high credibility. For example, we have entered Walmart, Target, with over ten thousand retail stores across America selling our products, and institutions like the Chicago Board Options Exchange recently launched an ETF related to us. Bitwise, VanEck, these institutions have changed their avatars to Pudgy Penguins. By the way, Bitmine's avatar on X is now a Pudgy Penguin, and they are one of the largest ETH holders.

The reason why everyone is willing to participate is because this project is reliable enough. They are not pumping a shitcoin, not engaging in speculative trading, but standing with the strongest brand, the largest community, and the most beloved IP in the crypto space. This will bring them attention, goodwill, social interaction, all of which are truly positive things.

A fundamental difference between Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape is that it is more universal, more mainstream, more inclusive.

Do not underestimate the participation and power of the female community in it. To put it bluntly, Pudgy is like the "digital version of Labubu," and Labubu's popularity, to a large extent, is driven by female users.

In our community, we have the most influential female user base in the entire crypto space. People can gather around this IP, and this is not based on luck; it is the "magic" of the Pudgy Penguins IP itself. It is infectious, it has warmth, and these are things you absolutely cannot underestimate.

动察 Beating: Specifically, talk about the impact of the female community on Pudgy Penguins. When you say they are driving this brand, what exactly does that mean?

Luca Netz: We particularly feel this in Asia, where the gender ratio in the community is almost evenly split between men and women. In the United States, it's probably 70% male, 30% female.

Think about the essence of Pudgy Penguins. It is a "cute" IP, and "cute" IPs can rule the world (laughs). Women really love "cute culture," and our community itself is very inclusive. I think this is a community that can truly make women proud.

In the past, there were some female-dominated communities in the crypto world, but in terms of scale and cohesion, none have grown as large as Pudgy Penguins. So I think many women have found a sense of "belonging" in the crypto world here. They like to wear our merchandise, participate in our culture, and this makes them very proud.

I always think, where is the "home" for women in the crypto world? If you think about it seriously, right now, in the entire crypto world, Pudgy Penguins might be the only place where women can truly gather on a large scale, communicate, and participate in activities.

Can you name another project that can bring together so many women to talk about crypto, play together, and build together? Maybe some smaller communities, but truly on a large scale, only Pudgy Penguins. When we hold events, the gender ratio on-site is often 50:50, which you cannot see in any other crypto project. I think this is really special.

Dynamic Observation Beating: Your current exposure is increasingly appearing in photos on NASDAQ, such as the bell-ringing ceremony. Everyone wants to take the stage with Pudgy Penguins. I heard from community members that you not only want to be the face of the crypto world but also aspire to be the face of finance. With the recent profile picture change movement, the female community, and your growing "financial temperament," is there any intrinsic connection among these three?

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For the full interview, please visit the Dynamic Observation Beating public account

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