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During NFT NYC this June, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian In a surprise remote appearance, he announced the latest company for which his venture capital firm 776 has opened a leading round of funding — a company he said will “set the bar” in what blockchain technology can do, And has the potential to become a global entertainment brand. Given that Ohanian has been investing in the cryptocurrency space for over a decade, this is not a prediction to be taken lightly.
The company is graffitia series of sherbet-colored cartoon characters, has hit the charts since its launch last October, becoming the Today’s top NFT projects.
Doodles counts NFT influencers and celebrities including Pranksy and DJ Steve Aoki as part of their community. (Ohanian owns “a lot” himself, which he says reminds him of his five-year-old daughter Olympia.) Pharrell Williams Became the company’s chief brand officer in June. 776 recently announced the closing of a $54.5 million funding round, bringing Doodles’ valuation to $700 million — not bad for an NFT project in a bear market.
Katelin Holloway, Founding Partner of 776, said: “Doodles has the ability to continue to define the NFT industry, bring millions to the blockchain, and become one of the most inclusive, creative, happy media brands on Web3 and beyond.” Doodleverse In the future, we see great potential far beyond NFTs. “
This is the question that many NFT holders and creators are thinking about: how to elevate digital images to a form on social media.Of course, in that context run to hollywood The situation is grim as the NFT market is still struggling to gain a foothold in a volatile market. The Doodles team explains how they shrugged off volatility and expanded Doodles into a next-generation entertainment empire.
colorful past
Doodles is the brainchild of co-founders Evan Keast, Jordan Castro and Scott Martin.as Small and exquisite laboratory Alumni, Keast and Castro were key players in developing Cryptokitties, the company’s breakthrough game in 2018 that allows users to breed digital cats as NFTs. But in early 2021, the pair started imagining what their own NFT project would be — one that, as Keast put it, would “expand the space” in a community-centric way, with a collective treasury and a true sense of fairness as a center.
“In early 2021, there are a lot of NFT projects coming up, but there’s not a lot of transparency,” Keast said of token distribution and ensuring fair distribution.
Equally important is finding iconic looks for their collections.
Profile pictures or PFP items are the main driver of the NFT market.According to the NFT analysis platform NFT GoPFP has a market cap of $13.3 billion, while collectibles are the second-closest category at just $3 billion.
Create marketable characters sleepy ape Pixelpunk was a tall order, and it fell on the shoulders of artist and animator Scott Martin.
Around the time Keast and Castro were discussing ideas, Keast had the opportunity to work with Martin while consulting for a Web3 company. Martin’s cartoon character style with bold outlines, bright colors, and eyes that are hard to keep in touch with faces has garnered a solid following on social media and clients including Google, DropBox, and Adobe.
NFT development company West Coast NFT provides the technical infrastructure, and Martin’s whimsical world of humans, flames, pickles, and popsicles, Doodles, launched in October 2021 with 10,000 NFTs that can be generated, but also caused some controversy.
Lock down the community, reject hype
About a month before Doodles went live, the team temporarily shut down Discord for more than 1,000 members. critics accuse Goalkeeper and FOMO-ramping team. But most see it as the founders’ intent: a way to lock solid communities out of doors.
“We were annoyed by the amount of hype and noise in the space at the time,” Keast said. “There’s a lot of speculative NFT drops going on, and artists or founders who seem to come out of nowhere will make seven-figure drops, and they’re not actually going to go ahead with a roadmap. So we wanted to try a different approach. “
After the first mint, selling NFTs at a relatively high price at 0.123 ETH to secure an initial funding of 420 ETH, Discord reopened to welcome new members, and Doodles quickly started making waves as one of the next blue chip projects; as a PFP, it’s not hard to see why.
“With these PFPs, it’s all about art — and there’s some questionable art,” said Yohann Calpu, chief marketing officer at NFT analytics platform CryptoSlam. “But with Doodles, I don’t think there’s a problem. It’s absolutely beautiful. .”
With their playful designs and pastel colors, Doodles are visual marshmallows. Additionally, Martin believes that the success of Doodles stems from having such an approachable and interesting character, as it makes it easier for people to recognize Doodles.
“PFP is essentially something you want to identify with. If it’s angry, negative, masculine or overly detailed, it’s hard to feel good associating your brand and your name with that kind of imagery, ‘ said Martin.
At this point, Martin also noted how inclusivity was a top consideration when creating his character, which he believes resonated with the community. “We want it to be inclusive, but not to blow your mind,” he said. “It’s just that everything can exist in this world – it does exist.”
graffiti rule
The Doodles team has the basics: a community vault, Doodlebank, where holders vote on certain aspects of the company, such as the creation of official spinoff projects Noodles and Pukenza, and an instant roadmap for scaling projects with Space Doodles, falling February, initially Holders of 10,000 NFTs can offer space-themed options to their Doodles.
However, to be on the long-term roadmap for a global entertainment brand, the Doodles team needed a CEO with IP-building expertise.Enter Julian Holgin, former president billboard He transformed the publication from a B2B trade to a more consumer-facing product.
Holguin is already considering an NFT project billboard When he meets the Doodles team in early 2022 and does light-hearted consulting for them. But his growing interest in the field and admiration for Doodles prompted him to take on the CEO role in May.
“With a lot of cash already on the balance sheet, the opportunity to turn it into a full-fledged tech and media company has never been more common,” Olgin said.
To that end, Holguin is focusing on mass commoditization around NFT technology, focusing on expanding Doodles as a brand.
“Using blockchain technology or NFTs to create new experiences for your existing and potential new customers is nothing special,” he said. “Special is the brand and the storyteller. It doesn’t have to be special to be a tee in the same way, but being Gucci is. The way you record your voice on a track isn’t special, but being Kanye West is. That’s what the Doodles team means to the NFT ecosystem.”
To ensure a cohesive brand message, Doodles chooses that NFT holders have their own limited intellectual property rights, which may not be suitable for everyone.
Yuga Labs sets high standards for NFT projects Release all intellectual property rights to Bored Ape Yacht Club holders Then came CryptoPunks and Meebits, following the acquisition of Larva Labs earlier this year. This move offers clear utility, which has become increasingly important as the NFT space has slumped sharply over the past few months. However, the Doodles team is betting on the long-term value of the brand and holders as a whole, rather than the more immediate individual benefits.
“We’re at such a delicate point in the evolution of the brand,” Holguin said. “We believe it’s the way to go in the short term that we control the narrative around Doodles, as there’s a lot of branding that could dilute the greater good of the project.”
There has been talk of licensing Doodles from holders, such as comic books, TV shows, and music videos, and the potential for that, especially the latter, could come with an upcoming Doodles album Graffiti Records: Volume 1 Produced by Farrell.
But for now, the Doodles team has largely kept their IP a secret. The signal to CryptoSlam executive Calpu is that Doodles is looking to forge high-level partnerships, or even be acquired in the future.
“When a project restricts rights, it tells me they see potential for brands to partner with traditional companies,” he said. “And I have nothing against it. Creativity does not need to be outsourced to [Doodles] Community, because the creativity of the team itself is very strong. “
Doodles seems to have the right look and team to deliver on their plans to create a global entertainment brand. But it’s hard to ignore the dark cloud hanging over their soft wonderland: the NFT market is still very sluggish.
Crawling out of hibernation
An analysis by NFT media company BeInCrypto found that global NFT sales reached all-time low This year, the reduction was more than $4 billion. Doodles were not immune, with sales down more than $100 million in June.
According to Calpu’s estimates, the oversaturation and hype surrounding collecting PFPs is giving way to more useful applications such as Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains containing cryptocurrency addresses, decentralized websites, and more. But some PFPs certainly have the potential to weather a market downturn.
“You go into their Discord and see that the community is still interacting, growing, meeting and attending conferences,” Calpu said. “This is often an indicator of project quality.”
And, according to 776’s Holloway, the community surrounding Doodles was one of the main reasons they decided to support the company. “No Web3 company can survive without a strong community,” she said. “This team has been community-led from the beginning. Alexis and I know a thing or two about what a healthy, inclusive and thriving community looks like.”
The Doodles community — 776 in their corner — was enough to give Keast a foothold in the shaky state of NFTs. He said the company is ready to scale “for the future” and that they intend to keep building regardless of the volatility.
“Everyone can really feel that this shift is coming,” adds Holguin. “Whether it’s 6 months or 12 months, real builders are ready for that moment. We’re not slowing down at all.”
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