Revealing Web3 branding as a six-figure NFT was part of the October 2021 Doodle Friends launch. They claim to have a collection of 10,000 Doodle Friends NFTs, but there is no actual catalog of the existing NFTs. Their extension into six different areas requiring member licensing makes one wonder if that was the plan from the start.
Burnt Toast, Tulip, and Poopie
Evan Keast (Tulip) and Jordan Castro (Poopie) are no strangers to crypto platforms. Both were involved in the Cryptokitty launch in 2017. Tulip is the “branding” and market guy behind Doodles. Poopie is the product lead and partner in crime to Keast. Scott Martin, aka Burnt toast, has been an artist, muralist, and designer for years, joining Doodle Friends as the doodler of the NFTs.
From the beginning
Doodle Friends launched as a community-driven NFT with 10,000 pastel-colored doodles that offer an array of traits, colors, and sizes. They are said to be inspired by what members do and feel daily, each depicting a specific emotion. Since its launch, the NFT has been extremely popular and successful, but its success may be based on the creators following more than the NFT itself.
Doodle Friends 1
The Doodle NFT is built on the Ethereum blockchain and developed with the forethought of being a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) optimized as a long-term collectible. The DAO would allow them to simultaneously span the real and digital worlds with a utility-focused strategy and a community-first mentality.
The month before the launch, their Discord was closed, limiting investors to approximately 1,000 members and inadvertently causing the price of the NFTS to skyrocket.
Once purchased, a Doodle owner can access live events and merchandise.
You can resell the PFP (Personal Profile) or use it for merchandising with a $100,000 cap. Once you reach the $100,000 cap, you must create licensing involving the Doodles founders! Licensing is also required if you use the NFT image in an art-involved project.
Keats, Evans, and Martin refer to themselves as the “Company” and encourage holders’ commercial use of the NFTS, but no minted character spin-offs. Interestingly, they allowed a Doodles food derivative named “Noodles” as an NFT spin-off in November last year.
The community voted on its creation and release as a perk of owning the NFT. The Doodlebank also pays for a purchaser’s activation fees. 2.5% of the 5% royalty on the OpenSea secondary sale goes into the Doodlebank for future Doodle brand growth.
Doodles 2, Genesis boxes, and Dooplicators
The hype for Doodles 2 started in May 2022, when it was revealed that doodle holders could claim their Dooplicator for free. They also held an event at NFT NYC to explain how to use the Dooplicator. They can be used to create wearables and have perpetual utility.
Reservations for 4,000 of the 24,000 Genesis Boxes containing wearable clothing, Doodle accessories, and hats for $123 via holders plus a guest’s credit card. Genesis boxes were available for 24 hours only on June 22 this year. The remaining 20,000 were sold at a bucket auction, a 24-hour event with a “threshold price” of 2x the threshold that could get you two NFTs with a refund of 1.25x the threshold’s price.
Next, they launched Space Doodles, exclusive to NFT holders who could wrap their NFT in a spaceship into storage through a smart contract into the digital vault.
No new Doodle NFTs were launched at that time! These Doodles also partner with community experiences and help the brand expand!
Doodling Up the Money
There is no denying that Doodle Friends has created revenue. OpenSea showed a floor
$2,958 (1.5 ETH) in the first 24 hours with a mint price of $242 (0.123ETH.)
Following the Space Doodles announcement, the floor price fluctuated over the next two months between 1 – 5 ETH. By January this year, it had seen an increase of 15 ETH, sitting at $39,440 (20 ETH.)
As of June this year, the floor price was 24,531 (12.44 ETH) with OpenSeas. The biggest boon for Doodles came when Pranksy, an avid NFT collector, spent USD 1 million (ETH 269.69) on a golden ape NFT with one-of-a-kind traits.
So far, the Doodles brand has a total sales volume of $511.85 million.
Sealing a Branding Future
Revealing Web3 branding as a six-figure NFT became more attainable when Pharrell was made Creative Director to develop creative projects in animation, music, and TV/film. Then, Julian Holguin became the new CEO and partner to build consumer goods, gaming, and premium content.
Despite the hack bot attack on their Discord server in February with undisclosed losses and the threat of Imposter Doodles that were eliminated before they could be sold, Doodle Friends has successfully pulled off their ultimate branding goals!
Putting down the Colored Pencils
While Doodle Friends stated that Doodles 2 would release “millions” of NFTs, there have been no NFTs to back that up to date. They have been revealing Web3 branding as a six-figure NFT in the entertainment industry but continually lack launching new NFTs. Are investors putting stock in their NFTs, or are they valuing their Web3 business? If Doodle Friends drew their hand well, they could prop themselves into the record books!
