#320: Doodles Gears Up for their Animated Experience

I’ll admit it. The NFT (specifically the digital PFP variant of them) ecosystem has been boring recently. There are several reasons for this, including but not limited to:

• NFTs were much easier to speculate (and make money) on back in 2021

• The speculation and large financial gains have moved to other places such as memecoins and prediction markets

• Starting a NFT project oftentimes means creating and sustaining a community, which many teams aren’t prepared for

It took me a while to take off those rose-tinted glasses while huffing that NFT glue, but Gary Vee’s prophecy from late 2021 came true. In fact, the 98-99% figure was probably generous.

So what about that 1-2%? What have they been up to while the NFT class of 2021 and 2022 have shifted their attention elsewhere? One of the brands and companies that has survived Gary’s prediction is Doodles.

Doodles has been on a tear lately, but it took me longer than I expected to pick up what they were putting down. Fortunately, this lag on my part gives us a better idea of the vision that the team is starting to realize.

Prior to the trailer release, CEO Julian Holguin (and former President of Billboard) primed the pump by providing a helpful refresher and summary of the Doodles thesis and approach over the past since that 2022 NFT NYC event.

• Produced over 200M views on YouTube

• Acquired Golden Wolf, an award-winning animation studio

• Collaborated with several prominent consumer brands including adidas, Crocs, and G-Shock to produce digital and physical products

• Sold 30k+ tickets to the Doodles x CAMP experience in Chicago

• “New entertainment is not just a movie, a tv show or an album - it's culture, it's community, it's always on and it starts on the internet real communities are not just passive viewers, they’re part of the story”

The team has clearly been hard at work, launching digital and physical experiences that continue to set the bar for the space and projects looking to create a long-lasting brand and IP.

Last month, the Doodles team shared the official trailer for ‘Dullsville and the Doodleverse’, an animated film co-produced by Chief Creative Officer Pharrell (crazy to think that his involvement was announced at NFT NYC over 2 years ago!) and Golden Wolf.

The film will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and features a cast featuring the voices Coi Leray, Lil Wayne, and Lil Yachty as characters along with a soundtrack produced by Pharrell featuring those music artists.

One interesting observation is the wording around what Dullsville and the Doodleverse is. Although some outlets reported it as an animated film, several others described it as an animated experience, as described in the original announcement back in April.

To prepare for the animated experience, Doodles announced Doodlesᵗᵛ, a direct-to-community media platform that allows the community to create, collect, and connect. This will start with the Dullsville and the Doodleverse, and gives an idea of how this can expand beyond that.

The Stoodio, the hub for Doodles’ digital wearables initially launched on Flow, migrated to Base and community members were encouraged to bridge their assets over. Although the Stoodio served its purpose on Flow, the community primarily lives within the Ethereum ecosystem, and the migration also creates an opportunity to reach Coinbase’s 100 million active accounts more effectively.

The first launch post-migration was with the Season 1 Super Pass, giving fans access to:

• Early listening & viewing access to 3 cinematic music videos before they hit streaming platforms

• Digital premiere of ‘Dullsville and the Doodleverse'

• 4 pieces (one for each featured artist) of exclusive onchain album artwork, with varying rarity

• Doodles holders will have access to music videos and premiere as well

The pass was available to mint at ~$7 a pop on Coinbase Wallet. Over 20k passes were minted by the end of the sale window.

Doodles announced a collab with AriZona (the only inflation-resistant product out there besides the Costco hot dog), creating a co-branded bottle and specially designed 12-pack box. The special edition bottles were stocked in select bodegas in NYC SoCal, and Miami and are also available for online purchase.

The collab also had a ‘scan and sip’ giveaway, sending one lucky winner to the ‘Dullsville and the Doodleverse’ Preview Event at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Every giveaway entry also unlocked limited edition AriZona-themed digital wearables for Doodles avatars, airdropped at the conclusion of the event (which happens to be today).

As the community received their new digital wearables, they shared their new fits on the timeline, mixing and matching fits with their existing wardrobe.

As the Doodlesᵗᵛ Super Pass (Season 1) sale window closed, a new one opened with the release of the “Not in the Store“ Premiere Pack. The Premiere Pack unlocks access to a 3-day viewing window (August 9-12) of the official music video and limited edition album artwork with varying rarities. The Pack was priced at 99 cents with bulk discounts for those purchasing multiple packs.

A simplified way of thinking about what the Premiere Pack is:

• The 3-day viewing window reminds me of the 48-hour viewing window when you rent movies on Amazon. Not the same since the Pass provides early access to a video that will be publicly available at a later date, but similar.

• The Super Pass is like purchasing tickets to a multi-day music festival, while each Premiere Pack is the equivalent of purchasing tickets to one day of the music festival.

• The digital album art is the equivalent of a tradeable ticket stub, commemorating the release and the user’s participation of that moment

As a Doodles holder, I was able to watch the music video and experience Doodlesᵗᵛ, getting a taste of what the remaining music videos and eventual digital film experience will look like.

As a prediction, I imagine each successive video release will incorporate additional Doodlesᵗᵛ features. At minimum, I imagine the live chat feature will be rolled out in time for the film festival event on September 7, elevating the watch party and shared live experience.

Have you watched a music video before? If so, share or subscribe!

As the viewing window for Coi Leray’s Not in the Store opened up on August 9th, Doodles released adidas Packs, featuring limited edition adidas Original digital wearables with a shot at getting exclusive Redeemables, a 1 of 200 Deysi (the name of Coi Leray’s daisy head character) Tracksuit or a 1 of 200 Deysi Superstar sneakers.

The packs are priced at $5 with volume discounts similar to the Premiere Packs. The notable difference here is that these packs reveal digital wearables, with a small chance of getting a physical Redeemable 🤞

Although there’s still about a month before ‘Dullsville and the Doodleverse’ releases, it’s clear that the team has more in store for the Doodles community and broader fanbase.

At minimum, there will be more exclusive music video releases with corresponding Premiere Pack sales. There may be more brand collaborations and surprise announcements to keep interest at a heightened level and increase the attention-fueled gravitational pull around Doodles.

Great thanks TPan. Looks like a select few NFT projects from the class of 2021 are actually doing something. What gives?

Since the ‘Dullsville and the Doodleverse’ film premiere is the tentpole event for Doodles for the year, they’re pulling out all the stops. In the span of a month, the team has made 8 notable announcements, with several more inevitably in the pipeline leading up to the September premiere.

This is a great example of leveraging announcement velocity to make sure everyone is aware that Doodles is doing something exciting. As a result, these efforts are impacting the full funnel:

Awareness: More chatter and attention that Doodles is releasing an animated film, more mentions across all channels

Consideration + Conversion: Creating multiple opportunities to enter the ecosystem, ranging from 99 cent Premiere Packs to view a music video early, all the way to purchasing a Doodle (~$4500). Still think NFTs are a scam, but like Doodles the brand? Purchase Doodles merch.

Doodles has expanded the consideration set to meet any budget or preference. If you like Doodles, chances are there’s something you’d be interested in buying.

Loyalty + Engagement + Advocacy: This string of announcements has fired up the community, which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Holders are sharing their new fits with newly acquired digital wearables, unboxing videos of their AriZona iced tea orders, and their excitement around the content releases.

Reengagement: All these announcements, collabs, and releases have less active community members (me) leaning in and paying attention to what’s going on. And for certain folks like myself, they’re doing enough to get me to talk about them again.

Every step in the marketing funnel is activated and all cylinders are firing.

The Doodles adidas Originals Pack is a great example showcasing what the future of raffles will look like. Today, raffles rely on emotions to work. Specifically, it operates on the hope that you have the winning ticket.

Or with 50/50 raffles in the US, attendees at sports games purchase raffle tickets with a chance of winning 50% of the pot, with the other 50% going to a non-profit charity. Participants get a double dose of positive emotions: the hope of winning the pot and feeling good that they’re donating to a noble cause.

That’s fine and all, but why can’t everyone win? Although it isn’t positioned this way for understandable (and legal) reasons, the adidas Originals Packs are effectively raffle tickets for ultra-exclusive 1 of 200 physical merch.

You can make a convincing argument that these aren’t raffle tickets, but there’s a reason why the hero image is the exclusive physical merch and why the copy starts with ‘Crack packs for a chance to pull limited edition Deysi Tracksuits, Superstar Shoes, and…’

Anyway, the point I’m making isn’t that these are raffle tickets, but that this new model allows everyone to be a winner. At minimum, you get digital wearables and a shot at exclusive merch at an affordable price. The merch isn’t the only scarce asset, the digital wearables are exclusive and scarce as well (just less scarce lol).

The last theme comes from Julian Holguin himself, adding his personal commentary on the Doodlesᵗᵛ announcement.

It was never JUST about owning our own studio and content pipeline. We always had a vision to own a part of our distribution funnel as well.

Give up control and upside to be exclusive on video / streaming platforms? Nope.

Invest millions in content to solely rely on those platforms for a small piece of their ad revenue? Nope.

We’re seeking to control our own destiny. To empower a new generation of creatives that want to put their careers in their own hands. To create a more equitable model for artists and their supporters. One where value accrues to the IP owner and their community, not just the distributor.

Nothing captures attention quite like tentpole media moments. And in our society, being in the know and early to something is social currency. Fans and core communities want to be part of cultural moments. They’re willing to pay for it - even though Doodles OG's won't have to.

Music video drops and films are culture, so when Doodlesᵗᵛ premiere’s hotly anticipated content featuring some of the most relevant artists in the world, their core fans are not going to want to miss the moment. They will gather their friends and flock to Doodlesᵗᵛ to create Stoodio accounts (they don’t even need to know they’re creating wallets).

We love the big distributors and believe they are a necessary part of the adoption funnel. And we will blast our tentpole content wide - but not until our community owns the moment.

Doodlesᵗᵛ - a digital movie theater, built on the blockchain, with collecting incentives and community at the heart of it - this is what onboarding looks like.

And with everything Doodles has done so far (with more to come!), I’m getting it as I write this concluding paragraph. For many, Dullsville and the Doodleverse is just an animated film. But it is also an invitation, an opportunity, and an example of what an animated experience is.

See you Thursday.