Doodles: A Brand Exceeding the NFT Community

Doodles have cemented themselves not only as a bluechip NFT project but also as a brand primed to reach the masses, outside of the Web3 scope. They have created this brand and image through a multitude of deliberate actions taken as a result of being committed to the vision of bringing Doodles to millions of households. Doodles are much more than simply a bluechip NFT project, they are a prime candidate to be a Web3 brand that reaches global prominence.

The Team

Arguably the biggest advantage for Doodles was the experience of the founders. Both Evan Keast and Jordan Castro (Poopie) spent years working together at Dapper Labs where they worked on Cryptokitties. During this time they learned multiple lessons on how to effectively underpromise and overdeliver and the importance of community. They knew they wanted to create something themselves within the NFT space. When they stumbled upon the art of Burnt Toast, they realized immediately he was their missing piece. The color palette Burnt Toast uses and the style of his art immediately stands out and projects noticeably as a brand suited for all ages. Through Poopie and Evan Keast's experience, and the creative vision of Burnt Toast, the idea for Doodles was born.

Early Stages of Community

Arguably the biggest and most important factor behind an NFT project's success is the peer to peer network of a “community” among both holders, and those who are looking to join. Poopie and Evan Keast had experience building community at Dapper Labs and utilized this knowledge with Doodles. Early on in their discord, the founders gave lots of face time and were heavily involved in creating the Doodles culture of “vibes all around” and “don’t be an asshole” while perpetuating a culture of positivity.

Then they made the interesting decision to make the Doodle’s Discord private near the mint date when it had around 1,100 people. While this action may have limited the “growth” from a quantitative standpoint, the founders knew if the Discord remained public, thousands of people would rush in. This would change the culture of the Discord to be much more price focused–something the founders did not want to happen. This decision actually led to a much higher demand for Doodles as they spread around Twitter like wildfire, all while maintaining the culture and community the founders desired.

Post Drop

After the 10,000 collection of Doodles were released, the team immediately continued working to achieve their goal of sharing Doodles with millions of households. They activated the Doodlebank, a DAO system that enables Doodles holders to utilize a $3 million dollar budget to vote on and enact proposals. Each Doodle counts as one vote.

The Doodlebank facilitates a high level of community engagement while also maintaining the ability for the Doodle’s team to have closed-door conversations around the future of the project. The Doodles team also purchased the “logo” Doodle for 100 ETH, an astounding publicity campaign in the Web3 space.

Web3 culture has fostered a new breed of superfans for projects. Arguably one of the more important features of Doodles is that you know a Doodle when you see a Doodle. This level of brand recognizability is what the Doodle team is both fostering and attempting to emanate to people outside of the NFT space. It has largely worked as many celebrities have posted about securing their personal Doodles. Names from the likes of Future, Justin Bieber, and Fat Joe have all posted about their Doodle collection which has further increased the demand for the Doodle NFT collection.

The team also made a commitment to bridge the gap between URL and IRL. They had a large presence at both NFT NYC’s in 2021 and 2022. They also hosted a Doodles SXSW event in Austin where they offered both an exclusive and inclusive experience. On the exclusive side of the event, holders were given special benefits such as customized content based on their Doodles. The event was inclusive as it saw thousands of interested attendees join in and see what the party was all about. Every action taken by the team has been a showcase of deliberate effort to make Doodles larger than just an NFT project.

Turning an NFT Project to an Entertainment Company

From the beginning, the founders of Doodles have stated their goal is to bring Doodles into millions of households while returning value to the original collection.

Recently, Evan Keast declared that, “Doodles is an entertainment company” and that their goal is to “provide entertainment for everyone, not just the 80,000 people on OpenSea.” As such, they have been utilizing traditional branding strategies to help mend the gap between Web2 and Web3.

Mentioned above, the SXSW Doodles event was a tangible technique which specifically fostered the participation of those who were not native to the NFT space. It gave thousands of people who did not own a Doodle the chance to be around the brand and experience the Doodle culture. Doodles also announced that Julian Holguin, former President of Billboard, would be their CEO and that Pharrel Williams would be Chief Brand Officer. They are ramping up their team to support their brand’s vision.

Given their stated efforts to increase both awareness and accessibility of Doodles, it is amazing that their initiatives so far have not come at the expense of diluting the original collection of 10,000 PFP Doodles.

Their first “airdrop,” the Space Doodle, was a wrapped animated NFT which did not increase the supply of the Doodle ecosystem. A user could have a Space Doodle or a Doodle at one time, not both. More recently they announced the Duplicator and Doodles 2. The Duplicator has been said to have “perpetual utility beyond Doodles 2” and will allow collectors to bring the rarest original Doodles traits into Doodles 2.

Doodles 2 has been marketed as “A Doodle for Everyone”, allowing new collectors to mint a base-level Doodle with a varying tiered rarity of wearables. Further details behind Doodles 2 are not yet revealed; it can be assumed the team will release them in a way that both reaches a much larger audience and preserves the value of the original Doodles collection.

The Doodles brand and Doodles team is committed to something larger than just the Web3 space. They are committed to bridging the gap that currently exists between people who use NFTs and people who don’t. They want to be THE brand that operates in parallel between both spaces, while also being a springboard for newcomers to transition over to Web3. The signs have been obvious since day one that this has been their goal. Doodles 2 and beyond will showcase how they accomplish it.