Episode Summary
Hello everyone,
in this second episode of Season 2 of Web3Magic Podcast, get ready for an informal conversation where we peel back the layers of the exciting Pudgy Europe community rise! I'm sitting with the incredible Fifi, who's started it all. He's joined by Captain Puru, a real-life example of how Pudgies use their IP to build and grow IRL businesses.
They'll share their diverse journeys from entrepreneurship to the world of crypto and back and how these experiences have shaped their view and love for Pudgy Penguins. The core Penguins team is based in the US but is making waves in creating an IRL brand with a difference, and we’ll hear how their efforts are resonating and making a significant impact across the world.
It's fair to say that exciting times are coming for their Pudgy Penguins toy line as the global holiday season starts. Expectations are high from holders as well as non-holders. As some of you may know, Pudgy toys initially made it to Walmart (wow!) and recently were spotted in the UK, so I hope the rest of Europe will follow soon!
Clearly, the Pudgy Europe community loves their project and considers it an accessible and fun route from Web2 into Web3. Whether you’re already a fan or new to the community, this conversation is a great way to see how Pudgy’s European community came to be (very naturally) and what they'd like to do in the future. And if you want to connect with budgies - check the links at the end of this description.
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Transcript
BFG: 1:10
Hi guys. So we are back and I'm here with the Pudgy guys and you know they are talk of the town everywhere on Twitter, so I'm sure you want to hear about what is actually like Pudgy's Europe and how it came to be. And you know these guys are from this clan, so they will tell you all about it. So I'll start with you.
Fifi: 1:35
Yeah, so to talk a bit about me, I started being very deep into Crypto in 2020 and, of course, nfts and Pudgy since 2021. So you can say I'm an OG and the way it really started with Pudgy Europe is we were so many in Europe but really not seeing each other, not really meeting because we would just let the team organize their events and it's always in the US. So that started really as a way to just like let's meet, let's bond, and it became now something much bigger where we get the chance to go to conferences to talk about Pudgy, to have a local representation and, yeah, to make partnerships to go another way deeper and that's really like amazing for I think Pudgy as a project because they get to really get the decentralization effect of the brand and yeah, I don't know what you want to know.
BFG: 2:29
No, no, no. So I wanted to ask what's your normal background? So you were not always Pudgy.
Fifi: 2:36
Yeah, so I'm an entrepreneur. I have a coffee brand actually, so really like Web2, mostly because I have a sales online, I bring coffee directly from producers who make their own coffee, which is kind of a promising niche to really bring the consumer and producers together and have really a fair chain of coffee and also a high quality coffee, because it's like all the products, like wine, when the producer takes care of everything, it becomes really something different, authentic and qualitative. So, yeah, that's my daily life building a coffee brand and organizing as well a coffee competition for all producers around the world. To have medals and, you know, be able to prove that their coffee is quality is insane. And but this I'm actually using one of my Pudgy Penguins as a mascot, so that's a fun fact about I'm trying to bring together my two passions, so that's you see, that's actually great because you know Web3 magic is a lot about connecting web to web3, so this is cool.
BFG: 3:37
Now, sylvan, how do you get to Pudgy's?
Captain Puru (aka Silvan): 3:40
okay, so it's a long story, right. I grew up in the UK and had a career in finance that led to Zurich, switzerland, which included being one of the first employees at the first regulated crypto bank in in crypto valley. So I got my interest in crypto and NFTs, you know. From there, and, yeah, I founded also my own natural personal care company where we do 100 natural sunscreen and from there we sponsored a professional offshore sailing race in France and Spain and to create some hype and leverage some of the Pudgy penguin community, I chose to have the character captain Puru as a as a mascot for the professional sailing event. And, yeah, it took a lot convincing you know traditional sailing world to use an NFT as a imagery for the for the race, but we got it through. We created a six foot inflatable penguin for the sailing village, which caused a lot of interest and attraction, with kids running up to it and hugging it. And, yeah, from there it's really taken on another form where it's becoming a part of the brand and we've put the, the captain Puru, on the actual sunscreen the baby sunscreen for our product. And yeah, as a part of that, phi Phi came to the event in Europe right as the Pudgy Europe founder, if you like. And yeah, we've built up a bit of a friendship from there, where we were in Zurich a few weeks ago and now in Milan that's, you know, like awesome story.
BFG: 5:02
I unfortunately the camera doesn't let me to have you both in the same time, so I'm just scrolling through, but I love the story about the sailing race and and the crypto bank and the big Pudgy inflatable thing. My daughter would love it, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, so that's what I actually wanted to ask. You guys have to share pictures with me. I'll share it with the, with the podcast, so it's fair to assume that you both were minting Pudgies when they started.
Fifi: 5:37
No, I bought my first purge like a couple weeks after the mint when basically the project took over Twitter. You know it was like you couldn't go on Twitter without seeing a Pudgy penguin and like all the people like I respected or admired in DeFi actually started being penguin. So that's what really got me, because before that I was a bit skeptical about these PFP projects. I was thinking it's like shit gonna with pictures, and then I saw the sense of like community and it's just a beautiful picture, like really what got me into it and what I think keeps getting people is the fact that it's cute, universal art and really like you don't really need to think about it. It's just like a perfect PFP. And, of course, now that we have a true company because you know Pudgy penguins, I've been through, let's say, hell and now are back with a real team building a real brand, and it's so much easier now to speak about it. But we have had times where all we had to hang about is the community and just the cute penguins.
BFG: 6:36
So fair enough, sylvan, have you been a mint?
Captain Puru (aka Silvan): 6:42
not a mint of the original Pudgy penguins, but some little Pudgies when they first uh. It was a secondary collection when they first uh were released. I played around with them at the start early on, but really, yeah, after Luca took over the penguins then, yeah, I've really renewed and increased my interest in the project. Right, and yeah, I mean there's a lot of positive signs to show that they're really making a big impact. Right, you know, with onboarding, you know more people into web three and crypto with their you know, seamless onboarding experience with Pudgy world, for example, I think.
BFG: 7:15
No, it's cool For those who don't know when did Lukas take over the project?
Fifi: 7:21
It was in April of 2022 and it was not just taking over the project. It was the first time buying an existing NFT project at a time where it seemed like stupid or you know, because it was so easy to mint out and create just easy art. But Lukas saw the real potential of the IP and he was like this brand just deserves a good operator and it will work. So he put his own money down and there was no treasury, so I had also to just not just buy but also put money to get the thing going and start getting a team. And yeah, that was like. I guess today we can look back at the smart play. At the time it seemed crazy and that's really like from day one, building a brand the right way. As Sylvan said, like the things are really meant for everyone. So it's not just like Web 3 for Web 3. It's bringing the good parts of Web 3 for everyone and having a Web 2 strategy. Like, if you go on the Instagram of Pergy Penguins, you will see just cute penguins with animations, cute story, relatable elements of life. You will laugh. You will just get attached to the character like you would get attached to other famous characters. You don't need to know there are NFTs behind you. Just create a brand, a character people can relate to, and that's what's really like. With now the physical toys in all over, like the US and Walmart, it's just like really becoming just a brand, a character for everyone to enjoy. The Genesis story are NFTs the Superfans want the NFTs, of course, but you can all like just have a connection with the brand in so many ways, just by following the account on Instagram or by grabbing a toy and that's so beautiful to see. Like crossing all the borders and making sense of Web 3 without pushing Web 3 at all costs, you know.
BFG: 9:17
Absolutely. Yeah, I totally agree with that. We shouldn't really be pushing Web 3. People get scared when they hear it, but so the question is are the toys coming to Europe?
Fifi: 9:31
So last night it was finally revealed that the toys were arriving in the UK. So for now, through the Smith's Toy Store. So I want to say when France, when Switzerland, but yeah, it should be coming soon. You know it's when you're trying like to have an international distribution. It takes time. It takes time and with the laws you know, like for to just distribute in France you need the packaging in French and that's additional. Yeah, you're losing time, but yeah, it's coming and hopefully before the end of the year everyone can enjoy the toys.
BFG: 10:07
Okay, so maybe for Christmas, right, but you guys are not involved in this right In the like spreading the toys around Europe. What's the separate team?
Fifi: 10:17
That's the main team in the US, like they are working on it with their partners, retailmonster and PMI, and that's a huge work, like you know, and we're just like working on getting the brand known, exciting the community, helping community members who want to do things with the penguin Because, as you know, like we own the IP, we can make products and do initiatives with them and there needs to be like, let's say, a collective effort to help each other. So that's really our wall, and just also connecting with European companies who maybe have trouble joining the main company and building things together.
BFG: 10:58
Cool. So because we are running out of time. So what's coming up for Pudgy's Europe? Who wants to take it?
Captain Puru (aka Silvan): 11:08
Well, I mean Pudgy Europe, right, we want to make sure that more people are empowered to use, have use cases for their penguins, right, you know, looking at what we're doing with Captain Puru to inspire more traditional brands to use their penguins. And then, you know, with the potential licensing and overpass IP projects coming up, you know really encouraging people to want to get engaged and utilize it to the maximum, with even receiving and applying for royalties, right when that's finally released.
BFG: 11:38
So how many pudgies are actually in Europe? Do you guys know?
Fifi: 11:42
That's a good question and from the start, we keep meeting new and new penguins every time. So I would estimate now a thousand at least, and you asked me a month ago. I would have told you four hundred. You know, it's just like so many holders are just going to conferences or they're not really active on Twitter or they don't. We have a map where you can pin yourself. But you know, with crypto culture or just not wanting to, take the time. Yeah, some people just don't want to do it, so it's hard to reach out to them. But as we go to events, we just like you know, when you wear the merch, people like, oh yeah, put your penguin on your own one, and that's what creates the connection, the bond. And now that we're organizing meetups, like we get the chance to just attract them and this way we can really like connect and bond. And like last weekend we went to Octoberfest, which had nothing to do with crypto, and we're just 40 penguins having the best time and sharing, like you know, just not for a conference where you meet for an hour or for a dinner, like for three days spending time together, like staying at the same hotels, and that's really creating another level of connection.
BFG: 12:51
I see, so it's probably like a partying culture, so anybody who likes parties should join Pudgies, I think Everyone.
Fifi: 12:59
Whatever you like. If you're building a business, you want to use your penguin, if you want to party and you know, do things you wish, like that on your to do list, but you never have the chance to go because you don't have the friends in that local area. We are lucky to have locals who can help us, like to get to Octoberfest. We are lucky we had the Victor the Viking who, like, knows everything how to get the tables, because for such a good big group like that it's impossible, but when you have the local people to help it's possible and that's amazing. Okay lovely.
BFG: 13:35
Any last words. You guys want to highlight something which is really coming, something you really enjoyed here in Milan. Whatever you want, I start with Silva.
Captain Puru (aka Silvan): 13:46
Well, I think the reception here in Milan has been fantastic. Right, we have lots of people coming up to us and just want to talk more about the Pudgy penguins and say how great the toys are, and I think, yeah, what I'm really excited about in Europe and the US and worldwide is for Pudgy penguins to be the toy for Christmas, the toy craze for Christmas, where it sells out everywhere. I think that happens every couple of years where there's something incredible and, yeah, it looks like we're on time to potentially make that happen.
BFG: 14:14
Very cool, very cool.
Fifi: 14:16
Yeah, as a person who's really deep into Web3 and hope that Web3 takes off, it's really cool to see that the penguins are just the link, like from our Georgian horse, to get people into Web3 in a very cool way, like when you give a toy to a child in the street or at a restaurant you look at their smile on their face and that's all you need to know that this is something that will attract them. And with Pudgy World being such an easy experience with cool games, cool social interactions, this is insane. And now I feel like we have a duty for Web3 to do it right, because we have an opportunity that I have not seen with any other, not just project in NFTs, but also apps, social apps or DeFi apps.
BFG: 15:06
Very cool. Thank you, guys. We will definitely add links to your socials and, of course, to Pudgy's, to the show notes and yeah, that was great. Thank you very much.
Pudgy Europe Links
Be sure to follow all Pudgy Penguins channels, their Instagram is very cool! And don't forget to give a follow and connect with my guests from this episode:
Pudgy Penguins Europe: https://x.com/PudgyEurope
Captain Puru:
Website: https://puru.com
Puru: https://puru.ch
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sylvain-horwood/
That's it, friends. I hope you enjoyed the episode, and let me know what you think on Twitter (X) or Farcaster. Till next time … keep it colorful!
