Pudgy Penguins lit up the Las Vegas Sphere during Christmas

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Pudgy Penguins crypto project lights up Las Vegas Sphere during Christmas Original Link: The Pudgy Penguins cryptocurrency project lit up the Las Vegas Sphere at Christmas after debuting an ad on-site on Tuesday.

The recent announcement from the native crypto brand caused some traders to panic, as the community behind the Dogwifhat memecoin (WIF), from Solana, was unable to advertise at the venue earlier this year despite raising US$ 700,000 in an attempt to do so — funds that the team later refunded to contributors.

A Sphere spokesperson had previously said that the venue would only accept crypto advertising from exchanges or related to Bitcoin. Despite this, supporters of Dogwifhat announced in January that they would appear at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

For this reason, a Sphere representative said they were “disappointed” that the Dogwifhat team was using the venue’s name for “fraudulent purposes.”

So, how did Pudgy Penguins — a brand that started as an NFT profile picture collection, created a memecoin on Solana called PENGU, helped launch a second-layer network on Ethereum, among other initiatives — manage to advertise at the Sphere?

No crypto ads

“This activation specifically celebrates our physical products, such as toys, animations, and merchandise. It has nothing to do with the crypto side of our business,” said Vedant Mangaldas, director of strategy and communications at Pudgy Penguins. “We are fully aware of Sphere’s guidelines regarding crypto-related topics.”

Before Tuesday’s debut, a Sphere spokesperson confirmed that Pudgy Penguins would “wrap” the Sphere and that the venue’s policy on crypto had not changed, as this activation specifically relates to physical products.

This means that during the seven days of display, Pudgy Penguins NFTs, the Pengu memecoin, or any other crypto-related ventures will not be mentioned at the Sphere. Instead, the animation in the exosphere focuses on the cartoonish creatures that drive the brand and briefly mentions product availability.

Meet Pudgy Penguins

Pudgy Penguins entered the physical products world in 2023 and began selling at Walmart. By February 2024, the Pudgy Toys line had already accumulated US$ 10 million in sales, less than a year after the collection’s launch. The brand also achieved similar success with its social media content and GIF library, which reached a wide audience without obvious crypto connections.

“We have 2 million followers on Instagram, and, you know, I’d say 90% of them probably don’t even know that crypto exists. This celebrates that other side of the spectrum,” Mangaldas explained. “When you have a billion views on GIFs, I would assume most people don’t know we’re a crypto company. And I think that’s the beauty of Pudgy Penguins.”

Still, it wasn’t an easy path to get the Sphere involved, despite a playful tease on social media directed at the initiative’s organizer, Dogwifhat Sphere, Ansem, claiming it took only three minutes to close the deal.

In reality, a source familiar with the matter revealed that discussions with the Sphere began in early 2024. These talks became more serious this year as Pudgy Penguins solidified its presence outside the crypto universe.

After that, months were needed for animators to create the content, which now adorns the venue’s exosphere and can be seen from various points in Las Vegas. A source close to the activation said Pudgy Penguins hopes to generate a highly viral moment from a one-minute animation.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Pudgy Penguins is believed to have paid up to US$ 600,000 to “wrap” the Sphere for seven days. While cartoonish penguins decorate the outside of the Sphere, the interior is showing sessions of The Wizard of Oz.