Why did Pudgy Penguins turn to this toy guru to reach the mainstream audience

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Why Pudgy Penguins Turned to This Toy Guru to Reach the Mass Market Original Link: If the Pudgy Penguins brand were an island like Hawaii, then it would be at the beginning of a phase that would last for years, where molten lava, erupting from the ocean floor, started to cool and form new habitable lands.

At least, that’s how Steve Starobinsky sees it. With decades of experience in the toy manufacturing world, Starobinsky was tasked in March with refining Pudgy’s approach to packaged consumer goods. But he acknowledged, in a recent interview, that the iconic beaches of Honolulu did not form overnight.

As Pudgy’s business development and partnerships director, Starobinsky said that his new role requires a relatively methodical approach, in contrast to the reactive rushes many native crypto projects tend to make — especially when dealing with large retail chains.

For example, he stated that purchase orders that will place products in front of consumers during the upcoming holiday season have already been signed, following an annual event held in September in Los Angeles, aimed at manufacturers and retailers.

“They saw the boxes, saw the licenses, saw the number of pieces,” Starobinsky said. “But if you miss that September cycle, you miss Christmas [the following year].”

Pudgy Penguins has established itself as a leader in the once-overhyped NFT space since the project was acquired by CEO Luca Netz in 2022. But as the company seeks revenue beyond the crypto sphere, it is giving more power to Starobinsky, a toy industry expert — and betting on his ability to navigate an industry unfamiliar to most of his peers.

Currently, the company’s push into consumer goods involves collaborations with well-known brands like Bearbrick, PEZ, and Penguin Random House. However, according to Starobinsky, the company’s bet will look much bigger next year.

“Most of my efforts will show in 2026,” he said. “We have a lot of physical merchandise available this Christmas, but it’s far from where I think we can get, considering the amount of attention we attract.”

In December, Pudgy Penguins’ namesake NFT collection was the third most valuable overall, with a market cap of around 47,000 ETH, equivalent to $159 million. The company also launched two other collections, which together are worth over $50 million.

Additionally, Pudgy launched last year a token on Solana called Pengu. The token was recently valued at around $818 million, according to market data. The company also released a blockchain-based mobile game in partnership with a gaming company.

This is a very different world from plush toys and keychains.

Starobinsky described himself as “a kid at heart,” with experience in teams that created products for brands like Paw Patrol and Minecraft. He also said he worked on the team that launched PopSockets, the retractable phone stands available in numerous colors.

In this regard, he said he is familiar with how Pudgy’s playful, hand-drawn visual style can resonate with both younger generations and adults. That’s why the children’s book released this year is aimed at readers aged four to eight.

“Playful brands are dominating pop culture,” he said. “I was very lucky to work with several intellectual properties exactly at the moment they moved from niche to mainstream.”

Winter is Coming

Still, Starobinsky and Netz — whose real name is Luca Schnetzler — have been friends for years. The two worked together at a company called Gel Blaster, where Netz was the marketing director. Starobinsky was the sales chief.

“We created a new category, something between Nerf and paintball,” he said. “The hottest thing on the internet — Luca played a huge role in that, driving that narrative.”

Starobinsky’s work depends on Pudgy’s ability to advance in the physical world, but by now, the company is no stranger to shopping carts across the country.

Pudgy Penguins began selling toys in 2023, and its products have become available in several stores, including Walmart, Target, and Walgreens. By October last year, the company claimed to have generated over $13 million in total sales, with more than 1 million units sold.

This year, Starobinsky said that “a proper refresh of new products in retail” was not possible, attributing this to the company’s lack of experience with physical goods.

Looking ahead to 2026, a Pudgy spokesperson said the company aims to surpass $20 million in retail sales, combining licensed and in-house products. They added that Starobinsky currently oversees six people working in business development, events, and public relations.

Starobinsky was impressed with Pudgy’s entry into physical products but said the company could do more to compete with established names. This involves spending money on marketing and advertising at times when competitors typically wouldn’t, he explained.

According to him, manufacturers usually help retailers promote their toys in the last months of the year, but that commitment usually ends on December 26, when stores cut prices to incentivize consumers and make room for new stock. From his perspective, this creates a “dead zone” of 45 days that Pudgy can leverage as a winter-themed brand.

Starobinsky said that closing deals with retailers, offering larger advertising commitments, could help fill the gap between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day. Moving forward, one of Pudgy’s main goals is to “dominate winter.”

For example, Pudgy could approach a retailer, commit to running an additional month and a half of advertising, and as a result, stores might not need to “reduce prices,” Starobinsky said. He also raised the possibility of bigger bonuses for retail employees who improve margins.

“Tematically, it makes sense for us to do marketing during a period when others would see it only as a pricing strategy,” he said. “That’s a deep strategic advantage for our brand.”

In the last two months of 2023, hobby, toy, and game stores generated 26.2% of their annual sales, compared to 18% across all categories. But it’s not about avoiding the holiday season, Starobinsky said — it’s about extending it.

“Whenever you’re building go-to-market strategies, it’s much better when you don’t have to compete with so many others,” he said. “When you’re really attacking a blank space, the chance of success is much higher.”

Allowing companies to plan promotions around Pudgy products is key, he added, as the company develops its own overlapping campaigns. Still, Starobinsky emphasized that the post-New Year and Valentine’s Day periods will remain priorities.

“The way to win in retail — to go from good to great — is to gain promotional space,” he said. “That’s how you go from millions of dollars to hundreds of millions in retail sales.”