After more than a year in the public spotlight, the NFT market has sorted collections into winners and losers. One of the most recognizable winners is Doodles, a project that has separated itself from the pack through ambitious marketing and effective brand-building.

Doodles launched last October to immediate success, selling out its series of 10,000 cartoon characters styled in vibrant pastels and finding even more traction on the secondary market. By the end of the year, the collection had achieved a trading volume of over $140 million, with the cheapest NFT selling for a not-so-cheap $25,000. 

But what has transformed Doodles from a leading NFT collection to a leading NFT brand are its efforts to reach mass audiences and onboard what Co-founder Evan Keast hopes to be the next million fans. At SXSW, the brand teamed up with Behr Paint for an experiential pop-up that earned a line around the block. It has also partnered with Snap for an augmented reality filter featuring its imagery and Shopify for a pop-up store selling branded apparel.

Most recently, the Doodles team appointed musician and producer Pharrell Williams as chief brand officer and Julian Holguin, the former president of Billboard, to lead the brand forward as CEO.

“Collecting things will never go out of style,” said Keast, who also goes by the pseudonym “Tulip.” “So we're going to keep creating products in and out of the metaverse, whether that be NFTs, film and animation in gaming and consumer products.”