After branded pop-ups at SXSW music festival and an interactive gallery at Art Basel Miami, Doodles is turning its attention to a new audience for real-world events: children and families.
The new immersive experience and performance space of the NFT brand opens in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood a bond with Camp, a shop-and-play company that delivers experiences for families. It will be the debut experience for Camp’s Chicago location, opening August 19.
Camp’s partnership with Doodles will deliver a 3,500 square foot pop-up shopping experience, with operations based on the pastel-colored Ethereum NFTs, which have generated approximately $610 million in trading volume to date as per data from CryptoSlam.
Concept art from the Doodles x Camp experience. Image: Doodles
Camp is described as “part toy store, part party venue, [and] part immersive theater space,” and timed entry tickets to the Doodles experience start at $28.
The one-hour experience will allow participants to customize their own Doodles character, explore locations inspired by the project’s cartoonish aesthetic, play games, create crafts, and travel through areas called the “Lost Caves” and “Cosmic Clouds.”
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The new Camp store also includes a “Canteen” – 2,000 square feet of retail space filled with toys, clothing, and accessories. It includes a slime-making station named “The Schmutz Bar,” a “Splatter Room,” a live event performance space, and party rooms for children’s birthdays. That part of the Camp Chicago experience is now open.
There’s also merch, of course: a Camp and Doodles co-branded collection of clothing and accessories is offered in-store, as well as online and in other Camp stores. This includes hoodies, t-shirts, backpacks and stationery.
“Camp’s incredible team has helped us redefine the bridge between physical and digital,” Doodles CEO Julian Holguin said in a press release.
Many NFT brands market themselves with the idea that their tokens provide access to exclusive experiences or benefits for holders. In this case, Doodles will host an exclusive ribbon-cutting experience for original Doodles NFT holders prior to the grand opening, offering an additional visit for holders with up to five friends or family members once Camp opens to the public.
Introducing our first flagship retail and entertainment experience – Doodles x CAMP, launching this summer!
Through this partnership, we will grow the Doodles ecosystem by creating a real emotional connection with thousands of new people across generations.
Here’s how: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/9bbTgUiiZF
— doodles (@doodles) May 31, 2023
The venture, which will move to other Camp locations after Chicago, marks the latest foray into the mainstream for Doodles as the company moves beyond its original roots as a high-entry digital collectibles brand.
In January, the brand announced an expansion of its business with the acquisition of animation studio Golden Wolf, which worked on content related to the hit TV series ‘Rick & Morty’. Doodles also appointed musician Pharrell Williams as chief brand officer last year and is rolling out a Doodles 2 collection that could span millions of NFTs over time.
A photo of Camp Chicago. Image: camp
Doodles’ first NFT collection launched in October 2021. The company raised $54 million last September in a round led by Seven Seven Six, co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm. The current floor price for an original Doodles NFT is around 1.55 ETH ($2,950), down from an all-time high of nearly 20 ETH (then around $57,000) in May 2022.