Original Penguin is a legacy fashion brand with over 70 years of history — beloved by its core audience but struggling to connect with a younger generation that discovered brands through TikTok, not department stores. The brief was to create a campaign that would make Original Penguin feel culturally current without abandoning its heritage. The insight: the brand's iconic penguin logo was actually perfect raw material for the NFT avatar trend sweeping the internet. We turned the mascot into a collectible.
The challenge was technical, creative, and logistical simultaneously. We needed to work with five TikTok artists to co-create 3D penguin NFT avatars that blended their personal artistic styles with the brand identity. We needed to build an AR showroom accessible from any phone without an app download. We needed to research and implement an NFT auction that accepted both cryptocurrency and traditional currency — critical for reaching audiences unfamiliar with crypto. And we needed to tie it all to a charitable cause to give the campaign genuine social purpose.
I led the collaboration with five TikTok artists — @CiciStamper, @MrNYCSubway, @DayanTorresArt, @GabriellaAnouk, and @Carter.Golfs — guiding each to design a penguin avatar that authentically reflected their creative identity. The design challenge was maintaining brand consistency (it's still unmistakably a penguin, still unmistakably Original Penguin) while giving each artist enough creative latitude to make their NFT feel genuinely theirs. I defined the brand constraint parameters and facilitated the creative brief with each artist and the Art Director.
I designed the Miami-themed AR showroom as a virtual gallery users could walk through on their phone. The Miami aesthetic connected to the brand's headquarters and coastal identity. Each NFT avatar occupied a distinct space in the showroom, with interaction points that let users examine the designs up close. The navigation was deliberately simple — this was not an AR experience for tech-savvy early adopters; it was for TikTok followers who had never used AR before.
I led technical research into NFT minting, platform selection, and auction mechanics. The most important design decision was accepting both cryptocurrency and USD — a choice that dramatically broadened who could participate. Crypto-only auctions self-select for a narrow audience. Fiat currency support opened the auction to the brand's existing fanbase, not just the crypto-native early adopter segment. I worked with our NFT Specialist to implement the hybrid payment system and ensure the auction process was transparent and trustworthy.
The decision to donate all proceeds to FreeArtsNYC wasn't just a feel-good add-on — it was a strategic positioning choice. It gave the campaign a genuine reason to exist beyond brand self-promotion, made the auction stakes feel meaningful, and aligned with Original Penguin's target audience's values. I designed the charitable component into the UX itself: every auction page clearly communicated the FreeArtsNYC mission and how the proceeds would be used.
Original Penguin's penguin logo is actually perfect for the NFT avatar format — iconic, simple, adaptable. Rather than creating something entirely new, I advocated for making the existing brand asset the centerpiece of the NFT collection. This kept the campaign grounded in brand identity while making it feel genuinely relevant to the NFT cultural moment.
Most NFT auction campaigns in 2022 required cryptocurrency to participate, self-limiting their audience to a narrow crypto-native segment. I pushed for USD as an accepted currency, which lowered the barrier to entry for Original Penguin's existing customer base. This decision directly affected how much we raised for FreeArtsNYC — more accessible auction means more bidders means higher final totals.
The AR showroom was designed for TikTok followers, not tech enthusiasts. I made a deliberate choice to keep the interaction model extremely simple: tap to enter the gallery, tap to look at a penguin, tap to bid. The novelty of being in an AR gallery was the draw — the interface had to stay out of the way. Using 8th Wall meant zero app download friction, matching the impulsiveness of social media-driven traffic.
The Original Penguin NFT campaign earned coverage in WWD, Glossy, and industry press, successfully positioning the brand at the intersection of streetwear culture, digital art, and social responsibility. The $10,000+ donation to FreeArtsNYC demonstrated that brand activation could generate genuine social impact alongside commercial results.
This project taught me that the most effective brand campaigns give people something to believe in, not just something to consume. The charitable component transformed the NFT auction from a transaction into a story — and stories travel further than campaigns. I also learned that accessibility decisions (like accepting USD alongside crypto) are design decisions with direct measurable impact on outcomes.