Iconic art project Creature World came to OpenSea with the goal of launching a new entry point to the Creature World universe via a generative open edition NFT project. Creature World’s artwork, strategic timing, and community engagement, combined with OpenSea’s product, Trust & Safety, and marketing, led to this becoming one of the most successful open editions launched in 2023— with over 38K mints in 24 hours.
Creature World is a multimedia art project created by fine artist Danny Cole, centered around creating experiences in traditional art mediums, web3 innovations, live exhibitions, and physical goods. Creature World launched its genesis NFT profile picture collection of 10,000 Creatures in 2021, which quickly became one of the most iconic collections in NFT history. Since then, the team has launched multiple clothing lines, held art shows and events, and continues to expand the Creature World universe throughout multiple mediums.
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While the Creature World team released novel NFT experiences throughout 2021 and 2022 specifically designed for holders of their genesis Creature NFT collection, "Crowd" was their first primary sale since the original Creature mint in 2021. “Crowd” is a generative open edition, meaning the supply is limited by time, not by a set quantity. The generative element of “Crowd” was particularly innovative: the color combination of each individual piece changed with each generation, creating a virtually infinite supply of unique pieces.
The piece was an expression of the ways the Creature World universe aims to unite people from all walks of life, and an ode to the beauty that results from diverse groups of people coming together.
Creature World sought to make “Crowd” accessible by setting a lower price point (about $50 USD at the time of the launch) and by leveraging OpenSea’s fiat enablement via MoonPay, so new collectors could easily mint using a credit or debit card.
While the Creature World team released novel NFT experiences throughout 2021 and 2022 specifically designed for holders of their genesis Creature NFT collection, "Crowd" was their first primary sale since the original Creature mint in 2021. “Crowd” is a generative open edition, meaning the supply is limited by time, not by a set quantity. The generative element of “Crowd” was particularly innovative: the color combination of each individual piece changed with each generation, creating a virtually infinite supply of unique pieces. The piece was an expression of the ways the Creature World universe aims to unite people from all walks of life, and an ode to the beauty that results from diverse groups of people coming together.
Creature World sought to make “Crowd” accessible by setting a lower price point (about $50 USD at the time of the launch) and by leveraging OpenSea’s fiat enablement via MoonPay, so new collectors could easily mint using a credit or debit card.
Open editions began rising in popularity in late 2022 as a way for web3 artists and founders to diversify the ways they can release NFTs. Open editions tend to be lower in price point and therefore welcome a wider range of collectors, and they place more focus on the primary sale than volume on the secondary market. By launching an open edition, creators are able to offer lower prices and less scarce NFTs, alongside their higher priced and more exclusive NFTs, reaching both ends of the market and diversifying their revenue streams. “Crowd” capitalized on this emerging trend by launching during its peak, and innovated further by featuring generative artwork.
The Creature World team is well-versed in the world of web3 and NFTs, and could have launched “Crowd” themselves. However, they still elected to drop “Crowd” in partnership with OpenSea because of the support that OpenSea is able to provide.
OpenSea not only helped with the technical side of preparing for and executing the “Crowd” launch, but also was a consultative partner, advising on best practices for contract deployment. If they were to do the drop by themselves, the Creature World team would have had to build their own website, develop their own smart contract, and find a way to implement a buy-with-card option. Creature World also found it incredibly valuable to have access to OpenSea team members across product and engineering before, during, and after the drop.
OpenSea created a holistic, bespoke marketing plan for “Crowd,” which included touchpoints across OpenSea’s social channels, editorial surfaces (i.e. the OpenSea blog), email, and website placements. OpenSea understood the importance of staying true to the Creature World brand throughout all the marketing assets and messaging. At the same time, OpenSea’s marketing team took care to leverage the more accessible price point and supply of the open edition, strategically expanding the audience beyond the current community. For example, OpenSea leaned into historical data to help identify potential interested collectors, like those who had ever owned a Creature from their genesis collection.
If Creature World had built their own independent website and mint experience, it would have been easier for bad actors to create a malicious copycat site, and would have made it harder for the community to know what was the “real” page. Launching on OpenSea allowed the Creature World team to avoid all that headache and simply rely on the trusted OpenSea platform.
Creature World’s goal with “Crowd” was to give its loyal community an accessible, creative, and buzz-worthy new project, while at the same time offering a way in for a wide range of new collectors from both the web2 and web3 worlds. They blew this goal out of the water.
In their primary sale, “Crowd” generated over $1.75M USD in GMV.
85% of the wallets (nearly 6000) used to purchase “Crowd” had never been a part of the Creature World community before.
7% of users that minted “Crowd” were completely new to the NFT space (had never bought, sold, or transferred an NFT before).
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
GN Crypto Twitter!
Snagged this Crowd #NFT
no. 28602 By @creatureworld
It wasn’t just the data that showed how big of a success “Crowd” was. The community response for “Crowd” took over Twitter for the duration of the mint and well afterwards, with everyone excitedly sharing their unique editions of the piece.
OpenSea not only helped with the technical side of preparing for and executing the “Crowd” launch, but also was a consultative partner, advising on best practices for contract deployment. If they were to do the drop by themselves, the Creature World team would have had to build their own website, develop their own smart contract, and find a way to implement a buy-with-card option. Creature World also found it incredibly valuable to have access to OpenSea team members across product and engineering before, during, and after the drop.
OpenSea created a holistic, bespoke marketing plan for “Crowd,” which included touchpoints across OpenSea’s social channels, editorial surfaces (i.e. the OpenSea blog), email, and website placements. OpenSea understood the importance of staying true to the Creature World brand throughout all the marketing assets and messaging. At the same time, OpenSea’s marketing team took care to leverage the more accessible price point and supply of the open edition, strategically expanding the audience beyond the current community. For example, OpenSea leaned into historical data to help identify potential interested collectors, like those who had ever owned a Creature from their genesis collection.
If Creature World had built their own independent website and mint experience, it would have been easier for bad actors to create a malicious copycat site, and would have made it harder for the community to know what was the “real” page. Launching on OpenSea allowed the Creature World team to avoid all that headache and simply rely on the trusted OpenSea platform.
OpenSea makes no representations or guarantees regarding the collections highlighted in this article. Users must do their own research and use their own judgment before buying any NFT, including those included in the collections highlighted in this article.
Creature World is a multimedia art project created by fine artist Danny Cole, centered around creating experiences in traditional art mediums, web3 innovations, live exhibitions, and physical goods. Creature World launched its genesis NFT profile picture collection of 10,000 Creatures in 2021, which quickly became one of the most iconic collections in NFT history. Since then, the team has launched multiple clothing lines, held art shows and events, and continues to expand the Creature World universe throughout multiple mediums.
