TL;DR
Spooky Pets is a 10,000-piece generative NFT collection built to blend fun, community, and purpose. Launched on Crypto.com/NFT during crypto winter, the project quickly became a top seller on the Cronos Blockchain. More than just digital art, Spooky Pets donated $17,000+ to animal-related causes and explored expansion as a media property – puppets, cartoons, and more. A creative experiment in doing good while doing good.
The Origin Story
When we started dreaming up Spooky Pets, the NFT space was booming, but we knew the frost of crypto winter was setting in. That didn’t deter us. At Brovember Rain, we saw a chance to build something different: a project that wasn’t just about selling NFTs, but about creating meaningful engagement.
We were driven by two goals:
- Create Art with Purpose
Each NFT was designed to feel fresh, unique, and fun – with traits that gave the collection its own energy and personality. We didn’t want just another drop; we wanted to lay the groundwork for a potential media universe. - Support Animal Causes Through Community
From day one, we committed a portion of sales to animal-related charities – but we didn’t want donations to be passive. We designed a system where the community would help decide where the funds went, making the giving experience interactive and shared.
We knew we were walking a fine line: launching something innovative while aiming to make a real impact. But we were all in.
The Launch
Bringing Spooky Pets to life meant finding the right platform and Crypto.com/NFT was the perfect partner. Getting approved was a big win and gave us immediate reach and credibility. Even more exciting: we were the first official Crypto.com/NFT launch to use the Cronos Blockchain.
The art was solid. The concept was sound. But execution mattered.
Seth (my partner at Brovember Rain) and I are both generalists and we’ve worn a lot of hats at speed and under pressure. While Seth worked his creative magic on the art and trait design, I handled the technical prep: testing generations, managing metadata (lots of JSON), QA’ing outputs, and ensuring the smart contract would run smoothly.
We didn’t just build and drop. We hustled hard:
- Built a full whitepaper and roadmap
- Ran Twitter Spaces, livestreams, and Discord events
- Collaborated with other projects across Crypto.com and Cronos
- Made sure the community always had something to engage with
The result? A smooth launch. We beat our minimum funding goal and hit #1 on the Crypto.com/NFT charts. Even more rewarding: many buyers told us Spooky Pets was their first NFT purchase—which meant the mission and art connected with more than just collectors.
Beyond the Blockchain: Building a Media Property
From the start, we saw Spooky Pets as more than a collection – it had the potential to be a world.
To explore that, we created a lookbook that captured the style, tone, and characters behind the project. It helped us pitch to content producers and spark early conversations around adaptation.
Along the way, we partnered with incredible talent, including folks with experience at ILM, Disney, and Henson Studios, to bring the characters to life. We produced a few Spooky Pets shorts, including a puppet prototype, to test what a kids’ show or animated series might feel like.
These experiments weren’t just fun—they showed us how the characters could translate beyond NFTs. The response? Positive. And the door is still open.
Doing Good While Doing Good
One of the most important pieces of Spooky Pets was staying true to our ethos: doing good while doing good.
We didn’t want to just cut one big check. We created a weekly donation system where the community could participate directly:
- Each week, we highlighted animal charities (many nominated by the community).
- These were promoted across platforms:
- Discord: engagement and voting
- Twitter: drop updates and news
- Instagram: highlighting causes
- Medium: deeper storytelling
- The community voted. The top initiative got a $1,000 donation that week.
- We followed up with updates, so people could see their impact.
Over four months, we donated over $17,000 to animal welfare organizations. The system was simple, repeatable, and built to sustain engagement and real-world impact.
My Role
- Co-led project vision and launch strategy (GTM)
- Managed all technical prep (test generations, metadata, trait balancing)
- Oversaw platform approval process and partnership execution
- Community engagement, content, and donation mechanics
Key Takeaways
- You don’t need a big team—just the right one
- Community-first design beats hype
- “Giving back” can be a core mechanic
- Media potential lives in IP—even in Web3
- If it’s worth doing, it’s worth building with care
