Season 0 Marketing Blitz

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Title: Season 1 Marketing Blitz
Authors: frogmonkee #6855, minimax.eth #7570
Co-Sponsors: Jack | Tentango.com#0728
Date: May 7th , 2021

SUMMARY

The launch of the Bankless DAO is a monumental event in the decentralized ecosystem and it must be announced with an appropriate pomp. We propose an intensive blitz-sequence of a number of marketing tactics aimed at announcing the arrival of the Bankless DAO. In short, our goal is a concentrated blast of hype for BanklessDAO.

Note: We feel that it is imperative that Bankless DAO creates a high-level marketing plan in order to provide more structure and planning to our effort. We are currently working on such a plan and the draft will be posted separately for the community members to contribute. This proposal however is ONLY for the initial push and is meant to last about a week.

BACKGROUND

Bankless DAO emerged as a result of the stewardship by Bankless LLC that led to the accelerated growth of a community consisting of dedicated supporters ready and willing to contribute to the stated mission. The idea of the DAO, first voiced on the discord and rapidly evolved resulting in the DAO launch on May 4th, 2021.

The announcement post stated the DAO’s main mission: “to help the world go bankless” as well as outlined the outlining proposition: “to onboard ONE BILLION PEOPLE to the decentralized economic and relational ecosystem”.

The announcement introduced a concept of “seasons” with Season ZERO commencing immediately and lasting through the beginning of June. While Season Zero is more or less organizational, Season One is the time we officially launch and should make as much noise as possible in order to reach our mission.

MOTIVATION

  • To generate excitement around the idea of the large scalable organization formed specifically with the goal of promoting awareness of the world of DeFi, NFTs and other protocols enabled by the decentralized ecosystem.
  • To onboard as many additional members as possible and to turn them into engaged members of the community
  • To establish new and cement existing connections and partnerships both in the crypto and traditional worlds.

SPECIFICATION

Scope of Work

Together, we will coordinate an intense marketing campaign set to execute approximately June 7th, 2021. Our goal is to onboard as many new users to BanklessDAO as possible.

The number of new BanklessDAO newsletter signups and members to the discord group after that blitz (approximately June 7th through June 14) is the main metric by which we would measure the results of the effort.

Assets Required

  • Website landing page
  • Written collateral
    • Press release
    • Long form blog
    • Short form blog
  • Promotional copy
    • Tweets, ad copy
  • Prizes for raffles and contests (both digital and not)
  • NFTs
  • $BANK allocation

Actions Steps

  • Choose a core implementation team to create content and provide proper execution. The following collaborations are required:
    • Writers Guild
    • Graphics Guild
    • Webdev team
    • Genesis team
    • Translators Guild
  • Prepare by signing up the press release distribution/syndication service
  • Content team chooses SEO search terms and creates an outline of the campaign narrative (see under #Content Strategy)
    • Bounties are placed on the Writers Guild board
    • Bounties are also placed for writing users guides and consolidating information
  • Translator’s Guild translate pieces and act as liaisons to worldwide media outlets (outlets needs to be selected)
  • Meme competition - Will require a community lead to create structure
    • Bounties are placed for the Graphics Guild to design possible NFT trophies
    • Communities can create categories and vote on the best design

Distribution Channels

We will create a database for each of the channels. Only some examples are listed below. Community members will have a chance to add to the database of each channel.

  • New media outlets (Possible paid promotion)
    • Coindesk, Cointelegraph, Bitcoin News
  • Crypto-twitter influencers
    • CamiRusso, RyanSAdams, TrustlessState, cburniske, ameensol, Defi_Dad, spencernoon, @sassal0x, etc.
  • Blogs, newsletters, and podcasts (Possible paid promotion)
    • DeFi Pulse, The Defiant, DeFi Rate, DeFi Prime, The Daily Gwei, Bitcoin News, Our Network,
  • Socials - Reddit, twitter
    • r/ethereum
    • definews_info, defipulse, aboutdefi, defirate, defiantnews, cointelegraph, coindesk, dailygwei, OurNetwork__
  • Cross DAO promotion
    • TBD
  • Traditional media
    • A database of crypto-friendly publications and journalists will be created in order to better reach them
    • Contact information listed at the end of each press release will prompt contacts from the members of the press.
  • Community members
    • Reposts, retweets, newsletter sharing

Content Strategy

All of our our content must follow the same format:

  • A strong narrative supporting the first media network DAO and all the possibilities
  • Introduce the concept of Season 1 and tease what we have in the works
  • Hook with a DeFi meme competition with NFT awards and $BANK prize pools (See Appendix A)

The length of each piece depends on where we are being published, but all forms should tell the same story of: Bankless is experimenting with the world’s first DAO-run media network. banklessDAO unlocks potential for the DeFi ecosystems because we can do (X, Y, Z). After a month of preparation, we are announcing Season 1, the first in a perpetuity of short bursts of time to make progress. We have a lot in store for an ambitious Season 1, including (A, B, C). In fact, you can take part in a meme competition, voted on by the community. Prizes will include specialized NFTs and $BANK giveaways. Winning memes will be minted and a proceed of all future sales will be split between the creator and DAO treasury. Go to [website URL] and be a contributor in the bankless movement.

Note:

  • Content depends on banklessDAO having exciting things planned for Season 1, but we have no concerns on that front :slight_smile:
  • All content should be SEO optimized

Budget

Item $BANK Cost
Meme Competition 1.935M $BANK
Content Guild Allocation 50K $BANK
Translators Guild Allocation 50K $BANK
Graphics Guild Allocation 50K $BANK
WebDev Guild Allocation 50K $BANK
Implementation Team 200K $BANK
Total 2.335M $BANK (4.67% of current community treasury)

Upon approved, any and all transactions will be logged publicly. Any $BANK not distributed by the end of the meme competition will revert to the treasury. Any transactions will require multisig approval from @frogmonkee and @minimax.

PR/Advertising - This will require expenses that cannot be paid with $BANK. Depending on whether we decide to run actual ads or just limit the first week to press releases, the effort could cost from a few hundred to a couple of thousand USD. It is to be determined how these funds are to be allocated.

One method is having community members donate funds, with a retroactive compensation $BANK at some point down the road. The other way is for Bankless LLC to pick up the cost.

Note:

  • @frogmonkee does not expect payment for this project. I plan on submitting a proposal to work full time for BanklessDAO. I view participating in this as part of my responsibilities. The 200K $BANK will be split evenly between the implementation team, save for myself. Individual members of the team can decide on their compensation requirements. This matter is also a subject to the community feedback and discussion.
  • As we grow, we will quickly need assets for expenses. We may consider creating a special LLC for this purpose - A topic to explore further.

NEXT STEPS

  • Recruiting community members with expertise in marketing matters
    • PR/Advertising - @minimax
    • Project Management - @frogmonkee
    • Social Media Manager - This could be YOU!
    • SEO expert
  • Set up the Translator and Graphics guild, and create their bounty board pages.
  • Start promoting the internal NFT competition in discord
  • Start outlining a blog post according to the #Content Strategy

AUTHORS BACKGROUND

frogmonkee #6855 - Pseudonymous writer. Wannabe dev.

Minimax.eth is a marketing and PR expert with 25-plus years experience in strategic brand building. She is a successful entrepreneur and a former executive with several global ad agencies and media and entertainment companies (MTV, Polygram Records). She is also a decentralization and privacy activist as well as a champion for the rights of farmed animals.

APPENDIX A - MEME COMPETITION

The meme competition is an open event with NFT prizes (created by the community) and $BANK drops. Submission period is 1 week from campaign launch (approx. June 7th).

We suggest three different competition categories, up to the community’s suggestion. Each category will have a 1st place, second place, and 3rd place NFT prize. Winners will have their meme minted and placed in the DAO NFT museum with future proceeds split between the treasury and meme creator. NFT art for prizes must be sourced from the community and voted on.

Placement Prizes
1st place NFT + 100K $BANK
2nd place NFT + 50K $BANK
3rd place NFT + 25K $BANK
4th - 50th 10K $BANK (645K total)
3x Multiplier for each category 9 NFTs and 1.935M $BANK

Competitions rules:

  • Each competitor submits ONE meme for each category (up to 3)
  • Depending on the # of submissions, we may have multiple rounds of voting
  • Winners are chosen by voting with $BANK. Alternately, for a smooth UX, we could use something like Upshot to vote as Bankless LLC already has a relationship with them.
  • Hard Yes
  • Soft Yes
  • Soft No
  • Hard No

0 voters

3 Likes
2

Great work and well thought out!

2 Likes
3

This looks really promising, I think we should add an allocation for the writers guild and get some dedicated writing talent to cover not only internal but external news.

Separately, I think the prizes for the meme competition should be reduced on the grounds that the grants to the teams (for two months of work) is equivalent to a meme prize. That is, unless the treasury is obtaining the lion’s share of proceeds in the split which has no figure set, unlike most of the proposal.
The way proceeds are earned isn’t described either, is it a gift shop model where they can mint a copy of the nft for a Daonation?
Voting soft yes

4 Likes
4

prizes for the meme competition should be reduced

Makes sense. How about:
1st is 50K
2nd is 25K
3rd is 15K
4-100 are 5K

is it a gift shop model where they can mint a copy of the nft for a Daonation?

No, it goes into the DAO-museum. Effectively an NFT vault. It can be sold at some later date for fundraising or charity. Then winners cash in on their proceeds

6 Likes
5

Agree w/ reducing prizes for meme competition. It might worth thinking about what the goals are for it / who we are trying to attract. If it’s tied to marketing and trying to pull in people who aren’t already part of the DAO, then I’d suggest 1st-3rd all receive enough to actually join the DAO (35k+). Then maybe you cut back on the 4-10th place prices?

Also maybe for the first run we just run 1 category and see how it goes, vs 3? It’d be cheaper to test (less BANK paid out), and also reduces the risk we don’t have enough good entries, or people just spam all the categories with low-quality entries in order to compete. In other words - concentrating the entries should lead to stiffer competition and higher quality entries.

3 Likes
6

I think the Meme competition is only for members.

7

Disagree completely. Wouldn’t we want to include as many people as possible, including new, curious, and those who can’t afford to purchase $BANK tokens? Creativity comes from all corners of the Internet. BANK for all and let the people go Bankless

1 Like
8

I think you’re right about this. Like y’alls hearts are in the right place, but if we just rambo out we might incentivize noise makers pump n dumpily spamming // robots essentially DDOS-ing any endpoints we expose to maximize email signups //

Reward someone with tons of influence (think shitty celeb nfts with no heart having their followers spam vote for their memes)

We definitely want to make bankless reach as many people as possible, but if we onboard folks into chaos they’ll be afraid to come back

2 Likes
9

Yes, I think inclusivity will help grow this Bankless movement. There is a growing Global group of people who are in alliance with the BanklessDAO mission but who may not have the money to “buy in”. Human capital IMO is an equally valuable buy in. Just my two Sats.

1 Like
10

@Kouros - Meme competition is open to all, not just members!

@Acedabook Frankly, not yet. This DAO started with those able to make a financial commitment. Having a barrier to entry (though there is a proposal to lower that number from 35K $BANK to 10K). Personal preference is that we take things slow. Onboard slowly, build infrastructure along the way, and ease in more and more people. We will have a Level 0 status for people that want to join the discord without purchasing $bank. Access to rooms like announcements and memes.

@unknownunknowns Yeah, I’m okay with that too. How about:

Placement Prizes
1st NFT + 50K $BANK
2nd NFT + 40K $BANK
3rd NFT + 35K $BANK
4th NFT + 30K $BANK
5th NFT + 25K $BANK
5th NFT + 20K $BANK
6th-10th 20K $BANK
11th-300th 5K $BANK
Total 5 NFTs and 1.75M $BANK

The 5K $BANK ties in nicely with the proposal I linked earlier. Will incentivize 11-300 to purchase more BANK. Thoughts?

2 Likes
11

Would entries be limited in any way? My other concern is if we get relatively low interest in the competition, a small number of people can just submit a ton of extra entries to soak up the lower placements.

In terms of scaling, it’s always going to be better and easier for us to scale up in future events than scale down. So my suggestion would be to start with a smaller scope contest with fewer total placements for v1 - if we get massive interest (and we believe that interest is actually driving value for the DAO in getting new people to join the Bankless movement, etc) then we ratchet it up in future events. It’s not clear to me yet that there is a ton of value from running a big meme competition, but I could absolutely be wrong, so we should test it with an initial test and find out.

12

I had wondered about multiple entries. I have 3-4 ideas myself that I am considering.

Also - what is the timeline/deadline?

13

Based on some other conversations I’ve seen, I think scaling it down makes sense. Can you propose something, along with a budget?

14

There is a lot of good stuff here. But a few critiques :slight_smile:

I think you should remove the motivation of “partnership cultivation”. That is a big task and not necessary for this initial branding push.

This campaign should be all about educating people about media DAO’s, while raising awareness of the Bankless DAO. We can to tell people what it can do and we should focus on attracting talented people to a DAO ---- who are willing to put their skin in the game (via BANK). tldr - teach people what a media dao is, tell them why banklessdao is the best mediadoa, tell them how to participate. Thats the recipe.

Additioally, I think the 4.67% of treasury request is a bit high, would like to see it around 3%. We need to be ultra conservative with our resources until we know how to properly execute them. We are not even sure who are what we are, lets take some time to develop a brand.

3 Likes
15

Sure - I should have thought to do this actually instead of just telling you it was too high :slight_smile:

I agree w/ @WestCoastWalker that we should be more conservative to start - if we aim for 3% of treasury initially, that would set us at 1.5M $BANK total. Subtracting out the other allocations (which I haven’t thought enough about and don’t have any view on currently) that leaves us with 1.1M $BANK for the competition.

If we assume a 35K DAO entry fee still (since the other proposal is still undetermined) that gets ~31 people full entry into the DAO if we were to give a 35K $BANK reward to everyone. Based on @0xHouston 's query, there are ~1483 addresses with 35k+ BANK. Not all of those people are actually members, but if we assume they are then it’s a 2% increase to the # of DAO members. So not a lot.

I think this comes down to what our goals are with marketing. I work in mobile apps/gaming, and so my view is if we’re going to spend money/BANK on marketing, we should be measuring our returns. Is our goal to increase # of DAO members, or is it to increase # of wallets holding BANK? Or something else?

If it’s to increase DAO members, based on what I’ve seen so far, a few dedicated people who really want to be there are worth a lot more than a bunch of people who are just claiming the airdrops. So I might err on the side of giving prizes that enable DAO access to the top 25, and then cutting it off there. So something like:

  • 1: 100k
  • 2: 75k
  • 3: 60k
  • 4-5: = 50k = 100k
  • 6-10: 40k = 200k
  • 10-25: 35k = 525k
    Total 1.06M

But as I write this I’m realizing it’s so dependent on the minimum entry proposal that maybe it makes more sense to wait for that to resolve? We could split out just the meme competition if there’s more urgency on the other marketing initiatives, though that does create more headaches for voting. Open to thoughts here.

2 Likes
16

Submission period is 1 week from campaign launch (approx. June 7th)

17

@WestCoastWalker @unknownunknowns

Yall both make good point. There’s an initiative to rework this proposal. Eyes peeled

1 Like
18

Some great points! After reading your thoughts, I thought, what is the exact goal of the initial marketing push? And lets zero in on that and create content that will achieve that. We should be able to easily describe our goal, as well as what metrics will determine our success. IMHO, these are two things we should focus on for the season 0 campaign…

  1. Adding people/talent to the DAO (we could do this very targeted and recruit certain people OR make it very broad and open OR even recruit other DAOs to join). And a metric to measure would be new DAO members added.

  2. Educating people what a mediaDAO is, why Bankless is going to be a great mediaDAO, and how they can get involved. A metric could simply be social media follower #s.

What are other goals that would be better than this for an initial season 0 campaign?

I think setting this as our two goals, and then brainstorming ways to make each goal happen, is a good way for us to move forward with an initial plan. All of us agreeing on what the purpose or mission of the campain will help us move forward IMHO.

Additionally, I think a brand book is something that could be really helpful. Something that helps communicate to everyone who and what we are, what our goals are, logos, images, taglines, etc. This is something I would like to start building for us.

And I dont mean to say that any other plan/idea was/is no good. Im just sharing my thoughts on this. No hard feelings.

But love the chat. Happy to be here.

1 Like
19

Also, loved tier reward idea @unknownunknowns! I agree with your thought process on it.

I also imagine we could potentially do things like “we cover half your DAO fee”. You buy 17.5 and if you do X,Y,Z Defi things, then we will reward you with an additional 17.5 BANK, so now you can join the DAO.

Lots of fun ideas to brainstorm

20

let me know How i can help… also, this looks like a great template for marketing campaign… Perhaps three of us can partner on season 1