Lisa Pillette’s twitter thread on building brands in a Web3 world raised some interesting questions about how CrypToadz and other CC0 projects might build enduring brands.
This feels like an avenue worth exploring, and could benefit from community funds for consulting from Lisa or other web3/brand specialists.
This is a perfect incubation idea, as we likely need some additional investigation to determine the scope and cost of such a consulting effort.
Putting brand guardrails in place could help us articulate CryptToadz’ long-term value to the public, as well as give us an idea for how to approve and prioritize other grant requests. Ideally, we would approve projects that build and support the long-term brand.
I love this idea, because probably one of the main concerns around Toadz is the vision/roadmap/leadership. If we want toadz to live on and be a strong global brand in the future I believe we need 3 things:
Builders building cool/interesting/exciting non-derivative projects on top of Toadz that truly bring value back to users. (i.e. games, apps, merch, experiences, etc)
A lean group of smart and dedicated leaders with vision/branding experience to guide those builders
A community that cares deeply about CrypToadz (we already have this)
Hiring someone like Lisa may be what we need to push Toadz back into the spotlight. I don’t think she can do it herself though - it will be a group effort with someone like her and the Toadz team and maybe another Senior leader/builder.
What would the next step be? Reaching out to see if she’s interested and her potential rates/salary?
I agree. This likely requires a small group of people willing to partner with someone like Lisa to develop a set of deliverables / recommendations. From there, you’d need actionable steps to implement the recommendations.
Moti said he reached out to Lisa, and that seems like a solid first step. Once we have a better sense for interest, we could work through scope, deliverables, and rates.
Agree with this approach! I’ve worked with a bunch of startups on similar projects and would be happy to help out with Lisa and/or find some alternatives, if she’s not up for it
cryptoadzNFT has everything you could want in a project to dominate, but without leadership with management skills and business acumen, the project will stall. Eventually, you lose your community/shareholders and you will spend a healthy sum to win back the hearts and minds.
This must be a compensated role and the compensation must be fair and market. When someone is not charging for their work no one will respect the work. We should not try to poor-boy this.
Step One:
We hire a headhunter. The current path we are on is foggy. People need to believe again in cryptoadzNFT. No one will invest significant capital in cryptoadzNFT until they see a change at the top that instills confidence. The leader recruited must have a track record of driving outcomes that are value add. The optimal hire would be someone who is known within the NFT world as a get shit done person. This requires recruiting them from another project and/or getting them to step back a little from that project to focus on cryptoadzNFT. This could be done with a strategic partnership with BAYC, doodles, or any other team known right now delivering high quality outcomes. It’s possible the leaders of the projects would not be interested but, there are certainly middle to low-tier team members that would be interested and ready for this challenge.
So, we allocate money from our treasury to hire a head-hunter to fill this executive role.
Step Two:
We need to control out PR. This is already being done to some degree. Moti has done great. That being said, your NFT holders are your number one sales persons. Do something for your community in the short term that curbs any negative PR.
Step Three:
Formally announce the short term plan to hire a headhunter who is tasked to search for an executive as well as a community reward, something to serve as glue for retention. The executive hired would need to submit proposals to get budgetary approval for actions that they would execute on. Mid to long term plans would be dictated by the new hire and voted upon by holders. Through the hiring phase, cryptoadzNFT would get free input regarding strategic moves, even if you end up hiring someone else.
This is how I would handle this. I’m not saying it’s perfect for CrypToadz but I’ve seen this play out in various startups.
The community reward thing may not be necessary either. I’m just applying a model I’m already familiar with to this community.
I think this is a good idea to sharpen focus given the way the space is going, however, for me it does slightly rub against the grain to deploy a marketing exec into what is a decentralised community driven cco art project. The final point in her sharply written thread to engage deeply with your community around your core values, and make sure every decision emanates from there is a prescient warning. We need to determine what are the communities’ core values? Who are we and what do we represent? How do we build a brand whilst maintaining the ideals of decentralisation and disruption (if thats what we are about?). The community must be central in all of this.
@beewhatsun You can have a decentralized project and team but also have core leadership that’s executing. Everything done can and should be put up to a vote as everything done would require funding most likely.
Good point and I firmly believe a visionary/leader can help us figure these questions out together - that’s their primary job. We need to get someone experienced ASAP engaging in the discord daily talking with everyday people who are active to build something tangible to expand upon. To me, CrypToadz embodies the following:
Vibes (this is kind of a meme at this point, but boiled down it’s simply being genuine and about being yourself)
Being grateful for what you have now
Friendship/Camaraderie
Innovation
A love for art, especially pixel art
Also, decentralization, web3, and cc0 goes without saying
EDIT: replaced the term “branding specialist” with “visionary/leader” to clarify desired role. A branding specialist may construe or twist the CrypToadz identity to fit current market trends. A visionary/leader will help cultivate what we already have and amplify it.
Yes the !vibe factor is a big one. Some great memes already and the possibilites are endless. A marketers dream i would imagine. Giving good vibes, vibing out. We need to get !vibe to stick to the Toadz.
Step one in any venture is to define the brand with a vision aand values - before you can start marketing yourself or building official products.
In large part we have art direction already (Gremp). We also have a brand to an extent already.
When you think of Toadz, what comes to mind - right now it is carefree vibes, true decentralization via CCO, a counter NFT culture satire with a ever positive mentality. (Least that’s my take)
But there’s more to it as we’re a historical project right - most ppl have no idea of this. So if that is part of our essence and brand it will come through in whatever ‘product’ we build.
Yes, we need to keep the decentral vibe(it’s obviously core to Toadz) but a pro coming in and helping define this better is what’s needed first imo.
I just joined this project and I’m really happy to be here. The reason that I joined is the !vibe culture that is apparent and that, when combined with the CC0 nature and historical significance of the Toadz, has driven continued adoption of CC0 and has inspired artists and works of art that will have long-term cultural signifance.
Unfortunately, I believe that a lot of what I am feeling, and the rest of this community feels, is lost in NFT land right now. Many have joined recently that are only looking for quick flips and that don’t understand the cultural, technical, and long-term implications of NFTs and the Metaverse. Likewise, they don’t understand how Toadz fit into the puzzle as one of the cultural driving forces for decentralization of the metaverse.
That’s a lot of words to say that Toadz = !vibe and !vibe = decentralization and decentralization = long-term net positive outcomes for humanity. Those are some pretty complex ideas for the tiny Toadz!
So, I am in favor of hiring someone to help us craft a clearly communicable and resonant message for the larger community that explains Toadz, !vibe, and CC0. My caution is in the hiring process. I will doxx myself in the future as part of one a proposal that I will make later. But for now, I can tell you that I am general counsel for restaurant company and an officer for a franchisor in the home services space. I have hired marketing firms and consultants before and you have to be very careful to specifically state what the deliverables will be and the timeline for delivery. I believe that it is critically important to define whether we want report, a marketing campaign outline, or something else. If we fail to do so, we will be burning a lot of money (I anticipate this kind of project to cost somewhere north of $20k to hire someone good).
I also strongly suggest that we adopt the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO) from Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). The VTO is a tool to define a company’s mission and other important characteristics like the company’s core focus (what it is trying to do), it’s niche (who, specifically are the customers), and marketing plan. An example of the VTO is available on slide 8 of this power point deck:
You can read more about EOS in this book:
Ultimately, I believe that a strong vision is important for Toadz to have a long-term impact not just in the NFT community, but in the culture and community at large.
This is a very, very good point that we really need to figure out.
How do you quantify a visionary/leader’s goals? i.e. how can we measure if he/she is doing their job effectively? Is it measured in increased CrypToadz Twitter follower count/engagement? Increased trading volume?
These are things we need to have outlined in the hiring process as quantifiable deliverables before committing to someone
EDIT: replaced the term “branding specialist” with “visionary/leader” to clarify desired role. A branding specialist may construe or twist the CrypToadz identity to fit current market trends. A visionary/leader will help cultivate what we already have and amplify it.
We shouldn’t expect quantifiable results during a consulting period (unless we’re engaging someone for 6 months+), We should expect recommendations that we can measure as we (or grant recipients) execute. A good candidate should be able to articulate deliverables, though. And we should be able to weigh the cost vs. deliverables and vote on whether we believe it’s a worthwhile outcome.
I agree - Deliverables are murky for consultants (I used to be one ) Lisa’s thread about building a brand resonated with me, and I do see value in putting structure around the Toadz ethos.
One straightforward deliverable could be a “Principles to Follow for Grant Funding” tailored to CrypToadz. This set of key questions (obviously !vibed out) would arm community members with a more discerning lens for evaluating the merit of future proposals. It would also be good content to host on cryptoadz.io // discord for new members.
I’m picturing this as a limited-time consulting role (6-12 weeks) vs. a full-time hire.
Are other people viewing this as a full-time (or long-term / 6-12 month) hire to the Toadz team to build the brand?
If it’s a full-time hire, then job description might come next. If it’s a consulting project, then it feels like partnering with someone like Lisa to work through what’s possible would be a good next step.
I strongly feel this should be full time. I was a consultant for many years and I can tell you if it’s a limited engagement, you have little invested in the long term success of the project.
) Lisa’s thread about building a brand resonated with me, and I do see value in putting structure around the Toadz ethos.