What is the work being proposed?
An advertising (marketing) co-spend between the Rocket Pool Team and DAO in support of the Saturn 1 upgrade. The two components are a 15-day “Bankless Blitz” and a five-week “Flagship” package from The Defiant.
Is there any related work this builds off of?
Not directly. The DAO did fund the total amount of a Bankless advertising campaign back in mid-2022.
Will the results of this project be entirely open source?
Not applicable for advertising activity. The advertising content will be public.
Benefit
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?
Saturn 1 is largely a node/RPL story. But it’s difficult to accurately predict the protocol’s supply/demand picture in advance. In general, improved awareness of Rocket Pool has effects that benefit all participants, such as protocol and ecosystem growth, and establishment/entrenchment in the Ethereum ecosystem. In the case that an upcoming initiative to stimulate rETH demand is successful, the increased awareness of node operator benefits will help to ensure that there will be minting capacity going forward.
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help rETH holders?
The above points from (1.) generally apply, plus increased awareness and demand for rETH could have a positive impact on the token’s price relative to NAV, giving liquid stakers more confidence/reassurance.
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?
The above points generally apply. Not all existing/potential node operators keep a close eye on the protocol’s development - some may benefit from being made aware of the benefits of the Saturn 1 upgrade and the attractiveness of launching validators.
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?
The above points generally apply. Efforts to support rETH demand/price also benefits node operators looking to (re)launch validators.
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help the Rocket Pool community?
The community may enjoy a range of benefits that flow from increased awareness of the protocol and Saturn 1 upgrade, such as higher retention & inflow of liquid stakers, node operators, and community members, plus more integrations & ecosystem growth. The DAO may benefit from a higher dollar value of their funds. The community will also benefit from a temporarily reduced cadence of “wen marketing” comments (on a more serious note, the community has at least implicitly requested that the Team provide advertising support; overall morale/sentiment may improve temporarily).
- If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help RPL holders?
Promotion of the RPL fee switch may make holding the token more appealing to a wider range of individuals/entities.
Which other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?
None.
Work
Who is doing the work?
The advertising campaign will be coordinated by the Rocket Pool Team, specifically Langers & Maverick. The advertising platforms are Bankless and The Defiant.
What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?
The team members are highly qualified and experienced individuals who have been with the protocol for 3+ years and carried out prior paid advertising & organic marketing activity. Bankless and The Defiant are flagship crypto/Ethereum platforms with great track records, and prior history with Rocket Pool, and currently have very good standing in the Ethereum community.
What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?
The deadline to confirm the advertising is imminent. Once approved, work will start on coordinating the campaigns, which will be launched around the time of the Saturn 1 upgrade, ie from end October into November. The campaigns include a comprehensive range of content spread over five weeks, including podcast/video sponsor mentions, newsletter sponsor mentions, video & Twitter/X interviews, a website takeover, explainer article/video content, and sponsored posts. The best available dates will be selected based on what’s available at the time of confirmation.
How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?
Not applicable for advertising.
How will the work be maintained after delivery?
Not applicable for advertising.
Costs
What is the acceptance criteria?
Agreement and delivery of advertising packages as proposed.
What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much USD $ and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?
The timeline is already tight and payment will be due soon, so ideally ASAP. The Team may be able to float the DAO for a short period of time if required. A one-off payment of USD56,750 is requested, as 50% towards the total cost of the two campaigns combined, with the remaining 50% cost to be borne by the Team. An alternate reduced spend option is available, see below.
How will the GMC verify that the work delivered matches the proposed cadence?
By their nature, the advertising deliverables will be publicly verifiable.
What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?
The proposal has been carefully selected to balance cost with effectiveness. For a crypto advertising budget the spend is relatively low. Other comparable projects regularly spend similar/more on advertising. As mentioned, prior advertising spend in 2022 was borne in its entirety by the DAO, without Team co-pay.
There is an option to reduce the advertising spend but this would result in significantly less coverage and impact, specifically in the valuable explainer content & amplification. Reducing the total pay to USD90,000 (from USD113,500 total) and the Team paying 65% or USD58,500, would leave the GMC with a 35% contribution, or USD31,500.
In the case that the GMC declines to fund this proposal, the Team will still pay for a smaller two-week subset of the advertising campaign.
Have you already been compensated by the RP protocol in any way for this work?
No.
Conflict of Interest
Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).
No.
Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?
Not directly. Bankless is an oDAO member, which includes compensation for their expenses in RPL tokens. They also hold some RPL tokens and operate Rocket Pool minipools. But this is largely no different to the many other Rocket Pool node operators. And there is no guarantee of an RPL token price increase.