2025 Marketing Budget Proposal

Cardano is no longer a new blockchain and the industry is teeming with new blockchains and projects. 

Cardano has consistently been a top10 blockchain, but with no real presence at exhibitions. 

Exhibitions are not cheap, but they are effective if done properly. 

As a top 10 blockchain, hundreds of thousands of people attend exhibitions every year and expect to find something there about Cardano. They know about Cardano, but they don't know what opportunity lies here. whether its developers looking to build, investors looking to invest or users looking to use. 

At Discover Cardano, we have always believed that the best way to promote Cardano anywhere is to focus on Community, opportunity and Sovereignty. 

We have over 15 years experience at exhibitions in various industries. over the last 4 years we have attended 15 Exhibitions and conferences related to blockchain around the world. We have also hosted a Discover Cardano booth in Dubai in 2023 as well as hosting a side event for Cardano Summit and Meet ups in UK, Dubai and Singapore.

It is worth mentioning that not every event is the same, some events are blockchain specific, some are Multi industry. Some are very expensive to attend (>$1,000) so the expectation from visitors is alot higher in terms of the opportunities they are looking for. Some are cheaper or even free, so you get alot more users there who are looking for entry level information and fun opportunities to get involved in.   

As a brief overview, we are proposing to host 8 pavilions at exhibitions that will hold at least 10 projects each. plus we will be looking to have a stand at 2 events where pavilions are not allowed.

We will also be including in this  proposal a part funding system for travel to these events as well. 

In short, over the last 4 years surveys show that the % of people at events that hold ADA has dropped from 19% to 12%. Many of our competitors around us have seen increases in ownership. Except ETH and BTC, however, when asked, those respondents have shown a much higher rate in "I expect to buy" ETH and BTC (43% and 63%) compared to ADA. (9%)

We believe this is due to the lack of marketing in recent years, Now is the time to change that, 

In a nutshell, we need more of everything, 

Platforms

Developers

Investors

Users

Content creators

Business Professionals

The best way to get these people is to go and find them at these events. 

This ecosystem has suffered during the last 3 years for many reasons, but for sure, a lack of smart contracts before the bull market peak and projects ability to last the bear with little  runway or expertise in particular fields. 

Kudos to all those that have managed to do it and everyone in the ecosystem that has supported them all! 

Marketing is not just about users. Its about developers, Typically anywhere between 12-27% of visitors to exhibitions or conferences are developers who are looking to learn about blockchain and are wanting to figure out where they are going to build. 

Some events are very serious where everyone there will be looking for an ROI on their $2,500 entrance fee. They want at the very least, demos of product or big investment opportunities or to meet the top level decision makers within exchanges and development houses/VC firms.

We also see benefits in doing some of the Multi industry events where we can introduce companies like Meggitt/Siemens/Hewlett Packard/Adobe to Cardano Foundation/IOG/Infrastructure projects on Cardano. 

As with previous events we have had a booth at, we also take advantage of speaker slots for our projects where possible. 

The travel grant system is one which is used in the UK by DTi and we have taken advantage of in the past in other companies. The travel budget covers up to a % of hotel and flight costs to get to the events. it is also max capped. So there is always a cost born by the applicant, but it is heavily subsidised. The aim throughout all of this is to have projects attend events that have a financial cost so they focus on getting an ROI from the event. It isn't just a free trip away.  Only those who pay for a slot on a Pavilion can apply for the adjacent travel grant and it will be required that projects provide the Booking confirmation as proof so they can claim the grant re-imbursement.

Pavilions are the perfect way to get the most out of an exhibition. Each Pavilion will have 10 pods that a project will pay for. Every Pavilion will also have meeting areas as well as Discover Cardano staff on hand to help identify people waiting to speak with Projects if they are busy. We will also have Refreshments available on the Pavilion. 

Pre event, there will be group calls with the projects signed up to go through event prep work. Everyone will meet each other, explain their goals from the events and identify targets from the list of exhibitors and attendees. Those that already have contacts will confirm attendance and set up meetings with them before the event on the pavilion. 

another key benefit of a pavilion is that it is always at least 36SQM so draws alot of attention typically and everyone benefits as it is an open area and you get cross pollination. 

During the event it will be an intense couple of days (or 3 days in some cases) projects will need to practice their pitch so that it is short and effective and they don't spend too long with someone and miss another opportunity. To aid in this, we will be requiring projects to book a twitter space AMAs such as Cardano over coffee or calmdano before the event to practice their pitch and have audiences asking questions.  every night, we will be networking further. We really want to get this process to benefit as many people in the ecosystem as possible. 

There are a few events that we feel it is crucial to attend but they won't allow a pavilion. They view it as subletting.  so we will have to approach it differently. We will follow the same process that we did for Crypto expo Dubai in 2023, having Explorer tablets instead. Of course, we will welcome anyone from the community including projects to utilise the stand during the event.

Here is an example of how the funding will help us reach the right balance of spending community finds to help make exhibitions more accessible to projects whilst also ensuring we have the right motivations in place for participants.

Flying from JFK (New York) to SIN (Singapore) for Token2049 and having a 1.5m x 1.5m lecturn with backdrop. as opposed having funding to be on Cardano Ecosystem pavilion. 

Cost without granting: 

$12,150

Cost with granting: 

Startup: $2,625

Other indirect benefits:

If you have a pavilion slot, there is alot more visibility for your project, no need for a second member of staff to help cover lunch breaks etc. and you can benefit from the contacts and knowledge of other projects on the pavilion. 

One thing we haven't touched on yet... 

There are 3 different granting tiers in our proposal. 

1. Startups

2. Non profits

3. Established

Startups must be projects with no  previous token raise or sale (NFT or FT) no platform released already. 

Non Profits are projects with no revenue stream such as AIKEN etc... 

Established is everyone else. 

This is important to us as it adds more fairness in our opinion. also, for these events which are not all the same, we will be only making a set number of slots available for each granting tier. 

We will open the slots up months in advance and have a deadline for submissions. There will be a maximum of 3 pod grants per project. 

However, if after the deadline, we have not filled all the slots, we will have a draw from a waiting list where projects can take a vacant slot. any "waiting list" slots used does not come off their 3 slot quota. 

There are so many we couldd o. First and foremost ROI is key but not everything is measurable as such. To set the right KPI's, we need to understand the goals of the projects that sign up. So over the next year, we will no doubt add KPI's and measures specific to the goal of those projects. but generally speaking we are doing all of this to increase awareness of the opportunity that exists in this ecosystem and get more engagement from people who would not have otherwise chosen Cardano. 

We will be encouraging projects to add tokens to a Proof of onboarding mechanism so people can have a Cardano wallet instantly on the pavilion. 

We will be running surveys throughout the event to gauge the effectiveness of the pavilion and how it raises awareness of the ecosystem. 

We will also be tracking a shift trend of the answers throughout the year as we do more events.

We will be taking contact details for those wanting to connect with projects and developers.

We will be using QR codes to track how many people join or follow projects on social media platforms. 

We will also be doing market research to understand better how the market perceives Cardano. 

Every project that joins us will be asked after the event to give feedback on how they thought it went. how we could improve and supporting them with follow ups etc.. 

an initial KPI report of each event will be published 1 month after the event with a follow up group video call in Public 3 mths after with the projects to talk about any successes that came directly from the event.