- Moderator edit to add link to on-chain proposal: Mintscan - Chain explorer by COSMOSTATION
Good day/evening to all.
For the past 6 months there have been intense and lengthy discussions (between community members) about the lack of marketing initiatives that are $ATOM oriented, from entities involved in the Cosmos Hub.
During the months leading to the completion of the Stargate Upgrade (which we understand is imminent) we identified that until the upgrade was about to launch there would be no point to promote a product that had not yet launched 
.
On the other hand, we noted that efforts for educating communities, disseminating the idea and planting the seed should have been - at least in our opinion - intensified.
Yet we have always aligned with the ethos of the Cosmos idea and noble character and waited until the right time had come.
After a few days of deliberation on the Cosmos Hubâs Governance Working Group, with many participants contributing to the Cosmos Hub, we, members of the Cosmos Hubâs community, have come up with the following proposal.
Since we have all agreed that it is important to submit this on chain as soon as possible (ahead of the proposal for Stargate) here is the Candidate Proposal 34 for your review and consideration, awaiting your kind comments:
ABSTRACT:
This proposal is the by-product of an ambitious community driven initiative. Its purpose is to orchestrate and coordinate an effort to increase awareness on the value proposition of $ATOM and the Cøsmos Hub, informing communities, individuals, entities about the dynamics of $ATOM in the light of the upcoming Stargate upgrade. We aim to achieve this through undertaking a marketing campaign contracted to AiB. We propose that the community pool allocate 129,208 $ATOM to this initiative with immediate effect upon the proposalâs passing. The funds will be used towards the following actions:
i. One set of actions for incentivising, educating thought leaders so as to engage through media (Twitter, YouTube) for a period of 3 months and educate their audiences about $ATOM without any unnecessary hyperboles, something that would go against the values and ethos of our project;
ii. One set of actions for engaging the blockchain and crypto communities for 3 months via 3 monthly meme contests whose intention is to make $ATOM going viral on Twitter.
iii. One set of actions for a 3 month header banner and/or homepage banner advertising campaigns on 4 platforms with high and/or relevant traffic to the Cosmos Hub such as CMC, Coingecko, Blockfolio and Staking Rewards platforms, whichever of them have available spots.
iv. A maximum of 10% from the budget will be used to engage a high profile PR Agency to help with the Media and Marketing efforts. AiB and/or committee members will request and share offers from different PR Agencies and the offer containing the best marketing plan will be selected by the committee members through vote. AiB will maintain the relation with the PR Agency and will report to the committee on the status of deliverables.
We have requested and shall receive the assistance of AiB (Tendermint). We believe AiB (Tendermint) is one of those entities that have demonstrated an unparalleled dedication to the Cosmos Hub.
A multi-sig committee of 5 community members will lead coordination of the effort, and approve the above specified actions and forward funds to AiB upon completion of objectives.
Unspent funds will be refunded to the community pool by the committee.
MultiSig Address: cosmos16plylpsgxechajltx9yeseqexzdzut9g8vla4k
FULL TEXT OF DRAFT PROPOSAL
Proposal #33: Luna Mission: Funding #Atom
Preamble
âWe reject siloed and centralised hegemonies; we believe in the promise of Cosmos for a truly interoperable and decentralised future for governance and finance; we provide the building blocks for the future of finance and beyond.â
We, the community of the Cosmos Hub ($ATOM) have patiently been awaiting the time when IBC, the protocol that will signal the second era of the Blockchain Revolution goes live.
We understand that it had been of the utmost importance to opt for and pursue excellence over marketing or shilling a (nonetheless amazing) project that was not yet finalised. This, in our view, aligned with the views and ethos of the founding fathers of this great project although we firmly believe that getting the merits of this project known is of equal importance.
This is for a reason: we have been students and true believers in the value proposition and fundamentals of this amazing technology since we laid our eyes on it and learnt about its merits/properties.
To us, Cosmos Hub is providing the building blocks for the future of DLT and beyond it. We believe that its impact on the world can be enormous. For us, it is hard to resist Cosmos once you get involved with the idea. But like all great ideas it has to be disseminated.
Thus, we have long come upon the realisation that it has not received the attention it deserves. We also realise we build in a space where reason and real values are not a given or guarantee for success. There have been many examples in the past, not just in this space where a great idea or execution thereof was not enough for a ventureâs success.
We have decided that it is high time we coordinated, orchestrated efforts so that we see $ATOM becoming known to this space and beyond, We are convinced that people who see the potential, inherent value and ethos of this project will not be able to unsee and that they will be converted to believers and evangelists like ourselves.
We need to have the support of all: community members, delegators, validators and teams that have tirelessly worked to ensure the flawless, successful completion of the Cosmos stack and vision of its roadmap.
We will need more than their vocal support. We will need their vote. We will need their subsequent support for this initiative. We all need to do nothing more than spread the knowledge. Disseminate this great idea.
We also need AiBâs (Tendermint) help in order to execute on this ambitious effort.
Our proposal is requesting from the entire cosmos family to grant access to a portion of the community pool and allow a community spend of 129,208 $ATOM for marketing contracts over a course of 3 months starting immediately upon its passing.
We are convinced that, by this community spend, we will increase awareness across blockchain space and get the $ATOM spaceship ready for its intergalactic journey that few - but us - have foreseen. This is not about shilling a project with no fundamentals, this is about making the best project out there known across blockchain space and beyond.
We also think that this initiative is not only helping the Cosmos Hub and ATOM, ultimately it is a great initiative with benefits for the massive and ever expanding galaxy of the Cosmos ecosystem. Yet we are aligned with the ATOM2021 initiative and understand that for us - $ATOM holders - the utility of $ATOM should become known and strengthened via similar initiatives.
Ultimately we deem imperative that this initiative coincides with the Stargate upgrade.
4 Types of Promotional Activities to be funded with 129,208 $ATOM:
In order to achieve the goal of strengthening the public perception about the ATOMâs utility and understanding of communities about the value proposition of the Hub we have 4 main campaigns in mind for which we request your approval. The campaigns are detailed below:
i. One set of actions for incentivising, educating thought leaders so as to engage through media (Twitter, YouTube) for a period of 3 months and educate their audiences about $ATOM without any unnecessary hyperboles, something that would go against the values and ethos of our project;
ii. One set of actions for engaging the blockchain and crypto communities for 3 months via 3 monthly meme contests whose intention is to make $ATOM going viral on Twitter.
iii. One set of actions for a 3 month header banner and/or homepage banner advertising campaigns on 4 platforms with high and/or relevant traffic to the Cosmos Hub such as CMC, Coingecko, Blockfolio and Staking Rewards platforms, whichever of them have available spots.
iv. A maximum of 10% from the budget will be used to engage a high profile PR Agency to help with the Media and Marketing efforts. AiB and/or committee members will request and share offers from different PR Agencies and the offer containing the best marketing plan will be selected by the committee members through vote. AiB will maintain the relation with the PR Agency and will report to the committee on the status of deliverables.
Scope of Campaigns
The campaigns will be $ATOM related and should be aligned with the ATOM2021 initiative, increase awareness about the Cosmos Hub, the value proposition of $ATOM, the dynamics of IBC in relation to $ATOM without neglecting to point on the truly decentralised, sovereign, scalable, sustainable properties inherent in the projectâs architecture and ethos as well as its non-competitive character to other chains within the ecosystem.
Since we are aware of the superiority of the project over any similar efforts on interoperability, honest and informed comparisons by thought leaders in the space are anticipated and will be coordinated during the course of this undertaking.
Release of funds:
Funds will be released to a multi-sig committee which in turn may - depending on each initiative and based on a majority multisignature approval - release the funds to: 1) Tendermint (AiB) that will act as a liaison between Cosmos Hub community and third parties and distribute the payments according with the marketing proposal or where appropriate, 2) directly to the entities or individuals ( e.g. contest winners or various contributors)
Fundsâ Distribution:
The distribution of funds will be administered by 5 community members that have been selected via the governance working group. At least 3 will have to approve each spend for it to be released to AiB or any third party, according with the marketing proposal.
@johnniecosmos, @JoeDirtay, @jackzampolin (Jack Zampolin, Pylon Validator), @immasssi (SG-1 Validator), @zakimanian (Zaki Manian, Iqlusion Validator).
Every spend action related to this proposal has to be approved via multi-sig. At least 3/5 signatures are required to confirm a spend of the allocated marketing funds.
For administrative efforts, drafting the proposal and executing the marketing efforts, the 5 administrators will receive 100 ATOMs each for their time & efforts over the coming 3 months in helping to properly execute the above mentioned strategy.
MultiSig Address: cosmos16plylpsgxechajltx9yeseqexzdzut9g8vla4k
Refund of Unspent Funds to the Pool:
It is expected that amounts requested and allocated for each campaign will be depleted and spent. In the event this does not happen within 3 months of the passing of the proposal, this amount will have to be refunded by either AiB or the mutli-sig committee (whomever is in custody of the funds) back to the community pool.
Expectations from the rest of entities involved in the Hub:
We expect that our initiative will stand as a beacon for the rest of the teams/entities/individuals involved in the development of the Cosmos Hub in respect to pushing the project forward.
Educational material, articles on mainstream media, podcasts, interviews, social media campaigns, active promotion to e.g. the end of a Paypal listing, only form part of what we deem as an optimal and thorough and long-term strategy for establishing the Cosmos Hub ($ATOM) as the true game changer in peopleâs minds within this space. Since our resources are limited and the purpose here is not to deplete the Community pool, we expect the rest of the main teams involved in the development of the Hub or even teams earning value from their operations on the Cosmos hub and $ATOM to undertake efforts similar (at least in passion) to ours and support or supplement our efforts. Thus, we aim to motivate others by this limited in resources initiative.
AiBâs General Obligations to the Community:
Specific work tasks like the banner campaign & the thought leader campaign are expected to be covered by AIB. This can be done right away even before the proposal is passed to enable a faster execution of the proposal. Any tasks which are agreed upon and that are signed off by the administrators will then be commissioned to AIB upon delivery. Administrators expect a fully transparent report every 2 weeks showing the state of the tasks and additional information that verifies the proper execution of the community tasks (Receipts & documentation).
Closing Remarks:
Ultimately for us, the Community, Cosmos Hub ($ATOM) signals the second era of the so-called Blockchain Revolution. We can all be the messengers, but we need the message to be delivered sooner than later. Empower us with the necessary funding tools so that we disseminate and deliver the message across all corners of the space. For, beyond awesome code, we see an equally awesome community ready to undertake and support this ambitious initiative. We do not see this as a phoney attempt to shill an empty promise. We see this as an opportunity to inform, educate and create a larger follower base around the most important project in this space to date.