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Now live! Proposal for YouTube advertising campaign.

How would you vote on this proposal? (MNO's only!)

  • Yes

  • No

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B

bielie

Active member
Edit: 22/05/2017

The proposal is now live!

The proposal is here: https://www.dashcentral.org/p/Dash_YouTube_Marketing_Campaign

Manually vote on this proposal (DashCore - Tools - Debugconsole):
gobject vote-many de02737d6409765327636a2f10fb55375572510a8f3ba37b8cb205368c83dcd3 funding yes

And a big thank you to all those who have already voted yes!

Bielie

Hi Everybody!

Our pre-proposal for a YouTube advertising campaign has been on the forum for a few days now and we had some valuable feedback. We would like to thank everybody who commented on the thread! :)

The original proposal is here: http://docdro.id/OkydGKj

The proposed ad is here:


The comments were mostly positive but some people have some concerns about the ad that we would like to address.

(TL;DR: We are extending the 3D segment to make it more readable, and add the words "Use Dash for private and instant transactions" before the words "Dash is digital cash." in order to make the advert more understandable )

1) Should we advertise on YouTube?

YouTube advertising does not stand in opposition to crowd sourced social media or any other form of advertising campaign.

Reasons for advertising on YouTube
  • It is incredibly cheap for the amount of exposure it gives, compared to other traditional forms of advertising. 1000 Views costs $50, or 0.5 Dash.
  • Cryptocurrency video blogs in general fail to reach large audiences. "The Cryptoverse" is one of the best out there, and has been sponsored by DASH before. It gets mostly less than 5000 views per video, and it is probably always the same subscribers that watch. Most video blogs that cover non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies may have one or two videos that break out of the sub 5000 view range, but I have yet to see one that reached 50 000 views. Even the best Bitcoin-only vlogs rarely get out of that range.
With this I definitely do not imply that sponsoring video blogs is not good. On the contrary, I believe they are extremely imortant! But we need both video blogs and regular advertising. With YouTube advertising, we may reach hundreds of thousands of potential Dash users.

2) Who should our target audience be?

There has been some misunderstanding that we are targeting the general public. We do not think it would be wise to spend advertising money on ads targeting people who are uninformed about cryptocurrencies before Evolution is released. For the moment we are competing within the cryptocurrency market for market share. Fortunately YouTube allows us to target our audience with surgical precision. We will target only cryptocurrency users with this particular ad.

3) Should we do comparative advertising? (AKA bashing Bitcoin?)

Over one-third of advertising is comparative in nature, while approximately one-quarter of advertising directly identifies or names the competitive brand. (Freeman, 1987)​

Please have a look at this academic article:

http://www.na-businesspress.com/JMDC/WilliamsKC_Web7_4_.pdf
Williams K, Page R, Comparative Advertising as a Competitive Tool, Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness vol. 7(4) 2013​

"A fundamental objective of comparative ads is to change consumers' impressions of the advertised brand relative to the competitive brand. In so doing, comparative ads have been found to elicit higher levels of message involvement and processing activity than noncomparative ads."​

The article lists an impressive list of pro's of comparative advertising. Please refer to it, it is much longer than the list of cons. The fact that a significant percentage of advertising in the US directly names competitive brands should be an indication of the power of comparative marketing.

The article also lists a list of possible cons. I will mention a few here in the interest of making good decisions. (One of the cons is actually in favor of Dash: "Less well-known brands may benefit most from this strategy, that is, weaker firms targeting market leaders.")

The most important cons are:
  • Open media warfare may boomerang and escalate
  • May decrease rather than enhance believability and credibility for the sponsor brand
  • Consumers may view the ad as bad manners
  • May lead to cut-throat competition
  • Consumer skepticism and anger can be heightened
  • May generate more negative attitudes in the consumer than the more traditional ads
Our answer to these concerns is as follows: We are already in a competitive marketing campaign against certain elements in the Bitcoin community. Please google "Darkcoin scam" "Dash scam" "Evan Duffield Scammer" or "instamine dash scam". Greg Maxwell is quoted as "Dash privacy: LOL!"

Dash is the only viable competition to Bitcoin, and I believe it is for that reason that some Bitcoin maximalists hate it with such rancor. Dash has little to lose by "bashing" Bitcoin in a manner that is truthful and funny. Our ad is truthful, since it only implies that Dash is better than Bitcoin as far as transaction speed and privacy are concerned.

We believe that the pros outweigh the cons.

Dash has been paying for comparative marketing in the past. These are just two examples of Dash sponsored videos on YouTube "bashing" Bitcoin.



Dashers love to "bash" Bitcoin: This meme popped up on the Dash nation slack just this morning:
http://i.imgur.com/77sRffS.png

One of Apple's most successful ad campaigns in recent history was directly bashing Windows:


And lastly, Samsung bashes Apple:


Since Dash has already paid to "bash" Bitcoin, why stop now? :) The fact is that while there is risk involved in comparative marketing, comparative marketing is proven to be a powerful tool for underdog brands to get their message out. The risks are worth it.

4) Creative decisions we made with the ad.

There has been concerns that the ad looks "cheesy" and retro. These were conscious decisions, in order to make the ad funny.

Let me explain.

The ad starts out as a Bitcoin ad. Bitcoin is golden and shiny and, yes, the ad is retro and cheesy. Even small detail like the lens flares and soundtrack are designed to contribute to the cheesiness of the Bitcoin commercial. And then it is crushed by Dash. The last thing that happens is that the Bitcoin logo falls over. The 2D part of the ad sheds all the cheesiness for a sleek modern look, ramming home the message: "Dash is digital cash."

I showed the ad to a friend who has no idea what Bitcoin is. When the Bitcoin logo fell over, he laughed out loud. Even though the content of the ad was totally obscure to him, the emotional impact was undeniable. That was when I realized that we succeeded to make the ad funny as it was intended.

Some of the first responses on Slack were also that the ad was funny.

5) Concerns about readability and obscurity of the message.

These concerns are valid. For this this reason we are in the process of changing the ad
  • To make it more readable by freezing the final 3D frame for a few seconds.
  • To add the text, "Use Dash for private and instant transactions" in 2D before the text "Dash is instant cash"
Since the ad will be targeted only to current cryptocurrency users, we believe that people will understand exactly what we mean.

6) Questions about production cost, and the possible use of established marketing agencies.

Pieter has worked as contractor for traditional advertising agencies including Ogilvy and Mather, arguably the largest agency in the world. We believe that traditional agencies would not work because:
  • The DAO would not be able to liaise with a traditional agency as the DAO is not an entity or person. They could not sign contracts or nondisclosure agreements. This also means agencies cannot insure against fraud.
  • It would be very difficult to find traditional agencies that would accept crypto as payment.
  • An ad, even of this length would cost much more than we can charge as indies, due to bureaucracy, legal costs, overheads etc. Every producer, PA and custodian at these agencies needs to be payed as well.
  • Client-agency relationships rely on intensive iterative feedback cycles and regular confidential status meetings. The current infrastructure of the DAO does not really support this.

We hope this clears up where we're coming from with this proposal and where we're going.

The Eralith team
 
Last edited:
bielie said:
Hi Everybody!
It is incredibly cheap for the amount of exposure it gives, compared to other traditional forms of advertising. 1000 Views costs $50, or 0.5 Dash.

Once again, just adding my message from the previous thread for reference:
Click to expand...
That's not cheap and the ROI would be terrible.

Keitsu said:
I find it disturbing how people are willing to throw so much money away towards an underdeveloped basic marking campaign that is set up for failure. You are asking for 60 DASH for this short 12 second animation. This is completely and utterly ridiculous. Please read this post and let me explain why this is so.

A bit about myself before we begin looking at some statistics and figures:
  • Previously studied 2D and 3D animation techniques.
  • Established artist that designs and sells textures as a hobby. My work has been viewed over 300,000 times in the past year.
  • Experience in the analysis of advertising, art, cinematography, graphic design, photography, poetry, and other literature.
  • Currently studying a bachelors degree and recognized as a high academic achiever.
  • Experience with and familiar with the google advertising platform.
Statistics and Figures
"The average cost for YouTube ads per thousand views ranges from ranges from $10-$30 per thousand" (360 Degree Marketing. 2015)
Source: http://www.360degreemarketing.com.au/Blog/bid/402317/How-Much-Do-YouTube-Ads-Cost

You are asking for 52.778 dash (total requested - proposal fee). This is currently equivalent to $4,978 USD. You said you would get 30,000 views for this amount which equates to $166 USD per 1,000 views (4978 / 30 = 165.93). Assuming a cost of $10 per thousand views you are overcharging $156 USD per 1,000 views (166 - 10). This means you are overcharging by $4980 USD in total (166 * 30). Google also offers some free advertising credit for new businesses which would further reduce your costs and increase your profit.

If your ad is determined to be poor quality you will have to pay more per 1,000 views. As less people interact with your ad, the cost to run it will go up. This make it even more unprofitable, which would mean less people would see the ad.

Analysis of Marketing Campaign
You said that your "team" worked on this for the last couple of weeks. You are over representing how much time it took you to create the short animation. The animation is extremely basic and would not catch the attention of any potential investors.

"The advert is designed to run in line before YouTube videos. It is 15 seconds long. There is a compelling hook (the Bitcoin logo being crushed) in the first 5 seconds, so we expect that a large percentage of people will let the ad run longer to see the outcome. The second part of the advertisement points the viewer to the Dash.org website for more information."
The bitcoin logo being crushed is in no way a compelling hook. Many investors have some of their assets in Bitcoin and would not like to see it crash. The Dash logo crushing the Bitcoin logo is simple childish act that would deter people from viewing the rest of the advertisement. This would also create a negative view of Dash.

If you want to advertise Dash you would have more luck paying an established advertising agency. Google advertising is one of the most expensive and ineffective ways to gain potential investors.
Click to expand...

You replied to my message with this image:
youtube-cost-png.4146

YouTube automatically overestimates how much you you will have to pay for 2 reasons:
  • Makes it easier to reach estimated target, so people who create poor-performing ads still reach the estimated viewing range (poor-performing ads cost more per 1k views).
  • Increases the amount of money you think you have to spend on an effective advertising campaign.
For the reasons listed in my quote, no this project should not be funded.

"96% of Google's revenue comes from advertising" (source: https://www.quora.com/How-does-Google-earn-money). It is in the best interest of YouTube, whom is a subsidiary of Google to make their marketing platform seem effective. I can tell you right now, marketing on YouTube in this way is a huge mistake! The campaigns that are effective on YouTube are mainly professionally made videos made for big brands.

Your video is not professional, not high quality, and will not grab the attention of viewers.
 
Hi Keitso

We will pay the entire amount budgeted for to YouTube. So if we get more views for that we will be happy. A thousand views is worst case scenario. We may get much more!

Evaluating art is very subjective. Your opinion is appreciated, but many people do not agree with you. We will have to see how the ad performs. :)

Thank you for your input.
 
bielie said:
Hi Keitso
Evaluating art is very subjective. Your opinion is appreciated, but many people do not agree with you. We will have to see how the ad performs. :)
Thank you for your input.
Click to expand...
While that is true, I think my evaluation is accurate. People who are for this proposal have most likely not critically evaluated it or are are completely fine with wasting money as Dash has a large, mostly unused budget.

I'm glad to hear that all the money will be going toward YouTube instead of your taking a cut.
 
@bielie, Ignore @Keitsu. He's angry because he didn't think of this before you. Let him scream until people see him for the pathetic child he is. Well done for keeping your cool for as long as you have. I'd have lost it way before you did.
 
Hi Bielie
" Fortunately YouTube allows us to target our audience with surgical precision. We will target only cryptocurrency users with this particular ad."
Tell me more: What are the parameters that you are allowed to specify?
 
Hi @Biltong.

Thank you for the excellent question.

I hope you don't mind if I answer it for you!

YouTube allows for multiple methods of targeting your audience. These methods are broken up into two different categories. Audience targeting methods, and Content targeting methods.

Audience targeting methods are focused on exactly WHO you are planning to reach with your ad. Content targeting methods are focused on exactly WHERE you want your ad to appear.

Audience targeting
  • Demographic groups: This allows us to target the gender, age, household income, etc. of the audiences we hope to reach.
  • Interests: This will allow us to reach audiences that are showing a particular interest in our product or products like it. This is done in three ways: affinity audiences, custom affinity audiences, and in-market audiences. A simplified summary and example of each would be as follows:
    • Affinity audiences: This will allow us to target audiences that are already showing an interest in the topic in question. E.g. Audiences looking for content on economics, or currencies.
    • Custom affinity audiences: This will allow us to tailor our targeting to a more niche audience that is not necessarily interested in the general, broad topics. E.g. Audiences searching for cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, etc. (This will be further aided with the use of keywords, which I'll get to in a moment)
    • In-market audiences: This will allow us to target audiences that are researching our product (DASH) or a product like it (Bitcoin, or Altcoin).
  • Video Remarketing: This will allow us to reach out to audiences that have shown an interest in our videos in the past. This method in particular will hopefully help us with future campaigns.
Content targeting
  • Placements: This will simply allow us to target channels, videos, websites, and apps, that we feel will help expose the ad the most.
  • Topics: This will allow us to target specific topics that we feel will be best for the exposure of our ad. This is effectively the reverse of the interests method we will use in audience targeting.
  • Keywords: Keywords will be words and phrases that YouTube's targeting algorithms will hunt for. Once enough keywords are found associating with a particular video, that video will be targeted to run our ad. Considering how incredibly niche our part of the internet is, keywords will arguably be the most useful method of narrowing down the exposure of our ad to the individuals that we would most like to reach.
Using these methods, we hope to narrow down the exposure of our ad so as to only reach audiences that are likely to further the growth of DASH.

I hope this answers your question @Biltong.

Feel free to ask more!
 
Last edited:
Bielie
Just an idea:
Rather attack Gold/silver/banks/shares - they are easy targets:

Shares - Why waste your time!! Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Money market - what a joke!! Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Savings Account 10% LOL Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Dash - The Future of Cash​
 
Biltong said:
Bielie
Just an idea:
Rather attack Gold/silver/banks/shares - they are easy targets:

Shares - Why waste your time!! Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Money market - what a joke!! Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Savings Account 10% LOL Dash YTD = 1,500% return :p
Dash - The Future of Cash​
Click to expand...
Maybe poke a little fun at those Binary Trading (AKA online gambling) ads that are all over the place, haha
 
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