Comprehensive Proposal: Strategic Allocation of Treasury Funds for Marketing the Metis Network

[tijanc87]

Objective:

To strategically allocate 10% of the treasury (87,000 METIS) for marketing the Metis network, with a focus on maximizing impact during the current and upcoming market cycles, while ensuring long-term sustainability. Unlike previous marketing efforts, which were sporadic and focused primarily around key announcements, this proposal introduces a structured, continuous marketing strategy. This approach will ensure that engagement is sustained even when there’s no immediate news to share, fostering ongoing visibility and interaction within the Metis ecosystem.

Rationale:

Historically, Metis marketing has been managed in a reactive manner, with pushes in engagement and visibility typically tied to specific news or announcements. While effective in the short term, this approach has often resulted in long periods of inactivity, which negatively impacted Metis’s social presence and engagement. This proposal represents a stark contrast to those past efforts by implementing a proactive and consistent marketing strategy that ensures ongoing promotion of the Metis network

As Metis enters its first full market cycle, it is crucial to allocate sufficient marketing resources to ensure maximum visibility and adoption. The success of the Metis network hinges not only on the development of innovative projects but also on the promotion of the network and its ecosystem throughout the entire market cycle. Given that each market cycle historically lasts around 4 years, this period represents a critical opportunity for Metis to establish itself as a leading Layer 2 solution in the space. This proposal outlines a dynamic, ongoing allocation strategy that ensures marketing efforts are consistently reviewed and adjusted based on market conditions, maintaining continuous engagement over the long term, rather than only during major news cycles.

Key Points:

1. Timeframe for Marketing Spend this Cycle:

• Initially, we recommend an 8-month period during the current market cycle, with a more aggressive push within the first 3 months. This timeframe allows Metis to maximize its impact during this critical period. Following this 8-month period, we will reassess and adjust the strategy as needed to maintain ongoing engagement and avoid the silence that has followed previous campaigns.

2. Specific Budget Allocation:

• 10% of the Total Treasury: Allocating 87,000 METIS from the total treasury of 870,000 METIS, spread over the next 20 years. Given the importance of the current market cycle and recognizing that each market cycle historically lasts around 4 years, we propose allocating 30% of the 10% (26,100 METIS) during this current cycle, spread across 8 months with a bigger push in the first 3 months. Specifically:

• First 3 Months: Allocate 60% (15,660 METIS) of the 26,100 METIS for the first 3 months, approximately 5,220 METIS per month.

• Remaining 5 Months: Allocate the remaining 40% (10,440 METIS) over the next 5 months, approximately 2,088 METIS per month.

• This allocation acknowledges that Metis has not yet established itself as one of the leading L2 solutions and must take full advantage of this cycle to do so, with a consistent monthly budget to sustain ongoing social engagement.

3. Content Strategy:

• The marketing efforts will include a variety of content types, such as:

• 1-2 YouTube review videos from medium to larger KOLs per month to increase visibility.

• Technical Analysis (TA) by respected traders to attract serious investors.

• Short tweets from influential accounts to generate ongoing buzz.

• Ecosystem breakdowns on X to highlight the broader Metis ecosystem and the projects building on Metis.

• Metis ecosystem breakdowns on X, covering aspects like tokenomics, technology, and the benefits of the sequencer.

• Infographic Sharing: Create and share infographics through KOLs to help new users easily visualize and understand the Metis ecosystem.

4. Signaling and Marketing Strategy:

• Engage Proven KOLs: Focus on Tier 1 and Tier 2 KOLs on X and YouTube. Metis already has KOLs that have supported Metis in the past, and the strategy should ensure they are engaged over the long term instead of short-term bursts of activity. Contracts should be structured, when possible, to reward KOLs based on sustained activity, with content being pushed out on a weekly basis to maintain a continuous presence and prevent the decline in social engagement seen in previous campaigns.

5. Balancing Project and Network Promotion:

• While supporting projects within the Metis ecosystem, it is crucial to give equal importance to promoting the network and Metis itself. Successful projects can be highlighted as case studies in broader marketing efforts to demonstrate the network’s growth and potential.

6. Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Assigned Team Member for Community Updates: Metis should assign a dedicated team member to regularly update the community on the progress of marketing campaigns. This person will foster a healthy relationship between the community and the project by keeping contributors informed.

• Community Engagement Group: A group should be created where past contributors from the Metis community can engage directly with the team, allowing for a collaborative approach to marketing.

• Marketing Budget Gauge: Introduce a gauge, similar to the one used for the EDF budget on the Metis website, to display how much of the marketing budget has already been spent and what remains. This will provide transparency to the community and allow them to track progress in real-time.

• Quarterly Reviews: Regular assessments using tools like LunarCrush will measure the effectiveness of campaigns on socials. The marketing budget and strategy will be reviewed quarterly to ensure they remain aligned with market conditions and performance metrics, ensuring that social engagement is consistent and ongoing.

• Transparency: The community will receive regular updates on how the marketing budget is spent, maintaining trust and engagement.

7. Long-Term Allocation Over 20 Years:

• After the current market cycle, the remaining 60,900 METIS from the 87,000 METIS allocation will be spread out over the next 19.5 years. Considering that each market cycle lasts approximately 4 years, the remaining allocation will be distributed across future cycles, allowing for increased spending during growth phases and reduced spending during downturns. This approach ensures Metis can continue to grow and expand its user base when market conditions are favorable, with a sustained focus on maintaining social presence.

Conclusion:

This proposal provides a comprehensive strategy for the allocation of 10% of the Metis treasury (87,000 METIS) over the next 20 years, with a focus on maximizing impact during the current and upcoming market cycles. By leveraging proven KOLs, YouTube content, and a dynamic budget that adjusts to market conditions, Metis can secure its position as a leading network in the Web3 space. The approach represents a clear improvement over previous marketing efforts, ensuring continuous social engagement and regular reviews, while balancing aggressive marketing during key growth periods with long-term sustainability, and ensuring the continued success of the Metis network and its ecosystem.

[kehmor]

Thank you for taking the time to write this.

Whilst I am not intrinsically against the idea of Metis spending money on marketting in order to jump start its ecosystem, I do not believe I could support this proposal in its current form. I have assembled some notes below, they are numbered corresponding to the sections of your proposal.

0.1: In the introductions and throughout this proposal you identify the current market cycle as crucial, citing only that it is Metis’ first full cycle. This opinion is clearly represented by your intent to spend a full 3% of the Metis treasury over the course of the next 8 months. Is there any data backing the importance of a first market cycle for a network? This is the first full cycle for every single L2; what makes it more important than next cycle?

1.1:

“we will reassess and adjust the strategy as needed to maintain ongoing engagement and avoid the silence that has followed previous campaigns.”

What metrics will be used to define success or failure of the campaign and what adjustments might be necesarry.

2.1: If the aim is to create a marketting strategy that adapts to results, is it prudent to spend a full 30% of the budget within the first 8 months, before those results are available?

2.2: What do you feel the price impact from the sell pressure of an additional 20k tokens hitting the market would be?

2.2: What percentage of this budget will be spent on the minimum of one full time marketting director to co-ordinate this? You also reference an assigned community liason and, given the intention to reassess the plan based on results data, presumably a data scientist.

3.1: I would expect any marketting strategy that proposes spending millions of the the foundation’s money to include a breakdown of costs. How much will we spend on youtube reviews? From which creators? What is the expected return?

3.2: Technical Analysis cuts both ways, or is the plan to only pay for it when chart conditions look good?

3.3: I do agree that more resources need to be put into creating general marketting materials such as the infographics and ecosystem breakdowns; this is something my own project, Vesta, intends to include in its platform.

4.1: It would be great if you could provide some examples of “tier 1 Kols”. What do they cost? What is the reach of their posts?

4.2: How does this strategy intend to navigate the fact that as a major organisation, Metis has an obligation to ensure those marketting for them do so openly; acknowledging when they are being paid to shill.

5.1: I would like to see funding native projects to fund their own marketting (and the network by proxy) be explored. Generally smaller organisations are more efficient with money and I feel a smaller amount would go a lot further in this way.

6.1: I agree that there should be more community inclusion in marketting strategy, including community feedback. A group would be great.

6.2: How do quarterly reviews align with the idea of cycles (which are at the centre of this proposal). Will we adapt strategy because reach falls off during general bear market conditions? Is the aim of this campaign twitter engagement? TVL? TPS? Token price? All of them? If so in what order? What are the target figures after say the first 8 months?

7.1: How exactly will the tokens be distributed? Will it be an even distribution or will it assume a rising marketcap on average over 20 years? Why is 3% required for this year but only 0.37% required for every future year?

Conclusion:

I agree that Metis’ marketting strategy does need an overhaul; and that does probably include an increase in spend, or a reallocation of existing spend.

Personally I have been a big fan of recent moves to encourage more in-ecosystem collaboration and cooperation. Having an engaged and fun community is one of the best marketting tools, along with having “fun” things happening on the network.

I believe you have touched on some great ideas; but spending such a vast amount of money in such a short space of time is, in my mind, foolhardy. I believe, with work, that a less expensive and potentially dangerous proposal could be crafted from the best ideas of this; and I look forward to voting for it if it is.

[tijanc87]

Thank you for the constructive feedback. I will address most of it later, but I’d like to quickly touch on one thing that really stands out to me:

You mention that 80k tokens is a vast amount of money for marketing, but you’re completely overlooking the fact that 4 million Metis tokens have been printed out of thing air to support various activities on the Metis network, while at the same time Metis’s social presence has been hitting rock bottom. Metis’s posts on X barely struggle to reach 10k views, and the native YouTube channel is getting just 50+ views, and hardly anyone mentiones Metis nowadays . You also suggest that this amount would be spent too quickly, but the proposal actually spreads these tokens over 20 years, with a focus on key market cycles. So if anything this proposals’ goal is to bring some balance into how things are structured and 80k tokens is in my personal opinion bare minimum. . At the moment projects are getting thousands of tokens for people to farm etc. but Metis is none e existent on socials, how do you want to bring new people in to actually use projects building on Metis if most new people learn about crypto on X and YouTube.

We also had a conversation where you mentioned your background in Web2 marketing. You seem like a nice person, but you come across as unaware of how these markets move, which is why you’re asking for metrics and examples of TIER 1-2 influencers when Metis has already worked with some and you should be aware of this . You also suggested to me that Metis should focus on marketing through ads, but as anyone familiar with crypto knows, such a strategy only works during the euphoria phase. In this space, 99% of marketing happens daily on X and YouTube.

[kehmor]

You mention that 80k tokens is a vast amount of money for marketing,

Specifically I believe that committing 80k total and 26k imminently is a vast number when there’s no structure in place for desired results and deliverable goals. Nor any plan in place for the structure of team wages; someone will need to be paid to co-ordinate this, someone to track the results, someone to liase with the community. I feel committing to hiring multiple individuals for the next 20 years is foolhardy with no solid data to work from.

@tijanc87

but you’re completely overlooking the fact that 4 million Metis tokens have been printed out of thing air to support various activities on the Metis network,

I’m sorry, can you provide a source for this? As far as I’m aware the EDF was always part of the allocation plans?

At the moment projects are getting thousands of tokens for people to farm etc. but Metis is none e existent on socials, how do you want to bring new people in to actually use projects building on Metis if most new people learn about crypto on X and YouTube.

I agree that the existing model is an unsustainable model. I disagree that your proposal is the only alternative.

We also had a conversation where you mentioned your background in Web2 marketing. You seem like a nice person, but you come across as unaware of how these markets move, which is why you’re asking for metrics and examples of TIER 1-2 influencers when Metis has already worked with some and you should be aware of this .

I’m asking for these things because you’re asking the community to vote on a proposal that will spend $2.5million at today’s market prices. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; plans to spend that kind of money should be meticulously thought out.

What, for instance, prevented Metis achieving the results you believe it will, when it previously uses “tier 1 KOLs”.

ou also suggested to me that Metis should focus on marketing through ads, but as anyone familiar with crypto knows

I would ideally like to keep discussion focussed on the points being raised under the proposal. But to clarify, what I said was spending $40k on a couple tweets would get worse results than spending half of that on direct ads.

[Gaga]

?
Nice write up… I agree metis online visibility is low and it does require a new marketing strategy to put it out there but your current strategy still needs more breakdown.

-Will the TA experts be paid even if their analysis is bearish?

• I didn’t see a mention of how you plan to utilize X spaces. This has been a major tool in marketing recently, especially when using in onboarding newbies.

[tijanc87]

Thank you brother. Good point , I didn’t mention X spaces. I’m definitely in favor of Metis team attending some X spaces AMAs with some established crypto communities and projects, we haven’t seen that in a while. As for TA I don’t see why TA would be needed if Metis is in a bearish trend, I hope this will only happen once we enter a bear market and then TA won’t be that relevant anymore, so only do it during the leg ups

[tijanc87]

Adding screenshots taken in the metis traders channel . Some good convo with Blazen re the proposal

[Gaga]

I’ve gone through this, we plain truth was stated there. We need to attract retail users. We need to attract and have a local community.

Metis didn’t do well back then with their airdrop and that pushed the community away. I’ve been in various DEFI groups and anytime Metis name comes up, they are never pleased. We need to engage with the local community and retail users to attract them.

In the management of the funds and what not, the metis team will need to lose with us I believe.

[andrei.s]

First off, huge thanks for putting together this proposal - it’s no small task, and I appreciate the effort!

@tijanc87

To strategically allocate 10% of the treasury (87,000 METIS) for marketing the Metis network, with a focus on maximizing impact during the current and upcoming market cycles, while ensuring long-term sustainability

• Strategy (10% of what?)
  Developing a comprehensive plan that balances marketing with development, operations, R&D, and ecosystem incentives would help ensure we’re allocating resources effectively and not risking funds on unbalanced spending.

• Allocation (why 10%?)
  Focusing exclusively on marketing without outlining allocations for other critical areas might overlook the necessity of strengthening the product and ecosystem. What specific aspects of Metis are we planning to market, and how does this marketing strategy integrate with our development roadmap and ecosystem growth plans? Perhaps we could develop an overall treasury allocation that ensures all essential needs are met.

• Sustainability (how almost immediately spending 3% of the total treasure will make Metis ecosystem sustainable)
  Allocating 30% of the marketing budget (or 3% of the total treasury) for immediate use in the current market cycle seems substantial. I’m concerned that this front-loaded spending might cater to short-term market dynamics rather than fostering sustainable, organic growth. Could we consider a more gradual spending approach, possibly tied to achieving specific milestones or performance indicators, to ensure long-term sustainability?

@tijanc87

By leveraging proven KOLs

The strategy heavily depends on KOLs and influencers to boost visibility.
While this can generate immediate attention, I’m curious about how we’ll evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts. Could you provide details on how success will be measured? For example, what key performance indicators (KPIs) will we use to assess the ROI of these partnerships? Additionally, it would be helpful to know which KOLs are being considered and how they align with our brand values and target audience.

@tijanc87

Given that each market cycle historically lasts around 4 years

@tijanc87

for Metis to establish itself as a leading Layer 2 solution in the space

The proposal mentions that each market cycle historically lasts around four years, influencing our marketing strategy. However, I’m wondering how this timing specifically benefits Metis as a Layer 2 solution. Could you elaborate on how following the Bitcoin halving cycle aligns with our goals and differentiates us in the market? Understanding this connection would help in assessing the strategic value of the proposed timing.

It would be great to see more details on how this marketing spend ensures sustainability for Metis. Providing supporting figures, such as projected user growth, adoption rates, or expected increases in network activity, would help evaluate the potential impact. Additionally, outlining how marketing efforts will be integrated with product development and ecosystem expansion could offer a more holistic view.

Your proposal raised important questions about funds allocation and I would seek clarification on the subject.

Thanks again for your hard work on this!

[Zklabs]

20 years is too long for our industry… We can use Koris as a basis and discuss more detailed proposals. It is much easier to ask for small parts of the treasury.