In June 2022 Radix Tokens (Jersey) Limited introduced a trial of a community driven marketing initiative called The Dandelion Program. The goal of the program was to give Radix Community Members the opportunity to contribute to the marketing of the network.
Since the program started a wide range of ideas have flow in, and it’s been exciting to support a variety of them including a Korean blog and AMA series, a wiki site, events at Indian universities, chess competitions, Radix in Augmented reality in production, and various marketing initiatives run by the Community Marketing Council. Each of these contributed to the ecosystem in their own way, and have been carried out with passion and dedication by those involved.
The program has continued to evolve with a focus on community tools that provide continued benefit over a longer period of time. This saw some fantastic tools created that you may have already used, including RadixEcosystem.com, RadixCharts.com, and MyXRD.
With the Babylon network upgrade approaching, and with many projects building and getting ready to launch dApps, it’s time for the next phase of the Dandelion Program: Ecosystem Marketing Subsidies!
What are Marketing Subsidies?
To support projects attracting users and community members, the Dandelion Program will now focus on projects looking to market themselves to users outside of the Radix Ecosystem. Marketing in Crypto is a tricky business, and can be expensive to boot. The marketing subsidies are here to support projects as they explore ways to build and support their dApp.
Each project will now be able to apply for a 50% marketing subsidy, up to a value of $2000. The subsidy will be paid in XRD at the completion of the activity.
It is essential you apply and are approved for the subsidy before paying for the activity. Teams are required to book, pay, and execute the marketing activity before they can claim the subsidy. Teams are restricted to one subsidy per month.
What ideas can be approved?
The below is a guide for the sort of activities that would be eligible for subsidies. This list is not exhaustive, and teams are encouraged to apply with an idea they would like to carry out.
Approvable Marketing Activities
- Sponsored Twitter Spaces featuring your project
- Youtube videos or other Influencer activities promoting your project.
- Written content reviewing your project
- PR and communications support
- Offline marketing activities and events
- Paid digital media (e.g. Facebook, Google Ads, Display, etc)
- Podcast appearances
There are a few types of marketing activity that generally provide a poor ROI or could damage your project. The following will not be approved. Again this list is not exhaustive, there may be other things we cannot offer a subsidy for, these will be flagged to applicants.
Non Approvable Activities
- Speculation on token price, wash trading, or anything that might be deemed as market manipulation.
- Marketing or promoting any product or feature that promises interest, a dividend, or other appreciation or return. This includes token airdrops and NFT releases.
- Telegram/Discord text AMA’s: These often provide little value.
For a subsidy to be approved, teams must demonstrate the below in their application:
- Clear use cases: The project must have a clear explanation of how their chosen marketing will be used to promote the project.
- Concrete timelines: The project must have a specific timeline for when marketing activities will be completed.
- Qualified teams: The team must have a live product or service on the Radix mainnet by the time the subsidy would be paid.
- Budgeting: The team must have a set budget for the activities.
- Benchmarks: The team must be able to set benchmarks for measuring the success of marketing activity.
- Results: The team must be able to report back on the results of the activity.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the Wen-Marketing Discord channel.
How to Apply
Remember you must:
Step 1: Submit your grant application via this form.
Step 2: Your application proposal will be reviewed. If your proposal is a good fit, you will receive invitations for a short interview to discuss the application. This is also an opportunity for you to ask questions or seek advice.
Step 3: Legal and due diligence review. Each team will undergo a KYC check and agree to a set of terms.
Step 4: Once approved the team pays for and carries out their activity, and provides results and invoices. If the activity lines up with the application, the agreed subsidy amount will be distributed within 14 days.