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Pre-Proposal: Video Development for Commercial Promotion of DASH

Great proposal. Maybe something to consider is Evolution, because you'd be advertising something that will look different in the future so maybe considering this or just introducing that Dash will be different, it might prepare your project in a future scale (i think something like that was said before). Good luck.
 
Thank you @Stealth923 and @andrade92 ! We will continue to network this proposal on the Dash forums and elsewhere. We really appreciate your support, and we couldn't be more excited to get cracking! If you have any suggestions as to who else might be interested in knowing that these plans are in the works, we would be happy to share.

We want to build up the momentum a little more and insure that the majority is ready for this. Thanks again everyone!
 
Definitely looks like a good proposal. Only one questions. Have you been in contact with O&M and if so what did they say?
 
Hello @TheSingleton. We have attempted to contact O&M, but have not yet heard back. We hope to start a conversation by the time we submit for proposal. In all honesty, since O&M does not seem to be focusing on video or print, it does not feel imperative for us to be directly linked with them on this initial project. We think the most important time will be during the release of Evolution, but we're open to more discussion about it if the current players feel otherwise.

As long as we have updated assets from @fernando and the others working on the app interface, this first commercial will have the necessary tools to create an amazing presence for the network.

Please let us known of any other questions or concerns!

Edit: a word, and a clarification
 
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@SynthesisCreative You'll have much better luck going through Fernando than you will reaching out to O&M directly.

Honestly I would hold off on advertising Dash too widely until things are farther along. I hate saying "wait until we're ready" but look at it from this perspective:

If you ran an advertisement for Dash today and told them to go to Dash.org in the CTA at the end of the video, they'd get there and then what?

What are the chances someone who knows nothing about Dash or how crypto works would manage to figure out that they need to download a wallet, that they need to go to an exchange, register and provide their ID for KYC/AML, and then purchase Dash, send it to their wallet, and then MAYBE find a place to use it.

These are the kinds of things that Fernando and O&M are dealing with and considering when approaching advertising. Skipping past that and just funding an advertisement forgets the fact that the customer has to be able to easily use the product that you're advertising.

This is the problem we have today with advertising Dash on airplanes. People watch the video, and then what?
 
Your proposal fee costs are wrong and you're also budgeting for a music license that you can't possible know ahead of time what it will be.
 
jeffh said:
@SynthesisCreative You'll have much better luck going through Fernando than you will reaching out to O&M directly.

Honestly I would hold off on advertising Dash too widely until things are farther along. I hate saying "wait until we're ready" but look at it from this perspective:

If you ran an advertisement for Dash today and told them to go to Dash.org in the CTA at the end of the video, they'd get there and then what?

What are the chances someone who knows nothing about Dash or how crypto works would manage to figure out that they need to download a wallet, that they need to go to an exchange, register and provide their ID for KYC/AML, and then purchase Dash, send it to their wallet, and then MAYBE find a place to use it.

These are the kinds of things that Fernando and O&M are dealing with and considering when approaching advertising. Skipping past that and just funding an advertisement forgets the fact that the customer has to be able to easily use the product that you're advertising.

This is the problem we have today with advertising Dash on airplanes. People watch the video, and then what?
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Hey Jeff, Thank you for the feedback. A big part of our goal here is to help those proposals that are using the "what is dash?" video and provide additional high quality advertising options for distribution. The way we see it there will always be a barrier to entry when it comes to cryptocurrency, but this barrier shouldn't prevent us from promoting Dash as a payments solution for everyone. When Evolution comes along and makes it extremely easy to use Dash then it's only natural we can change the message and do a "look how easy it is to setup" advertisement. At the moment, though the barrier to get started quickly is significant, it doesn't negate the fact that Dash, once acquired, is easy to use for peer-to peer-payments. That's the message we are hoping to address with our first advertisements. We also believe that the advantage of these ads isn't just the CTA at the end of the video, but reenforcing in the the public's eye that Dash is a clean, professional payments solution. We've been thrilled with the amount of our peers who saw the airplane commercial, and though they didn't immediately all go to Dash.org they certainly retained that Dash has the ability to fund these advertisements and made a mental note which should come in handy when they're making their first cryptocurrency purchase in the future. We have also reached out to @fernando via email but have not heard back yet, if you check his account he's been offline for a little while now. If we receive the necessary information from him we would love to match those guidelines and apply them to our video. That said, we've been encouraged by @AmandaBJohnson to continue our pursuit of this proposal regardless of whether Fernando/O&M decide to include us in their plans.

Regarding the budget, we intend to adjust the fee cost when the proposal is submitted to reflect the actual cost of Dash at that time. With our extensive experience in content production, music licensing commercial distribution ranges from $1000 to $5000. Since the network budgeting process doesn't allow us to change the budget after the fact we decided to budget right in the middle with the intention of providing as much value as possible to the network. Ultimately we're big fans of Dash, we believe that the success of this proposal is good for all Dash users and our intention is to deliver the best quality video possible with the budget we laid out.
 
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SynthesisCreative said:
Hey Jeff, Thank you for the feedback. A big part of our goal here is to help those proposals that are using the "what is dash?" video and provide additional high quality advertising options for distribution. The way we see it there will always be a barrier to entry when it comes to cryptocurrency, but this barrier shouldn't prevent us from promoting Dash as a payments solution for everyone. When Evolution comes along and makes it extremely easy to use Dash then it's only natural we can change the message and do a "look how easy it is to setup" advertisement. At the moment, though the barrier to get started quickly is significant, it doesn't negate the fact that Dash, once acquired, is easy to use for peer-to peer-payments. That's the message we are hoping to address with our first advertisements. We also believe that the advantage of these ads isn't just the CTA at the end of the video, but reenforcing in the the public's eye that Dash is a clean, professional payments solution. We've been thrilled with the amount of our peers who saw the airplane commercial, and though they didn't immediately all go to Dash.org they certainly retained that Dash has the ability to fund these advertisements and made a mental note which should come in handy when they're making their first cryptocurrency purchase in the future. We have also reached out to @fernando via email but have not heard back yet, if you check his account he's been offline for a little while now. If we receive the necessary information from him we would love to match those guidelines and apply them to our video. That said, we've been encouraged by @AmandaBJohnson to continue our pursuit of this proposal regardless of whether Fernando/O&M decide to include us in their plans.

Regarding the budget, we intend to adjust the fee cost when the proposal is submitted to reflect the actual cost of Dash at that time. With our extensive experience in content production, music licensing commercial distribution ranges from $1000 to $5000. Since the network budgeting process doesn't allow us to change the budget after the fact we decided to budget right in the middle with the intention of providing as much value as possible to the network. Ultimately we're big fans of Dash, we believe that the success of this proposal is good for all Dash users and our intention is to deliver the best quality video possible with the budget we laid out.
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Thanks for clarifying those two budget things.

I might not speak for everyone but I really wouldn't be very happy having a commercial made without participation from Fernando and O&M. People talk about communication and directionality in crypto communities as "herding cats". If everyone has a different marketing message and times things poorly, then that's entirely appropriate.

Showing people that Dash is a clean, professional payments solution, if they can't go and actually try and use it - doesn't really matter. It's only going to tarnish their opinion of Dash into the future when it is ready to be that clean, professional, payments solution that's integrated in many places.

I really like your enthusiasm and I respect your drive. I just want to make sure that the Treasury is spending its funds wisely, at the right time, and in the right place - where they can have the most impact.


On a somewhat related note, Core team will be sharing lots of marketing and branding stuff this month which might better inform this project. Maybe push this to next month?
 
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jeffh said:
Thanks for clarifying those two budget things.

I might not speak for everyone but I really wouldn't be very happy having a commercial made without participation from Fernando and O&M. People talk about communication and directionality in crypto communities as "herding cats". If everyone has a different marketing message and times things poorly, then that's entirely appropriate.

Showing people that Dash is a clean, professional payments solution, if they can't go and actually try and use it - doesn't really matter. It's only going to tarnish their opinion of Dash into the future when it is ready to be that clean, professional, payments solution that's integrated in many places.

I really like your enthusiasm and I respect your drive. I just want to make sure that the Treasury is spending its funds wisely, at the right time, and in the right place - where they can have the most impact.


On a somewhat related note, Core team will be sharing lots of marketing and branding stuff this month which might better inform this project. Maybe push this to next month?
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Those concerns are definitely valid @jeffh. One point we would like to address a bit further is the use of DASH for new adopters. To be clear, this proposal would implement the current, working DASH iOS wallet. This is the point of reference we would initially steer the audience to for immediate usage of the currency. Do you feel it is unnecessary to promote the current iOS Wallet?

We may also be able to view this as a bit more of “a glance in to the future possibility” as Toyota has done with their ads, if you’re familiar?



Our task of making contact and being in collaboration with @fernando and O&M will not rest. Either way, these conversations with the community are of the utmost importance to us. We are ultimately trying to find the best way to provide for the network. Without valuable input such as yours, the best approach would not be found.
 
There are already quite a few expensive videos in production and before evolution launches, I dont see this getting much support.

You should contact core to see if they are willing to endorse this as something they need, otherwise it is a clear no..
 
Argon31 said:
There are already quite a few expensive videos in production and before evolution launches, I dont see this getting much support.

You should contact core to see if they are willing to endorse this as something they need, otherwise it is a clear no..
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Hello @Argon31 thank you for your input. Since our proposal’s conception, we have continually scoured for things that are similar on the forums, but to no avail. We have also received insight from Foundation Members and Master Node Holders that our proposal is unique and of sound design.

It would be most helpful if you could point us in the direction of these passed proposals. We agree, we don’t want to offer a redundant service. But if there are similar proposals already passed, we would like to offer support to them with our experience in this area.
 
Stealth923 said:
Because people can create fake accounts on this forum, representing valid companies and request money from the network, we usually ask them to identify themselves on a social channel.
i.e. Write on your Facebook, Website or twitter account "Synthesis Creative is excited to submit a proposal to partner with the Dash network" or something to that effect.

This proves that you are who you actually say you are and not someone pretending to be you and take the networks money :)
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Hmm. Their Facebook page has 39 likes. Even if they post there to "verify identity" -- that doesn't verify the bonfides of the production or branding capabilities, or that this is a real company. Is there any other background on who the team behind this is and what high end commercial experience (I see the videos on website but again, hard to know what role they played in these, and I see no team members listed anywhere to vet their backgrounds).

* edit -- I do see the DP and editor names listed, but I'd prefer to know about the producers/writer/director.
 
SynthesisCreative said:
Those concerns are definitely valid @jeffh. One point we would like to address a bit further is the use of DASH for new adopters. To be clear, this proposal would implement the current, working DASH iOS wallet. This is the point of reference we would initially steer the audience to for immediate usage of the currency. Do you feel it is unnecessary to promote the current iOS Wallet?

We may also be able to view this as a bit more of “a glance in to the future possibility” as Toyota has done with their ads, if you’re familiar?


Our task of making contact and being in collaboration with @fernando and O&M will not rest. Either way, these conversations with the community are of the utmost importance to us. We are ultimately trying to find the best way to provide for the network. Without valuable input such as yours, the best approach would not be found.
Click to expand...

As for the DASH iOS wallet, it will probably be deprecated soon in favor of the new Copay based wallet coming. It has a more attractive interface and will lend itself towards the kind of things the next person on the adoption curve will actually be doing with the wallet.

Another thing to consider is who's the audience for this video? Is it Americans? Is it Africans? Is it the people of Latin America?

Whose lives are you trying to show as potentially better because they can transact value using Dash instead of the way that they have been doing it?

Keep in mind, in North America (and much of the rest of the developed world), Paypal and Venmo, and Square Cash - work great. You're not going to convince people using those that going through all the effort to get Dash is worth it just so that they can do what they've already been doing, with those apps that already exist.
 
nrpetty said:
Hmm. Their Facebook page has 39 likes. Even if they post there to "verify identity" -- that doesn't verify the bonfides of the production or branding capabilities, or that this is a real company. Is there any other background on who the team behind this is and what high end commercial experience (I see the videos on website but again, hard to know what role they played in these, and I see no team members listed anywhere to vet their backgrounds).

* edit -- I do see the DP and editor names listed, but I'd prefer to know about the producers/writer/director.
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Hello all. We hope you had a good weekend. My name is AJ Mester (co-founder) and will be leading this response today. As we’ve noticed from the valid concerns of @nrpetty and @Lisbeth Ohana , there are some points that need to be addressed.

First, in regards to a few questions that have been asked about our company and work. Our social media is not a primary method of client acquisition. As is often the case in our industry, most of our projects have come to us through relationships and our work speaking for itself. As we want to ensure this community feels the same confidence in us as any of our clients, please see some examples in the links below.

SKECHERS
Producer, Director and Cinematographer: AJ MESTER

SAMSUNG
Post Coordinator / Lead Editor: BRIAN ZWIENER

EDMUNDS
Post Coordinator / Lead Editor: BRIAN ZWIENER
Graphical Effects: DARWIN MINARD

Second, the question about the roles in this production. We are a team of multi-disciplinary artists. Each of us bringing experience to the team, in a range of skill sets. For this project we plan to take care of Writing, Producing and Directing. Working as a collaborative team allows us to bring a project like this from pre-production to post-production to delivery in the most cost effective way possible. For the remaining crew, we have a solid network of talented media artists that we bring into our productions including cinematography, location scouts, makeup, editing, visual effects, etc.

Our ‘2 million dollar’ references reflect the message and feeling that we want to convey in the content for DASH. We could very easily create an updated quote for a $2M commercial. However, our interest at this point is providing the network with effective content for distribution at an affordable price, as this seems to be what the community needs at the moment.

As committed partners with this community, we aim to meet you and your needs where they are. As things grow and evolve we hope to continue to be your partners in content creation, as we are ready and willing to scale up our productions and concepts based upon the success of this first project. We are excited at the possibility of creating content for DASH and hope to gain as much support as possible!

If you have any further questions about our team specifically, or any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. We are also in the process of updating our website so please bear with us during this time!
 
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jeffh said:
As for the DASH iOS wallet, it will probably be deprecated soon in favor of the new Copay based wallet coming. It has a more attractive interface and will lend itself towards the kind of things the next person on the adoption curve will actually be doing with the wallet.

Another thing to consider is who's the audience for this video? Is it Americans? Is it Africans? Is it the people of Latin America?

Whose lives are you trying to show as potentially better because they can transact value using Dash instead of the way that they have been doing it?

Keep in mind, in North America (and much of the rest of the developed world), Paypal and Venmo, and Square Cash - work great. You're not going to convince people using those that going through all the effort to get Dash is worth it just so that they can do what they've already been doing, with those apps that already exist.
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Hey @jeffh!

Our audience is the general public who have smart devices and either have an understanding of DASH or don’t. Per our casting approach we are looking to represent all cultures as well as a large age range. We would think that anyone who will propose to distribute this content would do so in the United States to begin with. We are not using dialogue either so it would be very simple to distribute in other parts of the world with changes in text translations.

Your point about the other peer to peer systems, i.e. PayPal feels a little misdirected, however. First and foremost, cryptocurrencies such as DASH are built on the ability to transact currency securely with whomever you would like. Overall, this is not about what the app looks like it is about showing it’s overall function. What ever the interface, that function will not change. Do you not feel people will be still using the new Copay interface for peer to peer transactions? Again, we will have the ability to seamlessly switch out interfaces on any device we film. If it will be used in a massively different way then that is definitely something to consider.

Our mission with the initial commercial marketing is to get the word out about DASH. People who don’t know what it is need to see how seamlessly it works once their attention is captured. Then as even more new developments come out in the network, it will be even easier for people to associate to the needs and relevance of DASH in relation to the competition. Other passing distribution proposals are using the only advertising asset created, which is the great cartoon animated video. We would like to provide a different, live-action option showing real people using this amazing technology.

We are taking everything you are voicing to heart. But the wait has gone on long enough to get the word out there about the currency solution that IS better than PayPal, Venmo, Bitcoin, Ethereum and all others.

Edit: Punctuation for clarity.
 
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Lisbeth Ohana said:
The references here are to million dollar tv commercials (ala Toyota). Has Synthesis worked as production company on anything at this level?
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Lisbeth Ohana said:
The references here are to million dollar tv commercials (ala Toyota). Has Synthesis worked as production company on anything at this level?
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I agree with @lisbethohana - one person here is listed as a cinematographer and the other is an editor. Both have reels for those specific functions but is much different than actually producing commercials full time. I like the Danny Trejo production proposal myself but maybe there will be enough budget for both and can see which performs. My two cents but good luck!
 
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