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Proposal: PR Fall Campaign (Oct)

Ryan Taylor

Ryan Taylor

Well-known member
Foundation Member
This is a cross-post from www.dashcentral.org/p/pr-fall-camp-201610

This proposal is for continued funding of the previously-passed "PR Fall Campaign" found at this link (adjusted to the current exchange rate): https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-pr-fall-campaign-aug.9825/

I have included the text from the original proposal below for easy reference. The current contract is scheduled to conclude on December 8th.

Many members of the core team are undergoing media relations training this week (which includes mock interviews) and we are working through drafts of our key messaging, and our strategy for gaining more mainstream exposure. The PR firm will also be assisting before and during the upcoming laBITConf in Argentina in the fall. And of course, they are working on a number of upcoming business partnership announcements to ensure we take full advantage of the media exposure opportunities these integrations can garner.

Requested funding is as follows for the October 5th budget cycle:
Total: 527.15 Dash

Note: Any unused funds from this proposal will be used for future public relations services.

Manually vote YES on this proposal:
dash-cli mnbudget vote-many 1f93c92aa23245848f50747ff9f127d0c2700bf6ad25da223e69dc0fc47e7562 yes
OR from the qt console:
mnbudget vote-many 1f93c92aa23245848f50747ff9f127d0c2700bf6ad25da223e69dc0fc47e7562 yes

Manually vote NO on this proposal:
dash-cli mnbudget vote-many 1f93c92aa23245848f50747ff9f127d0c2700bf6ad25da223e69dc0fc47e7562 no
OR from the qt console:
mnbudget vote-many 1f93c92aa23245848f50747ff9f127d0c2700bf6ad25da223e69dc0fc47e7562 no

Original proposal text

This Public Relations proposal goes hand-in-hand with our business development strategy as we share with the media the different partnerships and integrations we execute. Public relations directly supports business development, since joint promotion is a central source of value Dash provides to potential partners with whom we are negotiating. Public relations also enables Dash to extract more benefit from the partnerships as we announce them.

We have a road-map of additional announcements planned and we believe it is therefore essential to retain a professional PR firm to represent Dash in both the digital currency and mainstream media. After careful consideration, we have selected Wachsman PR as our PR partner for the next phase of our growth.

Wachsman PR is a highly professional firm located in New York that enjoys a strong reputation in the digital currency industry and has demonstrated a high level of professionalism the market has come to expect of the Dash project. Wachsman PR represents many high-profile crypto clients such as Kraken, Purse.io, Overstock's T0 and many others.

Though Wachsman PR is reputable in the industry, they agreed to provide Dash an opportunity to preview their services rather than simply relying on their track record and referrals. They agreed to conduct a trial month of PR services for Dash ahead of us officially hiring them (which we are now planning to do) for a longer-term agreement.

Based on our experience thus far, we highly recommend proceeding with a contract. Wachsman PR staff have all been professional and impressive. They have provided insights and advice on how to extend our reach into mainstream media, helped shape, revise and prepare our d10e presentations and handouts, and have prepared a longer-term PR strategy. They also aren’t afraid to tell us when they disagree with us… They don’t say “yes” to everything we suggest, and tell us what they think is a better approach along with the reasons why. In short, they are adding tremendous value. In just two weeks they have done two press releases with us and obtained an impressive amount of media placements for the project, which I’ve outlined below.

We would like to hire Wachsman PR for an initial four month engagement starting September 1st. The cost of the proposal is $6,000 per month and the entire four month contract will cost $24,000. As a portion of the funding ($880) is already set aside from the July budget “PR - Fall Campaign Pre-Funding”, we will only need an additional $5,120 to fund the initial month’s services. However, as protection against currency fluctuation between now and August 5th, we would like to request the full $6,000 and carry any balance forward to September to be used for the same purposes.​

Note: The original post also included examples of the news placements acquired through the Wachsman PR trial. If you are interested in reading them, see the original proposal (provided in the link above).
 
@babygiraffe
Where is the update on what Wachsman PR activities?

They should be giving a detailed report of articles and activities promoting Dash. The masternodes should automatically vote note on proposals without any updates like this.
 
Yes, if you could please provide information about the services rendered by this PR firm after they were funded last month. As with any other proposal, I would urge masternode operators to require an opportunity to review and discuss the actual performance before voting for this.
 
Solarminer said:
@babygiraffe
Where is the update on what Wachsman PR activities?

They should be giving a detailed report of articles and activities promoting Dash. The masternodes should automatically vote note on proposals without any updates like this.
Click to expand...
The contract only began this month and runs until December 8th. We plan to report monthly.

Informally, I can tell you that we've had several PR strategy planning meetings, they have been conducting media training for several members of the team (for both print and video interviews, along with mock interviews and feedback), and have been working on several press releases and news articles (some of which are ready, but we want to pace them and seek optimal placement). You will start to see the results from this work over the coming weeks. The first report will be provided after the first month of service is complete... I would guess no later than mid-October.
 
TroyDASH said:
Was this contract written in such a way that it can be terminated if the masternodes decide not to continue funding it?
Click to expand...
Wachsman is aware of the risks and is aware that we don't yet have "contracts" in the system.
 
babygiraffe said:
Wachsman is aware of the risks and is aware that we don't yet have "contracts" in the system.
Click to expand...

That's great that they are aware of it. But was the contract that you signed written with a provision that it can be terminated if the masternode funding does not continue? Or in other words, if the project was not funded this month, would you guys still be on the hook to pay the full amount for the 4 months? It makes a difference because one way puts you (or the dash foundation) in a position of significant unnecessary risk, and also would mean that you unnecessarily put the masternodes in a position where they might be motivated vote for this just so the dash foundation isn't left hanging with debt. Or, if there is a good reason why not to include such a provision, maybe I am missing it. I am totally open to that possibility.
 
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@TroyDASH
To be precise, we work with Wachsman PR based on the project charter and not contract signed between them and Dash Foundation - it gives more flexibility for both parties involved in the project. Sides of the deal defined in the charter are sponsor (Dash Network represented by me) and vendor (Wachsman PR represented by David Wachsman).
Project charter defines precisely duration of the project (3 months for Phase I), but not terms of project cancellation - which basically means that we have a possibility to cancel it at any time.
Despite the fact that we have a mutual agreement about the possibility of cancellation in case of negative voting scenario, I think it might be more pragmatic to put additional point in the charter mentioning about this (what I am going to do immediately). This would be more a courtesy however it won't hurt anyone.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
 
babygiraffe said:
The contract only began this month and runs until December 8th. We plan to report monthly.

Informally, I can tell you that we've had several PR strategy planning meetings, they have been conducting media training for several members of the team (for both print and video interviews, along with mock interviews and feedback), and have been working on several press releases and news articles (some of which are ready, but we want to pace them and seek optimal placement). You will start to see the results from this work over the coming weeks. The first report will be provided after the first month of service is complete... I would guess no later than mid-October.
Click to expand...

Look at what Vanbex did on month 1. They produced a huge paper that summarized what Dash needed to do and how they suggest doing it.

Talking about meetings and training is not a result or setting goals. I suggest they get a summary prepared 1 week before this vote. And this needs to be done by Wachsman not wasting any of the core's time.
 
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