Cardano shouldn’t waste its treasury on protocol-wide marketing

Governance General Governance Conversation
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Hey all,

Although I am not going to be a DRep, I do feel very much connected to, and have my concerns regarding the above topic. That’s why I decided to share my thinking with you all.

Cardano shouldn’t waste its treasury on protocol-wide marketing
The focus should be on core development, while projects building on Cardano lead the charge. Below you will find 6 reasons why I think supporting these projects to handle marketing is a smarter, more efficient path.

1. Focus on Core Development
Cardano’s public treasury should prioritize funding core development, research, and infrastructure. Diverting funds to marketing risks weakening the ecosystem by shifting resources away from essential technical progress. Long-term sustainability is better achieved by strengthening the protocol, rather than using treasury resources for promotion.

2. Mismatch in Marketing Expertise
Marketing a protocol like Cardano is more abstract and less effective compared to marketing specific products. Projects that build on Cardano are closer to the end users and better suited to craft marketing strategies tailored to their audience. They have a direct incentive to grow their user base, something a protocol-led campaign will lack.

3. Product-Led Growth
Cardano’s adoption will grow through the success of applications and products built on the protocol. As projects develop successful products, they naturally promote Cardano, driving organic growth. This approach mirrors the success seen with other protocols, where growth is driven by DApps rather than the protocol itself.

4. Projects Handle Competitive Marketing Better
Projects competing for users within the Cardano ecosystem are more agile and innovative in their marketing efforts. This competition fosters better products and more dynamic marketing strategies, which ultimately promote Cardano indirectly. Additionally, historical evidence shows no successful examples of a protocol or commodity being effectively marketed by non-company entities.

5. Decentralization Perception
Marketing led by the protocol is in conflict with Cardano’s core ethos of decentralization. Allowing projects to promote their projects and, by extension, Cardano, preserves the decentralized principle. Organic, user-driven growth is more in line with the values that Cardano stands for.

6. Risk of Inefficiency
Top-down marketing efforts are often inefficient and fail to connect with target audiences. Projects building on Cardano are far better equipped to run focused and measurable campaigns that directly impact their success. Protocol-led marketing, on the other hand, risks wasting resources due to a lack of expertise and accountability, especially because other people’s money is being spent rather than their own.

Why Projects Should Market Products
Projects building on Cardano are naturally incentivized to promote their products, which in turn promotes the protocol. They have a better understanding of user needs and can create more targeted marketing efforts that drive adoption. Letting them lead the marketing will grow the ecosystem more effectively.

Conclusion
Using Cardano’s public treasury for protocol-wide marketing is not only inefficient but also misaligned with the needs of the ecosystem. The treasury should focus on core development, ensuring the long-term growth and sustainability of the protocol. Projects building on Cardano have the expertise and incentive to effectively market their own products, which in turn promotes the protocol organically. History has not shown any top-down, non-company marketing efforts that has been successful, and Cardano’s decentralized nature would be better served by letting projects drive growth through competition and innovation. Protocol-led marketing also risks inefficiency, especially when spending public funds without clear accountability or the expertise that projects bring. By instead using the treasury to support strong marketing proposals from projects building on Cardano, the ecosystem can grow naturally while maintaining its decentralized ethos and ensuring that resources are used efficiently.

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Thinking of Visa and Mastercard helps us here. They are payment services providers. They provide services to their members (issuers and acquirers). The issuers and acquirers (generally banks) provide services to their customers (consumers and business/retail).

The model is similar to blockchain and business that build on it.

So do Visa and Mastercard advertise? Yes, a bit (think Olympics, World Cup etc). It maintains the brand and trust in the underlying system. They also enforce rules for the businesses that use the payment platform. Lessons for Cardano perhaps?

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That’s a well structured argument.
I accept many of your points about the advantages of directing marketing spend towards to existing dApps.
However doing so exclusively would remove our ability to market and brand Cardano itself as a public and permissionless ecosystem.
The branding and marketing of Cardano itself, separate from existing products is an essential part of our journey to an information operating system for the world.
It would massively favour and entrench existing early projects and limit our growth and attraction of new projects.
Branding and marketing Cardano will not only bring more projects onboard, but will let projects considering building on Cardano know that the ecosystem itself will have a growing brand awareness.

I don’t disagree with any of you individual points, but taken to an extreme conclusion, to promote existing projects rather than the ecosystem itself, would be extremely limiting for Cardanos overall growth.
I believe a balance is required.

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No, Cardano is a protocol on top of which others can build (payment) products. Cardano itself is not a product like Visa is. Visa is built on the internet which is a protocol. The internet does not advertise for its protocol.
The products built on top of cardano, just like Visa is built on top of the internet are owned by their project teams. Those teams earn revenue and understand their added value the best. Therefore those products should advertise for their products. This will bring more teams to build on cardano. Advertising cardano itself still makes zero sense to me.

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We agree that products built on Cardano should promote themselves. By doing so, they won’t take funds from the Cardano treasury, which I believe should be used to improve the protocol, not to “attract” builders. Builders are typically attracted to a great protocol to build on. Since Cardano is a top 10 protocol, it would be odd for competent builders not to know it exists. So, what exactly will this “marketing” do to attract those builders?

If you believe that Cardano “marketing” could attract users, my counterargument is that users are drawn to valuable, high-quality products, not empty ads for a protocol that doesn’t offer clear value. What’s your perspective on this?

Besides the above and the original post, I worry that many will view “Cardano marketing” as an opportunity to use funds that aren’t theirs to generate income or engagement for themselves. Spending other people’s money is rarely efficient.