CUSTOMIZED KUSAMA CHOCOLATE BARS

1.General Project Information

Short description: customized chocolate bars to make Kusama tangible and to give it a touch of lifestyle

Project Category / Type: Marketing, Community events

Proponent: Babes Papes

KSM address: ESJW7WgAxoybpZ6ULrh6dYwi3WpEGY2hN3wB1eYKE3NcTHo

Requested allocation: 69 KSM, $2219

Discussion date: 11.02.2023. ​​https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/2406

Onchain publish date: 12th of February 2023

Governance referenda origin call: small_spender

Previous treasury proposals: n/a

Other: n/a

2. Context

After having a short discussion about this idea with Bill at Polkadot decoded last June, he gave me confidence to try to propose this idea here at the Kusama treasury.

The motivation for this idea comes from the digital nature of blockchain making it hard to grasp in the analogue world and hence not being tangible. The logo and branding of Kusama or Polkadot should be present on daily goods to make it easier for users to connect emotionally not only visually, but for example also through flavor, sound, or touch. I believe giving Kusama or Polkadot a touch of lifestyle would be a great differentiator to other blockchains out there and in the digital world, with all its noise it’s very hard to stand out only with nice branding and logos on social media.

3.Problem

What all the blockchain projects out there have in common, is that they only market and brand themselves in the digital world, but not in the analogue real world. The attention span on social media is very short and with all the noise it’s very hard for users to connect emotionally to a blockchain project, except if they are token holders, fan boys/girls, or team members of the project.
How can we attract new users to Polkadot/Kusama and keep existing users connected and attracted to Polkadot/Kusama, without digital marketing methods like air drops, online quizzes, virtual meetings, NFT drops, or online ads on social media?

I guess that one method which has proven itself in the last year to make users get emotionally attached to Polkadot, are real life events like Decoded or Sub0. Merchandise is also a good tool, but unfortunately it lacks creativity and by now we probably all have enough black t-shirts with a boring text logo in standard font in our wardrobe.

Producing real world lifestyle products for Kusama/Polkadot should help with brand awareness and long term connectivity to new users and existing users, who value physical products that can be experienced through touch, taste, visual appearance, scent and hence motivate user to interact with Kusama/Polkadot and use the provided tools like staking, governance, minting NFTs, community growth, etc.

4.Proposal

Kusama/Polkadot branded chocolate bars with custom packaging design to promote Kusama and Polkadot and other parachains with QR codes for example. These chocolate gift boxes can be used for:

Kusama/Polkadot gift tool (https://gifts.kusama.network/#/): receiver of gifted KSM/DOT can chose to receive the chocolate gift box by providing an address
Regular attendees of Meet Up’s or Twitter spaces who prove attendance with POAP’s
Business partners or investors to make them aware of projects building on top of Kusama/Polkadot
Give away on real life events like Polkadot Decoded to special guests, supporters or volunteers

4.1. Available solutions
n/a

4.2. Scope of work

approval of spending proposal
choosing projects and brands apart of Polkadot und Kusama who want to be represented with the custom chocolate bars
designing of product packaging together with individual brand representatives and choosing individual chocolate flavors

submitting designs & chocolate requirements to manufacturer and placing order
sending batches to various locations for easier distribution like Berlin, Zug,... (optional)
including shipping feature to Kusama/Polkadot tool, to allow receivers of gifted KSM/DOT to get chocolate bars

4.3. Milestones

See 4.2.

4.4. Timeline

5-8 work days for manufacturing of chocolate bars according to supplier

4.5. Budget

100 pieces and two chocolate bars incl. gift box: €986 ($1055 - without VAT!)
(According to price table seen here: https://tinyurl.com/ycyrcwjn )

Estimated total budget €2078/$2219 to cover production costs, graphic designer (see 4.6.), shipping envelope/boxes and shipping costs.

4.6. Other costs

Graphic designer for preparing design file for manufacturer
€500/$535 flat fee for graphic designer who I worked with in the past
If graphic designer of Parity or W3F is available, then these costs can be ignored

4.7. Payment condition

Proponent: Babes Papes

KSM address: ESJW7WgAxoybpZ6ULrh6dYwi3WpEGY2hN3wB1eYKE3NcTHo

Requested allocation: 69 KSM, $2219/€2078

Governance referenda origin call: small_spender

Final budget
Milestone 1: graphic designer --> 535 $ (€500)

Milestone 2: chocolate order --> 1264 $ (€1184)

Milestone 3: shipping + material --> 320 $ (€300)

Infrastructure --> 0$

Budget --> 2119$ / €1984

Income tax (19%) --> 0$

Conversion/slippage 5% -->100$ (€94)

Final Budget --> 2219$ (€2078)

Treasury request

KSM/USD EMA30 on 11/02/2023 --> 32,15$

USD to KSM --> 2219$ / 32,15$ = 69 KSM

Total amount requested --> 69 KSM

4.8. Key deliverables

Graphic design for product packaging
Production of chocolate bars with custom packaging
Shipping to various partners: Parity, W3F, Parachains
Distribution of product at events
Collecting and analyzing feedback of users

4.9. Objectives/Success criteria

When the product is successfully produced, packaging design is matching the digital draft, partners are receiving their batches and users are having a smile on their faces after trying the chocolate, then we know that goals were achieved!

4.10. Known constraints

Dependency on graphic designer who is not performing as planned, partners who want to be featured on the product packaging but are not delivering content as intended (i.e. parachains), allergies for certain ingredients in chocolate bars

4.11. Reporting
I will communicate status updates mainly on discord and on Polkassembly.

4.12. Communication strategy

Team member: Babes Papes
Email: office@babespapes.com
Polkassebly post: https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/2406
Element: @babespapes:matrix.org
Discord: Babes Papes#2824

5.Team

I’m a senior ambassador for Polkadot who participated in the Kusama’s thousand
validator programme with my own hardware, regular host of Polkadot Meet Up’s in Munich, Germany, full time product development engineer and part time
entrepreneur with experience in product design and ecommerce.

5.1.Kusama/Polkadot reputation

Polkadot Munich Meet Ups example: https://tinyurl.com/2scv3b8u

6.Why Kusama?

Is supposed to be wild, progressive, experimental and hence perfect fit for such an unusual and experimental proposal

7.Comments, Qs&As

8.Extra links

Link to manufacturer with information about chocolate bar flavor, chocolate bar type, minimum order quantity, packaging options and costing: https://tinyurl.com/2p9hamv2

this option which was successfully ordered in the past and given positive feedback for users (100 pieces - wild berry with vanilla):
https://tinyurl.com/5985y3bw

preferred option for Kusama/Polkadot chocolate bar set of two in gift box: https://tinyurl.com/ycyrcwjn

preferred option for Kusama/Polkadot +2 parachains for example with gift box: https://tinyurl.com/bdea8c2t

--> see original polkassembly posting and discussion here

--> copy of final pdf version available here