PROPOSAL NAME
Ape.AR: The AR Launchpad, Powered by ApeCoin
PROPOSAL CATEGORY
Ecosystem Fund Allocation
ABSTRACT
Graphic tees transform into motion graphic tees; street art unlocks interactive NFTs; trading cards become living highlight reels; album covers reveal hidden songs & lyrics; IRL events bring digital to the physical. All powered by ApeCoin.
WHAT
The Ape.AR Launchpad empowers artists & entrepreneurs of the ApeCoin DAO community to launch augmented reality collections & products, powered by $APE.
The Ape.AR Launchpad will function as follows:
(1) Each quarter, starting in Q4 2023, there will be a call for artists & entrepreneurs within the ApeCoin community (must hold at least 1 $APE) to submit an application that outlines how they will use augmented reality in a new collection or product drop, to be sold via $APE.
(2) The Ape.AR team will select three participants per quarter (12/year), providing them with the most advanced, app-less AR technology on the market (used by brands from Paramount Pictures to Compass Real Estate), toolsets & advisors to develop their physical-meets-digital products.
(3) The culmination of each launchpad will consist of the augmented collection drops on the Ape.AR website, using $APE as the exclusive payment method, along with marketing campaigns both within & outside Web3.
WHY
Ape.AR empowers (i) creative entrepreneurs to commercialize their IP (i.e. motion graphic BAYC apparel) with AR, resulting in (ii) a new form of augmented utility for their collectors and (iii) a new use for ApeCoin, which will exclusively power all of the transactions.
This opportunity to integrate cutting edge AR tech, which would otherwise be cost prohibitive for independent entrepreneurs & artists, effectively drives culture forward into a physical-meets-digital, blended reality.
WHO
Author & Advisor
Justin Fredericks, Co-Founder & CEO of AR/T HOUSE, the most advanced app-less AR tech on the market, used by brands from Paramount Pictures to Compass Real Estate & represented by the talent agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME).
$APE holder since Day 1. BAYC collector since Week 1.
Community & Outreach Director, Web Designer, Program Coordinator
Year-long, part-time positions to be posted & hired from within the ApeCoin community immediately upon approval.
Program Participants
Must submit portfolios of prior work & hold at least 1 $APE.
AUTHOR DESCRIPTION
I’m Justin Fredericks, a Co-Founder & CEO of AR/T HOUSE, the zero-code, zero-download AR publishing service for brands. Our clients span across many verticals, such as Compass in Real Estate & Paramount Pictures in film. We’re also the AR partner for All City’s Beyond the Swamp magazine, a previously successful AIP & have donated the use of our technology to the NFUTURE educational program run by Ms. NFTy.
As a lifelong entrepreneur, I still have memories reselling hard-to-find candy as a middle schooler. In between then & my current career in tech, I took a detour through the field of law. This background also sparked my initial interest in BAYC unleashing IP rights to the community; I’ve been a BAYC collector since early May 2021.
Education:
UCLA, B.A. | Harvard Law School, J.D.
Socials:
https://twitter.com/justfred_ar
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinfredericks/
MOTIVATION
Community Benefit #1: Access to State-of-the-Art Technology, Tools & Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs
State-of-the-art AR technology is cost prohibitive for most independent artists & creatives. Since 2019, my company has been powering app-less AR experiences for brands, solving friction-laden user experience problems. Therefore, this proposal would fund the ability to empower accepted applicants with our already built zero-code, zero-download AR software used by brands from Paramount Pictures to Compass Real Estate.
Along with this technology, we provide the advisory resources for the Launchpad participants to follow best practices & achieve success with their physical-meets-digital releases.
This proposal then empowers creatives & furthers the entrepreneurial ecosystem that is Web3. Each project that emerges from the Ape.AR Launchpad will produce an augmented product or experience, with a requisite to incorporate $APE as its exclusive currency.
Community Benefit #2: Augmented Utility for Collectors
Through collecting NFTs, I quickly realized that AR technology can even further solve key problems endemic to the Web3 ecosystem. Specifically, it can be leveraged to bridge multiple divides: between physical and digital, between story and product, between online & IRL. In aggregate, this also solves the collector’s greatest concern by offering cohesive, comprehensive, continual utility.
Both a connection to and extension of the jpeg itself, our AR technology can take any still object, location, or image, regardless of where it appears, bringing it to life with motion and sound. 2D & 3D animations, video, audio, rich text, 360 portals. Once static artworks become dynamic & life-like with personality, stories & journeys.
Even further, all of the digital layers can be updated anytime, over time, real-time. This presents the potential for utility, or continuous value, in perpetuity. Augmented, unfolding stories. These stories can be strictly narrative, practical like early access to NFT drops, or a combination. Content drops layered onto physical product drops.
Community Benefit #3: Onboarding New Web3 Participants
An indirect consequence of bridging the physical & digital divide with AR may eventually become its most important Web3 legacy: bridging the world of NFT early adopters & the rest of the world.
Products like motion graphic tees & experiences like interactive murals expose new audiences to the digital art we experience daily in Web3. But instead of leading with the technicalities of NFTs & blockchain, we lead with the visual stories - what the tokens represent - as digital layers to our physical realities. Newcomers get immersed in the intrinsic value of art before the financial value of art. Actual appreciation before financial appreciation. True, authentic, sustainable onboarding.
Then, given our layered approach to AR, newcomers can be presented with options to collect the motion art at the point of experience via available frictionless NFT solutions.
This expansive & inclusive worldview results in expanding the Web3 ecosystem to include new, interested & eventually active participants.
Community Benefit #4: ApeCoin Commerce
$APE will be the exclusive payment method for all of the Ape.AR Launchpad collections. All of the resulting products will also include a “Powered by ApeCoin” logo.
Through this physical-meets-digital new use case, Ape.AR will generate new demand for $APE. This benefits the entire community, serving the vision of ApeCoin as the currency of choice for creative capital in Web3. A flywheel effect takes place when Ape.AR Launchpad projects successfully go to market & generate even greater interest for ApeCoin DAO.
RATIONALE
"APECOIN IS FOR THE WEB3 ECONOMY…
APE will serve as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse."
Our view is that the future is not a physical or digital world, but rather a physical and digital world, simultaneously. A blended reality that harmonizes the IRL & the virtual.
As a networked economy, Web3 has built connectivity - between brand & community, between artist & collector, between creative & creative. Everything (NFTs) & everyone (NFT producers & collectors) are connected in this entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This AIP extends the connectivity to the real promise of the metaverse, where boundaries between physical & digital disappear. Those already immersed in online communities have proven time & time again to also crave IRL events & physical products. But the storytelling rarely or inconsiderably follows along from the digital to the physical.
The Ape.AR Launchpad transforms this segmented reality into a unified, blended reality. Blockchain establishes the infrastructure to connect, $APE provides the currency to transact & AR delivers the art to experience.
Itself a synchronization of the $APE currency with the AR canvas, Ape.AR unlocks the promise of a ubiquitous Web3 that transcends any specific boundary, whether digital or physical.
KEY TERMS
Augmented Reality (AR): Experiences that bring digital layers into your physical environment (in contrast to VR, which brings you into a virtual environment).
360 Portals: An AR capability of Art House that utilizes the phone’s motion sensors & 360 photos or videos to provide full 360 experiences.
2D Animations: In the case of augmented reality, animations that are mapped & anchored to the plane of a physical surface or product.
3D Animations: In the case of augmented reality, animations that can be anchored to the planes of physical surfaces or products, but that also extend beyond, such as a bird flying off a canvas painting.
SaaS: Software as a service.
Zero-code AR: A primary competitive advantage of Art House, our backend drag-and-drop content management system (CMS)to upload & publish augmented reality content instantaneously without technical expertise.
Zero-download AR: A primary competitive advantage of Art House, our frontend user experience that removes the need to download applications in order to experience augmented reality. Instead, Art House powered experiences can be activated by QR codes, NFC chips, URLs or geo-location.
SPECIFICATIONS
Augmented Reality:
Art House
Currency:
$APE
Program Website:
Ape.AR (already secured)
Program Application & Project Management Software:
Monday(dot)com
360 Cameras (for loan to program participants):
Insta360 X3
Animation Software (for use by program participants):
Unreal Engine
Unity
Blender
Cinema 4D
Promotion & Call for Submissions:
Twitter (incl. Spaces)
Discord groups
Instagram
Typeform
STEPS TO IMPLEMENT
- Ape.AR Launchpad Application Process
Determine the requirements for creative entrepreneurs & artists to apply for the Ape.AR Launchpad.
- Ape.AR Launchpad Design
Develop the procedures, timelines & workback schedules for the Ape.AR Launchpad participants. Sub-divided into quarterly programs, each culminating in product releases by the participants.
- Ape.AR Website Development
Starting out as an informational website about the Ape.AR Launchpad, team members & an application area, will eventually showcase active participants & projects / experiences launched from program participants.
- Ape.AR Launchpad Launch
Grouped into four cohorts throughout the year, one each quarter consisting of three program participants selected from the pool of applicants. A virtual orientation session will introduce the participants to each other, to the Ape.AR team of advisors & to the product via AR demonstrations. Immediately following the orientation, participants will receive access to the technology, resources & advisors.
Staffing & Budgetary Requirements
We will fill the following positions from talented members of the ApeCoin community.
Community & Outreach Director: $50,000
- Identify and provide information about the Ape.AR Launchpad to key stakeholders, including creative communities & partners, throughout the year.
- Develop and implement outreach plans.
- Stakeholder engagement.
- Data collection & management.
- Outreach database management.
- Production of communication & marketing materials.
- Promotion of program activities & participants’ projects.
- Social media management.
Web Designer: $30,000
- Design a user friendly website upon a content management system (CMS), such as Webflow or Wordpress.
- Responsive layout that works seamlessly across desktop & mobile.
- Integration of application intake & organization software.
- Portfolio sections for each Ape.AR session participants & their culminating projects.
- Maintain & update the website throughout the year.
Program Coordinator: $40,000
- Oversee Ape.AR program planning, coordination & implementation.
- Stakeholder collaboration & coordination, including program participants, the project manager, advisors & partners.
- Coordinating program logistics, from advisory session scheduling to participant delivery of finished projects.
- Monitoring & evaluation of the program.
Lifetime AR Licenses: $15,000/project x 12 projects = $180,000
- Each license grants each program participant with a lifetime license to the Art House platform for hosting, publishing & distributing their Ape.AR projects.
- These lifetime licenses then allow for the augmented products, once in the hands of collectors, to have longevity.
Total: $300,000
TIMELINE
1 Month Post-Approval
Application Design
Program Design
Website Launch
Applications Open
Call for AR/TISTS Begins
2 Months Post-Approval
Application Review
Launchpad #1 Participants Selected
2.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #1 Begins
5.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #1 Ends
Ape.AR Launchpad #1 Public Demonstrations & Collection Releases
6 Months Post-Approval
Application Review for Launchpad #2
Launchpad #2 Participants Selected
6.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #2 Begins
9.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #2 Ends
Ape.AR Launchpad #2 Public Demonstrations & Collection Releases
10 Months Post-Approval
Application Review for Launchpad #3
Launchpad #3 Participants Selected
10.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #3 Begins
13.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #3 Ends
Ape.AR Launchpad #3 Public Demonstrations & Collection Releases
14 Months Post-Approval
Application Review for Launchpad #4
Launchpad #4 Participants Selected
14.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #4 Begins
17.5 Months Post-Approval
Ape.AR Launchpad #4 Ends
Ape.AR Launchpad #4 Public Demonstrations & Collection Releases
COST
$300,000 USD, payable in $APE
