Hi Popil - Thanks for the detailed update. 
As you probably know, I am well aware of some of your activities; though it’s somewhat difficult to discern between your personal activities and that of your work for the DAO. Especially since your WG has been operating without a budget for some time after being voted in.
MarComms Updates
Since you only posted that [impressive] update barely 24 hrs ago, I have now reviewed it ahead of my posting this reply.
Transparency & Accountability
So, here’s the thing - and it’s not my intention to put you on the spot - but the AIP-246: Working Group Charter - Marketing & Communications as created by @ssp1111 has specific performance guidelines. And I quote:
“Propose a consistent and compelling brand strategy and identity for the ApeCoin DAO, propose and implement comprehensive marketing and communications strategies, and help establish a strong presence through effective global communication efforts in order to onboard more users into the DAO.”
.
Working Group Reporting Requirements:
- Monthly progress updates on initiatives.
- Quarterly reports on brand strategy and identity development, decentralized marketing, Community engagement, and growth analytics.
- Automated daily, weekly and monthly analytics on ApeCoin DAO’s social media presence, including metrics and engagement levels, will be available once a dashboard has been set up.
Searching Discourse, I find no evidence of your WG having done any of the above.
Aside from that, AIP-403: ApeCoin DAO Marketing & Communications (MarComms) Working Group Budget gave the WG $493,500 (6 months) for which, salaries ($9K each, for a total of $18K per month) has come with zero accountability because your WG hasn’t posted any details about how the funds were allocated and spent - despite the fact that the WG budget allocated $2,500 specifically for booking & accounting.
Activity Effectiveness
What KPIs are those? Please list them, along with their disposition.
This is important because, looking at the Discourse and social media trends, I find no evidence of MarComms efforts bringing any value to the DAO at a cost of $493,500 (6 months). For example even the @ApecoinNow X account barely has 500 followers, and I won’t even bother posting the metrics of its engagement.
I also want to mention the disparity in your operations. For example, how are you spending so much time promoting a single proposal AIP-406: ApeCoin DAO multi-year partnership with Redacted, a Formula One Team, while not giving attention to other proposals? Please explain this. I would imagine that it’s because it’s targeting marketing; however, that too has proven to be ineffective and that was over $5M spent.
Community Involvement
Both you and Lintro were appointed back in Dec 2023:
And we elected another person, Yumi back in June; thus increasing the budget by another $9K per month.
Not to mention that for a WG that’s supposed to be promoting and marketing the DAO, below is the Discourse (our community central hub) for both members of the team:
You come and go - sporadically on average of 2.4 times per month - and without posting any relevant updates:
Linstro has been here - once:
Conclusion
While I personally recognize your efforts, I have yet to see anything that indicates to me that the WG has been effective in its mandate.
For one thing, even with the advent of ApeChain, literally nobody is even talking about it - besides the usual Ape degens. I am all but certain that you have access to the same metrics that I do. And that’s specifically why I mentioned marketing in the missive that I posted here Implementation Update | AIP-454: The BANANA Bill: Apes Gotta Eat yesterday.
The DAO could instead hire the likes of Layer3 Galxe, Upptic, Windwalk, CrowdCreate etc. at a lower cost, while getting tangible and effective results. And that’s on an as-needed basis. And all those teams also do on-site events in collab with their partners and clients around the world.
The point that I am making here is that, dissolving this WG wouldn’t and shouldn’t be the end of your efforts. Instead, as I indicate in the proposal, the DAO, in the same way that it hires other service providers, could very well hire you or anyone they deem fit for the job to collab with experienced third-party teams/corps (as per above) in coming up with an effective marketing & comms strategy for the DAO.
Again, it’s not personal…
Ape Foundation Transparency Report - 2024 - Q1
In any financial setting, when low on funds you take steps to extend the financial runway. And that means, cutting staff, projects etc. This is standard practice. Even Yuga - with over $450M to burn - did two rounds of layoffs for specifically those reasons.
Regardless, at the end of the day, it’s up to the DAO to make the final determination at vote.