The rhythm of life in small towns is significantly different from that of megacities. Those who have lived in both environments understand this well. People's habits, their leisure activities, and even what they focus their attention on are distinct. In megacities, there are far too many distractions—too much advertising, marketing, store windows, and digital billboards. Small towns, on the other hand, are usually not overloaded with these attributes; everything is somewhat simpler and different there.
Another interesting fact is that in villages or small towns, people know each other very well—sometimes to the point of crossing all boundaries 🤣. This is a stark contrast to large cities, where residents often don’t even know the names of their neighbors.
It’s much easier to attract attention or create the effect of a viral news story or mini-trend in an environment where news spreads faster than people move, compared to cities where the primary sources of information are large web2 social media platforms.
How do youth football matches of local teams take place?
Let’s start with the fact that this is a local-level event. One team travels to visit another from a neighboring town or village. At the stadium, at least some parents, friends, and acquaintances of the players show up to support them. In certain cases, a significant portion of the local population might gather at the stadium. The turnout largely depends on the local culture, the popularity of football, traditions, customs, and even the season.
During the match, people take photos and record videos, and theoretically, these materials could end up in local social media groups as news or an event for the town. Engagement with such posts and views is likely to be higher than the views of local news in large urban social media groups, which post dozens of updates daily. The match becomes a topic of discussion among local residents. For a small town or village, a football match is an event.
What does Hive have to do with this, and how does it relate to marketing?
- Equipping a youth football team with 14 sets (shorts, jersey, and socks) costs approximately $500 to $1,000. This is a very rough estimate and can vary greatly depending on the country of manufacture and the quality of the items. Subjectively, this isn’t an astronomical expense when viewed from a marketing perspective.
- Football uniforms are reused multiple times and will likely last for at least one season (a year).
- Having the brand's logo on the uniforms increases brand recognition, and including the hive.io address creates potential site visits, even out of curiosity.
- This is a children’s and teenage audience, which is the target of virtually every WEB2 company without exception. After all, in a few years, they represent potential users who will replace inactive accounts. If I wear something with a website address on it, do you seriously think I won’t check it out?
- Initiating such an action increases the chances that people in local social media groups will start asking questions about the sponsor, leading to word-of-mouth, questions, discussions, and, ultimately, registrations.
Beyond marketing, this is also sponsorship of sports events, which in certain circles could spark discussions about the sponsor of such an initiative.
What can Hive gain from such marketing initiatives?
- Brand recognition
- A loyal audience, and importantly—a young audience.
- The potential launch of word-of-mouth marketing at the local level, which is far more effective than any other marketing initiatives.
Implementation options
Naturally, there are several options. I suggest we discuss them in the comments. Here's an example:
- Direct sponsorship of a trusted individual, who will receive the funds, withdraw them to a bank account, and purchase the equipment.
- Shipping of already branded products, provided there is someone who is already handling this or if the equipment sets are available in stock.
The second option is preferable, as it reduces the potential for corrupt practices. Additionally, if production is located in a country with low labor costs, it can significantly help optimize production expenses.
PS...
I'm not sure if such initiatives have been discussed by the community, but I decided to write this post yesterday when I was browsing information within the ecosystem. Specifically, I came across the account @valueplan and the first article here, which describes the purpose of this project/fund, and at the very end, there’s a quote.
This account is not suitable for small-scale local events such as your local children's soccer team jerseys. Please use the @pettycash account for such things.
Unfortunately, as far as I understand, @pettycash is inactive. I don't know the reason, but I don’t see any posts, initiatives, or reports. Perhaps I didn't look in the right place or missed something. However, there are transactions in the wallet, such as a payment for football team equipment from April 2023.
But the future of such a marketing initiative is unclear, unless it's charity work.
Please don’t think I’m criticizing anything; I’m relatively new and just trying to understand and offer what I believe are effective ideas that could strengthen the ecosystem by increasing the user base.
So, it’s unclear. It's evident that funding for such initiatives (as described at the beginning of the post) was provided, but it’s not clear how many of them there were, in which countries, how this affected the user base, what the local impact was, whether the news spread in local communities, or any relevant metrics.
The main question is—are such initiatives effective in practice or not? If they are effective and this can be determined based on numbers, then why not develop this direction? If not, there should be reasons, and perhaps there are issues that should be worked out in more detail.
Does it make sense to continue such activities or not? Effectiveness can only be understood if there is accounting, reporting, and numbers.
I would be very interested in receiving feedback from the community on this topic.
PSPS: Yesterday I read a series of articles and comments on the topic of valueplan, and with your permission, I will tag people who, as it seemed to me, are most closely related to such initiatives. I’d love to get feedback from @guiltyparties, @lordbutterfly.