First, I would like to thank everyone for listening and giving me feedback at the governance call on the 24th. In response to this comment:
“I think instead of offering people free tattoos, i would rather people do the tattoos and ask for reimbursement”
Thank you for that response. Respectfully, I see a few counterproductive aspects to this idea. From my limited crypto perspective, I’m under the impression that our objective for ShapeShift and crypto is global adoption. I’ve also seen first-hand how much focus is being put into the merchants’ adoption of crypto and the results are to be expected. Basic economics teaches us that nothing compells a merchant better than its own consumers. With that knowledge applied, The 00TATT$ Free ShapeShift Tattoo Initiative directly targets consumers, which will force the merchant’s adoption in order to retain the consumer.
In the Governance call, I believe someone said something like “How many people are actually going to want to get a free ShapeShift tattoo?” Whoever stated this highly underestimates the power of a free tattoo and overestimates/misinterprets the value that this generation has for their skin. People will put anything on their skin just because it looks cool. Tattoos look cool, the ShapeShift logo, as well as any custom FOX designs created from this will all look cool. With that being said, I gathered 12 volunteers to receive Free ShapeShift Tattoos within a few days from just social media. (See Below)
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I just did 25 Free Bitcoin Cash tattoos in less than 3 weeks. Now to address the idea of charging the client for the tattoo and then have the client contact ShapeShift for reimbursement. There are some important factors to consider. For one, that sounds like the exact opposite of a peer to peer transaction, and will more than likely create more skeptics than volunteers. Not wanting to entice with a free tattoo is the opposite of The 00TATT$ Experience marketing strategy. All due respect to anyone having a ShapeShift tattoo, I’ve had a very successful 15 career in the tattoo industry and I have a much better insight to the power of a free tattoo and the impact a tattoo has on society in real time as well as in the future. Enticing the consumer is essential to any successful marketing strategy. Enticing them with a free tattoo, but the ShapeShift education and app acquisition come with it. Now the customary thing to do with a fresh tattoo is to show it off, post it on social, talk about it, and explain the meaning of it every time someone asks about it. Their enthusiasm is greatly intensified when the tattoo is free, but imagine the client having to reach out to the “strangers on the internet”(ShapeShift Discord) for reimbursement. They’d be so concerned with getting their money back, they would care less about the tattoo. Most people can’t even afford the cost of the tattoo, let alone the value of it from ShapeShift’s perspective.
So consider the value of the tattoo from each party’s perspective. For most of the people receiving the tattoo, its just a cool looking tattoo and its free. For ShapeShift, its a permanent walking talking billboard on the blockchain with perpetual meta and real life influence. For me, these tattoos or this initiative is being provided at an invaluable rate. In comparison to the most effective traditional real world marketing, which is Billboard Advertising, Tattoo Advertising has the frameworks for potential to be astronomically more effective. From pricing structure to application to longevity, the reality of Tattoo Advertising outperforming Billboard ads is inevitable. Advertising on just One Billboard can cost $1000-$15,000 PER MONTH. That price is based on the size, location, amount of traffic and the history of Billboards’ effective marketing. And if Billboards effectiveness are valued at that rate, while being completely stationary, nonverbal, noninteractive, and only lasting for 30 days, what should The 00TATT$ Experience Free Tattoo Initiative/Tattoo Advertising be valued at?
As mentioned before, my sponsorship with Bitcoin Cash funded the 1st 20 FREE BCH Tattoos which all got done in less than a week. Those were given away free and then I was reimbursed for my work. I used that method to show proof of work as well as effectiveness of strategy. The developers of Selene Wallet saw my works immediate impact through the surge of new users in the Las Vegas area. Once that proof of work was shown, I structured, for BCH, essentially the same proposal that I presented to ShapeShift. Everyone in the BCH community sees the, I dare say, genius of this strategy, so my proposal was funded in less than 36 hours. $4,250 for the production of 5 BCH tattoos in 30 days. These tattoos are billboards that will be posted on social media and talked about for years to come. Someone’s loved one will die with this tattoo and it will inspire them to look into the meaning of it. Possibly become a user/enthusiast of it just because their loved one had a tattoo of it.
I see far into the future with this initiative and I do not see this as a one off type of arrangement. But I’ll appreciate and accommodate whatever this community is comfortable with. I’m looking for a partnership with the community to maintain this ShapeShift marketing machine at an agreed monthly rate. But if you all would rather reimburse me per tattoo, I would naturally price my services competing with billboard prices. (See Below)
With a tattoo being permanent, it automatically outperforms a billboard ad in longevity. And with a person being mobile, interactive and on social media, it easily outperforms a billboard in visibility as well. On top of the fact that billboards are paid monthly, in contrast to a tattoo being paid for one time. So as far as a pricing agreement to with ShapeShift, taking the rate ($4,250 for 5 tattoos per month = $850 per tattoo) I am already receiving from the BCH community into consideration, I hope that we can come to an agreement along those lines. Knowing the nature of this beast, I can already tell you that we won’t see maximum impact of that approach in comparison to an actual partnership. The impact of these tattoos will be felt and seen for years to come, but not so much if we stop at 10 tattoos. The impact will be really felt and seen once we have a meet up with 200 people all rocking ShapeShift tattoos making viral videos together! I already proved that I can do 20 tattoos in less than a week. At 20 tattoos per month, thats over 200 in less than a year with minimal effort. A respectable partnership with the ShapeShift DAO would influence the effort to produce that 200 in less than 10 months guaranteed. Let’s do the math on the 10-year marketing value of this maneuver.
Since a tattoo outperforms a billboard in every way its fair to price it higher than the most expensive billboards at $100,000. But for logical argument’s sake, let’s just say $20,000 per month, for 200 billboards, for 10 years would cost $480,000,000. As long as nobody gets their tattoo covered or dies for the next 10 years, ShapeShift is guaranteed to recoup on that $480 million dollar marketing value from a $120k per year ($10k per month) investment.
I hope you all see the logic in my reasoning. Please feel free to respond with feedback or ask me any questions. Thank you for your time.
I can totally see the culture around them matching the crypto spirit and enthusiasts being open to alternative ideas. Thanks for choosing our DAO and for putting in the effort to write up this proposal!
I truly see it as an honor for a person like me to have this opportunity to even present a proposal. 
