“Unlock Tomorrow” Campaign Update: How The Ads Are Performing (And What’s Next)

From Distractive for the Community

Hi Polkadot fam :waving_hand:

As some of you may know, the team at Distractive has been working hard in 2025 to deliver a multi-channel marketing campaign. We would like to share some early results + key insights we’ve discovered along the way.

The Mission: Put Polkadot back at the center of Web3 conversations in 2025. We want to reignite excitement amongst crypto natives who may have forgotten or dismissed Polkadot over the last couple of years, as well as reaching new audiences that have yet been untapped. Why now? Because we cannot wait until the next bull run to gain people’s attention or trust—we want to build anticipation for all that’s happening and all that’s coming within our amazing ecosystem.

About This Campaign: “Unlock Tomorrow” is our multi-channel marketing campaign name (NOT a tagline for the entire Polkadot brand). It’s simply how we communicate this message across different platforms and channels, with each audience getting key messages on what “unlocking tomorrow” means for them specifically.

Instagram has emerged as the top-performing platform, driving the lowest cost per subscriber and the highest engagement across channels. The Crypto OG audience segment stands out with a 2% CTR and the lowest cost per lead among all target audiences.

$90K of $150K Budget Invested, Major Strategic Wins

The Bottom Line: Even with a small budget and tight turnaround times, the first paid media campaign delivered strong early results at scale: over 14 million impressions, an engagement rate above 0.6%, and among tracked website sessions resulting from the campaign, 94% of website visitors were new users to polkadot.com.

With only $90k used towards this ad spend so far, the campaign focused on raising awareness, testing narratives, and capturing early interest among identified target audiences: Crypto OGs, Retail Investors, and Gamers. Early indicators suggest that targeted messaging and smart channel selection can effectively move users from awareness toward meaningful interaction, even beyond the core crypto-native base.

Key Performance Indicators

  • :bullseye: Total Reach: 14.7 + million impressions across all channels
  • :money_bag: Budget Efficiency: Cost per engagement dropped 50% through optimization
  • :fire: Engagement Success: 0.61% rate consistently above 0.5% industry standard
  • :new_button: Audience Expansion: 94% of website visitors are new to polkadot.com
  • :mobile_phone: Platform Discovery: Instagram delivering an engagement rate of up to and over 2% (2x benchmark)
  • :bullseye: Best Audience: Crypto OGs showing 2% CTR with lowest acquisition costs

Strategic Wins vs. Lessons Learned

What’s Crushing It:
:white_check_mark: Instagram outperforming every other platform by massive margins
:white_check_mark: Values-based messaging driving 2x more engagement than technical features
:white_check_mark: Crypto OG audience delivering premium performance at low cost
:white_check_mark: Cross-platform optimization reducing costs while improving results

What We Fixed Fast:
:cross_mark: Reddit failed across all metrics → Eliminated entirely
:cross_mark: Technical messaging fell flat → Pivoted to emotional triggers
:cross_mark: Broad targeting wasteful → Focused on high-intent segments

:wrench: Campaign Architecture: Three Phases, One Funnel

Phase Goal Key KPIs Strategic Purpose
Phase 1: Brand Awareness Drive visibility and interest Engagement Rate, CPM, Cost per Engagement Test messaging & build mindshare
Phase 2: Consideration Move users from awareness to intent Website Sessions, Email Signups, Website engagement Capture and qualify interest
Phase 3: Conversion & User Growth Activate users and grow ecosystem participation Onchain activity, Developer engagement, Platform signups Deliver measurable ecosystem growth

:pushpin: Phase 1: Brand Awareness (March - Ongoing - Evergreen)

Goals:

  • Build campaigns and content streams which drive brand awareness and enthusiasm.
  • Test and refine messaging per audience/platform.

KPIs:

  • Engagement Rate
  • CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions)
  • Cost per Engagement

Audiences targeted: GEO targeting of USA and Canada

  • Crypto OGs
  • Retail Investors
  • Gamers

Platforms used:

  • Social: Twitter, Reddit, Instagram
  • Display: Ad360 (Web2 display placements) and Slise (Web3 native platforms)

Approach:

  • A/B tested 3 distinct messaging directions
  • Measured Engagement Rate (ER), CPM, and Cost per Engagement

Results to date:

  • Spend: $84K
    • Current daily spend circa $1,000
  • Impressions: 14.7 Million
    • CPM: $5.73
  • Engagements: 93,000
    • Combined Engagement Rate: 0.64%

Messaging A/B Test: Learnings

Three core messaging types were tested:

  • Gamers - resonated best with Community Empowerment (“Your game, your rules”).
  • Retail Investors - engaged most effectively with Cultural Shift (“Bet against Big Tech”).
  • Crypto OGs - found Cultural Shift to be the most compelling (“You were promised decentralization…”).

Key takeaways:

  • Audiences responded best to emotionally charged, values-based messaging rather than technical value props.
  • Cross-platform performance validated the importance of matching messages to audience and platform (e.g., Instagram surprisingly effective for Crypto OGs).
  • Based on this, we’re evolving future creatives to reflect these winning narratives.

Some example ads:

Link to Phase 1 Dashboard: Distractive, Inc. | Unlock Campaign - Community

Review of Phase 1 Ad Campaign:

TLDR:

The Engagement Rate is increasing, CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions) is decreasing, this is enabling a lower Cost per Engagement which is the goal at this stage.

Detailed Review:

During the messaging A/B test, the Engagement Rate remained steady at around 0.80%. However, since concluding the test and optimizing the campaigns, there has been a noticeable improvement, with engagement rates on platforms like X and Instagram rising to over 1%. The introduction of display advertising on May 11th led to a predictable drop in Engagement Rate but also brought a significant reduction in CPM. Most importantly, Cost per Engagement, the key metric in balancing engagement and cost, has steadily declined from over $1 to just above $0.50 following the launch of the display campaigns. Instagram emerged as the top-performing platform, achieving a 1.19% engagement rate across all Phase 1 campaigns. Among audience segments, Retail Investors generated 7,935 Tweet engagements with a 1.30% engagement rate, while Crypto OGs delivered 10,846 Instagram profile visits with a 1.32% click-through rate.

Key Takeaways:

  • Instagram was the top-performing platform, outperforming X and Reddit across key metrics: Engagement Rate, Clickthrough Rate (CTR), and Cost per Click (CPC). For context, industry benchmarks for engagement on social platforms typically range between 0.50% and 1.00%, so Instagram’s performance, consistently exceeding 1%, is considered strong. It also exceeded expectations performing very well for both the Crypto OG and Retail Investor audience, showing great promise for the future use of this platform.
  • The highest CTR was achieved by the Crypto OG audience on Instagram at 1.32%. This result suggests that reaching this audience on a less expected platform, like Instagram, can be a highly effective strategy.
  • Reddit, on the other hand, underperformed across all three target audiences in Engagement Rate, CTR, and CPC. Given that typical Reddit campaign CTRs hover around 0.50% and this campaign’s fell below even that, Reddit was removed from Phase 1 and significantly reduced its budget for Phase 2.

Phase 2: Consideration (May 9 - Ongoing - Evergreen)

While Phase 1 continues to build awareness, Phase 2 is now running in parallel to guide the most engaged users toward deeper consideration and early action. The early signals are encouraging: the campaign is seeing a high rate of new-user traffic and strong performance from platforms like Instagram, helping validate which channels and messages drive real action.

Goal: Guide users from awareness to active consideration and early participation.

KPIs:

  • Website sessions
  • Website users
    • New Users Vs Returning Users
  • Email (Newsletter) Registrants

Approach:

Results to date (Below data up to 29 May - 20 days of campaign):

  • Spend: $5,000
  • Total website sessions (those tracked): 10,685
  • Total website users (those tracked): 9986
    • % of users being new users: 94%
  • Email Registrants: 95 (Tracked on Hubspot but not included in below attached dashboard which tracks Google Analytics results)
  • Best performing platform: Instagram ($52.12 cost per email subscriber)
  • Best performing segment: Crypto OG ($37 cost per lead and 2% CTR)
  • CPC
    • CPC Instagram: $3.19
      CPC Reddit: $0.95
  • CTR
    • CTR Instagram: 3.70%
      CTR Reddit: 0.257%

Link to Phase 2 dashboard: Distractive, Inc. | Unlock Campaign - Community

Review of Phase 2 Ad Campaign:

Phase 2 was only recently launched and therefore results are limited due to the small budget. That said, positive results have already been seen from Instagram. The hope is to launch ads on X imminently and performance will closely be monitored.

This is the first time there’s been the ability to track user conversions and report back to the ad platforms to improve performance (GDPR compliant). Remarketing audiences are being populated to test different incentives and have strengthened our relationships with social ad platforms by holding periodic meetings with their teams. These remarketing audiences can also be used for future campaigns, such as the Polkadot App campaign.

The plan is to expand the campaigns to other platforms (X, Google, YouTube, Facebook and potentially TikTok amongst others), testing out different media types and formats and ultimately aiming to find the best converting platforms.

Phase 3 = Expansion: Shifting Focus to Developers + User growth and onchain activity (Launching July - Evergreen)

With awareness and consideration campaigns under way, Phase 3 will focus on activating users, driving onchain activity, and engaging builders (pending approval for additional ad spend). Existing target audiences will have actionable CTAs that drive them to places like the website & onboarding experience where they can take actions to swiftly join the Polkadot DAO such as opening a wallet, getting DOT, and more.

We’re intentionally looking for ways to drive users to meaningful onchain activities that they can take as educated, empowered, and excited members of the community. This results not only in growth of the Polkadot community, but also increases loyalty to the brand and more champions for Polkadot’s long term goals.

Finally, we will spend a great deal of time in Phase 3 of the campaign engaging the developers audience. We specifically chose to focus on this audience at this point in the year to align with the rollout of product launches and technical advancements that will give developers a reason why and tangible actions to build on Polkadot over anywhere else. It’s no secret that the launch of Elastic Scaling, Hub, and future Polkadot product tools only enables developers to roll up their sleeves and get started now.

So with that being said, we intend to partner with the community on all the ways we can drive developer participation in the Polkadot ecosystem. Current teams we see exciting work from include Parity, PaperMoon, and more.

Goals:

  • Drive user participation across key Polkadot Dapps, projects, and initiatives.
  • Engage developers and onboard them into the ecosystem (especially with Solidity smart contracts launching on Polkadot in Q3).
  • Enable the community to contribute to and co-own Unlock campaign momentum.

Planned Initiatives:

  • Developer Outreach:

    • Early-stage conversations are underway with teams like Magenta Labs to co-develop builder-focused lead gen campaigns.
    • Testing developer-focused messaging
  • Community-Driven Content:

    • Create ways for the community to amplify the campaign and share ownership.
  • Project Campaigns:

  • Polkadot App ad campaign (In conjunction with Parity, The Polkadot Community Foundation, and the Marketing Bounty),

  • Potentially:

    • Mythical Games (FIFA Rivals, Pudgy Penguins)
    • Unlock Polkadot eLearning modules & content hub (built in partnership with Marketing Bounty, AirLyft, Braille).
    • Other ecosystem project campaigns.

:chart_increasing: So, Is It Working?

Results to date have been encouraging, particularly the ability to identify which narratives actually move the needle for different audiences. Real traction is being seen in awareness, and early signs of qualified interest too.

That said, the aim is to build with the community and make sure this momentum turns into meaningful growth for the Polkadot ecosystem.

:white_check_mark: What’s Working

  • Narrative Insights: Learnings have been made as to which storylines drive engagement and action across different audience segments.

  • Instagram Performance: The platform is outperforming others in both cost per subscriber and engagement rate.

  • Crypto OG Segment: Strongest performance in terms of CTR and cost per lead—this segment is proving high intent.

  • New Audience Reach: 94% of website users are new, showing effective expansion for the ecosystem’s visibility.

:wrench: Areas To Improve

  • Conversion Funnel: Strong traffic is not translating proportionally to sign-ups; optimizing landing pages is a priority.

  • Channel Efficiency: Reddit underperformed and was deprioritized, new platforms are planned to be launched imminently.

  • Creative Testing: Need to accelerate iteration on messaging and formats to better match what’s driving results.


:person_raising_hand: What we’re hoping to hear from you

As we continue refining and expanding this campaign, we’d really appreciate the community’s perspective on a few strategic areas. Your feedback shapes how we invest the remaining budget.

Platform Expansion Strategy

  • TikTok for new audience recruitment: Short-form content for younger builders?
  • LinkedIn for enterprise adoption: B2B outreach for institutional partnerships?
  • YouTube for education: Long-form tutorials and ecosystem deep-dives?
  • Discord/Telegram: Direct community engagement and support?

Audience Development Priorities

  • International expansion: Beyond US/Canada—which markets offer best ROI?
  • University outreach: Target computer science programs and blockchain courses?
  • Enterprise decision-makers: Add corporate developer recruitment to consumer focus?

Ecosystem Integration Opportunities

  • Project partnerships: Which teams should we prioritize for co-marketing campaigns?
  • Community amplification: How can we make community members campaign co-owners?
  • Developer incentives: Should marketing budget support hackathons or builder grants?

Success Metrics Evolution

  • Beyond engagement: What ecosystem health indicators should drive strategy?
  • Long-term value: How do we measure lasting community growth vs. temporary attention?
  • Competitive positioning: Which metrics matter most for Polkadot vs. other L1s?

We’re committed to evolving this campaign in ways that reflect the community’s priorities, and your input will help shape what comes next.

For any questions, ideas or input please feel free to comment on this post, or if you’d feel more comfortable speaking in private then feel free to email digital@distractive.xyz or reach out on Telegram to @nate_ham or Eric @buythedip_Eric

The Bottom Line: Momentum That Matters

Phase 1 proved we can reach new audiences at scale with messages that work.

Phase 2 is converting that attention into ecosystem participation.

Phase 3 will focus on the builders and users who determine Polkadot’s long-term success.

We’re not just buying impressions—we’re building the marketing engine that will serve Polkadot’s growth for years to come. Every strategic decision creates lasting advantages that compound over time.

The community’s input shapes where we go next. Help us make every dollar count.

We’re just getting started, and we’d love to sharpen this next phase with your input. Appreciate any and all feedback!

Thanks for reading! :heart:

11 Likes

Great job as always Team Distractive.

Your reports are a great example of planning, execution, and results for the community to understand how the treasury was spent and how the campaign performed.

Do you guys handle the ad creative design in-house? You should be able to boost click% by including a CTA and from advanced formats like Stories on IG (You prob already factored the cost with the higher performance, but the CTA will make a difference).

Top 3 CTAs
“Learn More” - 3.2% CTR
“Sign Up” - 2.8% CTR
“Contact Us” - 1.9% CTR

Our ad-servers include dynamic optimizations, that automates a/b testing in real-time. Multiple creative versions are in rotation and optimizes each impression by displaying the top performing creative to maximize performance.. I’ll be reaching out to Eric shortly, to followup on our proposed Marketing Hub.

1 Like

Awesome stuff! I do wonder if there are any other ecosystems with published results for which to compare market growth.

It certainly seems that a “We have the best tech” message is falling flat, based on my empirical observations. Seeing targeted messaging and clear results reinforces those observations. Of the conversations I’ve had across different spaces I can say I’ve seen better results in breaking down walls by discussing the values and mission of Web3 and how Polkadot aims to stay true to that mission. How effective that translates into the other party actually learning more or becoming a DOT holder, I cannot say, but the reception seems better.

My initial reaction is to think the focus should continue to appeal to the Cultural Shift (“You were promised decentralization…”) with breadcrumbs to lead toward Polkadot as the platform where your work and participation can make a difference in the world.

TikTok or other short-form-friendly platforms may be targeted, along with a push in University outreach to bring in the next wave of innovators and tinkerers.

There may be an appeal for the number of active developers over the years as reported by developerreport.com regardless of the existing market sentiment (something has been growing within Polkadot) - which also aligns to the decentralized ethos

I don’t know if project teams would be willing to manage receiving funnels of new devs. This could be composed of member teams around core verticals (defi, dApps, gaming, etc.) for onboarding into the ecosystem, some light orientation, and perhaps a jumpstart and mentorship for quick growth and retention.

As for metrics, I believe it would be beneficial to look at two distinct buckets:
Developers - New developers to the ecosystem, active developers, and developer retention. Is the ecosystem attracting new talent, are they building things, and are they staying. This could be monitored from repo activities.

Users - Monitoring chain metrics for new and active wallets. Are people coming into the ecosystem and are they engaging with the services provided to them?

Of course, we will not know the efficacy of these strategies until after the fact. But it could still prove valuable for future campaigns or if specific teams want to launch their own campaign.

Appreciate the work, Distractive team!

1 Like

@sarahdutra - the audience insights are extremely valuable and helpful. Lots of alpha in here thank you.
J.