Cardano Japan Brand Dev Initiative

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

• We perceive the issues that we have uncovered to be great opportunities for the expansion of Cardano in Japan
• In Japan there is a high level of emphasis on the presentation package and the quality of the written materials provided at meetings. While we expect most of the media and others to read through the materials provided the look and feel of these items will be appreciated and play a factor in advancing our objectives.
• Our main stakeholders have been media but we will expand that to include influencers in industry, agencies, and government and seminar / event participation.
• This will be implemented based on the progress of our current program and in consultation with our new advisor, networking, and outreach to scope opportunities for our spokespersons.
• Our meetings and interactions will result in the discovery of new and greater opportunities including speaking opportunities.
• We will have media interviews, positive media coverage and meetings with opinion leaders that will work to elevate our program again. Higher level of interest and polished approach of spokespersons.

What's unique about our solution is the opportunity for improvement on behalf of the Japan community, the strength of our relations with media and other opinion leaders across industry and government. The expanded reach to a wider range of contacts and expertise in interacting with them will greatly benefit the Cardano Community participants directly and the community as a whole indirectly.

Further we will benefit the Catalyst community with an introduction to media and influencers about this program.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

We will create greater understanding, interest, and work to ultimately establish aspirational status for Cardano in Japan. We will endeavor to grow the community and participants in Catalyst.

The rest of Asia looks to Japan for trends and follows us. We believe that our activities will create a halo effect that will assist growth and adoption in Japan and can be used to reverberate throughout Asia.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

The inability of our core team of five Cardano community spokespersons to participate on the media meetings, interviews, or new business, event, or government meetings.

I believe that we will have mitigated risk as a result of the documents that are under development and will created as a part of this program. The documents themselves can be used on initial meetings that our internal team will use to persuasively explain the platform, superior features, and staying power.

In addition to this by working with an expanded roster of spokespersons we have the ability to conduct a wide range of media interviews and influencer engagements. We will also invest in the employ of upgraded talent by swapping Hiroumi Mitani for Russell Saito.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

In the next 90 days we will work to power up our activities in terms of reach, scope, and expand activities to take our program to the next level. Below are the activities that we would undertake to build on the successes of our current program:

September 2022

Advisory & Development

• Creation of a complete Press Kit

• Review of additional profiles to develop - Ryu Goto, others

• Review of new materials to develop

• Calendar review and event / seminars / networking activities

• Increase brainstorming meetings

• Media relations management planning

• Influencer relations management planning

October, November 2022

Speaking Engagements

• Fintech / blockchain events

• PR support for community members at these events - set up interviews

Media Relations

• New media meetings and interviews

• Expansion to business magazines and where appropriate mainstream media

Influencer Relations

• Upgraded meetings

• Event, seminar, dinner meeting expenses included in the overall price

Comprehensive brand initiative results in blended team hourly rate of USD 305.00 X 180 hours.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Advisory & Development - 90 hours

• Creation of a complete Press Kit

• Review of additional profiles to develop - Ryu Goto, others

• Calendar review and event / networking activities

• Increase brainstorming meetings

• Media relations management planning

• Influencer relations management planning

October, November 2022

Speaking Engagements - 20 hours

• Fintech / blockchain events

• PR support for community members at these events - set up interviews

Media Relations - 125 hours

• New media meetings and interviews

• Expansion to business magazines

Influencer Relations - 70 hours

• Upgraded meetings

• Event, seminar, dinner meeting expenses included in the overall price

Seminars, events - $2,000

Translations - $3,000

Meetings - $4,500

Ground transportation - $1,500

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Fred Tanaka – Managing Director

Fred started his career in the international corporate communications department at Nissan Motor Company working with business/financial/trade/mainstream media as the point of contact on all matters concerning the company including product debuts and developments and results announcements. In addition, he flexed his bilingual skills conducting tours of the company’s technology facilities for overseas institutional investors.

Building on his experience at Nissan, he led international PR and IR at Japan’s largest airline, ANA – All Nippon Airways. In addition, he was second in-charge of global initiatives with the Star Alliance for PR, marketing communications, and crisis planning.

He expanded his purview significantly by teaming up with a large Japanese PR agency on tech accounts and pioneering IRM – Influencer Relations Management programs that engaged tastemakers defining the Tokyo scene and powerbrokers in industry, government, and associations. As a result, he has been quick to realized integrated communications opportunities for large and medium size companies that have media relations activities as the heart of their PR focus.

Throughout Fred has cultivated relations with top-tier tech, business, financial, and mainstream news verticals. Bilingual and bicultural, Fred provides a comprehensive mix of strategic advisory services backed by a hands-on tactical implementation.

Hiromi Motegi - Account Coordination

Motegi began her career in the general affairs department of Kodansha International where she also managed content administration. Twelve years later she made the jump to the fast-paced agency lifestyle putting her administrative management and content review skills to full use and expanding into editorial work on press releases and byline articles. 

Russell Saito – Advisor / Influencer Relations

Russell leads Chia Network Inc.’s initiatives in Japan and is a multi-cultural business executive with 15+ years of professional experience in Asia. As an expert in financial technology and corporate innovation, he also serves as an outside advisor to Nikkei Inc., Japan’s largest Business Newspaper. He was Vice-President at Trust Capital (formerly Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Capital), a top Mezzanine finance fund in Japan. Russell has held leadership positions with global technology corporations and has extensive cross-sector experience working with governments and nonprofits.

Russell is the Vice-Chair of the UC Berkeley Club of Japan, a longtime Rotarian, U.S.-Japan Council member, and a Member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

Akira "Andrew" Tamura – Advisor

Advisor to Coincheck following the NEM hack and media training expert.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Yes, a barometer of our success will be the continued maintenance and expansion of new opportunities for media interviews and engagements with influencers that increase the presence of Cardano at events, meetings, and seminars.

I envision this phase resulting opportunities to undertake new business development and increase the number of projects that will build on Cardano.

We would also anticipate demand to develop new materials and or edit / refine documents created.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Number of documents professionally developed (including pages)

• Research
• Copywriting / proofreading
• Layout / design

Media meeting follow ups and interviews

Influencer Relations Management

• Expanded outreach to influencers in the following categories
• Industry
• Events / Agencies
• Government

Media Coverage

New media opportunities

New business leads and opportunities

Networking leads and development

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

The development of a suite of collateral materials about Cardano (short and long versions).

Professionally produced materials about business opportunities on Cardano and leading projects.

Coverage about Cardano on Japanese media that reintroduces the project positively.

Influencer relations meetings that result in concrete follow up actions.

Collaboration with opinion leaders in industry and agencies and expansion of reach into the upper echelons of Japanese media, business, and government.

Increase in the number of ADA holders and conversions to the Cardano community.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an extension and expansion of the Cardano PR Initiative Japan (80085) that was developed to update media stakeholders about the state of Cardano. It is being extended to address the number of documents to develop, the higher than usual number of community spokespersons to develop profiles for and range of story angles from which to approach our planning, coordination, and implementation activities.