Proposal: Brave x Nouns x Artists

NounsDAO NounsDAO Proposals
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Objective

Combine the innovative properties of Brave as a Web3 browser and advertising platform with the innovative properties of Nouns as an experiment in community governance and capital allocation.

Proposal

Brave proposes a partnership between Nouns owners, artists, and the browser’s native ad unit: Sponsored Images, to come together and use the 24 hour takeovers not as an advertising vehicle, but rather as a digital gallery space to showcase various interpretations of Nouns.

Since launching just a few years ago, the space on a Sponsored Image has only really been used for advertising. We want to challenge that and turn our digital real estate into a space for discovery.

For the initial phase of this proposal, Brave’s idea is to select three Nouns, and work with the owners of the Nouns to commission three art pieces that bring that Noun to life in that artist’s chosen style. The artists would be selected by Brave/Noun owners and paid fair value for the creation of the artwork.

In addition to being displayed up to 40,000,000 times on the browser during the 24 hour execution, the art would be minted and held as an NFT by the Noun Treasury. The treasury could hold, sell, or fractionalize the piece as desired.

Key Benefits

  • Exposure to 38.9MM+ Brave users.
    • 1 in 5 users are experimenting with NFTs (H2 2021 research)
    • 8 in 10 own crypto
    • 71% are 25-49
  • Helps to introduce early/non-web3 users to NFTs/Nouns.
  • At an abstract level, the treasury is being used to fund fine art that in turn goes back to the treasury as an asset.
  • Creates a positive experience for Brave users who are used to seeing ads, not art in their browser.
  • Further engrains Brave into Web3 culture/communities by showing we are open to working with DAOs.
  • Helping to legitimize the concept of decentralized governance by providing a tangible use case of how a DAO can effectively organize around an idea to execute it.

Why Brave:

As of September 2021, Brave has 38.9 million monthly active users, and 12.5 daily active users worldwide. The BAT ecosystem helps to support over 1MM creators via tips/donations, and automatic contributions. Our mission is to fix the web by giving users a more private, safer, and faster browsing experience while growing support for content creators through a new attention-based ecosystem of rewards. Brave is bold. We aren’t just a browser. We are an ecosystem that flips the attention economy on its head for the sake of our users and content creators. We’re proud to have introduced hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, to Web3 through our partnerships with Unstoppable Domains, our native wallet, and our open-ness to work with the pioneers of the crypto and DeFi economy when the likes of Facebook and Google wouldn’t.

On top of that, Brave is the first global digital ad platform built for privacy, offering advertisers the opportunity to participate in a premium, brand safe,and opt-in ad ecosystem, designed for a future without 3rd party cookies. Its privacy-focused browser provides users with the fastest browsing experience, and the highest level of privacy in the marketplace. Users have full control and earn rewards through the Basic Attention Token.

Not only is Brave trusted by users for safely browsing Web2, they also trust Brave for browsing Web3 dApps. Brave by default has a built in Ethereum wallet that will soon get a major facelift and upgrade on user experience and utility, aimed at encouraging our 38.9 million (and growing) users to participate in DeFi, NFTs, and more through their self-custodied Brave Wallet.

For further details and visuals, see formal proposal here

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Hey Lukas! Really appreciate you putting this proposal together :pray:

To me, this is a no-brainer. I love Brave as a product and find myself doing a double-take on a lot of the sponsored images already, so I’m a fan. Using it as a way to showcase Noun interpretations is awesome and I think we could do some really cool things in that space.

Few questions:

How much customization can we do? Could we have the live auction countdown on there? Could there be an interactive element? For example, in the 2nd and 3rd mockup examples, could we make the Noun in the lower left respond to keyboard arrows, or dance when you click it or something?

Thanks again, great proposal! :slight_smile:

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Hey noun32,

Thanks for the feedback. At this time the images can only be static. We’re experimenting/brainstorming features that would include adding dynamic elements but these are just ideas. We have no concrete plans on our short term roadmap just yet.

For context, we strive to keep the browser fast and light, and with our privacy preserving ad serving mechanism, ad matching and serving happens at the device level not in the cloud. This means every device gets synced up with the entire ad catalog several times a day. Introducing bespoke dynamic elements into the unit just currently includes too many nuances for us to consider now, but longterm we would be happy to explore this further with the Nouns!

Thanks again for the question. We want this to be a collective brainstorm and welcome builds on the proposal.

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As Web3/4 goes mainstream - these innovations are what will set projects like Nouns and others apart and create separation from the “former world”.

Supporting Brave in this effort as they work to help define this new Decentralized Internet (somewhat ironic - sinse that was an intial goal) is a wonderful idea. The synergy drips off this idea.

Lets think about how we can make this some kind of “partnership” with Brave - even if informal - as we are fighting the same battle in the long run.

Cheers and Kudos - great idea

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@lukas-brave thanks for this proposal and for making a great crypto-native browser with the overall Brave team.

There’s a lot to work with here and I find it potentially compelling but I would want it fleshed out and a few things thought about.

  1. Is $100k the rack rate for this? If we soft committed to doing this on a monthly or quarterly basis, what kind of discount could we get prospectively? What kind of discount could we get on an initial pilot that could launch a long term relationship?

For the initial phase of this proposal, Brave’s idea is to select three Nouns, and work with the owners of the Nouns to commission three art pieces that bring that Noun to life in that artist’s chosen style. The artists would be selected by Brave/Noun owners and paid fair value for the creation of the artwork.

  1. Does Brave have relationships with artists? You allude to that and mentioned some names in the fuller proposal but I’d be curious to what extent you guys would have that kind of reach.

  2. Re: the commissioned art, I’d rather it not go to our Treasury but instead be auctioned off and the proceeds going to some social good or charity in Nouns name. If the fact that these derivative art piece NFTs are being sold and proceeds going to charity in our Name is able to be advertised inline with the SI, that would make it more powerful.

My strawnoun:
"Here’s an emotionally powerful image of a Noun that will move you to tears made by an OG crypto artist, it’s also an NFT that is being sold for charity, What is a Noun? An experimental NFT collective DAO, want to learn more? Here’s a link to its ethos/docs/etc. Want to buy this art and help this very specific charity in Nouns name? Here’s a link.

  1. Selecting 3 specific Nouns may be fraught from our side, just adds complexity unless it’s a Schelling point choice like Foxhead. Why focus on specific Nouns and not on something like ALL Nouns and a universal nounish thing like Noun O’Clock? (The birth of a Noun into the world might be a beautiful thing for an artist to focus on. This is a famous artistic birth for example, this but for Nouns, this idea is free for anyone who wants it, I did do a mockup with SillyTuna’s Noun 67 that will wow people)

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  1. One question we have is that if we’re ready for advertising, which is what this Sponsored Image proposal would be even if under a different name. Is the time right or should we flesh out what Nouns are? Or should we wait until we have laid out more of the other things we’re working on and then make a push with more to push rather than an exciting but inchoate collective? And the question will be “What exactly are we advertising? Just vibes? Join us?” Is awareness advertising impactful or effective? More open questions on our end, then stuff for you specifically.

  2. Do you have examples of other SI campaigns? Specifically ones that were considered effective by the customers? I’d like to get a sense of what has worked well and what it yields.

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Hey @Noun12, thanks for your thorough feedback and kind thoughts on the browser!

1- There’s definitely room for negotiation, especially when considering bundled deals. Here’s what we can do:

  • $100K/day for first time and any one-offs
  • $80K/day for three day bundles (quarterly commitment, one per month)
  • With a three-day bundle, we’d also provide the opportunity to get the first right of refusal on any remnant dates that become available due to cancellation notice. These would be discounted 50% ($50K).
  • Broader partnerships, such as H1/H2 commitments, would provide further discounts

2- Yes, Brave has relationships with over 1MM creators signed up for Brave Rewards and call some of the best art directors and designers our own. As an organization we have yet to commission a high profile artist for an activation on this scale, but as individuals in Web3 and NFTs, we are well connected.

3- Donating the proceeds to social good and/or charity is a fantastic idea. Brave works in partnership with The Giving Block to raise awareness around crypto donations and giving back.

4- We love this and it relates to question two. We want to leave the theme selection and overall creative direction to the Nouns, but are happy to be as hands on or off as needed.

5- One could argue that CryptoPunks weren’t ready for billboards. These types of activations accelerate the proliferation of projects and help them evolve into household names or symbols of a bigger movement. Punks are the OG NFT collection, but Nouns are an evolution of NFTs that haven’t yet become widely understood. This question can be answered by assessing your goals, of which there are many options to choose from:

  • Attract more collectors
  • Diversify collectors
  • Increase overall awareness beyond NFT circles
  • Attract the brightest in crypto, design, and software engineering
  • Demonstrate a use-case in capital deployment via organized voting
  • Show that the NounsDAO is committed to innovation and social good
  • Etc.

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Public Case Studies: Case Studies | Brave Browser
Agency Case Study: Delivering Ad Experiences People Want - AmEx, Energizer, MINI, Simple Mobile.

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Looks like I can only post two links at a time as well:

Past Examples:

Universal Pictures - No Time to Die (007)
Topps NFTs - MLB

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And a couple more good ones!

Twitch - Merch
BlockFi - Robots promoting app