From a visibility standpoint, I personally did not see a single organic post from this campaign surface in my timeline, nor any meaningful PR coverage from major outlets like CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, The Block, etc. If those placements happened, could we please share links and performance metrics?
A few specific questions that would help the DAO evaluate this objectively:
• Have the partners who received significant SUMR allocations shared analytics or performance reports yet?
• Do we have a consolidated list of deliverables promised vs. delivered for each partner?
• What were the concrete KPIs agreed on (reach, engagement, TVL, users), and how did we perform against them?
• What are the next steps with these partners going forward, based on results so far?
On outcomes: TVL dropped roughly ~20% post-launch. This is concerning, especially given that the expectation communicated around this campaign was that partners would help drive ~100M in TVL, not net outflows. Understanding what happened here is critical.
I’d strongly suggest a post-mortem shared with the DAO, covering:
• Budget allocation
• Partner performance
• What worked / what didn’t
• Clear learnings and adjustments for future campaigns
One additional point on process: we are still delaying compensation for Arbitrum users, while this marketing budget was approved and deployed very quickly. That contrast is hard to justify without a clear accounting of results, and the DAO deserves transparency on both fronts.
Lastly, regarding 40iQ specifically. The scope communicated was:
– A full social media audit
– A “Summer vibe” brand takeover (60+ posts/month)
– Central coordination of KOL campaigns
– A brand push around “trust and ease”
Can we please see:
• The results of the audit
• The list of KOLs activated
• The posts that went live
• Performance metrics tied to this work
Thanks, and looking forward to a transparent breakdown.
as well as direct link to the latest update on the campaign:
connected to all of this I would like to summon@samehueasyou to help us understand the effectiveness of the marketing campaign and the spent of DAO treasury funds in connection to that
First, to clarify a few things, then get into the specifics around deliverables.
1.5m USD was not spent on Marketing / Media Partners. The specific amounts vary according to FDV but the breakdown is as follows:
Name
Token Allocation
Value @ 10M FDV ($0.01/SUMR) {CURRENT}
Value @ 200M FDV ($0.20/SUMR)
DeFi Dad
500,000 SUMR
$5,000
$100,000
DeFi Edge
500,000 SUMR
$5,000
$100,000
Victor DeFi
250,000 SUMR
$2,500
$50,000
Serenity Fund
250,000 SUMR
$2,500
$50,000
The roll up - Andy
250,000 SUMR
$2,500
$50,000
The roll up - Robbie
250,000 SUMR
$2,500
$50,000
40iQ
750,000 SUMR
$7,500
$150,000
Stephen Calculator Guy
500,000 SUMR
$5,000
$100,000
TOTAL
3,250,000 SUMR
$32,500
$650,000
Of course, in future based on FDV, the 1.5m USD figure you mention could be reached at a higher FDV, though that is speculative.
In sum, 3.25m SUMR will be sent to these partners for their work, this is 1.75m SUMR under budget. The remainder of which will be sent back to the DAO as outlined in the SIP.
None of these media partners have received SUMR yet and are all subject to vesting, so it is impossible for them to have sold on the TGE date.
Media partner deliverables transparency
I can’t speak for your own timeline and the twitter algorithm that defines your feed, but anecdotally speaking, this is simply not what I or many others experienced. Leading up to the TGE was some of the most engagement and visibility I have ever seen from the Summer.fi twitter account.
With respect to PR coverage from those publications there are a few points:
a) When inquired, these publications required cash, not tokens.
b) If you are not implying that these should have been paid for, it is well established that organic coverage in these tier 1 publications is relative to leading protocol and or industry news. As much as I love Summer.fi, if you think the TGE is leading industry news, that is simply naive.
I will start with the agreed upon deliverables, and then list/link to the one’s delivered thus far.
Media Partner
Specific Deliverables
40iq
Social Media Transformation & Guide Building • Complete social media audit (current vs. desired “summer vibe”) • Social media takeover (60+ posts/month across Twitter, Telegram, Discord) • Social media playbook development (building guides for independent continuation)
Media Partner Coordination • Centralized communication hub for DeFi Dad, The Rollup, DeFi Edge • Unified campaign strategy and timeline management
KOL Campaign Management • KOL coordination, briefing system, and messaging guidelines
DeFiDad
• Yield Talks podcast • “Yield of the Week” persistent banner • General amplification/sharing regarding Lazy Summer Protocol SUMR Token and mechanics
Calculator Guy
• 4-6 Tweet Threads • Ad Hoc Boost on Major Announcements • Mentions in weekly Podcast Videos • 1 Ad Hoc AMA on Protocol’s choice venue • Ad Hoc Instructional Videos • Mentions in 1-2 private videos in Discord • Mentions in “Best X Yields” weekly threads
The Rollup
• 2 Stream appearances (on TGE, on Hyperliquid) • Short form clips from streams • Newsletter promotion • Organic Twitter promotion
DeFi Edge
• 3 Newsletter Ads: Coverage of Summer.fi Protocol events • 1 Deep Dive: Featured in X and Newsletter • 45 Days of Natural Twitter Engagement: Consistent organic engagement over six months • 1 QRT or Tweet every 10 days: Extra tweet guaranteed for important developments/milestones
Deliverables executed
Within the table you can see the specific links to the content / posts. All deliverables have not fully been executed upon yet. Some partners have 1 week to 1 month left in their agreements.
Here is the data organized into a structured table for you.
With respect to 40iq, it is a little less straightforward than links. I will share some screenshots of their work below and the brand guidelines they created for the group. Here i think @chrisb can corroborate that they have more than held up their end of the bargain.
KPIs & Next Steps
For all media partners the metrics we agreed upon were reach and TVL. Said differently, eyeballs and deposits. I will get into the details of this below in the “outcomes” portion.
With respect to next steps with these media partners, I will address that below after the outcomes.
On outcomes
Framing this as an expectation around this campaign were to drive 100M in tvl is a specious statement. To be specific, there is a bonus pool for partners that drive over 100M in tvl. That performance based it is an extra incentive.
Diving deeper into performance, lets just focus on TVL. Analyzing protocol TVL, it is clear to see that TVL increases right around the time that the media partners start posting. You can see the link between the dates of the posts and deposits shown below.
Specifically, deposits went from 87M on Jan. 1 2025, when most media partners started to over 100M pre TGE on Jan. 22. Those three weeks drove over 10M in tvl, while the broader market for yields trended downward.
Further, as performance measure each media partner was given a referral link. In the breakdown, you can see that Calculator guy, is the second most successful referrer.
With the above information I am not purporting to say that the marketing efforts have created an outstanding success and flow of TVL. That is obviously not the case, especially post TGE.
Though, in my time at Summer, it is some of the best marketing and reach I have seen thus far. Just looking at the posts and exposure from above I think exemplifies that.
Where I think things have gone wrong is the delta between pre tge SUMR value assumptions and SUMR post trading post tge.
Many users expected SUMR token value of >200M, when initial trading came in at about 10M FDV capital left. The risk/reward was simply not worth it. The post below sums up the logic quite well.
Basically, depositors came to the protocol in hopes of receiving SUMR (more so leading up to TGE) that would worth more, they realized it was not worth that, and left. This is exacerbated by the fact that yields across DeFi are currently compressed, making the value prop less compelling for users regardless of SUMR rewards.
Next steps
Some time is still left with Media partners to help amplify the Summer value and message.
On your visibility comment @JavierD I don’t know what to tell you, its clear from the posts above that the word was spread, and the media partners have been doing their part.
Though, it is clear to me that the underlying product offering needs to improve and the narrative around the SUMR token could be improved.
How?
Risk caps need to be raised, the yield offering relative to other strategies is not good enough.
More risk on strategies. DAO managed vaults need to go live - this will allow media partners to have a product offering that is much more compelling in todays market conditions.
Onboard more yield sources, especially to higher risk vaults.
Focus on SUMR staking as a core reason to buy SUMR
Seek out buyers of SUMR, which in turn makes the product more attractive via SUMR reward APY.
If we can do all of these things, and use our media partners to amplify, that would be good. We have seen glimpses of this, take for example the HyperEVM launch. >4m in less than 2 days.. but unable to sustain because the value prop was not delivered upon. (SUMR rewards).
I will spend some time at a later date doing a more comprehensive report, but I do not have the time for that now as I am focusing on figuring out what exactly these next steps mean from both a product and marketing perspective.
Happy to answer any and all additional questions, here and on the upcoming community call.
