CLIENT: NEAR PROTOCOL
YEAR: 2022 – 2023
NEAR Protocol is a carbon-neutral L1 blockchain that provides an innovative, scalable, and secure decentralized development environment where individuals and businesses can thrive.
With a market cap above 10 billion (at the time when our collaboration started), NEAR is present in key financial markets and continuously works towards education, empowerment and growth in its community.
Our mission was to support Near Protocol in their expansion into the Balkans.
SERVICES
Full regional ecosystem building Go to Market Strategy Social Media Community Growth
Guerrilla Marketing Content Marketing Design Product Management
CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
RZLT drafted a go-to-market strategy for the launch of a NEAR Balkans Cluster covering Southeast Europe. The goal was to set up a thriving ecosystem for entrepreneurs providing them with a solid educational infrastructure to encourage them to build their products on NEAR.
With this goal in mind, we defined a set of activities, including commercial showcase products (Product lab), incubator, grants, meetups, conferences & educational certification in local languages.
KEY MARKET
Croatia Serbia Slovenia Montenegro
North Macedonia Bulgaria Bosnia & Herzegovina
Creative Approach
Launching the NEAR Balkans Regional Hub – to act as the key incubation hub for all regional blockchain communities.
Local early-stage incubators and accelerators in the target geography – to develop a relationship and establish NEAR Regional Hub as the primary contact for blockchain-related activities.
Establishing a relationship local universities and becoming a relevant source of information for all things blockchain. Create a blockchain curriculum powered by NEAR and initiate educational programs, hackathons, ambassadorship, and case studies to build a “NEAR-grown” generation of developers.
Local and regional tech media (Trending Topics, Netokracija, Tech.Eu, SEE news, Bitfalls, etc) and start a content marketing campaign. Writing and spreading educational content around NEAR, blockchain technology, DeFi, and other relevant topics.
Netokracija | Recursive | & Others
Local and regional events: RZLT partnered with local ecosystem entities (KOLs, Hubs, Conferences, Communities..), providing RZLT and NEAR Balkans speakers for blockchain-related events in the region. In addition, we launched recurring regional meetups – NEARby – local blockchain and tech enthusiast meetups led by the RZLT team for NEAR Balkans, during which educators, builders, and web3 enthusiasts would exchange, learn and discuss all NEAR-relevant topics.
https://near.org/blog/near-launches-balkans-regional-hub-to-incubate-web3-talent-and-projects/
RESULTS / IMPACT
30% increased number of weekly active wallets on the market
Localized NEAR Academy & Certification Program
7 interns, 4 months NEAR Balkans Summership program
1000+ Attendees on NEARby Events
Visit NEAR Balkans to learn more