Over the last few months, we’ve seen the ecosystem ignite—from legendary campaigns like The Spammening to game-changing collaborations and an ever-evolving digital presence. As we gear up for the 2025 Polkadot Relaunch “Unlock Tomorrow” campaign, we’re taking bold steps to ensure Polkadot claims its rightful place at the forefront of Web3 innovation, driving real impact and adoption.
So, whether you’re here to build, innovate, or just witness history in the making, buckle up. Let’s dive into the highlights, the breakthroughs, and everything that’s set to make 2025 Polkadot’s biggest year yet.
November to January Highlights: Impact in Motion
Here’s how we’ve made waves in the past few months:
Breaking Records & Raising Awareness
- The Spammening: The community-driven stress test that became legendary—128K TPS at just 23% of cores (pushing Max TPS above 623K TPS!), 1M+ impressions, a livestream that pulled in 49K viewers, featuring Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood.
- YouTube Growth: A 147% boost in subscribers thanks to our acquisition campaign.
- Use Case Pages: From Gaming to DePin to AI (and beyond), we launched new use-case pages that position Polkadot as the ultimate home for innovation across sectors.
- Social Reach: We broke barriers with a record-breaking livestream collab on X with Cardano. The result? Unprecedented engagement that turned heads.
Polkadot.com: Expanding the Eco’s Digital Presence
Polkadot’s digital presence isn’t static—it’s ever-evolving, growing, and ready for mainstream adoption.
What’s New on Polkadot.com:
Dedicated “Use Case” Pages: New Gaming, RWA, DePin, AI, and DeFi landing pages showcasing how each vertical has a powerful home on Polkadot.
Expanded Case Studies: The Polkadot home page now features stories of prominent case studies from the Polkadot ecosystem. The newest additions are Acurast, which enables secure computing for confidential AI applications that can be secured from your mobile devices, as well as OriginTrail, Hyperbridge, Energy Web, Centrifuge, and Mythical.
Why This Matters: Polkadot’s digital presence isn’t static—it’s evolving, growing, and ready for mainstream adoption.
💡 Visit Polkadot.com and explore what’s new.
Public Relations: Elevating Polkadot’s Visibility
January set the groundwork for a massive 2025, with new PR partners onboarded and thought leadership on full display.
Press Highlights
- Forbes Feature: What Makes or Breaks a Blockchain: Gavin Wood’s 5 Criteria—a deep dive into Polkadot’s future from the man himself. Thanks to Oliver at Parity for this collaborative effort!
- Ecosystem Spotlights: We coordinated with Mythical Games and Koni Stack to distribute the news of their new Telegram-based game Football Rivals.
- Film Release: We helped promote the Polkadot community-sourced Blockchain Gaming documentary.
Thought Leadership & Media Training
We’ve been busy doubling down on thought leadership efforts to continue bringing more attention to the brilliant minds working and creating killer projects in the Polkadot eco.
- Chrissy Hill (Parity CLO & Interim COO) was quoted in Benzinga on Trump’s crypto stance.
- David Sedacca (Parity Director of Finance) discussed US Fed rates in The Street.
- Irina Karagyuar (BQ9) & James Brownlee (Harbour) gave exclusive insights in Business Insider on Trump’s crypto-specific executive orders.
PR Expansion: Global Coverage
In collaboration with the curators of the Marketing Bounty, we developed the 2025 roll-out of renewed global PR coverage. To help amplify Polkadot worldwide, we’ve onboarded (or are in the process of onboarding):
- Melrose PR (North America)
- icl (APAC)
- Ecensa (LATAM)
Need PR support? Ecosystem partners can still continue to contact us for PR support directly via our request form no matter what territory they are in.
Campaign Spotlight: The Spammening—Rek The Meter
Some called it chaos. We call it a historic moment for Polkadot.
Initiated on OpenGov by Amforc and approved by the community, The Spammening was a community-driven, record-smashing demonstration of Polkadot’s power.
The Numbers Don’t Lie:
⚡ 623k+ Max TPS: record-breaking performance theorized from 143k batch TPS proven in production using 23% of cores
⚡ 3,296 posts from 1,327 users*: over 1M+ impressions on X
⚡ Live stream audience: 49,464 viewers (feat. Dr. Gavin Wood)
Behind the Scenes
The Spammening wasn’t a flash event. It was the result of weeks of planning, coordination, and careful execution by Distractive and partners Parity, Amforc, and the Kusamarian.
Building Anticipation: We strategically hyped The Spammening with teaser videos, a digital hype kit, and a dedicated landing page—allowing the community to get involved in real time.
Live Action, Real Impact: We launched a live Spammening page, giving users a single-click tool to spam the live Kusama network and stress-test Polkadot’s true capabilities. Hats off to Erin from Parity for building this in her spare time—next-level dedication.
Production Like No Other: We pulled off a high-energy live stream in collab with The Kus, complete with custom Spammening designs, sound effects, and a guest list to top all guest lists.
🚀 The Takeaway?
With results like these, this won’t be the last time we #RekTheMeter.
📖 Read the full impact report.
*(as of 9.12.24 12:22 CET)
Content Series
ThinkPink: Web3 Use Cases in 60 Seconds
ThinkPink is a bi-weekly video series featuring snackable, engaging content that showcases Polkadot use cases. With other ecosystems like Solana also leveraging short-form content to connect with new audiences, Think Pink’s focus on concise, relatable storytelling is more relevant than ever. Our rule: If it’s not engaging, it’s not effective.
Key Wins & Ecosystem Engagement
- 38700+ views over the last five episodes: Memecoins with Hydration, OpenGov (Part 1): Web3 Governance, OpenGov (Part 2): How to Vote, Polkadot Blockchain Academy, and Acurast.
- Token Creation Growth: Since the release of the Memecoins episode, AssetHub has seen a 13% growth in new tokens created—a testament to the episode’s success in inspiring ecosystem participation.
- Top Engagement Rate: Acurast, the first DePin project featured on Think Pink, achieved the highest view-to-impression rate at nearly 30%, underscoring the growing mainstream interest in DePin.
Total Views: 38,700+ across the last five episodes: Memecoins with Hydration, OpenGov (Part 1): Web3 Governance, OpenGov (Part 2): How to Vote, Polkadot Blockchain Academy, and Acurast.
📍 Next Up on ThinkPink: AirLyft, Mythical Games, and FlappyWud.
Decentralized Mic – Spotlighting our Community
The Polkadot ecosystem thrives on collaboration, and Decentralized Mic continues to be a stage for the builders, creators, and innovators shaping the future.
Key Wins & Ecosystem Engagement
- 45,000+ views across the last three episodes: GameFi, Web3 Education & Onboarding and OpenGov.
- GameFi edition: 20,500 views, triple the average engagement of previous spotlights, with 21 audience comments/questions
Why it Matters
- Connecting Builders & Innovators → Decentralized Mic is a platform for Decentralized Futures grants recipients to showcase achievements, fostering collaboration and deeper integration within Polkadot.
- Amplifying Visibility → Decentralized Mic highlights teams and projects to a wide audience, driving engagement with potential users, partners, and collaborators.
- Educating & Growing the Ecosystem → Simplifies complex topics with live Q&A, interactive discussions, showcasing real-world applications of Polkadot’s decentralization.
- Driving Impact: Hosted 4 calls featuring 12+ teams in governance, gaming, onboarding, and education, reinforcing Polkadot’s progress and trustworthiness across many pillars.
Total Views: 53,000+ across the last four episodes—proof that the Polkadot community is keen to learn, connect, and grow together.
📍 More to come in 2025—more topics, deeper dives, and even more engagement.
People of Polkadot: Faces of the Movement
Polkadot isn’t just about technology—it’s about people. Over the past year, People of Polkadot put the spotlight on the builders, creators, and leaders shaping the ecosystem, and the impact speaks for itself.
Performance highlights
During 2024 our paid media campaigns for People of Polkadot surpassed…
- 129 million impressions—making sure Polkadot’s people get the visibility they deserve (more on this later)!
- 6.2 million engagements—real connections, real conversations.
- 147% increase in new YouTube subscribers—a direct result of optimized ad spend and content strategy.
These campaigns ensured the high-quality content we create connected with new audiences who can become part of the Polkadot ecosystem.
But numbers don’t tell the full story—the people do.
Recent Spotlights: Meet the Peeps
- Linda M, Artist Relations at KodaDot
- Alexandra, Polkadot Blockchain Academy
- Maarten, Astar
- Birdo, Talisman/Parity
- Filippo, Web3 Foundation
- JayC, a Polkadot ambassador from LATAM
- Elisa, PoKe & KILT
…and more. Find them all on Polkadot’s YouTube page.
A Note about Polkadot’s 2.5x YouTube Subscribers
The latest addition to the Distractive team is Lilo from Brazil, who joined us as a digital marketing manager. In just his first month, Lilo’s expertise in optimizing ad spend, combined with the tireless work from our campaigns manager Oli, the seamless #ThinkPink content and the current market uptrend, was directly visible: a 147% increase in new YouTube subscribers month-over-month. As we refine our ad strategies and adjust our target audience, we’re excited to share insights and best practices for maximizing every dollar spent. Welcome aboard, Lilo! 🎉
Unlocking Tomorrow: A Polkadot Relaunch Campaign
Polkadot’s biggest moment yet is coming—and we’re making sure the world knows about it.
We’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on an integrated marketing campaign that will bring Polkadot top of mind for millions of crypto enthusiasts, developers, the gaming community, newcomers, and more.
Phase One: Ad campaign
The first phase of the 2025 campaign will target North America audiences during a pivotal time for the crypto market. It will kick off with brand awareness efforts, including a programmatic and direct ad campaign, leading to a digital onboarding experience to introduce new users to Polkadot, developed in partnership with Braille and AirLyft.
This is just the beginning.
Expanding Our Reach
As the relaunch gains momentum, we plan to extend our efforts through:
- Collabs → Continuing to grow strategic collaborations, including Polkadot’s partnership with Inter Miami FC and Heroic.
- Gaming & Entertainment Activations → Tapping into mainstream-friendly verticals like gaming and music to bring Web3 adoption to the masses.
- Regional Rollouts & Community Initiatives → Ensuring every part of the Polkadot ecosystem is engaged in this next phase of growth.
This Isn’t Just a Campaign—It’s a Movement.
We’re not here to follow trends. We’re here to set them.
Polkadot is entering a new era, and we’re building the foundation for the next wave of adoption.
📢 Get ready. Polkadot’s renaissance starts soon.
Upcoming Events
This year, we’re taking the lead on key events in partnership with the Events & Marketing Bounty, continuing our proven model of high-impact booths featuring interactive stations, live presentations, and dedicated spaces for ecosystem projects to shine.
For the first event of the year, we’re spearheading Polkadot’s presence at ETHDenver 2025 as a Presenting Sponsor, reinforcing the network’s leadership in blockchain interoperability and innovation. With over 15,000 attendees, ETHDenver provides a prime opportunity to engage builders, enterprises, and investors, spotlighting Polkadot’s ecosystem through a high-impact booth, speaking sessions, and interactive experiences. This activation aligns with Polkadot’s push into the North American market, fostering new partnerships, driving developer adoption, and amplifying brand awareness. Through strategic positioning and media outreach, Distractive is ensuring Polkadot maximizes its presence, demonstrating its unique value while strengthening relationships within the Web3 community.
Beyond ETHDenver, Distractive is actively working on securing Polkadot’s presence at key industry events throughout 2025, solidifying its position as a leader in Web3 innovation. The team has presented a lineup of strategic sponsorships—including Token 2049 Dubai (April 30-May 1), Paris Blockchain Week (April 8-10), Consensus Toronto (May 14-16), Bitcoin 2025 (May 27-29), and SXSW London (June 2-7)—to the Events Bounty and is currently preparing detailed proposals for approval. These proposals outline Polkadot’s strategy, budget, logistics, and ecosystem team involvement, ensuring each activation maximizes brand visibility, developer engagement, and ecosystem growth. By spearheading these initiatives, Distractive is driving Polkadot’s global event strategy, positioning the network at the forefront of blockchain’s most influential gatherings.
Why This Matters
- Polkadot isn’t just showing up—we’re creating the space for builders, innovators, and partners to connect.
- Every activation is designed for engagement—hands-on experiences, ecosystem showcases, and real-world applications.
- From technical deep dives to mainstream adoption, we’re making Web3 accessible.
The Road Ahead
2025 is Polkadot’s moment to lead. Thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you’re a builder, an innovator, or a dreamer, there’s a place for you here.
If you have feedback, suggestions, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you—connect with us on Telegram or drop us a note.
