Case Study: The PolkaPals II Campaign

The story begins at the Polkadot Now India conference in 2023, where the AirLyft team crossed paths with the vibrant Polkadot community. At that time, AirLyft operated as a Moonsama/Moonbeam-based quest platform, primarily known for distributing the captivating Trippy Trunks NFTs to its users.

Little did anyone suspect that a significant partnership was taking shape behind the scenes, as AirLyft and various other Polkadot projects began laying the groundwork. A few months later, the AirLyft team found themselves welcomed into the exclusive Telegram group known as the "PolkaPals" comprising some of the most beloved entities in the Polkadot ecosystem.

The mission of PolkaPals was straightforward: to passionately promote the Polkadot ecosystem and ignite the curiosity of as many individuals as possible within the Polkadot community. They were brewing a campaign for the community but the challenges were hard!

1. How could 17 teams maintain unity while preserving their distinct identities?
2. How could we facilitate access to gas for on-chain transactions for newcomers in each project?
3. How could we shift our focus towards promoting on-chain actions rather than merely relying on social media?
4. Perhaps most critically, how could we ensure that our events remained free from the influence of bots, allowing only genuine users to participate, as we often put it, without being "botted"?

With these, all 18 projects (17 + the Airlyft team) joined hands to build the PolkaPals II campaign. This is how the teams went about solving the tasks at hand to conduct the biggest Polkadot collab ever!

PolkaPals II stands as a shining example of decentralized and democratized giveaway management. Even within a single project, conflicts can arise, but in this case, 17 diverse projects came together to democratically determine the particulars of the campaigns and flawlessly execute them within set timelines. Each project appointed a point of contact (POC) within a dedicated Telegram group, fostering seamless coordination under stringent deadlines. These teams engaged in collaborative brainstorming sessions, offering mutual support to construct test campaigns, identify shortcomings, and ensure prompt and effective delivery.

In Web3, prioritizing the User Experience reigns supreme. Consider a fresh Dotsama user embarking on the journey of exploring 17 distinct projects - the question arises: how can we simplify the process of obtaining gas across all of them? To streamline on-chain interactions and minimize barriers, we engineered a tailored Faucet task. This ingenious solution not only ensures user authenticity but also seamlessly dispenses a predetermined amount of gas across various Substrate chains, eliminating the complexities of acquiring gas individually for each project.

All 17 teams decided the quest requirements and for any onchain tasks the AirLyft team supported them in creation to make sure that the quests are validated automatically through direct connection to the user's wallets. Our top priority was to safeguard the Faucet claim system against abuse by malicious bots. To achieve this, our team devised an IP checker configuration. When enabled, this feature restricts multiple claims from the same IP address to just one, instilling a higher degree of confidence among the projects and ensuring fair and legitimate access to resources.

This was the first time so many projects were collaborating for a single campaign, led by JayC from Mangata Finance.  The campaign statistics exceeded all expectations, reaching unprecedented heights. Here's a comprehensive overview: Total Participants: 6,690 Total Views: 54,876 Quest performed: 35,222 Below, you'll find the results of each individual project's campaign:

1. Mangata Finance: Mangata is an easy & secure community-driven DEX that is cheaper and more fair for everyone. They achieved an outstanding outcome with a total of 3,711 on-chain and off-chain actions. The 10 winners were rewarded with a generous share of 200,000 from the 200,000 MGX pool, along with an exclusive NFT.

2. Crust Network: Crust functions as a decentralized storage network within the Web3 ecosystem. Users had the opportunity to experience the product firsthand by uploading sample documents and engaging in Twitter activities. The response was remarkable, with a total of 2,336 participants. Out of these, 5 fortunate individuals were selected to share in a prize pool totaling 135 CRU tokens

3. Bifrost Network: Bifrost Network is a fast and scalable EVM-compatible network that provides a native cross-chain capabilities to all its DApps. Their strategy featured a seamless fusion of on-chain quests and referral initiatives. Notably, Bifrost emerged as the leader among the 17 projects, boasting a remarkable 3,738 total participations. Among these participants, 10 lucky winners had the opportunity to divide a substantial prize pool comprising 500 $BNC tokens.

4. Kodadot: KodaDot is go to Polkadot NFT marketplace, which aggregates nine NFT standards across nine Polkadot parachains. Seizing the moment, they encouraged users to mint NFTs on RMRK/KSM while also soliciting valuable feedback. This initiative garnered 1,888 enthusiastic participants, and in recognition of their engagement, 25 winners received NFTs along with DOT tokens as rewards.

5. Subsocial: Subsocial is an open platform that allows anyone to launch their own decentralized censorship-resistant social networks and marketplaces, or easily add social features to existing applications. They orchestrated a flawless combination across three major social media platforms - Twitter, Youtube, and Subsocial. The results were impressive, with 1,388 active participants. From this engaged community, 10 deserving winners were carefully chosen to share in a prize pool containing 10,000 SUB tokens as a token of appreciation for their involvement.

6. Imbue Network: Imbue Network is a platform based on blockchain technology, providing a secure, reliable, and safe freelance marketplace. The campaign ingeniously combined Twitter actions with four significant platform-related tasks, including creating a client brief and setting up a freelance profile. The response was nothing short of spectacular, with a remarkable 5,956 participants. Out of this engaged community, 10 fortunate winners were awarded 10,000 $Imbu Tokens as a token of appreciation for their outstanding contributions.

7. Bit Country: Bit.Country is the premier platform for creating immersive and engaging communities using metaverse. Their campaign struck a harmonious balance between social quests and the clever inclusion of an indirect referral task, where participants were encouraged to organize calls with three friends. This approach garnered a total of 1,688 active participants. Among these engaged individuals, 10 winners were rewarded with valuable prizes, including Wearable NFTs, 150 $BIT NFTs, and In-Game Tokens, as a testament to their exceptional efforts.

8. Subsquid: Subsquid is the most dev-friendly way to develop and deploy custom GraphQL APIs and ETLs for advanced blockchain use cases. Injecting a playful twist into their campaign, they combined social actions with the engaging task of uploading informative infographics or videos about their platform. This creative approach garnered an impressive 1,190 participants. In recognition of their outstanding contributions, 2 lucky winners were chosen to receive exclusive Squid Squad NFTs, adding an element of excitement to the campaign.

9. Composable: Composable's technical stack establishes seamless and secure cross-ecosystem interoperability while upholding web3's core principles. Their campaign featured a selection of social tasks designed to provide users with a firsthand experience of the platform, including a DOT transfer from Composable to Picasso. This strategy resulted in a substantial 1,665 participants. From this pool of engaged users, 10 fortunate winners were randomly selected to receive $100 worth of PICA tokens as a token of appreciation for their participation.

10. Litentry: The Litentry IdentityHub allows you to aggregate your personal data from blockchains and platforms to manage granular access to dApps. They achieved an outstanding participation level with 988 users, and the rewards consisted of 50 LIT tokens, which were randomly distributed among the participants.

11. Astar Network: Astar is Japan's most popular smart contract platform supporting both EVM and WebAssembly (Wasm) environments, and interoperability between them using a Cross-Virtual Machine. Their campaign skillfully combined engaging social quests with on-chain actions, such as the Swap ASTR to BNB task. The results were nothing short of remarkable, with an impressive 5,482 users participating. As a reward for their enthusiastic engagement, the winners received up to 50.0 WASTR tokens, underscoring the success of the campaign.

12. Joystream: Joystream is an open source platform, with an open blockchain at its core, powering multiple video streaming Apps at once. They devised a straightforward and effective campaign, featuring simple social quests with a referral twist. This approach garnered a commendable 1,703 participants. To recognize their contributions, 10 fortunate winners were randomly chosen to share a prize pool comprising 10,000 JOY tokens, adding a touch of excitement to the campaign.

13. Unique Network: Unlock the true potential of NFTs with Unique Network. Get access to sustainably created tokens, and experience advanced features tailor-made for mass adoption. Their campaign offered a concise entry point to their social media profiles and website, creating a straightforward and engaging event. Impressively, it attracted 1,296 participants. To reward their engagement, 8 deserving winners were carefully selected to receive a combination of 40,000 UNQ and MBW Nested NFTs, enhancing the appeal of the campaign.

14. Polkadex: Polkadex is a fully non-custodial peer-to-peer orderbook-based cryptocurrency exchange for the DeFi ecosystem built on Substrate. They achieved a notable participation level of 1,607 individuals, and from this engaged community, 8 lucky winners were randomly chosen to receive a prize of 120 PDEX tokens, adding an element of anticipation and excitement to the campaign.

15. Beamswap: Beamswap v3 is a decentralized exchange and DeFi hub that utilizes the concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM) protocol to power transactions. Their campaign skillfully incorporated elements from various platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, Discord, and on-chain actions such as token swapping and minting. This well-rounded approach yielded a notable participation of 1,606 individuals. To reward their engagement, 10 winners were granted a share of the $250 GLINT Prize Pool, highlighting the campaign's success in engaging and rewarding its participants.

16. Zeitgeist: Zeitgeist is an evolving blockchain for prediction markets and futarchy. The core functions of the Zeitgeist network include methods for creating, betting on, and resolving prediction markets. They added a dash of humor to the campaign with an entertaining meme quest. The result was impressive, with 1,112 participants joining in the fun. Out of these, one lucky winner will have the privilege of receiving 3,000 ZTG tokens as a reward, making it a memorable and engaging campaign.

17. Stellaswap: StellaSwap is one of the first automated market-making (AMM), decentralized exchange (DEX) for the Moonbeam parachain network.It is the DeFi Gateway to Moonbeam All your DeFi needs in one place. Their campaign, primarily focused on an on-chain quest, garnered 865 participants. From this engaged group, 10 winners were selected to share from a prize pool of $100 worth of STELLA tokens, emphasizing the campaign's commitment to rewarding active participation.

With love, Team AirLyft.