Catapult Brand Update #1

Catapult Branding
#61

Also regards branding, NEM was originally an acronym for New Economy Movement, but in the end, seemed to be dropped and simply become NEM.
Some exchanges and news articles still refer to the term “New Economy Movement” and I dont feel that is exactly the right branding we would want if we are to target enterprise.

NEM can still remain in the ecosystem and have its place, but catapult deserves its branding to reflect the target market.
If it makes people happy, you can still use NEM in any promotional material, like “built on NEM catapult technology” or something along those lines.

It seems many people are forgetting that legal trademark protection is also a huge benefit and NEM could never be registered as a trademark.

1 Like
#62

I highly value the input from experts, but that is what they are inputs. Ultimately the user/client need to make the informed decisions. Why because experts get payed and then leaves and the user/client sits with the repercussion be it negative or positive.
We should not raise one opinion above the other in an open discussion. Experts have been wrong plenty off times and the average joe has been right plenty of times. Plenty of expert political polls suggested Trump would not win, plenty of financial expert intuitions that did not see the financial crash coming 2007-2008.
Lets not play the expert card please.
Also when a research paper or analysis study is done, it definitely should not be taken as a only source of truth, on the contrary they should be scrutinizes and questioned, which they should hold up too.
The mere fact that you have a contradicting option between what the expert suggest and a portion of the community questioning it, is an major/big indicator that the data collection/compiling/context of representation for that part was incorrect. In in self the experts should be seeing this and automatically respond and adjust their first findings.

In this case, I believe the community has much better insight and history to make a particular call to not entirety re-brand. Keeping the NEM link is critical and should not be overlooked.

4 Likes
#63

So I went through the analysis

Discovery Research

Discovery Presentation
• Context internal

Catapult needs to shift from Community project to an Enterprise Product
NEM/Catapult needs a strong ‘why’ to unite behind.

My comments : Catapult has not been released yet, so there is no focus on anything.
Catapult’s focus for marketing when officially released yes, should be Enterprise. Of course that was always the plan ?
The community should still be part of it all, after all that is what decentralization is and decentralization is one of the essence of blockchain. Decentralization is a fundamental success criteria of any opensource project.

One needs to include the community based on teh the second point. Without community there is no unity.

• Nem context

Coincheck Hack
Re-structure

I hope the cointelegraph article is not the only source that would justify the perceived reputational hit NEM took. That source alone is not credible enough to make such a claim.
What are the sources/datasets used to justify these issues ?

• Customer
I Agree with leveraging our best 5 case studies.

#64

Thanks for the work done on spearheading brand redefinition.

A distributed ledger technology comes with many different complications when it comes to upgrade the technology.

How do we compare to others:

Studying the history of distributed ledger, let’s have a look at the well know Bitcoin to BCH branding effort. This is cheap. It succeeded in forking the history of Bitcoin and it may have succeeded in defining itself as a better Bitcoin for some. But for many it also hasn’t. For my personal view, the real Bitcoin is Bitcoin.

Next, Ethereum vs. Ethereum Classic. Another story - a bug ; that resulted in a re-brand for some (ETH Classic). It succeeded in forking the history of Ethereum and it succeeded in rewriting the history of Ethereum (:-1:).

Next, NXT - … pun tentatively intended … - NXT is our grandfather, some would say. I don’t agree. NEM was started from scratch, as was Catapult. Yet, let’s study what the NXT ecosystem did with Ardor and Ignis: These two are not concurrent. They are in fact the mother and her first child. The ecosystem worked on a new protocol that is used for multiple new blockchain networks.

Another one, Zcoin vs Zcash … Started with zcoin technology and zcash came in with different principles / ideas / opinions - mind to mention the “big pump” - to finally brand their coin differently ; still partly sharing code base.

Do we have others? Yes, approximately 300 click-fork attempts to create new coins just by forking source code and launching network nodes. Those are cheap processes.

Where, in all this, do we fit in?

Right where we are - discussing branding alltogether. Not taking experts words for granted but getting advice from experts and giving branding experts what they need to tell a full story about the newly cooked Catapult technology.

Hard questions

NEM appeals to me a lot. I am part of this community for a long time now chatting / supporting / contributing / discussing / evangelising / pitching / celebrating #NEM.

For two years now, I have been focussing most of my time with Catapult development. That is working on software development kits, client applications and tooling or writing documentation.

And you want me to be honest? Catapult never appealed to me as the name for our amazing technology. It does not tell a story. And it does not represent the NEM community, I have always felt.

But then, What happens when Catapult is ready - I’d ask myself.

Questions arose like will it be NEM Catapult, will it be Catapult Protocol, will it be NEM2 ? Do we need a new name ? Do we just keep the NEM name ? What happens with the old ledger then ?

To be honest, lots of questions I can’t answer and if one thing has marked me with NEM ; is its constant strive for better results.

Is it true that we should blindly follow the advise of experts? Of course, not!. In fact this branding update is a proof that visibility inside the process is being increased.

Should the community be asked for feedback? Yes.

Who better than branding experts should we be working with? Lets get more contributions and constructive feedback rather than spend energy in attacking on valuable NEMbers of our community.

10 Likes
#65

NEM2 „catapult“. Or NEM 2.0 catapult. Sounds like Xbox and later Xbox 360. It‘s maybe a simple thought but People would know what is meant.

3 Likes
#66

This whole discussion illustrates to me getting rid of my XEM was a good thing. I used to have high hopes that NEM Foundation funding would be used to lure in governments, financial institutions, mainstream companies etc. but now it gets imho wasted so that people who don’t know how the blockchain scene works can sit around and discuss a new name for when NEM catapult technology gets released. That being said I don’t doubt the sincerity of NEM Foundation President, I just think that the balance between firm leadership and bureacracy is way too much in favor of bureaucracy, a luxury which a blockchain project can not afford if it plans to carve out a piece of the blockchain pie.

Still I do like the project, so I will make it easy for you all. When Windows releases an update, it’s still Windows just with another name, Windows 95, Windows Aspire etc. It makes sense to name Catapult release NEM Catapult, and if another update/upgrade comes, NEM blabla etc. etc. Throwing away the NEM brand and replacing it with something else will make it seem like it’s a new project that has just started and will be conceived a start-up and thus less valueble. Here, you are welcome, I have saved you all time and probably a few hundred K worth of useless discussions by people who don’t know blockchain. At least give me some hearts :wink:

6 Likes
#67

What is NEM’s vision and mission?
Will the catapult change not only the core value, but also the vision and mission?
I want to know what the mission and vision of NEM, a community-oriented cryptocurrency, is.
Without it, I think it’s difficult to discuss names.

We can change the name NEM, but if you don’t focus on the vision and mission, then the product name will change every time we pivot.
I don’t think you should decide on a brand name based on tactics.

I want to ask everyone about this.
What do you think is NEM’s vision and mission?

#68

I thought a little from this previous post.

And I thought of some suggestions for Foundation members and the community to understand each other and discuss more constructive branding.

Proposal 1. Let’s make a branding map.

Proposal 2. Anticipate future scenarios and respond with priorities.

Proposal 3. Let’s discuss the world view we have at the core.

Proposal 4. I want to hear from the community

Because it was too long, I posted the full text in nemlog. Please read.

https://nemlog.nem.social/blog/35288

4 Likes
#69

I agree on this.
You cannot just erase history and the path from where it all started.
Imagine if a car factory changed it name (BRAND) every time a drunk driver
went out of the street and died!
Even this windows shit had a blue screen of death on live presentation :smile: but remained still windows.
It should be NEM Catapult or Catapult by NEM or like @Stinghe_Dorian mentioned in the post above
NEM2 Catapult.
Ticker idea: XNC

That is my personal opinion.

1 Like
#70

100% agree !

While some others blockchain projets are going forward by making partnerships with big companies, with banks or even beeing listed on FIAT exchange such as Coinbase (I dont care much about exchanges, that just another exemple of what the others are doing), our foundation spend millions of dollars and 1 whole year to change the name of the coin and teach in university.

I’m really disapointed.

Hope we can vote soon to change things in NEM Foundation.

1 Like
#71

NEM’s founding visions can be found on BitcoinTalk (which I also reiterated in my candidate policy doc last year.)

:bulb: Founding Values
From its very first announcement post in 2014, NEM’s founding values have been:
“Financial Freedom, Decentralization, Equality of Opportunity”

My interpretation of NEM’s founding values is:
• Financial Freedom - This means financial success for our supporters, partners, and the sustainability of the Foundation.
• Decentralization - This means transparency. This means moving towards an organization based on rules, not politics, and negotiation.
• Equality of Opportunity - This means there is a place for everyone who wants to join and contribute. This means fairness and objectivity in how we operate, how we measure success, and how we reward success.

I also disagree that NEM is a “community-oriented cryptocurrency.” NEM is a blockchain technology platform that has a cryptocurrency component, but NEM should not be thought of as just a “cryptocurrency.”

As for Catapult, there is discontinuation between NIS1 and Catapult. The Brand Steering Committee was asked to explore options around creating a new brand for Catapult, so that is what we’ve done. After months of research and exploration, this is our perspective.

Catapult’s brand ambition is to be the trusted value transfer network for business.

At Catapult, we believe that the next evolution of business will about fair value
exchange. The ability to ascribe value to anything that individuals or organizations own – and
exchange it fairly – will create a level playing field that removes barriers to entry and
allows full participation in markets and business. We want Catapult technology to be at the heart of this new movement, allowing everyone to digitize their assets, exchange them, and create real value.

Catapult Core Belief
Everyone is valued, and everything has value. We believe that everyone originates and creates.
At Catapult, we recognize that all businesses, organizations, individuals, and communities have value and that too often, that value is exploited or unrealized. Our technology will enable everyone to create possibilities and realize value, whatever that is and however they choose.

NEM began as the New Economic Movement and now, :point_right:with Catapult we want to create the New Value Model.:point_left:

The core idea is that Together, Everything is Possible. With Catapult you can create value; however you define it. We believe that our technology can be the platform to make possibilities real by reducing the cost of trust and enabling the creation, exchange, and protection of ideas, innovation, and value.

The philosophy for Catapult is: Openness
Openness describes our approach to business and business interactions, the developer community, and open source as well as the technology features and benefits in Catapult. With Catapult, you can realize possibilities, and create value; however you define it. We make it easy to work with, so anyone can participate and build with Catapult.

Openness & collaboration through Security
Openness can only be achieved by establishing a robust, secure framework at its core that enables, encourages, verifies, and protects data and the creation and exchange of value within and between businesses, organizations & individuals. Security underpins openness, which creates a possibility and ultimately enables the creation of business value.

Our Proposition
Powering possibility, creating value. We provide the means to digitize your assets, to exchange and protect them, to create real value. With Catapult everyone and everything can now be valued through tokens, making a level playing field where everyone can participate in value creation.

:point_right:Our Territory and Brand Strategy:point_left:
Our ambition: To be the trusted value transfer network for business
Our belief: Everyone is valued and everything has value
Our idea: Possibility
Our expression: Together, Everything is Possible
Our philosophy: Openness & Collaboration through Security
Our proposition: Powering possibility, creating value
What we do: Technology, tools, inspiration & support
Our audience: The value builders
Our personality: Open, Intelligent, Connected, Vibrant, Optimistic

We will go more into detail on this in the next update but based on the feedback I see in this post, I think it’s important to share the thinking around the Catapult brand.

Sidenote #1: Due to trademark issues, it cannot be named Catapult.

Sidenote #2: It’s worth emphasizing that I’m proud of NEM and believe both Catapult and NEM can be supported with a strong ecosystem. I’ve seen some feedback that I “don’t care” about NEM. I am an empathetic leader who is a strong collaborator by nature. I am also analytical and look at facts and situations. The data compiled by the Brand Steering Committee and agency indicates that Catapult has the best chance of success as a new brand and therefore on behalf of the Brand Steering Committee, I volunteered to be the one to share information to the wider community as this aligns with my nature.

2 Likes
#72

Please see my above response. Branding map, scenarios, priorities, and input (ranging from community to core to partners to industry experts to team members to SuperNode owners) has been compiled so that we could get to solid understanding of the opportunities we have for Catapult as a new brand. If there is something we may have missed please let us know.

#73

Thank’s. I felt there was no need to change the name if the NEM policy itself did not change.

1 Like
#74

Show results in market and transaction. That’s all.

4 Likes
#75

It seems like the first branding update is Q1 2020. Isn’t Catapult supposed to be released by then . . . why would a rebrand take place after such a massive milestone. Can you clarify? Maybe I am confused?

#76

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Catapult launch timeframe has been revised. You can find latest schedule in the migration committee updates here: Migration Committee Community Update #4.

Thanks.

1 Like
#77

Do we have any successful examples of a rebranding in the crypto space?

#78

NEO & Dash are two notable ones

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#79

Can we pay 50% of the marking company fees in catapult tokens, which is locked down in a wallet for 2 years ?
Then after the suggested re brand has happened and is tested in the market for a small period of time they can decide to sell there tokens… (which would be worth way more)
I think it is a great test to measure the trust and confidence in their professional suggestion. Lets hope in those 2 years that no exchange is negligent in their processes, which may result in a false article being written that Catapult was hack, but on the bright side it would not be linked NEM…
Also now we will have a tried and tested process, so if Catapult 2.0 is planned for release we can start with the new branding already without needing community input as we have a proven process.

There was some sarcasm in some of my statements above.
This statement has no sarcasm :
Aa! what the hell, let just do it. Either way a new improved chain is born.

#80

Also good to ask the negative side of that question and measure up the 2 answers outcomes.
Do we have any unsuccessful example of re branding in the crypto space.
I think we may all safely assume that there are more coins which had a re brand and was still unsuccessful than successful, which from a probability point of view makes me feel that sometimes re-branding is a scam or not the biggest success factor. Maybe just maybe, staying true to your roots has more value than one thinks. Just a thought.
Consumers value story and character more in the long term than brand. Brand need it’s reputation to build over time. Stories(History) and Character is built over time.
Starting all from scratch - time starts from scratch.

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