TL;DR

In June 2021, Bebop Studios and DeRace first collaborated as marketing partners to launch DeRace as a horse-racing GameFi Metaverse into the market. 

Throughout the partnership, both parties have addressed various challenges in launching a new product in the blockchain sector to nurture and deliver a successful NFT game backed by a strong community:

• 150x ROI on $DERC token

• First IGO on Binance

• Successful NFT collection DeRace Jockey Club

DeRace’s social media content & growth:

• 50+ content articles

• 150+ promotional designs

• 180K Twitter followers

• 50K Instagram followers

• 5.4K Medium followers

• 2.5K Tiktok follows & ~10K likes

About DeRace

DeRace is the first decentralized blockchain-based horse racing platform that joins millions of racehorse enthusiasts in a community where you can buy and breed NFT horses and host races in your owned hippodromes for actual profit.

The gameplay of DeRace is designed to be both simple and complex at the same time. The player can participate in their own preferred way. The player can play as a:

• Horse owner

• Bookmaker

Each role offers the players unique mechanics, making up both the active and passive gameplay in DeRace. As a result, all players can enjoy benefits, with higher activity earning greater rewards. 

This case study will provide a detailed account of DeRace’s marketing efforts, from when the project first emerged until its IDO and eventual game launch. The case study will be separated into three main portions for ease of viewing:

1. Pre-IDO – Growth and foundation phase
2. IDO – Crunch phase
3. Post-IDO – Development and updates phase

Pre-IDO: Community building and outreach

Period: 06/21/2021 - 07/26/2021

As an up-and-coming player in the blockchain space, DeRace plans to target two growing multi-billion-dollar markets: video gaming and horse racing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To break into these industries, as well as the bigger NFT and blockchain sector, DeRace laid out several goals at the start:

• Enliven and digitalize horse racing as a spectator sports

• Ensure fairness and transparency in horse betting

• Bring profits to players through engaging earning mechanics

• Implement a personalized gaming experience through the use of NFTs

Putting these goals into the context of the current state of the market, DeRace started to outline several challenges that they would meet, then at once proceeded to work.

Online Activity

The first challenge to be overcome was a lack of visibility. As with any other new and budding project on the market, DeRace was missing an online presence.

Hence, the first task in our journey was to build up a community of loyal supporters and fans. This step helped to secure an early foothold – with a detailed marketing plan, excellent content articles & infographics, and a promising NFT game to tie the whole package together, DeRace was on its way to forming a close-knit community.

This effort came to fruition with various engaging events where crypto enthusiasts in the community can participate and win attractive prizes up to $1000 USDT. Here’s an overview of the content that brought DeRace community together:

1. Community Giveaways

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of a strategy to boost engagement and onboard new, prospective gamers to DeRace, the team held community giveaways. 

This is a good tactic for those already on the fence to join the community, where they find good company in fellow crypto members and are exposed to a constant stream of information about DeRace that further cements their decision to stay.

2. Meme Contest

 

Therefore, there was a need to eradicate the possibility of such unwanted members. After formulating another plan, the team came up with the idea of meme contests.

Memes are intrinsically associated with the internet user base, and utilizing materials that are already so familiar and closely related to many crypto fans is an excellent way to ensure authentic user engagement.

3. Strategic partnerships

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By partnering with platforms that were already popular with the crypto user base, DeRace was able to connect various small groups and communities and appeal to all of them.

Partnerships during the early stage of the project also helped to build a solid foundation that pays off in the long run. With a strong support network of high-profile projects, DeRace was standing among giants.

Educational & promotional material

But an online presence was not sufficient to launch a project to success, if its users and supporters do not understand just what is going on in the game.

Therefore, an equally important task is to educate users on the game: basically, split the DeRace whitepaper into smaller, digestible chunks that make sense to everyone. DeRace was then producing both infographics and content articles for this purpose.

Infographics: There were already countless NFT games on the market. It is hard to stand out without a clear defining feature and an attractive idea.

Thankfully, DeRace takes care of this as the first horse-racing and horse-breeding game on the blockchain. Recognizing the need to highlight this as the main selling point, the team worked on delivering visuals focusing on the striking appearance of horses.

To accompany this, the team went for strong and bold fonts – Norwester and Mont – as well as a minimalistic layout to further accentuate and highlight the design of horses while providing sufficient information to the audience. 

Content Articles: The blockchain industry can be considered relatively young, not to mention its branches like blockchain gaming and NFTs.

The majority of the world population wouldn’t know what blockchain and NFTs are. In fact, even some of the people who are actively involved with the sector do not know.

To resolve this issue, the team seeks to educate and inform using relevant designs, social media, and articles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DeRace supplied the most detailed version of any content in a full-length Medium article ranging between 500 and 1000 words. These articles cover all the information a new audience should know about the project.

These articles teach the audience not only about the mechanism of DeRace game and its token $DERC, but also provide general info about the blockchain market. Other articles provide crucial information on events, partnerships, and giveaways.

To complement these articles, DeRace also complements the relevant design with the social media caption that holds the audience’s attention.

IDO: A 6x launch foreshadows an eventual 150x ROI

Period: 07/26/2021 - 08/03/2021 & 09/23/2021

The IDO period is crunch time – this is the most crucial stage that determines whether a project would last in the market. To prepare for this stage, DeRace partnered with DAO Maker, Gate.io, Uniswap, and Pancakeswap – 4 major launchpads and exchanges that will distribute $DERC tokens to users. 

Leading up to the big day, DeRace continues to keep up their engagement with the community via social channels, utilizing the same infographics style as well as various short-form videos to continue educating users while promoting their launch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On DAO Maker, $DERC token was launched with a seed round of SHO (Strong Holder Offering) on while it opens a bit later on Gate.io, PancakeSwap, and Uniswap. The token launched at 6x with resounding success. Below is a more detailed timeline of the IDO period

• 07/26/2021: DeRace SHO went live on DAO Maker platform

• 07/29/2021: DeRace announced closing of oversubscribed SHO round

• 08/02/2021: DeRace SIO (Startup Initial Offering) went live on Gate.io

• 08/03/2021: DeRace deployed first liquid ETFs (exchange-traded funds) tradeable on Uniswap & Pancakeswap

• 09/23/2021: DeRace partners with Binance NFT Marketplace, launches first ever IGO (Initial Game Offering) in history

End results:

• 120,000,000 total tokens, 34% out of which (40,080,000 tokens) were available for sale

• 100% of these 40,080,000 were sold out, at a price of $0.05 each.

• Sales ended with a total of $2,040,000

• Trending search on CoinMarketCap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post-IDO: Minor setbacks before eventual peak 

DAO Maker hack

After IDO, DeRace was doing well. Their game is updated weekly, with development diary posts on Medium detailing exactly what the team was working on. Their token was also steady, and yet trouble was brewing on the horizon…

On the morning of September 4th 2021, DAO Maker – the token sales platform hosting DeRace’s SHO earlier in the year – was hacked by malicious attackers. These hackers stole a great amount of $DERC and dumped the tokens.

This evaporated the selling price of $DERC on Gate.io, from $2.82 down to just $0.08 in just five minutes. 

Later on, DeRace released a report on Twitter, explaining that the venture itself is secure; the harm was only done to tokens on DAO Maker. Furthermore, DeRace was also working with the platform to reacquire these tokens.

Launch of Jockey Club

DeRace maintains a premium service called DeRace Jockey Club – launched on October 1st 2021 —  where members are invited to exclusive NFT drops and VIP events. This ensures a closer inner circle of supporters who form a special bond with the developers and provide social proof for the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First-in-history IGO on Binance

IGO, which stands for Initial Game Offering, is an NFT collection launched via auction, fixed price, or mystery boxes for a crypto project. The content consists of in-game assets such as early-access passes, weapons and items, exclusive Binance cosmetics and skins, and much more.

As for DeRace – the team managed to become the first project ever in history to hold an IGO on Binance on October 26th. The sale consists of limited edition NFT Horses called Binancian Olympians and DeRace Olympians, whose auction tickets are valued as high as 6700 $BUSD.

Other DeRace horses were also sold in a fixed price instant-sale format, with the highest tier reaching 3800 $BUSD for a ticket. This was operated on a first-come-first-served basis.

The end result: A quick sold-out signified the level of attention and spread that DeRace had achieved. This IGO event partly contributed to the overall success of DeRace and is one of the steps leading to the project’s outstanding 150x leap.

 

 

 

Eventual Peak and Launch

4 months after IDO, DeRace had weathered the storm. $DERC token performed extraordinary, sitting at $7.86 on November 26th, 2021 – more than 157x the starting price of $0.05.

As the game came to completion on December 27th, it was received with great approval and support from the community. Within a few days from launch, there were over 1000 races run – fans share their love of DeRace’s innovative horse racing format, amazing designs and intense competition.

Results

With a carefully crafted plan and the talented minds in the team, DeRace managed to establish a smooth, productive workflow in a short time, leading to favorable results:

• Established a foothold on social media, which eventually led to a solid community with huge followings

• Well-informed fans and supporters who understand the market and the appeal of DeRace

• Prospective players and investors willing to try out the game and/or hold $DERC token

Future Direction

Following this initial success, DeRace continued to push out updates after updates, keeping their content refreshed and their game upgraded. With new features steadily being added to the game, the fan base was becoming a more and more solid foundation for the project.

DeRace was also inspired to reach out further with a vision to become an incubator for the whole crypto community instead of maintaining one single native game. With hopes to spread more quality projects that bring joy to NFT gaming, the team is discussing the options to make this vision a reality.

In addition, a further step for the DeRace team is to launch a separate side chain on their own. This chain will be powered by $DERC token and will become the basis to host their incubator.

Conclusion

Bebop Studios cooperated with DeRace to form a meaningful, tight-knit community and produce promotional material appropriate to both DeRace’s brand guidelines and the need of the community.

The joint operations generated six media channels: Twitter, Telegram, Tiktok, Medium, Instagram, and Discord – all with huge followings. DeRace’s IDO also launched with a huge success, with all of $DERC tokens sold out. $DERC token would then reach a 157x ROI 4 months after IDO, sitting at $7.86.

Since then, DeRace has continued to grow their game and their supportive, close-knit community of horse racing fans, crypto enthusiasts, and gamers alike. $DERC tokens are now trading on Crypto.com, Uniswap, and Pancakeswap, maintaining a trading volume of around ~$250,000 with a total circulating supply of 58.89M $DERC.