Friendz: Blockchain Innovation In Digital Marketing

By
Fernando Sanchez
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Friendz: Blockchain Innovation In Digital Marketing
Friendz: Blockchain Innovation In Digital Marketing
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Firms worldwide use digital marketing to advertise their products through a number
of channels. The term itself is a sort of ‘catch-all’ moniker that encompasses a number of activities pertaining to online marketing work.

The end goal of digital marketing is to sell something: goods, services, a holiday package, or a myriad of other consumer-oriented items, across a number of digital channels: paid search, display advertising, email marketing, etc.

Digital marketing is a relatively new endeavor, having only become a reality after the internet took hold; it is a lucrative business, too. Statistics forecast that companies will spend about $120bn in the US alone by the year 2021.

The people who work in the sector are sometimes referred to as ‘digital marketers’, and their job is to connect the brand with the potential customer, through digital means, to sell whatever the brand sells.

Friendz is a new ICO whose raison d’etre is precisely that: to connect brands and their products to their customers, using blockchain technology this time around.

 

Friendz: Connecting brands with potential customers

According to its website: “Friendz offers a variety of digital advertising services, among which brand awareness and product placement campaigns, sharing content activities and market researches.”

In layman’s terms: this ICO’s goal is to connect brands with members of the community who they feel may want to purchase or use the brand’s services, using the Friendz Coin as the currency of choice for compensation. This currency can then be spent on the Friendz eCommerce platforms or in a number of physical outlets.

Friendz has already secured a medium-sized investment from an Italian investor, which may be interpreted as a positive sign.

In anticipation for its upcoming ICO, Friendz is stirring up interest through blogs and social media posts.

Friendz in figures & quick facts

  • Token Name – Friendz Coin (FDZ)
  • Total tokens offered – 1,500,000,000 FDZ
  • Token worth – 1 FDZ = $0.067
  • ICO Start Date – Q1 2018
  • Hard cap – 750,000,000 FDZ
  • Soft cap – 50,000,000 FDZ

Ethereum (ETH) will be the only payment method accepted during the token sale. Prospective investors should not send ETH from exchanges such as Coinbase. Only ETH sent from private wallets will be accepted.

The Friendz Coin

The company will issue its own currency, the Friendz Coin, which is based on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard.

The company says that its coin “will provide benefits for everyone: clients will have access to all the services that require the involvement of a community on social media; users’ experience will be enriched both online and offline; contributors will be rewarded for believing in the project from the beginning“.

Once created, the Friendz Coin will be distributed as follows:

  • ICO – 50%
  • Reserve fund – 20%
  • Partners – 11%
  • Advisors – 7%
  • Liquidity fund – 5%
  • Team – 5%
  • Bounty -2%

Any unsold coins will be destroyed.

The team

The Friendz site lists a large number of people involved with this ICO.

There are three founders, six developers, four in marketing and financials, and seventeen more in various categories. That makes 30 people altogether, although its LinkedIn profile quotes 36 employees.

Friendz is not a start-up per se; it has been operating since 2015, so it does have some experience under its belt. Because of this, there’s probably a steady income to bolster such a large team, in ICO terms at least.

There’s a vast amount of professional expertise among the Friendz team, and all personnel listed features a link to their LinkedIn profile.

Overall, the team appears solid and trustworthy.

Social media presence and digital footprint

Here are the social media numbers for Friendz at the time of writing (late January 2018).

  • Twitter – 49 followers
  • Facebook – 43k
  • LinkedIn – 1,233 followers
  • Telegram – 2,714 followers

Friendz does have a rather impressive social reach, particularly on Facebook, with almost 43k followers. This is a solid base to build on, which makes it easier to gain momentum.

The ICO’s choice of subject matter means that popularity and wide acceptance through social media is a must. I’d go as far as saying that Friendz needs to open channels on YouTube, Instagram, Steemit, and as many others as possible, to capitalize on its already advantageous social media position. The Community Managers listed as employed by Friendz should be able to achieve this.

Competition

There are quite a few ICOs dedicated to eCommerce out there, and there’s also a large number focused on retail. Friendz falls somewhere in between these two categories, with Digital Marketing as its discipline of choice.

What this means is that Friendz enjoys a prime position to achieve success, as there is little in the way of competition at this point in time. The Friendz team is young and talented, on paper at least, so therein lie the seeds to bigger and better things.

Website quality & layout

The Friendz’ site is secure, and if looked at from a pure perspective of web design, it is well crafted and put together.

But here’s the problem I have with it: the landing page is way too colorful and busy, almost childish in its design. There is a lot going on, in terms of animations, moving graphics, etc. In short, it’s hard to take seriously at first glance, as the whole style resembles some sort of mobile gaming portal targeted at a young audience, rather than a gateway for potential investors.

Also, when viewed in Chrome, the link to the white paper leads to a somewhat messed-up page that shows pictures of a ‘Whitepaper’ and a ‘One Pager’ with ‘Download’ links below them.

When viewed at a certain browser window size, none of these links appear active, only a link to the Spanish version of the paper is live. I opened the same page on Internet Explorer and the ‘Download’ links became active but overlapped with the link to download the Spanish paper. Only by reducing the window size were these problems resolved.

The web design team should take note of these issues, as Chrome is one of the most widely used internet browsers at this time, and some people may not be aware that it is possible to adjust the window size in the browser.

Because of these design issues, the Friendz website scores as ‘Acceptable’.

White paper

There is little to fault on Friendz’ white paper. It’s professional-looking, well laid out, colorful, and one can tell that a lot of work has gone into it, from a design perspective. It is a great and commendable effort.

There’s a wealth of information available, from background info on the market, specific stuff about Digital Marketing, and the ICO itself.

Overall, Friendz’ white paper ranks as ‘Very Good’.

Conclusion

Digital Marketing is a young, dynamic profession best left to a younger age demographic, as they are more ‘attuned’ to the inner workings of advertising and online selling.

Friendz does have a lot of positive attributes to it, from its young team to the fact that it has been operating for some time, and that it has already received investment funds. Overall, it appears that Friendz’ fortunes are on the rise.

I would certainly revise the website design, as it may appear misleading to some as to the true intentions of the ICO. Other than that, it’s all positive for Friendz.

This piece is an analysis of the facts available about the Friendz ICO. It should not be read as offering advice or a recommendation. 

ICOs have an unclear legal and financial status. Token buyers may find that their purchase does not offer them any security or equity because the ICO is closer to a crowdfunding initiative than a traditional IPO. As such, any investor who plans to buy tokens during any ICO needs to obtain all relevant independent advice and carry out their own appropriate due diligence.

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