When I earned my first money with the bounty, people around me (especially my family) asked me where did my money came from. When I told them that it came from bounty campaigns, I saw their puzzled face. So I explain it to them with this analogy: "When politicians are running for office, they always show their faces in public in order for them to remember. They give flyers with their name and platforms in it. ICOs are like politicians and their elections is called bounty campaign. We make the ICO popular by posting in forums, social media sites, and creating videos and article." And they quickly understood it so every time someone ask me about bounty campaign, I always used this analogy. How about you?
When I would try to explain it to some of my friends who have a vague knowledge about bitcoin, I would say it like this "It is similar to an endorser of a product who post it in Facebook or other social media platform like Twitter and Instagram. Then it's like talking to other people while wearing the shirt of the product that I am endorsing. In that way, they can see the product that I am endorsing hoping that people will buy it."
I think that it is similar to bounty campaign. Since you are more likely to hook other people to see your coins and probably end up buying some.
Also, thank you for sharing your experience about explaining bounty campaigns to your family. Maybe I can use it when I would try to explain it to my family!