I think it's high time projects know that they cannot rely solely on bounty and airdrop as a means of promotion. A lot of projects launch and they rely on their bounty campaigns and airdrop to help bring in investors and therefore fail to reach their softcap.
I never said bounties are not effective but it should only be used to create and reward their community not to bring in investors. If a project wants to promote it crowdsale then the team should deploy real promotional means like paying top influencers, attending conferences, advertisements on top sites like coinmarketcap, etc. Because no matter how good the project is, if it can't market properly then it won't reach its goals and if a project is mediocre but have a top notch marketing program, it will succeed beyond expectations.
Its true that bounties are not enough to make a certain project successful. But take note that it is a big part of its success. I think to improve the effects of bounties in a certain project, the quality of the campaign should also be improve. Also, all types of campaign should be active and it should include blogs and youtube promotions. Lastly, the marketing person should be an expert and experienced.