Going to clear some misconceptions that most have about marketing and how it works, especially on recent comments on how we've "failed" on promotional and outreach purposes. Most are under the impression that as long as we get immense exposure such as say, prime time superbowl advertisement with millions of engaged viewers, price would skyrocket.

Has it been ever considered, with the Bitcoin foundation, and millions at their disposal, why Bitcoin is not taking that approach and burning through as much via traditional marketing campaigns? And specifically why, they are getting consistent media coverage with top tier media outlets? It's because they have a story that journalists around the world can write a story home about - millions in user base, utility (merchants and 3rd party infrastructures), incidents such as MtGox, hacking of exchanges, recognition by governments and influential figures and so on.

In short, marketing entails 3 core components that are closely intertwined with each other -

1) Product/Service design and branding.
2) Designing information platforms AND utility infrastructures to convert prospective users of the product and/or service. (Answering WHAT it is, HOW it works and HOW it benefits them)
3) Driving traffic or giving those platforms exposure so conversion could be performed.

A product or service that sells is one that user can understand the following - what it is, how it works and how they can benefit them. Most forget that cryptocurrencies are classed as a highly complex financial product/service. And that most fail on the last component (and doing a poor job on the WHAT and the HOW questions), which translates directly to utility, or more simply - what can Pandacoin be used for? This is what the majority of resources and manpower of the Development Team is concentrating on now. The 100k merchant ecosystem is no joke, it's going to happen and our future Pandacoin community will be able to use their PNDs to purchase goods and services worldwide across a vast range of existing merchants and retailers easily. That is what we call utility, and ultimately, reasons for people to get into Pandacoin.

Cryptocurrencies like Bytecent, that are promising a massive promotional campaign whilst doing a poor job at the first 2 core components of marketing is frankly a waste of resources and feeds into the misconceptions that most users think will have it go to the 'moon'. It needs to be understood that one of the first questions that ideal users that will USE the crypto (not speculators, which is the market segment that we are trying to avoid) will ask is "So what can X-crypto be used for?", and if such reasons are not present, the campaigns will fail to convert successfully.

So at this point, you might be asking, what has Pandacoin achieved so far? Let me provide you a summary on what we've done (and will continually improve) and how it ties deeply into the first 2 core marketing components, so it makes sense community members that are confused -

Easy to understand (education) - the complexity of cryptocurrency platforms, such as methods of mining, obtaining, using compared to traditional currencies is a barrier of entry for mainstream users. Most are still stuck on the 'Why use X crypto when traditional methods of payments have served me and society well for decades now?' question.

Easy to use (simplicity) - a platform that segregates only tech-savvy users, and are hard to use are doomed to fail and will never be mainstream due to barriers of entries involved.

Easy to spend (reasons to OBTAIN and USE PND) - any cryptocurrencies that serve no purpose and will fail eventually when it retains its status as nothing but an abstract form of commodity that has no utility. A currency is a unit of exchange that could be used to purchase goods and services. A currency is a unit that transfers value from one party to the other. We are working on this part right now, so both we, community and the development team, could proudly tell our friends and family that Pandacoin is 'Easy to Spend'.

We've already got a solid foundation that is superior to the majority of alternative cryptocurrencies out there on presenting to users that we market later - WHAT is Pandacoin and HOW Pandacoin works. We've been following a well defined plan from the start, and are now in the process of completing the 'HOW and WHAT Pandacoin can be used for' AKA 'how Pandacoin benefits users' component.

Any cryptocurrencies that do not cover the 3 core aspects of marketing as described above, and only concentrate on exposure will not succeed. Bitcoin is an exception due to advantages of first market mover's advantage. The space is now convoluted with so many scams, unsubstantiated claims and plans from competing cryptocurrencies that feed into crypto-speculator's greed and their get-rich-quick mindset - it highlights their complete lack of understanding of how to design and package a crypto and carve out a need for it in a highly competitive market.

There is no short cut unfortunately, all the steps mentioned in this post is required to be executed by a competent team before our vision of mainstream mass market adoption will happen. We're making progress, following our internal plans to reach there. We're doing this in a proper method to carve out a space in what is will be an incredibly competitive multi-billion dollar industry. We're taking the necessary steps to ensure Pandacoin's survival and making sure it will be used for what cryptocurrencies were designed for in the first place - A widely used unit of exchange to purchase goods and service with a large merchant ecosystem, with a massive community base, because it is Easy to Use, Easy to Undestand and Easy to Spend.