Six PR Campaigns, One Pattern: Gaia, RARI, MANTRA and More

These six PR case studies cover a decentralized AI project, an NFT chain, an RWA Layer 1, a DePIN compute network, a wallet infrastructure company and an Indian Web3 gaming studio. The common pattern is simple: every one of them won tier-1 coverage by selling a category story, not a feature update. Gaia became "the Stripe for AI agents." MANTRA's raise became a Middle East RWA story. Fluence made DePIN a beat. The feature news was the hook; the category frame was the reason reporters wrote.

I've placed founders across 50+ protocols over six years. These are the six I can describe on the record, using only what's public on my work page.

The six campaigns at a glance

Gaia: one phrase, repeated by independent sources

Gaia builds decentralized AI infrastructure. That description alone gets you nowhere with a Forbes editor. "The Stripe for AI agents" does, because it borrows a mental model every business reader already has and attaches it to a category they're curious about.

The phrase carried through a Forbes feature, a Decrypt deep-dive and Benzinga, then a six-podcast founder tour timed to Consensus Hong Kong. Timing the tour to the conference meant every host had a reason to book the founder that week.

What to copy: pick one analogy and refuse to dilute it. If three outlets describe you three different ways, nobody remembers any of them.

RARI Chain: treat the launch as a coordinated global event

RARI Foundation's RARI Chain, NFT infrastructure on Arbitrum, had a mainnet launch. Mainnet launches are common. Eleven simultaneous tier-1 placements across CoinDesk, The Block, The Defiant, Cointelegraph and CryptoNews are not.

The work was embargo operations: briefing outlets in advance, aligning on one lift time, then pushing the story into coordinated APAC translations right after the lift. The frame was "this is a global launch," and the logistics proved it.

What to copy: the size of the moment is partly a function of how many credible outlets publish at once. If you want a launch to read as big, coordinate it like one. My embargo operations playbook covers the mechanics.

MANTRA Chain: reframe the raise around geography and category

MANTRA Chain raised $11M for an RWA Layer 1. On its own, that's a funding line. We reframed it as a Middle East RWA story anchored on the Abu Dhabi-based lead investor, Shorooq Partners.

That reframe won a CoinDesk exclusive on March 19, 2024. It was re-reported across Decrypt, CryptoPotato, CryptoDaily and Milk Road, and paired with a standalone Cointelegraph profile of CEO John Mullin titled "Everything Tokenized."

What to copy: look at who invested and where. The lead investor's geography or thesis is often a better story than your round size.

Fluence: make the category a beat, then own the voice

Fluence Network works in DePIN compute. When the category is new, reporters don't have a beat for it, which means they don't have a reason to call you.

The campaign made DePIN a beat for tier-1 reporters and anchored Tom Trowbridge as the category voice across CoinDesk opinion, Cointelegraph's "Hashing It Out" and Bitcoin Magazine NL, alongside Decrypt, Benzinga and e27.

What to copy: if your category is new, your first job is educating the press on why it matters. Bylines and podcasts do that better than announcements.

Web3Auth: borrow credibility from a mainstream partner

Web3Auth is wallet infrastructure. The story we drove was its Google Cloud x Firebase integration, which got it into Blockworks, CoinDesk, Yahoo Finance and Benzinga, with localised placements in French, Italian and Spanish.

The frame wasn't "we shipped an integration." It was "Web3 wallets are entering mainstream developer tooling," with a name every reader recognises attached.

What to copy: partner news only travels when the partner's name changes what the story means. Lead with the bigger name and the shift it signals.

Bullieverse: start local, then go dual-track

Bullieverse, an Indian Web3 gaming company, raised a $4M seed in February 2022. We launched it as an Economic Times exclusive, then ran a dual track across Inc42, YourStory and TechInAsia for the startup and business audience, and CoinDesk for the crypto audience.

What to copy: a home-market business exclusive can give you more credibility with local investors and hires than a crypto outlet would. Then you widen.

The pattern: category framing beats feature news

Line the six up and the same moves repeat.

• One category sentence, decided before any pitch goes out
• A hook (raise, launch, integration) used as the news peg, not the story
• A frame that borrows something the reader already understands: Stripe, Google, Abu Dhabi capital, a new beat
• A founder who can carry the frame in interviews and bylines
• Coordination: exclusives, embargoes or timed tours so the coverage arrives together
• A second wave: translations, re-reporting, profiles, podcasts

A feature update answers "what did you ship." A category frame answers "why should a reader of this outlet care right now." Reporters need the second answer to file.

The most common mistake I see on seed and Series A launches is the reverse. The team leads with the feature list, the round size and the investor logos, and leaves the reporter to invent the angle. Most won't bother.

A quick test for your own story

Before you pitch anything, write these five lines. If you can't, the campaign isn't ready.

1. Our category in one sentence a non-specialist understands:
2. The analogy or reference point we borrow (if any):
3. The news peg (raise, launch, partner, data):
4. Why this matters to this outlet's reader this month:
5. The founder's one opinion that a reporter could quote:

If you want more detail on step one, my guide to crypto founder narrative positioning walks through picking the frame.

How I'd run this for you

The way I work now is one senior operator who writes the narrative, holds the reporter relationships and runs the logistics, rather than an account team passing notes between you and the press.

For context, traditional AI-PR agencies typically charge $20K to $50K a month, and crypto CMOs often pay agencies $15K to $30K a month.

It's a good fit if you have a real hook coming in the next one to three months and a founder willing to be the face of the category. It's a poor fit if you want coverage without a story, or you need a guarantee. I don't sell guaranteed placements.

The details of scope and process for Web3 teams are on the Web3 PR campaigns service page.

Six different categories, six different hooks, one move underneath all of them: decide what category you're the answer to, then make every piece of coverage say it.

Have a raise or launch coming up? Book a 30-minute teardown and I'll pressure-test your category frame before you pitch it.