Intersect’s Growth and Marketing Committee (GMC) is dedicated to advancing innovative and impactful marketing and ecosystem growth strategies. Additionally, the GMC is committed to attracting, empowering, and directing global marketing initiatives, breaking traditional boundaries that promote growth and adoption, all while working within the decentralized governance structure of the Cardano ecosystem. To achieve success, the committee developed a Survey to understand the Cardano marketing landscape better. Join us as we explore the findings together.

A fragmented landscape seeking coherence

The Cardano community has long recognized the need for more coherent, coordinated marketing, a topic that regularly fuels debate across X and community forums. Yet in the 2025 budget, only events received dedicated funding. That investment has started to pay off: Cardano’s presence at Token2049 in Singapore and the Brazil Summit began to show the impact of community-centric events and the value of showing up at major industry gatherings.

Still, while the appetite for stronger marketing is clear, it hasn’t yet translated into a unified strategy or consistent funding. As we approach the 2026 budget cycle, the challenge is to build shared understanding and alignment on what 'marketing' really means in a decentralized ecosystem and where it can deliver the most significant impact.

Because this is the central paradox of Cardano: how to find clarity and focus in a project that is, by design, many different things to many other people. The goal isn’t to impose uniformity, but to create coherence. A common thread that connects builders, researchers, educators, investors, and advocates without clipping anyone’s wings.

Listening to the ecosystem

To begin that process, the Intersect GMC conducted the first community-wide marketing survey. While the respondent base was relatively modest (150 respondents), the results offer a valuable early snapshot of sentiment and a foundation for a more data-driven, evidence-based approach to ecosystem growth and communication.

The findings, based on polling across a cross-section of the community, themselves may not be revelatory, and that’s a good thing. They confirm what many already felt instinctively: the challenges are well understood, and a degree of alignment already exists. The next task is to start translating that shared intuition into shared action.

Key findings from the survey

1. A call for unified messaging

Nearly two-thirds of respondents rated Cardano’s current marketing as average or below. The most common critiques? Fragmented storytelling, inconsistent narratives, and a lack of a visible long-term vision. The top improvement requested was a unified ecosystem voice, consistent messaging across Input | Output, the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Intersect, and community channels.

2. Builders come first

When asked who marketing should focus on, the answer was unambiguous: developers and founders. The community sees Cardano’s success as dependent on supporting builders, not just with tooling and liquidity, but also with visibility, storytelling, and go-to-market support.

3. DeFi and real-world use cases lead the way

DeFi remains the ecosystem’s top growth priority (51%), followed by governance, identity, and real-world assets. Liquidity and awareness were cited as the main bottlenecks, reinforcing the view that Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem needs more depth and confidence to compete.

Respondents identified low TVL, limited stablecoin liquidity, and insufficient visibility into DeFi projects as the most pressing barriers to growth. Notably, nearly three-quarters (74%) supported some form of treasury-backed liquidity program, whether through stablecoin incentives, ada matching, or targeted liquidity support, signaling a pragmatic openness to catalyze DeFi activity if done transparently and responsibly.

4. Strategy, not just spending

Over 90% agreed that a clear marketing direction is essential for success, and 70% believe Cardano should spend more on marketing compared to peers. The preferred approach is balanced growth, bold but accountable. Respondents cluster around allocating roughly 10% of the treasury to marketing and communications, with slightly higher tolerance (15–20%) for liquidity and partnership initiatives.

5. What’s working, and what isn’t

Grassroots content and community-led communication outperform centralized campaigns in reach and authenticity. Yet only one in five feels they have the tools or assets to tell Cardano’s story effectively. The need for ready-made toolkits, explainer content, and messaging templates is strong.

6. Founders want co-marketing and clarity

Most founders feel only partially represented by the current ecosystem narrative. They want more transparent processes for engaging with marketing teams, and there is strong interest in co-marketing initiatives, especially in campaign planning, messaging alignment, and media visibility.

7. A mandate for collaboration

Finally, 80% support the creation of a Marketing Advisory Council to help coordinate strategy across the ecosystem. The top priority for the next 12 months? Launching a strong, consistent marketing campaign backed by data that showcases tangible delivery, ideally anchored by visible DeFi progress and real-world use cases that demonstrate Cardano’s maturity.

You can explore the full results here.

Next steps: from insight to action

This survey marked the beginning of a broader, evidence-based approach. We welcome your initial feedback on the results. You can find a dedicated thread on the Cardano Forum to offer your thoughts.

And if you are attending the Berlin Cardano Summit in person, please mark your calendars for a dedicated session on Tuesday, 11th November at 18:00 CET.

The next phase will involve deeper AI-assisted analysis of open-text responses, combined with qualitative interviews with builders and community leaders. 

All of this will help inform a Marketing White Paper for 2026, which will define clear problem statements and shared objectives, distilling community sentiment and insight into a document that articulates common principles and suggests a direction of travel, bridging short-term action with Cardano’s longer-term vision.