Now we’re organized!
We have a clear vision on what we would like to do. Small problem… We have no idea how to do it. An unbelievable amount of discussion and chat was had over the next couple weeks trying to identify members of our community who had skill sets and talent that could help attain our next goal, Version 2! Following the new name, what character should we use? Baby Apes again? Tigers? Lions? Every animal in the Kingdom was suggested. A few DAO votes on the type of image to be used were had and it was decided that we would rise again as baby apes. The Jungle Bay Ape Club or JBAC.
In an extremely fortunate turn of events, we found that a few artists existed among our community. Arenas, Xai and Bubbles were going to create new art that would solidify our place as the preeminent baby ape collection again. I can’t imagine the amount of work these three individuals did to come up with the quality of art we have. The guidance of Drew, Ghost and Chase were in full swing as they managed the Discord, Twitter, fud and hype. Things were moving faster now and although it felt like months, a few weeks later, we started seeing sneak peeks. OMFG! Fire for sure!
Once the art was on the way, attention shifted to marketing. We had to announce to the world that we were back! The community again answered the call. An organic campaign through hundreds of Twitter users spread the word like wildfire. Our Twitter account grew dramatically over the next few weeks. Our new users into the discord went from 1000 to 14,000 members! No bots, no bought and paid for advertisements. No influencers! Just pure organic growth comprised of believers, fans of the great comeback story and a few critics who wanted to see what all of the hype was about. The critics quickly turn to fans once inside the discord.
Rarely do you see a community of thousands of members from all around the world enjoying each other‘s company 24 hours a day. All the while, sneak peaks kept dropping. The hype was building in the FOMO is real!
Back to business, how many final pieces should we create? Again, the voting DAO was set up to let the community decide what the final count would be. In the end 5,555 pieces was selected. The number reflected several characteristics of the leaders and community. This wasn’t a quick cash drag where minting 10,000 would result in a huge payday. The OG collection also has 5,555 pieces and our primary goal was always to repay the community for standing by while the project was rebuilt from the ashes.
Announcement! We are going live to mint on January 25th! This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. The culmination of nearly 3 months of planning, working and dreaming. The lyrics of Eminem‘s “Lose Yourself” comes to mind for me. This is our One Shot. And we’re going to take it! It was an all hands on deck moment as we minted to the OG holders over the course of a one week period. Once we went to public mint, we watched the numbers climb, 2000 to go, 1000 left, only 500 more! At 01:02 PM January 29, 2022, the Jungle Bay Ape Club minted out. There was a collective sigh of relief but we knew very well the hard work we had to do moving forward.
As we continue to drive the price and value to the moon, I reflect back on the journey and the people in the community that made this happen. A sense of overwhelming pride envelops me and reminds me how great this JBAC Family is! Let this be a message to anyone who’s been knocked down and rugged. You can do it, you can rise from the ashes like a phoenix!
