“What good are great ideas if they can’t change the world?”

I’ve always been interested in technology and finance, and in how people understand new ideas. My entry into marketing was a road less trodden: I started in environmental science and lab work, then moved into medical communications and conference production. My MSc in Science Communication taught me to take technical topics beyond explanation and make them resonate. When people connect with an idea emotionally, its case becomes far more compelling.

I found my way into blockchain through its online communities. At VeChain, I led communications, social and community as the ecosystem grew. I worked across social channels, websites, media, live content and direct community engagement, staying close to the products and the people building and using them. What I heard from those people helped me decide what to explain, how to frame it for different audiences and how to keep them engaged beyond a launch. Over time, that work helped turn audiences into long-term followers, contributors, partners and users.

I can work at strategy level with executives and partners, then move into the detail: writing the proposition, shaping the campaign, briefing the agency, refining the website, preparing the spokesperson, reviewing the creative and listening to audience response. I turn complex products and topics into stories that build lasting audiences, attract business interest and support awareness and adoption.

From 2021, I led communications for VeChain’s major releases, bringing together marketing, PR, social, content, websites and community. I developed the story, coordinated teams and partners, and took it to market myself through X Spaces, livestreams, podcasts, media interviews and live events. Working with the CEO and senior team, I aligned product, engineering, design and legal around launches. My remit covered positioning, go-to-market planning, paid media, influencer and KOL activity, executive communications and public-facing content.

That meant going beyond explaining what blockchain was and how it worked. I had to show why its attributes mattered in the commercial settings VeChain was building for. The applications spanned supply chains, product authentication, sustainability initiatives, medicine and healthcare, energy, FMCG, international logistics and business certification. I worked with partners including BCG, Grant Thornton and PwC, and helped communicate programmes involving Walmart China, BMW and Lululemon, alongside national certification and aluminium traceability with Norsk Hydro and DNV.

Each use case needed a different explanation. It wasn’t enough to say that blockchain could support traceability or verification. I had to show what that meant to a business leader or investor weighing the commercial case, a developer considering what to build, or a user deciding whether to take part. Some applications can sound banal in technical terms: verifying a product, recording a certificate, tracking goods through a supply chain. I worked to find the detail that made each one matter, turning complex technology into something intriguing without overstating what it could do. Staying close to partners, builders and users helped me understand which questions the story needed to answer.

I led 15 community admins across Europe, the US and Asia, and separately managed a global ambassador programme. Across X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit and Web3 channels, I brought social strategy, content and community activity together for audiences around the world. I managed copywriters and held final editorial sign-off across creative and video, including refining CEO copy before publication.

One major growth challenge was broadening VeChain’s enterprise-led story to reach consumers. I helped shape that shift through VeBetter, which called for a new narrative and go-to-market strategy. UFC and the Nitto ATP Finals also gave us ways to put the technology in people’s hands through live activations, creating content opportunities and reaching audiences beyond Web3.

Over my tenure, VeChain’s story appeared across thousands of pieces of media and reached hundreds of millions of readers and viewers worldwide, covering enterprise applications, sustainability, research and community projects.

At the London Blockchain Conference Spotlight Stage, Jake Campton discusses VeBetter’s go-to-market strategy with Bernhard Kronfellner, a partner at Boston Consulting Group.

VeBetter marked a change in VeChain’s narrative: moving from enterprise-led work towards an app ecosystem and products people could use in everyday life. Working with BCG, I helped define the thesis for blockchain for sustainability. BCG opened doors to partners, and we spoke with them about their sustainability pain points, how they viewed blockchain and where it could fit with work already underway. I helped turn those conversations into the business case, messaging framework and go-to-market story for partners, investors, builders and consumers.

I carried that story into the launch. I shaped the messaging around Web3 for Better, the whitepaper we developed with BCG, and presented the sustainability thesis on stage at The HiVe in Las Vegas. The event brought together BCG, business leaders and Nobel laureates Sir Andre Geim and Sir Konstantin Novoselov. Konstantin joined as an adviser, giving the story a practical connection to research into novel materials and industrial sustainability. I coordinated agency partners, executive preparation, event content and live media. Launch campaign reporting recorded 168M impressions and 18 media placements, including coverage in trade and industry media beyond Web3.

The campaign had a distinctly Web3 feel. The CEO joined X Spaces, while KOLs and community voices carried the proposition through social channels, articles, press and events. I managed agency partners, the content calendar, copy development and sign-off. I handled some KOL relationships directly and managed others through the agency. I also delivered the thesis myself on stage, in press, at events and through articles and social posts.

The growth challenge was making the technology clear and useful to people who did not already follow blockchain. VeBetter apps rewarded people for everyday actions, from choosing healthier or more sustainable food to exercising, cleaning up and using sustainable transport. The rewards had monetary value, while the technology could stay in the background. The proposition was simple: take an action, have it recorded on-chain, and earn a reward. That approach gave people a reason to participate and offered partners a more traceable way to talk about sustainability activity.

The consumer campaign sat alongside work to bring builders into the ecosystem. I supported application campaigns and communications around three hackathons. We also took the story into communities and live settings around the world, including beach clean-ups with Dana White and work with sustainability organisations. I developed positioning and messaging for VeChain’s part in the Acumen-led GSTI documentary, with CNBC as media partner, and helped carry the story into HiVe 2.0 in San Francisco, where builders and teams came together.

Reaching five million users was a huge moment. We could see adoption accelerating and knew the proposition was connecting. I’m proud that we helped show blockchain can be a force for good by giving people a reason to take part in sustainability, while recording the activity on-chain. We told that story in a truly global way, with people creating content on the ground in all corners of the world.

Examples of how I’ve taken complex ideas to market: shaping the strategy and message, leading the launch and keeping the story moving through media, events and community.