Stephen: This is Around The Coin live from Futurist. The first time we're here, and we interview one of the biggest stars in PR, in crypto, Web3, and now AI. We have Nikita. She's the owner of Luna PR. Thanks for joining us. So tell me a little bit about the future of PR. You talked a little bit about the need for, obviously, relationships is just as important as creating content now.

How are you gonna work with AI and use it in your own business, but how are you gonna compete with it when everyone's content creators?

Nikita: Yeah, so when a, a lot of these AI tools started coming out, people thought, you know, our, our business was gonna collapse because they thought you could automate, uh, PR.

But actually, what's become easier than ever is creating content, and there's a plethora of content out there. What becomes hard is the distribution side and putting it in the right place. Attention has become a very expensive commodity, so getting this type of content into the right places is what we do.

And, and hence, with the rise of AI, has made our job even more important than ever. [00:01:00] And on top of that, people aren't Googling anymore. They don't go on Google and say, "Oh, a top L1," or, "Wh- what, uh... where should I build my RWA, uh, platform," right? People are going on AI. And so, um, there's a switch from what used to be known as SEO to GEO, generative engine optimization, is that when AI can pick it up.

And how does AI pick up, uh, recommendations, uh, via credible sources. So this makes PR more important than ever. Like, getting clients out on the Bloombergs and Wall Street Journals and podcasts like you. Like, we were talking earlier- Yeah ... and you were saying that there's a lot of research that you put on the guests that you bring to the show because you want-

Stephen: You just don't wanna ask questions.

Exactly. You wanna be informed about what the guest has to talk about.

Nikita: Exactly. I mean-

Stephen: On that note, I wanna talk about in real-life experiences. I think Luna PR has built probably the biggest ecosystem for in real-life events. I know you have your polo event that, that's well-received, and you've always had, like, a party or an event at some of the biggest [00:02:00] conferences around the world.

We're seeing a shift from digital to PR. So how do you, how do you do that? How do you keep up the lens of, like, "Hey, we're gonna make sure that you're on the digital media, but we're also gonna make sure that you're meeting in real life with investors, partners, and potential customers"?

Nikita: It's hard, right?

Yeah. Like, people get so used to being cooped up at home. Yeah. And we're always like, "You have to attend events like this." And, um, it's so important. So, like, we try to balance, like, the PR that we do, the digital work that we do with, like, a good balance of, like, attending conferences and private dinners, and we have our Crypto Polo Cup, our own proprietary events, and DAT Summit that, that we host, try to bring everyone together.

Uh, 'cause relationships are, like you said, more important than ever now.

Stephen: Talk to me. I watched the interview you did with CZ. Obviously, one of the biggest interviews, one of the first interviews that he's done. What was the biggest takeaway from the interview that you had with CZ at Binance at the time?

Nikita: Like, I guess, uh, CZ's really humbling. Uh, I think th- this space can be, like, daunting as it is, and you just wanna, [00:03:00] like, walk up to, like, the celebrities in the space and be like, "Hi," like, "Oh, my God, I wanna talk to you," and, and sometimes, like, be shy away. But then you meet people like CZ that are, like, so friendly and so down to earth that...

Like, it was just, you know, it was a great conversation to have. And he really just wants to... He, he's, like, really in it, uh, to, to make this space better and get mass adoption, get more people involved. And he's, like... He- I, I felt like he kinda took a bullet for the team at

Stephen: Binance. For the, for the industry, yeah.

Nikita: Yeah, for the industry. So I, I... You know, it was... Yeah, it was a great interview.

Stephen: You're speaking to some of the biggest companies in the world, who are your clients. What are some of the challenges that they deal with on a day-to-day basis that you see from a PR lens? Is it not creating their own narrative and letting the media do it for them?

How do you work with those companies to make sure that they craft their message- Yeah ... versus other people crafting the message for them?

Nikita: To be honest, the, the biggest challenge that I see is not really crafting the message. If you have a good product, uh, there's always a message that can [00:04:00] g- you know, that can be dug up.

But the biggest problem that I see when people don't have a, a ready product or they're not, like, filling a, in a gap, there's no, uh, need for it in the market. Right. Then they blame, uh, PR and marketing for their failures. And, and that's why I think I'm, I've become very picky with who I work with. I do a lot of due diligence because you can't help a project that Is just not set up with a strong foundation for success.

Stephen: PR amplifies what you're doing, so if you're not doing that great of work, PR's just gonna amplify that quicker to the audience that it's not that great, or it's not a product market fit at the time.

Nikita: Exactly. And, uh, often I'll get clients ask me, um, to help them raise funds- Yeah ... which then they will use into their PR retainer.

And I always say, like, "If I could help you raise funds, uh, and like, at, you know, we're, we're a PR agency, of course we have connections to, um, investors. But if you've been trying to raise for two, three years now, and you're not, you [00:05:00] know, you're, there's no bite, then maybe you need to rethink a couple of things.

Maybe you need to rethink valuation." I've seen absurd valuations. And, yeah, it's just not a good strategy, uh, to get your PR agency to fundraise so then you can put it back into retainer, you know.

Stephen: Talk to me about AI. Are you working with any AI companies? What are you seeing from the the AI from a PR aspect?

'Cause it doesn't seem like Anthropic, and Sam Altman, and OpenAI are doing a great job from a PR. They're spreading doom, and then they're selling into that doom. What are your thoughts about AI and PR?

Nikita: Yeah, I mean, we've, uh, uh, massively pivoted into AI, I think like every other crypto company has. Uh, but now f- uh, I would say about 50% of our clients are non-crypto, and within that 50%, 25 is, 25% is AI, and 25% is capital markets, institutional, public markets, maybe with Bitcoin Treasuries, or s- or some kind of it.

But, uh, back to your question, um, I think, you know, it was funny, we were at, at a couple of AI heavy conferences, [00:06:00] like only AI, and they don't know what PR is. Uh, they don't even n- understand, like, how to market themselves. You're talking to a bunch of, like, really nerdy guys. There's a massive gap for us, um, to come in and help companies especially kind of differentiate within the competition.

Stephen: They don't need to know what PR is. They, they just have to say AI, and people are listening, right? So they just say, "We have an AI company," and all of a sudden that, yeah. Uh, talk to me about, you mentioned institutions. I think you've seen a shift, too, is like from crypto native companies, hyper native, one inch.

Everyone's getting the institutional rebrand now, and they're really trying to attract these large traditional financial institutions. What are your thoughts on this? Are you seeing that a lot in Dubai as well?

Nikita: Yeah, I mean, like, where are all the retailers gone, right? Like, there's so many products that were catered to retail.

Even here at this conference, everything's become so institutional. Um, and I think maybe, maybe that's a good, I don't know. I'm not gonna say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing for this space, but it definitely got us to open office in New York because, you know, [00:07:00] so many of our clients were coming out of there.

And, uh, in Dubai as well, quite institutional. Um, seeing like la- lack of retail products.

Stephen: Talk to me about running a team, 'cause you have a huge team. PR feels like it fluctuates up and down. Same with content and marketing. How are you building such a huge team into all these different locations? Give us some leadership tips here, uh, at Futurist exclusive leadership tips.

Nikita: Well, I feel bad. I recently let go 20% 'cause of AI.

Stephen: Well, talk to me about that. What, like, w- what were the jobs maybe that, you know, that AI is replacing within-

Nikita: It's like, for us, it was like the baseline jobs. It was, like, more of, like, the junior team members coming in that were, like, put in place to, like, fill in spreadsheets and do reports and kind of mass outreach and draft press releases.

Like, we just don't have the need for that anymore. You can do that in a heartbeat now with AI, you know? So it's just business pivot. Um, but I, what I, what I did was give everybody fair, fair warning, like, in advance. "AI's [00:08:00] coming through. You have budget to use, uh, any AI tool that you want. Uh, I encourage you guys to use ChatGPT, AI tools to, like, enhance your press releases.

Always double-check the work, but, like, start getting a bit more tech-savvy." And but, like, you won't believe it. There were people that were like, "I refuse to use ChatGPT." And I'm like, "Well, you, you're gonna lag behind." And those are the people that we actually had to let go. So we gave everybody a warning.

What I expect, I've told the team that I just expect more efficiency- Right ... and that's how you're gonna keep your jobs here. Because, like, before, like, if you're spending, like, 80% of your time doing pr- press releases, you don't need to spend that time anymore. Uh, so it's, it's just a kind of a reset in expectations, and those who kind of align have a job.

Stephen: If people are watching this interview and they're like, "Hey, I wanna work with Luna PR," what's the one thing you should notify them about before they hire a PR company? Because I think they're like, "Hey, put me on Forbes. That's where I wanna be, Forbes or Bloomberg." I think sometimes you have to weigh expectations.

What's something that, for someone that has never used a [00:09:00] PR company, what's a couple things that they should know before jumping into it?

Nikita: I mean, look, it's, it's our job to, like, tell them, "Hey, y- you're not Forbes worthy right now, but we'll get you there- Yeah ... uh, you know, in a good period of time." But I think, uh, I, I love working with people who kind of take our advice.

Like, treat us as a bit of a consultancy and an agency. So, like, you wanna get on Forbes, but also, like, what are you trying to achieve? Like, is Forbes the right outlet? Are you targeting, like, certain investors? Like, who are you trying to target? Are you tr- targeting credibility? And kind of like, work with us to, like...

Uh, like, trust us to help you achieve your goal.

Stephen: If someone was to buy Luna PR today and you could not work for the company and you had to give it up, what would you do? What would be something that's interested you after seeing so many different companies, protocols, chains, AI tools? What's something that's piqued your interest personally?

Nikita: Good question. What would I do? Like, all I can think is, like, well, I would just wanna retire for a second and, like, not do anything. But, uh, actually, you know, I am building something on the side. Uh, it's [00:10:00] an AI tool, uh, that basically streamlines all the work that we do, drafts your press releases, it gives you a list of journalists.

It does- It's a, a media intelligence platform, so it does research on the journalists. So what happens right now, and I'm sure you've also seen it, you probably get flooded with messages, pitches, and messages. Yeah. And probably half of them are not even relevant, and you probably-

Stephen: That 90% are not relevant.

No one's ever listened to the podcast. They couldn't have listened to the podcast, so they would never send that message.

Nikita: They don't do research on you, yet you get pitches left, right, center. And that's a problem a lot of journalists face. So with our tool, it kind of does a little bit of background check to tell you what, what kind of...

It matches the product or the person with the journalist. So that's kind of what I'm building to kinda streamline the work that we do, and just have a little bit, uh, of a higher hit ratio, uh, success ratio between the pitches and the actual end product.

Stephen: I love that. I wa- I wanna use that for my own business.

Talk to me about Futurist. You've been here a few years. I think I've seen Luna PR here before. Uh, you're gonna be on stage. But if you had to [00:11:00] do one message for anyone that's coming through Futurist or what you think the future of PR is, what would you wanna leave them with?

Nikita: Yeah. I've been coming to Futurist for, I think, like, four years now, maybe...

Yeah, four, about four years. Canada was home to a lot of, like, big crypto projects. Um, Ethereum, CZ's from here. So there's, like, quite a large community and, um, it's nice to be back. I think, uh, I would love to see, like, a stronger, um, like, a friendlier crypto regulation framework in, in Canada. I think that would attract a lot of people.

Uh, but it's a good place to be to meet founders because I guess that's where a lot of the, the early ones came from as well.

Stephen: You've traveled a lot. You've gone to a different, different conferences. What's one city that you love going to or love eating in? Like, what's one place that you, you c- you can remember off the top of your head?

For the conferences? Yeah, like, what's one city that you visited for any reason, and you're like, "Oh, this place is like home."

Nikita: I, I... Home? Oh, I mean, home. Okay. So I'll tell you one city I love going is Vegas.

Stephen: Yeah. I feel like

Nikita: [00:12:00] I love, like, any conference that takes place in Vegas, it's just so much fun. You know, it feels like a little bit of a vacation.

Stephen: Yeah? That's awesome. Yeah.

Nikita: Um, but, um, other than that, like, I like, I, I think there's a lot of business happening in the States. Um, so I find a lot of, like, our productivity and results come out of the US.

Stephen: Do you feel the vibe out of New York? Do you feel that energy in New York? It's a, it's a, it's a wild energy.

It's just different, you know? Where's the best place for people to find you? They're gonna listen to this podcast, they're gonna want a PR agency, they're gonna wanna work with you. Where's the best place for people to find you?

Nikita: Everywhere online.

Stephen: Everywhere.

Nikita: Super active on LinkedIn, Nikki Dosajev.

Instagram, nikki.dosajev. Twitter, X, Nikki Chain. So yeah.

Stephen: Awesome. Thank you so much again, really appreciate it. Thank you.

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