The Post-Hype Playbook: Unhashed CEO Mia P on Marketing Web3 Credibility

The era of Web3—driven by hype and mealy-mouthed mantras—is fast coming to an end. Nowadays, effective web3 communication is anchored on clarity and trust, which shape the public perception of a brand. Unhashed CEO Mia P describes this critical shift as a revolution in an industry where complex technologies like ZK-proofs and modular networks need to be translated into stories that are comprehensible and credible.

In this exclusive interview about the changing landscape of web3 marketing, Mia highlights the shift in systematic approach to building narratives, emphasizing that  "growth without clarity is expensive chaos."

Hello Mia! Can you briefly tell us about yourself and your route to Web3 marketing?

I'm Mrig Pandey, a growth strategist and a macro storyteller. I design and scale macro stories that elevate protocol and product growth through a combination of three approaches:  Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to reach the right founders and funds; AI-optimized Search and Paid Marketing for compounding growth; and Long-Form Storytelling to form the basis of a sustainable growth engine. My route to Web3 marketing was forged by experience in building growth for key industry players.

What I have come to realize is the critical flaw in the way web3 companies project themselves. Despite the fact that the industry was overflowing with brilliant ideas and founders, hype is what undermines long-term credibility and obscures the necessity of a clear narrative.

I founded Unhashed in mid-2023, not because there was a shortage of crypto marketing agencies, but because I realized that it needed translators. My core thesis is simple: When a space is screaming 'tech,' narrative is often your only moat, especially when you're using blockchain on the backend but serving a Web2 audience.

What was the biggest narrative gap you saw that caused promising Web3 projects to fail?

The answer lies in one word: clarity. The stories around these breakthroughs were either nonexistent or incomprehensible. Many brilliant projects have failed, not because the product was wrong, but because the narrative was.

The reason for such recurring failure is that most teams treated marketing like a one-off blast: a launch campaign, a hype cycle, a string of heavy press releases. But Web3 is too complex for that. If your audience doesn't understand why your product matters, no amount of marketing will save it.

The biggest gap that I saw wasn’t distribution or press coverage—it was clarity. Brands needed a way to convert their technology into something human, digestible, and credible. That’s the point where building a solid long-term narrative comes in.

What is the cost to a project that relies on hype and slogans instead of a structured narrative?

The cost is expensive chaos. Many companies spend millions of dollars driving traffic, running partnerships, or sponsoring events that don't often translate into sustainable growth due to a lack of clarity and the audience struggling to make sense of their products and services.

I think founders underestimate the significance of clarity and how much of a growth strategy it is. Without a sharp, underlying story, every marketing activity is a standalone expense that doesn't build upon the last one.

What is the "one-off blast" marketing approach, and why is it ineffective for complex infrastructure and developer tooling?

The 'one-off blast’ approach treats marketing like a one-off event marked by a big launch or a sudden burst of hype and excitement. A successful product is not built on hype or expensive press releases. On the contrary, it is determined by a long-term marketing narrative that is clear, consistent, and trustworthy.

A one-off blast marketing does not turn complex technology into stories people can trust, repeat, and believe in. It is therefore counterproductive for infrastructure and dev tooling for a few core reasons because it's impossible to explain a ZK-proof system, for example, in one go.

Developers must rely on sustained, layered communication that brings about technical understanding over time. Besides, since the goal for infrastructure is integration and long-term adoption, the importance of a clear, consistent, and credible narrative can't be overemphasized.

What do you mean by saying "Growth without clarity is expensive chaos?”

Growth without clarity is expensive chaos. Companies with a huge marketing budget tend to underestimate the need for a sharp narrative that can position them for long-term growth in the market. I’ve seen teams go from struggling to onboard builders to closing multiple integrations in weeks just because they finally had a language people could understand and repeat. Clarity is the ultimate unlock.

Can you take us through the concept of "Narrative Activation" and why starting with infrastructure is crucial?

Narrative Activation is the strategy we designed to help protocols navigate their way from confusion to clarity. It consists of two phases. The first is narrative infrastructure. This is essentially about figuring out the core story, the messaging architecture, the builder journey, the emotional angle, the competitive frame, and everything that gives a product its identity.

The second one is activation. This is the point where we turn that architecture into content, partnerships, community energy, and momentum loops. We discovered that most agencies start at activation. We start with infrastructure. And that’s what makes the difference.

What is your first practical step in turning abstract technology concepts, like ZK-proofs, into a digestible, human story?

I first focus on the human angle and not the cryptography. It starts with asking simple questions like: What problem does this solve for the builder, or what new capability does this unlock for the enterprise?

At the end of the day, the goal is to define the builder journey and the emotional angle. This strategic clarity is what helps me to articulate the value before talking about the tech stack, which is what can bring about impressive results.

You advocate for narrative literacy. What is one immediate, actionable piece of advice you would give a founder struggling with their story?

Endeavor to run all your quotes and public statements through local PR partners or compliance advisors before they go public. In the post-hype era characterized by a revolution in the global web3 communication landscape, what is deemed as bold and acceptable in Dubai may sound dangerous in Washington.

The language you deploy—replacing 'privacy' with 'data protection,' or mentioning international standards like FATF—makes the difference between publishable content and content that raises immediate suspicion or triggers regulatory scrutiny.

What is the single biggest competitive advantage gained by prioritizing a clear narrative today?

The competitive advantage is credibility. Compliance isn’t the end of creative communication. Conversely, it’s the huge difference between credible innovation and the empty promises rampant in the crypto market. At the end of the day, the winners will not be the ones with the best memes or the largest airdrops—they will be the ones with the clearest story that is built on a foundation of trust. This is why it is vital to treat communication as an infrastructure and a compliance tool.

Can you tell us about your experience as CEO of Unhashed?

As the CEO of Unhashed, I lead a Web3-focused narrative and go-to-market practice that helps ecosystem teams and B2B crypto companies activate high-quality builders. My role sits at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and execution — I work directly with ecosystem leads to surface bottom-up signals, clarify their builder narrative, and design activation systems that convert initial interest into committed teams.

I spend most of my time understanding adoption bottlenecks, shaping the stories that make ecosystems legible to serious builders, and building repeatable systems that shorten adoption cycles. Over the past few years, I’ve worked with leading protocols and products, including MoonPay, Aztec, Aleo, Ledger, QuickNode, and ICP, and I’ve developed a deep understanding of how strong teams evaluate ecosystems, what drives trust, and what breaks momentum.