Just throwing the logo and name of our blockchain out there isn't bad but we have to think that we're still small and can't afford to just sponsor what seems to be quite random clubs in hopes that people will look at an ad/sponsorship and figure out how to become a user and consumer of our main attraction we offer people: content, discussion, social activity, etc.
Although every little thing might help I don't think banner displays (whether it is on web 2.0 or in real life) are very effective as long as your 'brand' isn't known.
Personally I have never googled for 'products' which brands were on banners or shirts if I didn't already knew the brand.
Would you google for Spotify because it's on the shirt of FC Barcelona if you didn't know what is is? When a brand already has a reputation shirt sponsoring or banners help to generate more traffic.
I attempted to bring to a community here. The marketcap/rewards/the giveaway may have had a big effect on the numbers, but at the same time this wasn't even an official partnership, just me putting my own assets out as rewards and onboarding over 700 accounts in a week to participate in it which lead to the community brimming of life for quite some time and many sticking with hive til now.
I think this is a much better approach. If you manage to attract a descent number of people from a community, it might thrive. If someone could onboard 1000 members to an active handball community on Hive I think it could attract more people.
We have quite a lot of interesting and active communities that have the potential to attract new users to Hive.
I remember seeing your initiative in the OCD discord a few days ago that actually proposed something like this (I could have reacted to that, but I was too busy and forgot about it).
I think the idea is good, but I also think that community leaders don't really have time for that and for some Hive is their community.
I think it would be better when there this promotion is centralized. A dedicated marketing team could promote some active communities on web 2.0 platforms by sharing Hive posts. They could even assist in creating accounts and the first steps on Hive to make it a success.