I understand your thought process but the holy grail should be to generate organic demand for steem by giving the token utility. (at least that is my point of view)

This is something people like me and you cannot do. Even if we would want it. Lack of funding, lack of programming skills - those are just some obstacles on the way.
We could all simply sit and wait until some utility will be added ... and probably we would sit for very long time :)

My goal is to bring some idea of building "pockets of demand" for steem while using strength of community on Steemit.

I think an organic demand for steemit can be done by attracting more users to the platform.

Wouldn't attracting more users only create more selling pressure instead? I'm failing to see how more users = more organic demand. Life seem to prove that it's otherwise.

I would risk a statement, that more users is not what we need. On the other hand - we should focus on current userbase and ensure that those who see STEEM as a long term investment will stick around.

Again, thx for sharing your thoughts buddy
Piotr