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I Can NOT Explain This...

by Cam Connor
12 replies
Yea...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...loding-kittens

Any ideas?


Some reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kicksta...y_funds_raised
#explain
  • Profile picture of the author RealCasher
    $6,131,239
    pledged of $10,000 goal

    This is ridiculous.

    Guys we're doing it wrong with list building and aff marketing..

    World is full of dumb no-life losers, we should profit from that
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    • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
      Originally Posted by RealCasher View Post

      $6,131,239
      pledged of $10,000 goal

      This is ridiculous.

      Guys we're doing it wrong with list building and aff marketing..

      World is full of dumb no-life losers, we should profit from that
      Before you call people losers, educate yourself on why they buy.

      The Oatmeal has a fan base, merch, the works.

      I'm a huge fan of his grammar posters, including this list of 10 words you need to stop misspelling.

      He created a product and a brand. He sold the goods to raving fans.

      He's making a shit ton of money drawing and being a professional smartass for a living.

      And people who pay him money are losers?
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    I think those people who continue to contribute although they see that
    the goal had already been reached is doing so for the "history" part of it.
    They get an original copy of the card game that raised the most
    money on kickstart.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Are you familiar with The Oatmeal at all?

    If not, you're missing out on the fact that the dude has a massive following and fan base. His stuff gets organically shared all the time because it's ******* funny.

    THAT is why this succeeded.

    Remember kids, the offer isn't always the deciding factor, and neither is the sales copy always the persuader.

    Some people will buy WHATEVER a certain individual sells because they're fans.

    Case in point - I will ALWAYS buy a Cards Against Humanity expansion pack. I'm a fan. Even though they literally raised their prices for Black Friday in 2013 and sold people ACTUAL bullshit for Black Friday last year. That just makes me more loyal.

    If you can NOT explain it, you're not a fan. And that's OK.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
      Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

      Are you familiar with The Oatmeal at all?
      No, I heard about the oatmeal, but never had it myself... though ya, I suppose they have kind of a following from that, which is cool. But still, $6+ million?
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      • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
        Originally Posted by Cam Connor View Post

        No, I heard about the oatmeal, but never had it myself... though ya, I suppose they have kind of a following from that, which is cool. But still, $6+ million?
        My search took less than 5 minutes.

        Alexa says he gets around 4K visitors on average.
        Facebook says he has north of 3 MILLION likes and posts about his campaign regularly.
        Twitter says he has 479K followers and has posted quite a few times about his campaign.

        The rest is speculation without solid numbers.

        He has two partners. We don't know their list size and how they're promoting. He may or may not have an email list and be running super warm traffic through to the Kickstarter link.

        He has a MASSIVE network of raving fans who all want a piece of his success. They want to be part of the next "it" game. They want to hold something exclusive.

        He also did something super clever that I won't be surprised if I see duplicated in crowdfunding campaigns in the near future...he gamified a game fundraiser.

        He challenged his crowd to do certain things and promised a result, which he and his crew appear to have delivered on.

        Come on now, do the math.

        Big fan base + warm traffic + multiple avenues of promotion + cool factor appeal + gamification of the offer + tiered offer structure so you can pick what you want to pay = pretty smart campaign.
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        • Profile picture of the author kk075
          Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

          He also did something super clever that I won't be surprised if I see duplicated in crowdfunding campaigns in the near future...he gamified a game fundraiser.
          LOL, you can't tell me that you're a marketing professional and the wheels in your mind didn't start churning away as you went through the masterful job he did in the "updates" section. I read this post last night and I've already thought of three card games I'm ready to roll out immediately.

          Like you said though, we don't have his massive following. And that's 99% of Kickstarter; how you market it and drive in visitors. People don't realize that you earn your sales there and the social aspects don't kick in until the campaign is already soaring.

          I enjoyed your post though- I had actually planned on researching the three of them sometime this weekend just out of sheer jealousy. You did the homework for me though, so thanks!
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          • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
            Originally Posted by kk075 View Post

            LOL, you can't tell me that you're a marketing professional and the wheels in your mind didn't start churning away as you went through the masterful job he did in the "updates" section. I read this post last night and I've already thought of three card games I'm ready to roll out immediately.

            Like you said though, we don't have his massive following. And that's 99% of Kickstarter; how you market it and drive in visitors. People don't realize that you earn your sales there and the social aspects don't kick in until the campaign is already soaring.

            I enjoyed your post though- I had actually planned on researching the three of them sometime this weekend just out of sheer jealousy. You did the homework for me though, so thanks!
            I hardly think less than 5 minutes looking up his website ranking and social media followers qualifies as research. The rest I know simply by being a fan. If you need to research this further, I suggest digging in a lot deeper than I did.

            But I definitely agree - turns out they're working with the folks at Cards Against Humanity to get this game out too, which is just an added bonus for me.

            Speculation here, but remember the gamification I mentioned? Check out their updates page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-kittens/posts

            That is literally a custom cartoon drawn by the Oatmeal thanking each of his participants - because I can guarantee you everyone that backed this campaign felt like they really personally contributed, especially if they posted pictures of people wearing cat ears or pictures of Batmen in hot tubs, etc.

            These people 1) are supporting an artist they already love, 2) are getting a tangible benefit in the form of a game, and 3) already bought the game as is but got the additional thrill of being upgraded at no charge regardless of backer level, all because everyone decided to play along with silly requests.

            It's fun. Of course people want to be part of it!
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            • Profile picture of the author kk075
              Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

              I hardly think less than 5 minutes looking up his website ranking and social media followers qualifies as research. The rest I know simply by being a fan. If you need to research this further, I suggest digging in a lot deeper than I did.

              But I definitely agree - turns out they're working with the folks at Cards Against Humanity to get this game out too, which is just an added bonus for me.

              Speculation here, but remember the gamification I mentioned? Check out their updates page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-kittens/posts

              That is literally a custom cartoon drawn by the Oatmeal thanking each of his participants - because I can guarantee you everyone that backed this campaign felt like they really personally contributed, especially if they posted pictures of people wearing cat ears or pictures of Batmen in hot tubs, etc.

              These people 1) are supporting an artist they already love, 2) are getting a tangible benefit in the form of a game, and 3) already bought the game as is but got the additional thrill of being upgraded at no charge regardless of backer level, all because everyone decided to play along with silly requests.

              It's fun. Of course people want to be part of it!
              Yeah, one of my main clients is in the serious gaming realm so the gamificaton elements caught my attention immediately too. I've used similar concepts for several of my local clients in social campaigns but never to that extent, so it was really nice to see that people will go all-in when given cray objectives. Like you said though, it was the artist's following and their natural love for his stuff that made it happen.

              One thing I noticed though is that if you check out their Facebook albums with all the photos in it, there's really not as much interaction as it seems. I have a feeling that they did a lot of those photos on their own to hype the social aspect even more...which is exactly what I would do as well.

              Overall though, I just appreciate that kind of effort. I don't know those guys at all but after reading for two minutes, it felt like they were family. Because as creative writers that are always looking for new ways to grab attention, we can't help but smile when we see marketing gold.
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    This may seem too simple and common sense to mention, but it's worth a look.

    The NSFW Deck was the real offer and the perfect sweet spot.

    The other rewards raised funds, yes, but were, for all practical intents and purposes,

    decoys (to make the NSFW Deck the obvious value where the backer
    believes they came to this shrewd choice of the best deal on their own).
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    • Profile picture of the author ConversionBase
      Also, this isn't the first time he's done stuff like this.

      He used crowdfunding to help build a Tesla museum. He even got Elon Musk's attention with it.

      So yeah, he knows what he's doing
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  • Profile picture of the author Mikesweeney
    Originally Posted by Cam Connor View Post

    It's so obvious why this is converting. Come on, "the magical enchilada" pattern interrupt. Jon Benson would be proud.

    In all seriousness, I found this quite funny. I'm tempted to buy.
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