Lead Generation for Crowdfunding Campaign on Kickstarter
How our lead gen campaign played a vital role in a UK games designer raising over half-a-million pounds from community backers across the world
to hit funding target
‘Mycelia’ is an innovative, dynamic, area control and resource game all about the life cycle of fungi, conceptualised by graphic designer Jack Neville.
We ran a campaign which contributed to a successful crowdfunding project on Kickstarter, driving half-a-million pounds in backing from more than 10,000 fans. That's 6,000% more than the initial £9,000 goal!
The Challenge
Mycelia is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and innovative board games we've ever come across. But the board gaming space is competitive (pun intended), Kickstarter can be quite a saturated platform, and the crowdfunding campaign was set to launch in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
But Jack was confident in his creation. When we met a few months prior to the Kickstarter launch, the way he spoke about the game had us enthralled. We ended up literally writing cost-per-lead targets out on a pub napkin! And days later, we had a plan in place for building a database of backers.
Our Approach
We raised awareness through video view ads across Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and then retargeted a warmed audience with a conversion campaign.
We continuously consulted with Jack to fully comprehend the nuances of his audience of board game fanatics, and engaged not just tabletop players, but mushroom enthusiasts and mycologists too.
Ad Localisation
Jack's gameplay overview videos lent themselves perfectly to our video view awareness campaigns. We tested different voiceovers — US accents vs. UK accents — to connect with different audiences around the world.
Ultimately, 67% of the Kickstarter crowdfunder's backers were based in the US. The videos were created by Chip Creative.
Social Videos
Jack's creativity, and the ingenuity of his friends and collaborators, made Mycelia's presence at gaming conferences across the UK vibrant and exciting — which is ideal for Reels and TikToks! Strong organic content kept ad-procured followers engaged for the full duration of the campaign and beyond, turning them from leads into investors, then into long-time fans.
Reddit Marketing
Social aggregation platform Reddit has a thriving community of tabletop gamers. Jack's meticulous attention to detail in designing the look and feel of Mycelia captivated the subreddit. Jack's eagerness in actioning the feedback of commenters was so authentic and attentive, a community moderator made an exception to a subreddit rule which typically prohibits posts about Kickstarter projects.
Testimonial
“Working with Trapeze on our Kickstarter campaign was one of the best decisions I made. Their strategy, creativity, and understanding of the tabletop gaming community were invaluable. They didn't just deliver leads — they built a genuine fan community around Mycelia.”— Jack Neville, Creator of Mycelia
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