UPDATE: The campaign was a major success and raised an incredible $1,045,609.

It’s really satisfying when you see a project become as successful as you knew it could be.
I recently worked with a highly innovative new start up called Dolfi to create a video for their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The video was released a week before the launch and the click count started to climb, higher and higher. Here we are, just over 2 weeks later and there have been around 150,000 views.

 

The video has been shown across the globe too, in over 10 languages. It’s been featured on some of the biggest tech and design sites, such as Trendhunter.com. It even made it onto Mail Online, the world’s most popular news site.

 

A Real Crowd at the Crowd Funding

The exposure clearly worked because as soon as the crowd-sourcing campaign started, the support started pouring in. In the first 45 minutes on Indiegogo they raised $5000 and then around $50,000 within 2 days. As I?m writing, 6 days after launching, they are at the $183,000 mark. That’s almost double their $100,000 target in just 5 days! The campaign is for 31 days so who knows how big the final figure will be. (**UPDATE – The campaign is now over $200,000 and rising)

Let’s get to the brief

So let’s have a look at why this launch has been such a success and what our aims were for the video.

When Lena Solis, the Dolfi founder, got in contact, this is what she said;

“We’re launching soon, but really struggling with getting a good video for our new product:?http://dolfi.co/

We’ve got some footage and script ready, but just can’t get it right… Had already four attempts, running out of our limited start up budget and really hope you can help.

So we looked at what they had and together we realised that the only way to make this work would be to start from scratch. 5th time lucky! Lena laughed.

 

The 6 Video Commandments

When I’m creating a top class promo video, I have a few rules that I set for myself. Some may seem obvious but you’d be amazed how often I see videos that don’t stick to these simple standards.

1) The video must be unique; it has to feel like a completely new idea.
2) The video must be memorable, striking in fact.
3) The video must have a clear message.?
4) The video has to show how the product or service is going to help the viewer.
5) The look, feel and tone of the video must be right for the target market.
6) The video has to WOW, it must create an emotionally response within the viewer.

Dolfi was no different, I thought carefully about all 6 of these action points. I worked closely with the amazing team at Dolfi to ensure we had a tight script that had a clear message and was easy to understand. We wanted to sell the benefits of the Dolfi device, as this is the key to a great crowd funding video.

Next, I filmed the Dolfi device in use and sourced whatever extra stock footage I needed, always keeping the feel and tone we wanted at the front of my mind. I then designed graphics that suited the style. I also had a 3D animation of the Cavitation process created, which is the process Dolfi uses to clean your clothes. From my research this is the first time using 3D animation that the Cavitation process has been visualised and I’m really happy with the look of the bubbles imploding, it really helps to show how the device works.

 

With all the elements in hand, I began to put the video together in the edit suit. We had a week to work on it and tweak each detail until we had a final video that we were all delighted with. We were ready for launch.

 

A Fabulous Final Product

Here is what Lena had to say when everything was done and dusted:

“I would like to say a BIG thank you for the great professional work you provided us. The video is fantastic! It’s been a pleasure to work with you and I’m looking forward to making more videos together :)”

This is exactly the type of job that makes me love the business I am in. I get to show the world a highly innovative new product and to help a great business realise their dream of bringing it to market.

Watch the Dolfi video