Some crowdfunding campaigns hosted on Kickstarter could teach many people the 101 of internet marketing. Few weeks ago we’ve analyzed a certain customizable bag. This time it’s time to delve into more serious business. Straws.
Final Straw appeared on Kickstarter a few days ago and managed to amass a whopping 550.000 USD in pledges. The campaign is on its way to becoming one of the biggest success stories of past months. It’s fascinating, especially when you consider the product it tries to sell. Time to take our magnifying glass and find out what makes the marketing of Final Straw work so well.
The Straw Itself
First, let’s look at the product itself and ignore everything else.
A 23 centimeters long straw made from stainless steel and medical grade TPE. All materials used are recycled. There is also a cleaning squeegee included and both components fit into a special ABS case. The straw is foldable and ends up taking barely any space in your bag or pocket. It also doesn’t weight much, and you can treat the case as a keyholder.
You use the straw to drink liquids. And that’s about it.
Idea 1: Make Them Laugh
The campaign welcomes us with a 2 minutes long video, probably the best and most viral component of the entire page. We meet a mermaid who teaches people about environment and makes some hilarious comments regarding straws and sucking. She also has a plush “turtle friend” and rescues him from choking on a plastic straw. The entire clip feels kitschy, comedic and most importantly: doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Miles Pepper, the envisioner of the Final Straw happens to be a specialist in cinematography and we can surely say, that he put his skills to use in a brilliant way.
Idea 2: Allow some customization
It might sound like something too trivial to mention, but buyers can choose the color of their straw case. You can pick between Suck-ulent Green, Shark-Butt Grey, Healthy Coral and Arctic-Melt Blue. The color names sound funny and fit the entire image of the product well. Especially the shark one.
People love customization and having color options may encourage some of them to get the product. The straw becomes much more personal, and the backers can feel important and involved in the manufacturing process.
Idea 3: Give Powerful Motivation
It’s great, when your product can solve some important problem or at least deliver powerful message. Here, the creators focus exclusively on environment. According to their data, the plastic straws, that we know from fast food joints and coffee bars, are the scourge of the earth. They pollute waters, endanger small animals and can’t be recycled. And there are 500 millions of them thrown out every day in the USA alone.
Pictures and infographics used to make the point are very convincing and illustrate the scale of the problem in a quick, digestible way. The entire environmental angle makes potential backers much more motivated to support the idea. You instantly feel, that apart from getting a cool gadget you also help in making our planet a better place.
Most pledges include small paper cards with information about how bad plastic straws are. These were made to be left at restaurant tables.
The Campaign of Final Straw
Looks like all 3 ideas described above were used really well. The campaign is funny and visually attractive. There’s little text and most data is presented in visual way. Buyers can customize their straw boxes and most importantly: the environmental message is conveyed well and seems convincing.
Right now, after a week, the campaign is still going strong. Almost 12 000 backers have pledged their precious savings to get the straw. We may have to wait a bit more for the product to release, but if it can really save baby sea turtles, I’m all in.
We love the campaign enough to call it a:
