Difference between revisions of "Go Fund Yourself"

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When talking about success, it is important to distinguish ...
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Not only in crowdfunding, but also in every other aspect of life, achieving success is important. Therefore it is essential to analyze success when it comes to crowdfunding. At first glance, it is easy to determine what '''success in terms of crowdfunding''' is. If the funds were raised, the campaign was a successful one. If the fund raising ended in failure, the campaign was unsuccessful. There are also great amount of tips and texts from 'online society' and crowdfunding platforms that are explaining how to reach the financial goal, since that is the main reason to engage in the campaign. However, a more profound examination of the subject shows that a crowdfunding success itself is much a more complex matter. That is why the accent in this research is more on defining the term success within boundaries of crowdfunding and explaining the complexity of the success, rather than finding out the answer the question of how to successfully raise funds.
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== Definitions of success==
 
== Definitions of success==
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Business dictionary defines success as:
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''Achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. Success can also mean completing an objective or reaching a goal. Success can be expanded to encompass an entire project or be restricted to a single component of a project or task. It can be achieved within the workplace, or in an individual's personal life. For example, if an individual's personal goal is to be accepted in a new career, success would occur after the individual has been officially accepted into his or her new place of employment.'' <ref>http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/success.html#ixzz3Lcvumsua businessdictionary</ref>
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When talking about success in crowdfunding, it is important to distinguish success of '''crowdfunding campaign''' and success of '''crowdfunding project'''. These two types of success must not necessarily depend on each other, but do overlap.
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=== Crowdfunding campaign===
 
=== Crowdfunding campaign===
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- Ziele im Zeitraum während der Kampagne, direkt Verbunden mit der Kampagne
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- Definiertes Ziels: Sammeln von Ressourcen
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Strictly speaking, the success of a crowdfounding campaign seems to be clearly defined. The aim of the campaign is to raise a specific amount of capital in order to realise the project. Successful campaigns are the ones that can acquire enough attention in a particular time and reach the funding goal. On the other hand the crowdfunding campaign maybe was not successful, but it could be implemented to inspire investors and to make project successful. As said before, a profound examination shows that it is much a more complex matter, therefore the complexity of the campaign success will be one of the topics of the research.
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- Verschiedene Möglichkeiten Erfolg zu erzielen, Branchenabhängig? z.B.: Kommunikation durch Netzwerke, Präsents in den Medien, Werbung,
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Grafische Darstellungen (Optik), .. usw.
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- Klarer Erfolg: durch Erfolg von genug Ansammlung von Ressourcen oder nicht
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=== Crowdfunding project===
 
=== Crowdfunding project===
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- Ziel kann nach der Kampagne entstehen/geschehen, nicht direkt Verbunden mit der Kampagne
 
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- Durch Kampagne nicht immer ersichtliches Ziel, z.B.: Werbung, Aufmerksamkeit/Nachdenklichkeit wecken, schockieren, Investoren begeistern  usw.
 
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- Erfolg ist nicht so sehr gebunden an Kampagne
 
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Eine Kampagne kann Erfolgreich sein, dieser Erfolg muss jedoch nicht mit dem Erfolg des Projekts an sich zusammenhängen.
 
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Interessant wird die Analyse in den Beispielen, in welchen der Erfolg der Crowd Founding Kampagne nicht gleich auch den Erfolg des Projekts bedeutet und umgekehrt.
 
  
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== Statistics per category==
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The success of a crowdfunded project is slightly harder and a little more abstract.
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It is important to consider the goals that were set before the campaign. Goals of the project can still change during the campaign or even afterwards and are not clear and definite.
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On one hand a successful campaign doesn’t necessarily mean a successful project. Often after a successful campaign the initiative and motivation to realise the project is missing, or the campaign has served only to advertise the upcoming project.
  
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[[File:Graphics that show statistic per category.jpg|200px|thumb|right]]
 
  
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A variety of factors influence the end result of a Crowd funding campaign, such as: the platform being used, seriousness in approach to the project, proper social networking, use of media in explanation of the project, realistic projection of funding goals, research of the best suitable rewards, and so on . However, success of the project can also have something to do with the category it belongs to. Some categories are more interesting for potential donors and more popular than others. 'Market' saturation is another element that influences potential success in a way that the large number of project in a category will result in a lower success rate. That is why it is important to analyze and compare categories based on the current number of projects and success rates, and to see if the link between success of the campaign and the category it belongs to can be made.
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In order to better understand the problem, success in crowdfunding was examined both trough analyzing the success rate in categories to which the project belongs to, and trough analyzing some of the famous campaigns and projects. The goal was to see what makes a crowdfunding campaign and a project successful, is there a 'formula' that leads to successful fund raising, and does the campaign influence the success of the project and if that is the case, how do they overlap.  
  
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The overall success rate for projects hosted on the biggest and most successful platform  -('Kickstarter') is approximately 44% (as of January 2014), which means that more than half of the crowdfunding campaigns do not reach their ultimate funding goals. Nevertheless, some categories have better rates than others do. While these statistics are based on Kickstarter projects, they can apply to all of the crowdfunding industry.
 
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Dance and Theatre with their 71% and 64% success rates are the most successful categories on this platform. The most unsuccessful categories are Publishing and Fashion with 32% and 30% success rates. Astonishingly, Games and Technology are one of the categories with the lowest rates of success (both have only 35%), being that games and technology projects were responsible for the blooming of the crowdfunding platforms. With its 40% and 48% rates, Film and Art stand in the middle of the Success Rate Graph.
 
  
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Another important parameter in analyzing statistical data is the number of the projects, where it can be seen that the most popular categories are Film and Video (with a total number of 29624 projects) and Music (with a total number of 24707 projects). Games has 6841, Technology 2887, Art 10374, whilst Dance has only 1517 projects.
 
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The statistics also show that when it comes to average funding per Campaign, category Games is on the second place with 36,162.84 $. Technology, which is one of most unsuccessful categories, is on the first place with 40,095.29 $, while Dance has only 10,572.08$, whilst Art has only an average of a 4895,00 $ per campaign. Even though category Games is one of the least successful, it has also in total the highest gross of 160 Million Dollars. It is somewhat a paradox, and it has to do with the fact that a successful game a lot of times gets overfunded and exceeds its funding goal (Game Broken age had exceeded the $400,000 goal with more than $3.3 million from over 87,000 backers).
 
  
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What the data shows is that a link between the rate of success and the average funding per campaign can be found. Two of the most successful categories, Dance and Theater, have also one of the lowest funding goals. Furthermore, Games and Technology, one of the least successful categories have also the highest funding goals. A grate success of the Dance has probably a lot to do with the low funding goals and the fact that there are 1,3 % of the dance crowdfunding campaigns.
 
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Another aspect that should be analyzed is sociological, where the dance and art 'offline' society is a rather stronger connected, as appose to 'games' society. With a small funding goals and with the first ring of the donations that are based on the friends and family pledges,  it is simpler for an artist or a dances to come to it's goal.
 
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However, majority of the campaigns don't even surpass the first step of the funding, and near 80% of them never raised more than 20 % of their goal.
 
  
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==Project analysis==
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== Statistics per Category==
  
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=== Broken age===
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[[File:Graphics that show statistic per category.jpg|550px|thumb|right]]
  
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[[\Broken Age]] is an episodic point-and-click adventure video game, Tim Schafer’s first return to the genre since 1998’s Grim Fandango.  
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A variety of factors influence the end result of a crowdfunding campaign, such as: the platform being used, seriousness in approach to the project, proper social networking, use of media in explanation of the project, realistic projection of funding goals, research of the best suitable rewards, and so on . However, success of the project can also have something to do with the category it belongs to. Some categories are more interesting for potential donors and more popular than others. 'Market' saturation is another element that influences potential success in a way that the large number of project in a category will result in a lower success rate. That is why it is important to analyze and compare categories based on the current number of projects and success rates, and to see if the link between success of the campaign and the category it belongs to can be made.
  
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Broken Age began under the working title Double Fine Adventure as a Kickstarter crowdfunded project promoted by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions in February 2012. Originally a goal of $400,000 was set to cover the costs of development and documentary filming, it became the largest crowdfunded video game project at the time, raising over $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers within the month. It remains one of the highest-backed crowdfunded projects of any type, and its success helped to establish Kickstarter and other crowdfunding mechanisms as a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and publisher funding for niche video game titles.
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The overall success rate for projects hosted on the biggest and most successful platform  -('Kickstarter')<ref>http://www.crowdlifted.com/news/2014/1/kickstarter-success-rates-and-the-beautiful-dance-of-data</ref><ref>http://www.crowdlifted.com/news/2014/1/crowdfunding-flops-kickstarter-campaign-failure-rates-by-category</ref><ref>https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats</ref> is approximately 44% (as of January 2014), which means that more than half of the crowdfunding campaigns do not reach their ultimate funding goals. Nevertheless, some categories have better rates than others do. While these statistics are based on Kickstarter projects, they can apply to all of the crowdfunding industry.
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Dance and Theatre with their 71% and 64% success rates are the most successful categories on this platform. The most unsuccessful categories are Publishing and Fashion with 32% and 30% success rates. Astonishingly, Games and Technology are one of the categories with the lowest rates of success (both have only 35%), being that games and technology projects were responsible for the blooming of the crowdfunding platforms. With its 40% and 48% rates, Film and Art stand in the middle of the Success Rate Graph.  
  
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The adventure game genre was selected to offer the public a product that would not have existed without their support, and help to distinguish the project from the developer’s publisher-financed work. Schafer, a veteran of LucasArts, has long been associated with adventure games, a genre that has long been stigmatized as commercially niche, particularly since the release of Schafer’s own Grim Fandango. Schafer explained that the game will not be “museum” or “nostalgia” work, but instead “It’s going to be fresh and feel modern and feel like what the next game would have been if I’d made one straight after Grim Fandango”.
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Another important parameter in analyzing statistical data is the number of the projects, where it can be seen that the most popular categories are Film and Video (with a total number of 29624 projects) and Music (with a total number of 24707 projects). Games has 6841, Technology 2887, Art 10374, whilst Dance has only 1517 projects.
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The statistics also show that when it comes to average funding per Campaign, category Games is on the second place with 36,162.84 $. Technology, which is one of most unsuccessful categories, is on the first place with 40,095.29 $, while Dance has only 10,572.08$, whilst Art has only an average of a 4895,00 $ per campaign. Even though category Games is one of the least successful, it has also in total the highest gross of 160 Million Dollars. It is somewhat a paradox, and it has to do with the fact that a successful game a lot of times gets overfunded and exceeds its funding goal (Game Broken age had exceeded the $400,000 goal with more than $3.3 million from over 87,000 backers).  
  
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Double Fine set the goal for the project at $400,000, with $100,000 allocated to the film production and $300,000 for the game. Although this was the largest goal of any gaming project yet on Kickstarter, it was the lowest budget the company had worked with, and a small fraction of the budget of the company’s previous downloadable games, which cost around $2 million. Schafer admitted that a game made for this budget would be “hobbled,” and that the budget was chosen because it was the absolute minimum he thought he could make an adventure game for. The two had originally envisioned a total $200,000 budget, a typical cost for an iOS game, but Schafer had doubts about whether Double Fine could deliver a game for such a low cost.
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The data shows that a link between the rate of success and the average funding per campaign can be found. Two of the most successful categories, Dance and Theater, have also one of the lowest funding goals. Furthermore, Games and Technology, one of the least successful categories have also the highest funding goals. A grate success of the Dance has probably a lot to do with the low funding goals and the fact that there are 1,3 % of the dance crowdfunding campaigns.
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Another aspect that should be analyzed is sociological, where the dance and art 'offline' society is a rather stronger connected, as appose to 'games' society. With a small funding goals and with the first ring of the donations that are based on the friends and family pledges,  it is simpler for an artist or a dances to come to it's goal.
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However, majority of the campaigns don't even surpass the first step of the funding, and near 80% of them never raised more than 20 % of their goal.
  
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Various incentives were given to those that pledged $15 or more, including the game itself, early beta access to the game, access to private community areas to discuss the game, prints, and invitations to meet with the Double Fine staff. Further rewards were added through a second update two weeks into the effort, including digital soundtracks, physical copies of the game and documentary, and an art book.In launching the Kickstarter project, Double Fine claimed it was the first major studio to use the model for the funding of a game.
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==Projects' analysis==
  
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Within nine hours, the Kickstarter project had exceeded the $400,000 goal. Within 24 hours, it had surpassed $1 million.  Kickstarter stated on the day after its start that the Double Fine effort is the most successful to date, having attracted more backers than any prior effort in the site’s history while others have noted it is the second project – the Elevation Dock project being the first – to achieve more than $1 million in funding through Kickstarter. The Double Fine project passed the $2 million mark on February 20, 2012, twelve days after fund raising began. The Kickstarter closed on March 13 with more than $3.3 million from over 87,000 backers, and with another $110,000 promised by premium backers. Schafer stated that the total funding was nearly the same as the budget for their previous downloadable titles.
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In a large number of projects that were presented in Kickstarter or Indiegogo  or another crowdfunding platform, few project were highlighted because of their unique approach to the campaign, great ideas, amount of raised money, popularity and success or in the other hand failure after the crowdfunding campaign.
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These highlighted projects are presenting a different combination of success that can come out from one crowdfunding campaign. Some of them can be described like successful in terms of champagne and realized project while others became successful only in one of this field, or not successful at all.
  
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The success of the fundraising campaign established crowd-sourcing as a challenge to publisher funding (and control) for multi-million dollar projects. John Walker from Rock, Paper, Shotgun was quick to point out that this doesn’t pose a major threat to publishers on a large scale, but added that it would force publishers to ask themselves questions such as “Are we really in touch with our audience’s desires?”. Johnny Cullen of VG247 compared the Double Fine Kickstarter to the release of Radiohead’s album In Rainbows, which the band had sold through their website in a pay-what-you-want model prior to a physical printing, without the interference of a music publisher. Cullen noted the model of crowd-sourcing has previously not worked for some game developers, and does not expect it to be a guaranteed success for future efforts, as he believes Double Fine is a unique studio with a dedicated fan base, aspects that are not shared by all developers.
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=== Broken Age===
  
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Initial commentary largely framed Double Fine as exceptional, citing Double Fine’s reputation, experience with the under-serviced genre, and history of difficulty with publisher funding as reasons why Double Fine’s case was unique. Initially, many remained skeptical that such a level of success could be replicated. Schafer further agreed that the success of the Double Fine Kickstarter would be somewhat difficult to replicate for other games, even for Double Fine, as it would require the project to be “a good story for people to get behind”.
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[[Broken Age]] is an episodic point-and-click adventure video game, Tim Schafer’s first return to the genre since 1998’s Grim Fandango.  
  
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Initial fears that this success would be isolated were allayed as new projects emerged. As the Double Fine Adventure campaign closed, Brian Fargo of inXile Entertainment launched a Kickstarter to fund development of the sequel Wasteland 2, which met its target of $900,000 in funding within two days,and eventually raised more than $2.9 million. Double Fine Adventure brought in 61,692 new users to Kickstarter, and greatly increased the platform’s visibility and viability for funding of games projects. Within the six weeks following the launch of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter, the site raised more than $2.9 million in pledges (outside of the Double Fine project) for video game related projects, compared with $1.7 million total for the category in the prior two years, as well as increasing the amount of funding coming into projects of all categories. In October, Project Eternity surpassed Double Fine’s funding record, further suggesting the crowd-funding model will continue to be a part of the gaming landscape.
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Broken Age began under the working title Double Fine Adventure as a Kickstarter crowdfunded project promoted by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions in February 2012. Originally a goal of $400,000 was set to cover the costs of development and documentary filming, it became the largest crowdfunded video game project at the time, raising over $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers within the month. It remains one of the highest-backed crowdfunded projects of any type, and its success helped to establish Kickstarter and other crowdfunding mechanisms as a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and publisher funding for niche video game titles.
  
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The success of Double Fine Adventure has had a particularly visible impact on the adventure genre, inspiring several other established adventure game developers to use Kickstarter as a means to return to the genre. In the months following its release, the creators of Broken Sword, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest and Tex Murphy have all managed to raise amounts in excess of Schafer’s original goal of $400,000.
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===ILLO: Birth of the Cool===
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Raylight Games, attempted to fund its  [[Illo: Birth of the Cool]] – via both Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The game is a surreal puzzle adventure, designed for platforms with tilt, touch and microphone inputs, including iOS, Android, PlayStation Move, Kinect, Wii U, PS Vita and 3DS.
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The campaing started on Nov 23, 2012. The number that they tried to reach was 270 000 $. Both campaigns ultimately failed to generate the funds needed to continue development Due to its lack of succes, the campaign was cancelled 10 days before its scheduled December 3 end date.They only managed to collect 2945 $ from 28 backers on Kickstarter.
  
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===ILLO: Birth of Cool===
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===Marina Abramovic Institute===
  
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Raylight Games, attempted to fund its  Illo: Birth of the Cool – via both Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The game is a surreal puzzle adventure, designed for platforms with tilt, touch and microphone inputs, including iOS, Android, PlayStation Move, Kinect, Wii U, PS Vita and 3DS.  
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Marina Abramović is as one of the most progressive and devoted long-duration performers. Marina is setting up an experience performance center inspired by her own latest project. Abramovic aims to put art, science, technology and spirituality together in the "[[Marina Abramović Institute]]", a dynamic museum which displays what she calls "long durational work." All visitors will become active participants in the art.
  
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The campaing started on Nov 23, 2012. Due to its lack of succes, the campaign was cancelled 10 days before its scheduled December 3 end date.They only managed to collect 2945 $.
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===New York City Opera===
  
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The number that they tried to reach was 270 000 $. Both campaigns ultimately failed to generate the funds needed to continue development, but Raylight continued to pitch the game to potential partners and investors, eventually grabbing the attention of a small investor that has allowed them to take the next step.
 
  
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This example proves that crowdfunding services became  not only parameter for “today interests”, but also possible trendsetting area for the things to come. Crowdfunding services have become windows of opportunity for investors that they can use to fund project that did not have first appeal to common backers. This gives also opportunities for inventors. It is almost safe to say that in future, there will be “profesional backers, that see oportunities other backers do not see.
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[[The People’s Opera – New York City Opera]] – has focused on producing unique works, showcasing emerging young artists, and educating the next generation of performing arts lovers. Throughout its history as The People's Opera, NYC Opera has made opera accessible and affordable. People opera exists to give everyone an alternative artistic experience, unique and accessible to all.
  
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Leading to conclusion, it is possible to notice that crowdfunding campaigns will take in the future much more important rolle in economonical sence. This might lead to completely new course in development of society. At the moment, it is impossible to say to which extend. It todays world much money would be spend on developing the product, getting reactions from consumers and eventually promoting it as starts to produce. With crowdfunding campaigns, it will develop quitte different. Through crowdfunding campaign be already most of those thing visible. Promotion of projects will be accomplished with reactions of possible backers which will show the nessesity of product its self. Prior to all knowledges collected during the capaign, products will have much lesser procent of risk.
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===Veronica Mars=== 
  
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Crowdfunding campaigns have not only opportunity factor, but they can provide much bigger picture of the thing to come in future for investors because they provide strong picture of the current situation on the market. Chances that the investor will get in risky situations are significentaly smaller after the have been filtered trough crowdfunding campaingns. On the other side crowdfunding platforms make inventros much more vissible on the market and they do it for free at the begining. Eventually they charge certain procent of collected money, but that happens only if the campaign had success.
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[[Veronica Mars]] is a American neo-noir mystery comedy-drama film adaptation based on Thomas' UPN/CW television series of the same name (2004-2007). It is co-written, produced, and directed by Rob Thomas and co-written with Diane Ruggiero and Kristen Bell as the title character.
  
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===Marina Abramović Institute===
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===Darci’s walk of shame===
  
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25 August 2014., the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) Kickstarter campaign successfully surpassed its $600,000 its funding goal with 4,765 backers contributing a grand total of $661,452.
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The movie, [[Darci's Walk of Shame]] is a romantic comedy about a unemployed school teacher who travels alone to her sister's wedding in Thailand, has a affair with one of the waiters and  then must endure “a very long, confusing walk of shame in a ridiculously bright coloured taffeta bridesmaid’s gown”. Melissa Joan Hart, the star of the 1990s tween sitcoms 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' and 'Clarissa Explains it All', should have had a leading role in this movie.
  
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Marina is setting up an experience performance center inspired by her own latest project. Abramovic aims to put art, science, technology and spirituality together in the "Marina Abramovic Institute," a dynamic museum which displays what she calls "long durational work." All visitors will become active participants in the art.
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===The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint or "Da sweet blood of Jesus"===
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This champagne is a proof that large and expensive projects can be crowdfunded.
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The costs of the project are expected at 20.000.000 dollars. Marina funded the first phase herself. She purchased the building for $950,000 and donated it to the institute. She funded the budget of the MAI office for six months and commissioned the architectural concept (Shohei Shigematsu, Rem Koolhaas). Marina has paid $1.5 million out of pocket towards the early stages of MAI.
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The reason why she chose to fund the institute through Kickstarter as opposed to private investors was that MAI hoped to gain not only seed money, but to create a community of people around the institute.
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Marina personally thanked all those who contributed to the creation of MAI by hugging every backer of this Kickstarter at a live event called “The Eembrace”. This event took place in two locations, one in New York City and one in London.
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Status on Marina Abramovic facebook profile (6.10.2014.):
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[[The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint]] is a new movie from Spike Lee Jones and in a description on Kickstarter page is written that is new kind of love story. Movie about Human beings who are addicted to Blood. Funny, Sexy and Bloody. After being stabbed with an ancient, cursed dagger, Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams) develops a lust for blood.
  
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“We would like to extend our gratitude to all of the MAI Founders who joined Marina Abramovic and the MAI team at The Embrace this past Saturday at Kickstarter HQ in New York and on September 22nd at Serpentine Galleries in London. We'd also like to thank those who participated in the events via live stream.”
 
  
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From this point of view, after the champagne ended, Marinas financial supporting was very important for a first phase. People realized that she strongly believes in her idea and backed the project.
 
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She is also celebrated artist who made many successful performance art projects. She has a background in a field of performance art and many supporters in art community. She had also support from celebrity (Lady Gaga and Jay-Z).
 
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===New York City Opera===
 
  
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We can compare some projects from the same category for example the NYC Opera’s campaign with the most successful arts campaign to date, The Marina Abramovic Institute. It’s a useful comparison for a few reasons: both campaigns are by well-known arts brands located in New York City, fundraising within a few weeks of each other. Abramovic is a Serbian performance artist who has been active for three decades; The NYC Opera has been operating for 70 years. Of course, Abramovic was asking for $600,000 rather than $1 million. But with the NYC Opera seeming unlikely to raise even a fraction of Abramovic’s total, we need to look beyond the target amount.
  
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The People’s Opera – New York City Opera – has focused on producing unique works, showcasing emerging young artists, and educating the next generation of performing arts lovers. Throughout its history as The People's Opera, NYC Opera has made opera accessible and affordable. People opera exists to give everyone an alternative artistic experience, unique and accessible to all. And now NYC Opera needed help to produce its upcoming season.
 
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The New York City Opera has raised only $301,019 and the goal was 1 million dollars.
 
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Funding for this project was canceled by the project creator on September 30, 2013.
 
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The 'People's Opera' has struggled in recent years. It closed its doors in 2008 for a refurbishment that coincided with the Financial Crisis, and has struggled to make ends meet since then. Organizers describe the crowdfunding campaign as 'urgent', but it is only a slice of a larger call for $7 million by the end of September.
 
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New York City Opera did not achieve the goal on Kickstarter but they have raised $1.5 million outside of Kickstarter, but they still have not reached the goal.
 
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Even in an urgent situation, $1 million is a big ask for an arts project. We can compare the NYC Opera’s campaign with the most successful arts campaign to date, The Marina Abramovic Institute.
 
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It’s a useful comparison for a few reasons: both campaigns are by well-known arts brands located in New York City, fundraising within a few weeks of each other. Abramovic is a Serbian performance artist who has been active for three decades; The NYC Opera has been operating for 70 years. Of course, Abramovic was asking for $600,000 rather than $1 million. But with the NYC Opera seeming unlikely to raise even a fraction of Abramovic’s total, we need to look beyond the target amount.
 
 
The average pledge to the campaigns is similar - the mean pledge for the Abramovic campaign was $139 compared with a current mean of $125 for the NY Opera. But that’s where the similarity in pledging activity ends.
 
The average pledge to the campaigns is similar - the mean pledge for the Abramovic campaign was $139 compared with a current mean of $125 for the NY Opera. But that’s where the similarity in pledging activity ends.
 
Rewards for the pledgers of NYC Opera are moustly the tickets for the performances. But the problem with theater tickets is that they are in-person rewards. If a backer isn’t based in New York or willing to travel there, they’re essentially useless. If the backers are outside the NY, NYC Opera is offering only a choice of a tote bag, desktop wallpaper, an mp3 playlist curated by the Opera’s artistic director and a CD or DVD.
 
Rewards for the pledgers of NYC Opera are moustly the tickets for the performances. But the problem with theater tickets is that they are in-person rewards. If a backer isn’t based in New York or willing to travel there, they’re essentially useless. If the backers are outside the NY, NYC Opera is offering only a choice of a tote bag, desktop wallpaper, an mp3 playlist curated by the Opera’s artistic director and a CD or DVD.
Line 102: Line 88:
 
For $1,000 “Marina will perform the Abramovic Method eye gazing exercise with you via webcam. You may document this experience in any way you’d like and opt to include it in MAI digital archives.”
 
For $1,000 “Marina will perform the Abramovic Method eye gazing exercise with you via webcam. You may document this experience in any way you’d like and opt to include it in MAI digital archives.”
  
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===Veronica Mars=== 
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Another useful comparison is from the film category. Two crowdfunding campaigns were launched via Kickstarter at the same time, with the same goal, but at the end with different success. Veronica Mars movie pledged $5,702,153 of 2,000,000 goal and Darci’s Walk of Shame collected only $51,605 from 315 fans. Few possible reasons for failed campaign could be the facts that Darci’s Walk of Shame campaign didn’t include trailer or poster. They believed that Melissa Joan Hart’s popularity is enough to raise 2,000,000 dollars without making too much effort in crowfunding campaign. Veronika Mars movie didn’t need trailer because the movie should be the extension of the Veronika Mars series. The fans already know what it is about. Team that worked on Darci’s Walk of Shame campaign didn’t let the fans know exactly what the project was. One of the reasons for failed campaign was also the gifts. Gift for the pledger who gave 10,000 dollars for Veronika Mars movie was one scene in the movie and for the same amount of money Darci’s Walk of Shame reward was that cast will appear at pledger’s wedding and Melissa and her co-stars will toast bride and groom.
  
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This project was successfully funded on April 13, 2013. on Kickstarter.
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Leading to conclusion, it is possible to notice that crowdfunding campaigns will take in the future much more important rolle in economonical sence. This might lead to completely new course in development of society. At the moment, it is impossible to say to which extend. It todays world much money would be spend on developing the product, getting reactions from consumers and eventually promoting it as starts to produce. With crowdfunding campaigns, it will develop quitte different. Through crowdfunding campaign be already most of those thing visible. Promotion of projects will be accomplished with reactions of possible backers which will show the nessesity of product its self. Prior to all knowledges collected during the capaign, products will have much lesser procent of risk.
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It had 91,585 backers.  
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They pledged $5,702,153 of $2,000,000 goal.        
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The movie earned on Box office $3.5 million.
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Veronica Mars is a American neo-noir mystery comedy-drama movie. It is sequel, film adaptation based on Thomas' UPN/CW television series of the same name (2004-2007). The movie is co-written, produced, and directed by Rob Thomas and co-written with Diane Ruggiero. Kristen Bell has role as the title character. Its executive producers are Joel Silver, Bell, and Jenny Hinkey. Warner Bros. Pictures opened the film in the United States theatrically and on video-on-demand on March 14, 2014.
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Crowdfunding campaigns have not only opportunity factor, but they can provide much bigger picture of the thing to come in future for investors because they provide strong picture of the current situation on the market. Chances that the investor will get in risky situations are significentaly smaller after the have been filtered trough crowdfunding campaingns. On the other side crowdfunding platforms make inventros much more vissible on the market and they do it for free at the begining. Eventually they charge certain procent of collected money, but that happens only if the campaign had success.
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The series was never a hit TV show and it was canceled after 3 seasons, in 2007. Rob Thomas wrote a feature film script continuing the storyline, but at the time Warner Bros didn't want to fund the project. Rob tweeted that if fans would pledge $2 million by 11 p.m. April 12, Warner Bros would put into production a “Veronica Mars” movie. The film would get a limited theatrical release early next year, and the studio would foot the bills for marketing, promotion and distribution.Thomas and Kristen Bell launched on March 13, 2013, a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, offering various rewards to those who donate. They have created a video for a campaign and Bell, Thomas, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, and Jason Dohring appeared in it.
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Thomas used Twitter to promote a campaign.
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He tweeted excitedly:“The record time to $1M on Kickstarter is 7 hours. Can we top that? Can we make it there in 5? $80K to go!”
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The campaign hit $1 million at 3:06 p.m. Eastern time — just four hours after it was launched, setting a Kickstarter record.
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• Fastest project to reach $1 million.
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• Fastest project to reach $2 million.
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• All-time highest-funded project in FILM category.
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• Third highest-funded project in Kickstarter history.
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• Most project backers of any project in Kickstarter history.
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The aim of  campaign,  to persuade Warner Bros (it owned the rights) – that there is demand for the film was fulfilled. Rob Thomas wrote: "I suppose we could fail in spectacular fashion." But they didn't.
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This campaign contains interesting and motivational awards for donors. It is probably also one of the main reasons of project success. It is important good to write and to explain what you get for your money. Here are some most interesting ones.
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Pledge $1 or more
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eternal gratitude, plus you'll receive exclusive backer updates throughout the production.
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Pledge $10 or more
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pdf of the shooting script on the day of the movie’s release. Additionally, you will receive regular updates and behind-the-scenes scoop throughout the fundraising and movie making process.
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Pledge $25 or more
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limited-edition “Veronica Mars - The Movie” T-shirt available only to Kickstarter backers.Plus the pdf of the shooting script and you will receive regular updates and behind-the-scenes scoop throughout the fundraising and movie making process.
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Pledge $35 or more
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You will receive a digital version of the movie within a few days of the movie’s theatrical debut, plus the T-shirt, plus the pdf of the shooting script. Naturally, you will also receive regular updates and behind-the-scenes scoop throughout the fundraising and movie making process.
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Pledge $50 or more
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You’ll receive everything listed above, plus you’ll receive a physical DVD of the movie that will include a documentary on the making of the Veronica Mars movie and the history-making Kickstarter campaign, plus other bonus features not available on the digital download.
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Pledge $100 or more
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You’ll receive everything listed above -- the updates, the script, the T-shirt, the digital version, the movie poster. Additionally, you’ll receive a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack that includes the documentary on the making of the Veronica Mars movie, plus other exclusive bonus features not available on the digital version.
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Pledge $750 or more
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150 backers All gone!
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Two tickets to the red carpet Veronica Mars movie premiere in New York City that will be attended by the cast and creators. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, the digital version of the movie, the T-shirt and a pdf of the shooting script.
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Pledge $1,000 or more
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100 backers All gone!
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Two tickets to the red carpet Veronica Mars movie premiere in Los Angeles attended by the cast and creators, plus two tickets to the exclusive after-party also attended by the cast and creators. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, the digital version of the movie, the T-shirt and a pdf of the shooting script.
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Pledge $2,500 or more
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20 backers All gone!
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Be a featured background extra in the Veronica Mars movie. You’ll spend the day on the set. We’ll put you in the background (or foreground!) of scenes. You’ll eat lunch with the cast and crew. We’ll do our best to feature our Kickstarter extras in the scenes, but we can’t promise every extra will make the final cut. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, the digital version of the movie, the T-shirt and a pdf of the shooting script.
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Pledge $5,000 or more
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4 backers Limited (1 left of 5)
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At this price point, we will rent out a theater in your home town — or a town near you — and have a screening for up to 50 guests. We’ll do our best to schedule the screening before the theatrical release of the film. Worst case — the first week of the theatrical run. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, the digital download of the movie, the T-shirt and a pdf of the shooting script.
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Pledge $10,000
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1 backer All gone!
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You will get a speaking role in the movie. Here’s the scene — Veronica is eating with the man in her life. Things have gotten tense between them. You are the waiter/waitress. You approach the table, and you say, “Your check, sir.” We guarantee you will be on camera as you say the line. Unless you go all hammy and ruin the scene and we have to cut you out, but that would be a sad day for all of us. Just say the line. Don’t over-think it. You’re a waiter. Your motivation is to turn over the table.
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This success encouraged Warner Bros and it became  the first major studio to release a movie associated with crowdfunding. It was released online and in theaters at the same time – a practice known as “day-and-date” that is typically reserved for independent films.
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Film was released in March 2014, and it earned for its opening weekend $2m in box-office in the US. Movie was available the same day on Amazon, iTunes and other video-on-demand services. "For a movie to be released in selected theaters in multiple countries and available to rent and purchase and watch on-demand worldwide, all on the same day? It's pretty much unheard of," wrote Thomas.
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The success of this crowdfunding campaign inspired a lot of people and brought up some questions.
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This project is the proof that cancelled TV shows with a help from fans can find a new life. The Veronica Mars movie is also part of a wider movement breaking down the barriers between cinematic and digital releases for films.
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Zach Braff also made a campaign on kickstarter to fund a movie Wish I Was Here, the sequel of his 2004 film (Garden State).
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  “After I saw the incredible way Veronica Mars fans rallied around Kristen Bell and her show’s creator Rob Thomas, I couldn’t help but think … maybe there is a new way to finance smaller,
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  personal films that didn’t involve signing away all your artistic control,” Braff wrote on Kickstarter.
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===Darci’s walk of shame===
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Funding for this project was canceled by the project creator on May 13, 2013.
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It had 315 backers.
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They pledged $51,605 of $2,000,000 goal.
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Melissa Joan Hart launched a fundraising campaign Kickstarter for a movie where she should have a leading role. Melissa is the star of the 1990s tween sitcoms 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' and 'Clarissa Explains it All'.
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The movie, 'Darci's walk of shame'  is described as a romantic comedy about a unemployed schoolteacher who travels alone to her sister's wedding in Thailand, has a affair with one of the waiters and  then must endure “a very long, confusing walk of shame in a ridiculously bright coloured taffeta bridesmaid’s gown”.
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In a promotional video Melissa told fans: “I need your help to prove to people that I’m more than just Clarissa or Sabrina.” Project wasn't connected with a facebook and didn't had a poster and a trailer.
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Hart also pleaded for fans to take a "leap of faith" in donating and "do what Hollywood won't, and that is to take a chance on me as the lead of a romantic comedy film." She also asked fans to give her the first leading film role she's had since "Drive Me Crazy," in 1999.
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Hart hoped to raise $2 million in fan donations but after about a month collected only $51,605 from 315 fans.The Kickstarter fundraising page was shut down on May 13, 2013.
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One of the reasons of not successfull campaign is maybe not so attractive, not original awards for donating money. Here are some:
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Pledge $1 or more
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77 backers
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At just $1, you can still be a part of the project, and you'll receive exclusive backer updates throughout the production! Every $1 will help Darci take her walk of shame.
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Estimated delivery: May 2013
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Pledge $10 or more
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59 backers
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You will receive a PDF of the shooting script after the film’s release. Additionally, you will receive updates and information as we prep and shoot the film.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Pledge $25 or more
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48 backers
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You will be sent a limited-edition Darci’s Walk of Shame T-shirt. Wear it proudly, but if you wear it out for a night on the town, keep another shirt handy just in case you meet a special someone and want to avoid your own, personal walk of shame. In addition, you’ll also receive the PDF of the shooting script.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $35 or more
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43 backers
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You will receive a digital download of the movie within a few days of the movie’s theatrical debut, or the same day of the DVD release. You will also receive the PDF of the shooting script.
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***AS IN THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION, THIS AWARD IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO U.S. AND CANADA BACKERS.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Pledge $100 or more
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2 backers Limited (398 left of 400)
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ADVANCE BACKERS' SCREENING and Q&A IN LONDON
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Yes, that's right. London. Why London? You can ask Melissa and Tibor after the screening at the Q&A! You'll also receive the T-Shirt and movie poster. You will have to provide your own travel and accommodations in London.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Pledge $100 or more
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3 backers Limited (97 left of 100)
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Two of our main cast members (not Melissa Joan Hart) will follow you on Twitter for a full year. We don't know who they are yet, but we know you'll want them following you (on Twitter only)! You'll also receive the limited edition T-shirt and the PDF of the shooting script.
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Pledge $200 or more
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3 backers
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You will receive a physical, paper copy of the shooting script, signed by Melissa Joan Hart and the cast-to-be-named-later. You will also receive the official movie poster and the DVD. These items will be shipped within the first few days after the movie’s release.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Only ships to: United States
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Only ships to: United States
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Pledge $250 or more
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16 backers Limited (84 left of 100)
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You will receive an on-screen thank you during the end credits of the film! You and 99 others will be specially thanked for your help in making this film possible. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster and the DVD.
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***Another disclaimer! We will do everything in our power to make sure your name is spelled correctly and we don’t miss any names or leave anyone out. However, mistakes are made, and if we make one here, be assured there is no intent. We ask for your forgiveness, with the understanding that once the film is released, we won’t be able to make any changes.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Pledge $500 or more
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0 backers Limited (100 left of 100)
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Melissa Joan Hart will record up to a 20 second outgoing voicemail message for you. You can decide the content (in good taste, please). We’ll also send you a few suggested greetings to choose from. You will receive this award in the form of an mp3. You’ll also get a signed movie poster, a DVD and the PDF of the movie shooting script.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $1,000 or more
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4 backers Limited (96 left of 100)
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Two tickets to the red carpet “Darci’s Walk of Shame” premiere in Hollywood, California, to be attended by the cast and filmmakers, plus two tickets to the exclusive after-party, also attended by the cast and creators. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the DVD and the PDF of the shooting script.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $5,000 or more
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0 backers Limited (5 left of 5)
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You will receive an original costume worn in the film by Melissa Joan Hart. It might be a dress, it might be a beautiful pair of shoes, but it will come with a certificate of authenticity signed by Melissa, along with a photograph of Melissa from the film wearing your item.
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You’ll also receive the DVD, the signed poster and the PDF of the shooting script.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Pledge $8,000 or more
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0 backers Limited (4 left of 4)
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Be an Associate Producer! You will receive on-screen credit in the final end titles of the film as “Associate Producer.” You’ll be invited to a day on the set (you pay for travel) and you’ll get your own director’s chairback with your name and title (chair not included). If you can’t make it to the set, you’ll still get the chairback and you will see your name on screen. You’ll also receive two tickets to the Hollywood premiere and after-party, where as an Associate Producer, you get to…associate with the producer! (You pay for travel, lodging and transportation)
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You’ll also get the signed script, movie poster and DVD. If you come to the set and you’re really nice, the director might even let you yell “Action!”
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***ANY MINOR MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN, AND YOU MUST HAVE A VALID PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO LOCATION.
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Pledge $10,000
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0 backers Limited (2 left of 2)
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Darci’s Walk of Shame takes place at a wedding. At this award level, our cast will “appear” at your wedding! We will make a personalized video from our set that you can play at your event (or on You Tube, or both). Melissa and her co-stars will toast you, send their best wishes for your happiness, and if you’d like, introduce you to your guests as husband and wife for the first time! It’s a video experience that will last a lifetime.
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P.S.: You’ll also receive the signed script, movie poster, T-shirt and DVD.
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Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
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Melissa Joan Hart gave a statement for a Los Angeles Times explaining the possible reasons for failed campaign.
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"We didn’t give fans the two things it takes to sell a movie: a poster and a trailer. I really think that’s where we missed the boat."
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She also explains that her team didn't "let the fans know exactly what the project was," and that perhaps it would have been a good idea to get a full cast on board before launching the campaign. "We thought we could do it based on 'Hey, here's Melissa. You've liked what she's done, check out what she's going to do next,'" she says.
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Some comments on Kickstarter page can describe why campaign didn't succeed.
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''I think the people that created this need to be a whole lot more humble. "Two of our main cast members (not Melissa) will follow you" Honestly??
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  I love you Mel, but I can't, I just can't. I hope you give this another shot though and this time succesful.''
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Wrote Gui Omena on May 12, 2013
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''Do some good pre-campaign marketing BEFORE starting the campaign. Create excitement. If you can swing it, film a short scene from the script with stand-in actors to show people what you hoping to do.''
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Wrote Merin on May 9, 2013
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===The newest hottest Spike Lee joint or "Da sweet blood of Jesus"===
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This project was successfully funded on August 21, 2013.
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It had 6,421Backers.  
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They pledged $1,418,910 of $1,250,000 goal.
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In a description on Kickstarter page is written that is a movie about Human beings who are addicted to Blood. Funny, Sexy and Bloody. A new kind of love story (and not a remake of "Blacula").
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When Lee launched the he received a lot of criticism for not knowing much about the community standards of the platform he was asking for money on and not saying nothing about the film except the short description above. He also encountered the "get celebrities off of Kickstarter" trend. For people it was strange why someone as wealthy and connected as he was needs a Kickstarter to fund his projects.
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But he changed some stuff in his campaign and the result was great. His project was successfully funded.
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He explained that he often has more trouble than you'd imagine producing the films he most wants to get made. He also appeared  on Bloomberg News and got in a heated discussion with the host which had led to a big day of donations for his project. Good PR is very immportant, before and during the campaign!
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He announced that Raphael Saadiq is composing music for the film. Next announcement was that  British actress Zarrah Abrahams will play the lead female role in the film.
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He started to constantly update his campaign and interact with fans. He also changed the promotional video and the key art for campaign alluding on the style ''Do the Right Thing'', classic examination of racial tension in Brooklyn.  And that was much better.
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He hosted a hipster hangout party in Brooklyn with a $25 cover at the door and made very interresting, attractive awards for backers. Here are some.
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Pledge $5 or more
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601 backers
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Special Thanks Tweet From Me and Access to Behind the Scenes Project Updates
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $10 or more
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379 backers
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Autographed Postcard by Me.
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Only for the $10 pledges.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $10 or more
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72 backers Limited (28 left of 100)
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Badges (4" x 6") From Our Various Brooklyn Loves MJ Parties Signed By Me.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $20 or more
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591 backers
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Watch A Special Screening Online Opening Weekend plus Behind the Scenes Project Updates
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $25 or more
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198 backers Limited (1 left of 199)
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From Our Vaults, Rare Poster of 40 ACRES INSTITUTE Autographed By Me
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $40 or more
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189 backers
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You will receive a T-shirt of "I BACKED The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint"
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $75 or more
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77 backers
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You Will Receive An Autographed Limited Edition Poster of Our Film. Plus The Special Screening Online
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $100 or more
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184 backers
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Autographed Crew T-shirt. Plus Autographed DVD And Special Online Screening Opening Weekend Of Our Film
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $100 or more
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6 backers Limited (44 left of 50)
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The rare poster for our Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson Celebration that was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene in 2011. If you love MJ you should own this. Signed by renown underground artist Fuse and me.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $250 or more
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==Diversity of success==
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121 backers Limited (79 left of 200)
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Two Tickets To The World Premiere Of Our Film in New York City
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $750 or more
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1 backer All gone!
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Abraham Lincoln High School Railsplitters Blue Away Jersey WORN in the Classic ball flick HE GOT GAME. Authentic Jersey Worn by: Number 4 - TRAVIS BEST - Size 44.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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Pledge $1,000 or more
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Crowdfunding may be an ideal way to get capital for a new creative project, but being successful is not easy as it seems. As analyzed projects show, even the successful campaign can produce an abortive project and vice versa, although the campaign fails, the project could turn to be a success, which is why it is important to distinguish these two terms - the success of the campaign and the success of the project. To become successful it requires a lot effort and dedication. A good concept, adequate preparation, and an existing community to support it are very important. Every crowdfunding platform, such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, has tips in order to make it easier for the users to make the campaign efficient.  Furthermore, there are variety of tips and texts from 'online society' that mainly come to the same conclusions. Engaging with the audience, capturing the media attention, using social networking as a way of promoting the project, having adequate rewards for the donors, having a professional approach to the project and to the campaign are only some of the advices given. However, even the completion of all of the above does not necessarily bring success and there is no formula that guaranties success. What makes it more interesting is that if the campaign fails, the project can turn out to be successful.  
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30 backers
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You Will Be An Extra In Our Film
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $2,000 or more
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14 backers
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You Will Attend My Special Limited Master Filmmaker Class Which Will be An All-Day Seminar At My 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks Building In Da Republic Of Brooklyn, New York. This Also Includes a Museum Like Tour.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $3,000 or more
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===Benefits and Risks===
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5 backers
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Join me in a memorable experience. I am inviting you to spend a full work day with me and the editor to observe the editing process. This day includes lunch.
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Acceptance of this reward, requires you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Quantity of this reward is limited.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $10,000
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Crowdfunding is an excellent way for creators to raise a capital, but also to receive exposure they need in order to verify, execute, and help their projects grow. That is why, when talking about the success of the project, failing to raise the funding does not necessarily mean unsuccessful campaign. Success is much more complicated in terms of the campaign, since it offers more than just desired funding.  
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29 backers
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That being said, crowdfunding campaign is not only a fund raising campaign; it can also be a mean to introduce broader audience to the project, and to advertise it without spending resources on the advertisement, as the [[Illo: Birth of the Cool]] showed. It has the potential to go viral on social media, while attracting the interest of more traditional media outlets. It affords an unbelievable networking opportunity. Just putting project out and promoting the campaign on social media and getting press can get real investors who otherwise may not have heard about the project. A crowdfunding campaign can also answer to real investors, whether project has what it takes to give them a return on investment. It helps to show there are others who believe in the project. Even if the campaign doesn´t raise it´s goal, it still makes possible to show investors that a certain project has received sufficient market validation. On the other hand, it can be a medium to include public in the project and to create a certain community around it, as Marina Abramovic did with [[Marina Abramović Institute]].  
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This Award Is For All Playa-Playas. For 10 Grand I'm Taking You to Dinner, Then You Will Have The Honor And Privilege To Sit Next To Me (IN MY WIFE'S TONYA'S SEAT) COURTSIDE - FRONT ROW IN THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE AT THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS ARENA - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN TO SEE OUR BELOVED NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS, ORANGE AND BLUE SKIES. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THIS IS ONE OF THE TRUE GREAT SPORTING EVENTS TODAY. YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS EXPERIENCE AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. THIS IS A VERY LIMITED ITEM. YOU SLOW - YOU BLOW. THIS IS BIG, BIG TIME. PS. KNICKS WILL BE GREAT THIS COMING NEW SEASON.
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So There You Have It. The Awards Are Affordable To One And All We Need Everyone To Help This Cause.
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Many Thanks In Advance. I Can't Do This Without You. This Will Truly Be A Community Generated Spike Lee Joint. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Pledge $10,000
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Of course, the main reason to start a campaign is fundraising and with that in mind, crowdfunding can be risky. As shown in the statistical analysis of the categories, only 44% of the campaigns turn out to be successful, in terms of fund raising. Since the crowdfunding community grows, number of the campaigns only becomes larger and some of the participants are famous individuals, as seen in the example [[The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint]]. Saturation of the community becomes a real problem, and standing out is harder than before. Since only small number of the campaigns is shown on the main page, advertising becomes a challenge, since not only the time but also finances should be invested in it. It can lead to a serious investment of recourses that in the end do not bring wanted result.  
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0 backers Limited (1 left of 1)
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Although, crowdfunding is not the answer for every organization, it does provide an alternative. When developed, executed and curated properly, crowdfunding campaign contributes to the success of the project on many different levels and should not be viewed solely though the criteria of capital.
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This Is A Rare Piece Of American Cinema History. This X American Flag Is From The Opening Credits Of The Epic MALCOLM X. There Are Only 4 That Exist. Denzel Has One, I Have One And You Can Own One Too. We Will Frame This X American Flag So You Will Have A Piece Of ART Hanging On Your Wall. The Pledge Is $10,000. To Me This Is The Best Reward We Have Had So Far. You Slow, You Blow. You Snooze, You Lose. Again Only 4 Exist In This World. Denzel And I Are Not Giving Ours Up. Thank You. Please Give This Serious Consideration.
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Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
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Ships anywhere in the world
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The campaign was a suuces! Awards were original and motivational!
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==Links==
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Movie has been made and first shown on closing night at the American Black Film Festival, where it earned middling reviews. Lee was in talks and had troubles to find the right distributor. After movie premiere it was still open the question where this horror comedy starring Stephen Tyrone Williams, Zaraah Abrahams, Rami Malek, and Elvis Nolasco is going to end up? The movie got ripped really hard by critics this summer at the annual Festival so there was some question whether the film would find distribution at all.
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Latest informations are that Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights and that it should release the film theatrically and on video on demand on Februar 13,
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*http://brokenage.wikia.com/wiki/Broken_Age_Wiki <br>
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but still no word on when the home video release is coming. Hopefully this movie is going to find his way to the wider audience.
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*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Age <br>
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*http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/08/269480389/broken-ages-adventure-started-long-before-pressing-start <br>
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*http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-24-double-fines-broken-age-act-2-now-fully-funded <br>
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*https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-adventure <br>
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*https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/raylight/illo-birth-of-the-cool?ref=city <br>
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*http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/08/illo_birth_of_the_cool_is_getting_ready_to_chill_out_on_the_wii_u_and_3ds_eshop <br>
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*https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1551842735/the-peoples-opera-new-york-city-operas-2013-2014-s?ref=discovery <br>
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*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovi%C4%87_Institute <br>
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*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Opera <br>
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*http://crowdfundingacademy.com/why-do-most-crowdfunding-campaigns-fail/ <br>
  
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==ACHIEVING SUCCESS==
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==References==

Latest revision as of 12:12, 21 May 2015

Not only in crowdfunding, but also in every other aspect of life, achieving success is important. Therefore it is essential to analyze success when it comes to crowdfunding. At first glance, it is easy to determine what success in terms of crowdfunding is. If the funds were raised, the campaign was a successful one. If the fund raising ended in failure, the campaign was unsuccessful. There are also great amount of tips and texts from 'online society' and crowdfunding platforms that are explaining how to reach the financial goal, since that is the main reason to engage in the campaign. However, a more profound examination of the subject shows that a crowdfunding success itself is much a more complex matter. That is why the accent in this research is more on defining the term success within boundaries of crowdfunding and explaining the complexity of the success, rather than finding out the answer the question of how to successfully raise funds.

Definitions of success

Business dictionary defines success as: Achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. Success can also mean completing an objective or reaching a goal. Success can be expanded to encompass an entire project or be restricted to a single component of a project or task. It can be achieved within the workplace, or in an individual's personal life. For example, if an individual's personal goal is to be accepted in a new career, success would occur after the individual has been officially accepted into his or her new place of employment. [1]

When talking about success in crowdfunding, it is important to distinguish success of crowdfunding campaign and success of crowdfunding project. These two types of success must not necessarily depend on each other, but do overlap.

Crowdfunding campaign

Strictly speaking, the success of a crowdfounding campaign seems to be clearly defined. The aim of the campaign is to raise a specific amount of capital in order to realise the project. Successful campaigns are the ones that can acquire enough attention in a particular time and reach the funding goal. On the other hand the crowdfunding campaign maybe was not successful, but it could be implemented to inspire investors and to make project successful. As said before, a profound examination shows that it is much a more complex matter, therefore the complexity of the campaign success will be one of the topics of the research.

Crowdfunding project

The success of a crowdfunded project is slightly harder and a little more abstract. It is important to consider the goals that were set before the campaign. Goals of the project can still change during the campaign or even afterwards and are not clear and definite. On one hand a successful campaign doesn’t necessarily mean a successful project. Often after a successful campaign the initiative and motivation to realise the project is missing, or the campaign has served only to advertise the upcoming project.


In order to better understand the problem, success in crowdfunding was examined both trough analyzing the success rate in categories to which the project belongs to, and trough analyzing some of the famous campaigns and projects. The goal was to see what makes a crowdfunding campaign and a project successful, is there a 'formula' that leads to successful fund raising, and does the campaign influence the success of the project and if that is the case, how do they overlap.



Statistics per Category

Graphics that show statistic per category.jpg

A variety of factors influence the end result of a crowdfunding campaign, such as: the platform being used, seriousness in approach to the project, proper social networking, use of media in explanation of the project, realistic projection of funding goals, research of the best suitable rewards, and so on . However, success of the project can also have something to do with the category it belongs to. Some categories are more interesting for potential donors and more popular than others. 'Market' saturation is another element that influences potential success in a way that the large number of project in a category will result in a lower success rate. That is why it is important to analyze and compare categories based on the current number of projects and success rates, and to see if the link between success of the campaign and the category it belongs to can be made.

The overall success rate for projects hosted on the biggest and most successful platform -('Kickstarter')[2][3][4] is approximately 44% (as of January 2014), which means that more than half of the crowdfunding campaigns do not reach their ultimate funding goals. Nevertheless, some categories have better rates than others do. While these statistics are based on Kickstarter projects, they can apply to all of the crowdfunding industry. Dance and Theatre with their 71% and 64% success rates are the most successful categories on this platform. The most unsuccessful categories are Publishing and Fashion with 32% and 30% success rates. Astonishingly, Games and Technology are one of the categories with the lowest rates of success (both have only 35%), being that games and technology projects were responsible for the blooming of the crowdfunding platforms. With its 40% and 48% rates, Film and Art stand in the middle of the Success Rate Graph.

Another important parameter in analyzing statistical data is the number of the projects, where it can be seen that the most popular categories are Film and Video (with a total number of 29624 projects) and Music (with a total number of 24707 projects). Games has 6841, Technology 2887, Art 10374, whilst Dance has only 1517 projects. The statistics also show that when it comes to average funding per Campaign, category Games is on the second place with 36,162.84 $. Technology, which is one of most unsuccessful categories, is on the first place with 40,095.29 $, while Dance has only 10,572.08$, whilst Art has only an average of a 4895,00 $ per campaign. Even though category Games is one of the least successful, it has also in total the highest gross of 160 Million Dollars. It is somewhat a paradox, and it has to do with the fact that a successful game a lot of times gets overfunded and exceeds its funding goal (Game Broken age had exceeded the $400,000 goal with more than $3.3 million from over 87,000 backers).

The data shows that a link between the rate of success and the average funding per campaign can be found. Two of the most successful categories, Dance and Theater, have also one of the lowest funding goals. Furthermore, Games and Technology, one of the least successful categories have also the highest funding goals. A grate success of the Dance has probably a lot to do with the low funding goals and the fact that there are 1,3 % of the dance crowdfunding campaigns. Another aspect that should be analyzed is sociological, where the dance and art 'offline' society is a rather stronger connected, as appose to 'games' society. With a small funding goals and with the first ring of the donations that are based on the friends and family pledges, it is simpler for an artist or a dances to come to it's goal. However, majority of the campaigns don't even surpass the first step of the funding, and near 80% of them never raised more than 20 % of their goal.

Projects' analysis

In a large number of projects that were presented in Kickstarter or Indiegogo or another crowdfunding platform, few project were highlighted because of their unique approach to the campaign, great ideas, amount of raised money, popularity and success or in the other hand failure after the crowdfunding campaign. These highlighted projects are presenting a different combination of success that can come out from one crowdfunding campaign. Some of them can be described like successful in terms of champagne and realized project while others became successful only in one of this field, or not successful at all.

Broken Age

Broken Age is an episodic point-and-click adventure video game, Tim Schafer’s first return to the genre since 1998’s Grim Fandango.

Broken Age began under the working title Double Fine Adventure as a Kickstarter crowdfunded project promoted by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions in February 2012. Originally a goal of $400,000 was set to cover the costs of development and documentary filming, it became the largest crowdfunded video game project at the time, raising over $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers within the month. It remains one of the highest-backed crowdfunded projects of any type, and its success helped to establish Kickstarter and other crowdfunding mechanisms as a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and publisher funding for niche video game titles.

ILLO: Birth of the Cool

Raylight Games, attempted to fund its Illo: Birth of the Cool – via both Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The game is a surreal puzzle adventure, designed for platforms with tilt, touch and microphone inputs, including iOS, Android, PlayStation Move, Kinect, Wii U, PS Vita and 3DS. The campaing started on Nov 23, 2012. The number that they tried to reach was 270 000 $. Both campaigns ultimately failed to generate the funds needed to continue development Due to its lack of succes, the campaign was cancelled 10 days before its scheduled December 3 end date.They only managed to collect 2945 $ from 28 backers on Kickstarter.

Marina Abramovic Institute

Marina Abramović is as one of the most progressive and devoted long-duration performers. Marina is setting up an experience performance center inspired by her own latest project. Abramovic aims to put art, science, technology and spirituality together in the "Marina Abramović Institute", a dynamic museum which displays what she calls "long durational work." All visitors will become active participants in the art.

New York City Opera

The People’s Opera – New York City Opera – has focused on producing unique works, showcasing emerging young artists, and educating the next generation of performing arts lovers. Throughout its history as The People's Opera, NYC Opera has made opera accessible and affordable. People opera exists to give everyone an alternative artistic experience, unique and accessible to all.

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars is a American neo-noir mystery comedy-drama film adaptation based on Thomas' UPN/CW television series of the same name (2004-2007). It is co-written, produced, and directed by Rob Thomas and co-written with Diane Ruggiero and Kristen Bell as the title character.

Darci’s walk of shame

The movie, Darci's Walk of Shame is a romantic comedy about a unemployed school teacher who travels alone to her sister's wedding in Thailand, has a affair with one of the waiters and then must endure “a very long, confusing walk of shame in a ridiculously bright coloured taffeta bridesmaid’s gown”. Melissa Joan Hart, the star of the 1990s tween sitcoms 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' and 'Clarissa Explains it All', should have had a leading role in this movie.

The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint or "Da sweet blood of Jesus"

The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint is a new movie from Spike Lee Jones and in a description on Kickstarter page is written that is new kind of love story. Movie about Human beings who are addicted to Blood. Funny, Sexy and Bloody. After being stabbed with an ancient, cursed dagger, Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams) develops a lust for blood.


We can compare some projects from the same category for example the NYC Opera’s campaign with the most successful arts campaign to date, The Marina Abramovic Institute. It’s a useful comparison for a few reasons: both campaigns are by well-known arts brands located in New York City, fundraising within a few weeks of each other. Abramovic is a Serbian performance artist who has been active for three decades; The NYC Opera has been operating for 70 years. Of course, Abramovic was asking for $600,000 rather than $1 million. But with the NYC Opera seeming unlikely to raise even a fraction of Abramovic’s total, we need to look beyond the target amount.

The average pledge to the campaigns is similar - the mean pledge for the Abramovic campaign was $139 compared with a current mean of $125 for the NY Opera. But that’s where the similarity in pledging activity ends. Rewards for the pledgers of NYC Opera are moustly the tickets for the performances. But the problem with theater tickets is that they are in-person rewards. If a backer isn’t based in New York or willing to travel there, they’re essentially useless. If the backers are outside the NY, NYC Opera is offering only a choice of a tote bag, desktop wallpaper, an mp3 playlist curated by the Opera’s artistic director and a CD or DVD. Marina Abramovic offered: For $25, “Marina will teach the Abramovic Method SLOW MOTION WALK exercise via live stream. Receive exclusive access to this event. You, Marina, and the other backers at this level will then perform your exercise SIMULTANEOUSLY, creating a large public performance that occurs at the same time in different locations all over the world.” For $100, “You will receive a set of never-before-seen video materials.” For $1,000 “Marina will perform the Abramovic Method eye gazing exercise with you via webcam. You may document this experience in any way you’d like and opt to include it in MAI digital archives.”

Another useful comparison is from the film category. Two crowdfunding campaigns were launched via Kickstarter at the same time, with the same goal, but at the end with different success. Veronica Mars movie pledged $5,702,153 of 2,000,000 goal and Darci’s Walk of Shame collected only $51,605 from 315 fans. Few possible reasons for failed campaign could be the facts that Darci’s Walk of Shame campaign didn’t include trailer or poster. They believed that Melissa Joan Hart’s popularity is enough to raise 2,000,000 dollars without making too much effort in crowfunding campaign. Veronika Mars movie didn’t need trailer because the movie should be the extension of the Veronika Mars series. The fans already know what it is about. Team that worked on Darci’s Walk of Shame campaign didn’t let the fans know exactly what the project was. One of the reasons for failed campaign was also the gifts. Gift for the pledger who gave 10,000 dollars for Veronika Mars movie was one scene in the movie and for the same amount of money Darci’s Walk of Shame reward was that cast will appear at pledger’s wedding and Melissa and her co-stars will toast bride and groom.

Leading to conclusion, it is possible to notice that crowdfunding campaigns will take in the future much more important rolle in economonical sence. This might lead to completely new course in development of society. At the moment, it is impossible to say to which extend. It todays world much money would be spend on developing the product, getting reactions from consumers and eventually promoting it as starts to produce. With crowdfunding campaigns, it will develop quitte different. Through crowdfunding campaign be already most of those thing visible. Promotion of projects will be accomplished with reactions of possible backers which will show the nessesity of product its self. Prior to all knowledges collected during the capaign, products will have much lesser procent of risk.

Crowdfunding campaigns have not only opportunity factor, but they can provide much bigger picture of the thing to come in future for investors because they provide strong picture of the current situation on the market. Chances that the investor will get in risky situations are significentaly smaller after the have been filtered trough crowdfunding campaingns. On the other side crowdfunding platforms make inventros much more vissible on the market and they do it for free at the begining. Eventually they charge certain procent of collected money, but that happens only if the campaign had success.

Diversity of success

Crowdfunding may be an ideal way to get capital for a new creative project, but being successful is not easy as it seems. As analyzed projects show, even the successful campaign can produce an abortive project and vice versa, although the campaign fails, the project could turn to be a success, which is why it is important to distinguish these two terms - the success of the campaign and the success of the project. To become successful it requires a lot effort and dedication. A good concept, adequate preparation, and an existing community to support it are very important. Every crowdfunding platform, such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, has tips in order to make it easier for the users to make the campaign efficient. Furthermore, there are variety of tips and texts from 'online society' that mainly come to the same conclusions. Engaging with the audience, capturing the media attention, using social networking as a way of promoting the project, having adequate rewards for the donors, having a professional approach to the project and to the campaign are only some of the advices given. However, even the completion of all of the above does not necessarily bring success and there is no formula that guaranties success. What makes it more interesting is that if the campaign fails, the project can turn out to be successful.

Benefits and Risks

Crowdfunding is an excellent way for creators to raise a capital, but also to receive exposure they need in order to verify, execute, and help their projects grow. That is why, when talking about the success of the project, failing to raise the funding does not necessarily mean unsuccessful campaign. Success is much more complicated in terms of the campaign, since it offers more than just desired funding. That being said, crowdfunding campaign is not only a fund raising campaign; it can also be a mean to introduce broader audience to the project, and to advertise it without spending resources on the advertisement, as the Illo: Birth of the Cool showed. It has the potential to go viral on social media, while attracting the interest of more traditional media outlets. It affords an unbelievable networking opportunity. Just putting project out and promoting the campaign on social media and getting press can get real investors who otherwise may not have heard about the project. A crowdfunding campaign can also answer to real investors, whether project has what it takes to give them a return on investment. It helps to show there are others who believe in the project. Even if the campaign doesn´t raise it´s goal, it still makes possible to show investors that a certain project has received sufficient market validation. On the other hand, it can be a medium to include public in the project and to create a certain community around it, as Marina Abramovic did with Marina Abramović Institute.

Of course, the main reason to start a campaign is fundraising and with that in mind, crowdfunding can be risky. As shown in the statistical analysis of the categories, only 44% of the campaigns turn out to be successful, in terms of fund raising. Since the crowdfunding community grows, number of the campaigns only becomes larger and some of the participants are famous individuals, as seen in the example The newest hottest Spike Lee Joint. Saturation of the community becomes a real problem, and standing out is harder than before. Since only small number of the campaigns is shown on the main page, advertising becomes a challenge, since not only the time but also finances should be invested in it. It can lead to a serious investment of recourses that in the end do not bring wanted result. Although, crowdfunding is not the answer for every organization, it does provide an alternative. When developed, executed and curated properly, crowdfunding campaign contributes to the success of the project on many different levels and should not be viewed solely though the criteria of capital.

Links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/success.html#ixzz3Lcvumsua businessdictionary
  2. ↑ http://www.crowdlifted.com/news/2014/1/kickstarter-success-rates-and-the-beautiful-dance-of-data
  3. ↑ http://www.crowdlifted.com/news/2014/1/crowdfunding-flops-kickstarter-campaign-failure-rates-by-category
  4. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats
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