Kickstarter campaign for Fly-A-Way
In 2020, my colleagues and I from the editorial and design consultancy Tuber launched the migratory bird-themed board game Fly-A-Way on Kickstarter. We raised $53, 199 in support from 891 backers around the world and earned Kickstarter’s coveted “Project We Love” badge.
As part of marketing the game, I helped to conceptualise the content of our Kickstarter page with user behaviour in mind. I spent a lot of time researching and understanding the typical journey a Kickstarter backer would take before deciding if a project is worthy of their support.
The first thing a lot of backers do when they land on a creator’s page is click the opening video, so it was important to tell a memorable and succinct story. I wrote the script such that it gave viewers a window into the epic lives of the migratory birds we feature in our game, before showing them just how they will play a part in the game as bird conservationists.
Having given backers a taste of what our game would be like, it was then important to ensure that the text that followed clearly conveyed the rules and the specifications of the different components. Board gamers, as a community on Kickstarter, care about game mechanics and production quality.
Willing as they are to fund creators based on the strength of their prototypes and pitches alone, Kickstarter backers value transparency. So, it was crucial to be upfront about the estimated timeline for the production of our game and fulfillment of orders.
When marketing a game on Kickstarter, a creator has to think of backers at different stages of the campaign, particularly in regard to stretch goals. Stretch goals, typically, are project enhancements that creators offer to backers beyond the achievement of the initial funding goal. In Fly-A-Way’s case, the enhancements were better quality components and AR-enabled game cards. These ensured that new backers still had something to look forward to and initial backers had an incentive to share the game with others. That way, everyone was united in a sense of urgency to back Fly-A-Way and receive it in its best possible version.
A Kickstarter campaign doesn’t end once the funding and stretch goals have been reached. Backers, rightly, want to be updated as production and shipping proceed. So, I spent a lot of time communicating with backers and responding to their queries. I made sure not to take this process for granted because marketing to me, beyond achieving various goals, is about keeping trust with your audience. And I enjoyed this last leg of the Kickstarter journey because I got to build rapport with the people who supported Fly-A-Way and extend my appreciation to them for giving the game a chance.