TICPODS FREE
Infusing a Brand's DNA into Its Product's Communication Design
Crowdfunding Campaign, Art Direction
MY ROLE
Art Direction
Visual Design
Market Research
Project Management
Photography Production
Video Production
OVERVIEW
Differentiation is vital for a technology company in a hyper-crowded category like consumer electronics.
Mobvoi is a Chinese artificial intelligence company with the brand mission to push the boundaries of next-generation human-machine interaction with AI technology. While in the US market, we are known as a hardware tech startup that produces affordable yet high-quality Wear OS smartwatches.
In 2018, Mobvoi’s US marketing team was challenged to run a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for our first audio product - TicPods Free, the true wireless earbuds. As a newcomer to the audio products, our goal was to make Mobvoi’s TicPods Free stand out from its competitors while introducing Mobvoi to the US consumers.
GOAL
We needed to craft a consistent and compelling brand narrative so everyone, including Indiegogo backers, US journalists, and the US consumers, could answer three key questions:
Who is Mobvoi?
Why do they produce TicPods Free?
Why is TicPods Free worth the investment?
RESULT
Reached funding goal ($50,000 USD) within 4 mins after campaign went live
2.8 million (USD) raised in 90 days
RESEARCH
I organized several focus groups to better understand the best messages and opportunities for our Indiegogo campaign.
The goals of the focus group is to learn more about target market preferences and decisions of three specific audiences:
A group of participants that recently supported an wireless earbuds campaigns on Indiegogo
A group of participants that had not supported any wireless earbuds campaigns on Indiegogo yet but was interested in purchasing wireless earbuds in the near future
A group of participants that are interested in purchasing wireless earbuds online in the near future
INSIGHT
Motivation
Indiegogo backers tend to be early adopters. They go to Indiegogo to find unconventional things that solve everyday problems. Along with this, they tend to make more reasoned decisions as to whether or not to become involved in a particular campaign. They are willing to take the risk and back a campaign only when they find innovation in the product.
Concern
The significant barriers to purchasing wireless earbuds named by focus group participants included lack of money and being afraid the wireless earbuds will easily fall off.
STRATEGY
With a brand mission to ‘push the boundaries of next-generation human-machine interaction with AI technology,’ we realized we could leverage on the unique touch control feature that TicPods Free has and align the Mobvoi brand with early adopters who are technology focused.
By telling brand and product stories centered around the experiences that people have in interacting with the earbuds, we could establish a position that differentiates and connects with like-minded early adopters.
Considering the motivation and concern that our target audience had, we came up with three keywords for the visual direction of this campaign:
Technology
Interactive
Movement
MOODBOARD
FINAL PHOTOGRAPHY
