Visiting CES for Kickstarter

You might have noticed a bit of a theme with our client work this past year. Kaye has been working closely with Kickstarter to support their Design and Tech outreach team, alongside our work with their team in Japan and with their Comms team.

We were really excited to get the opportunity to travel with the Design and Tech team to CES this year. It was our first time at the show and it was absolutely unbelievable. We’re led to believe at HALF the capacity to what it was pre-pandemic.

Kaye met with 100s of product designers and startups to share the great work that the Kickstarter Design and Tech team do, and showcase ways in which the team can support projects on the platform. She also took over the Kickstarter social channels to share a slice of what was happening on the floor at CES.

How to get press coverage without product ahead of launch

Getting the eyes and ears of journalists can be difficult, and especially when you’re first starting out. You’re not really known and may only have a handful of samples, a rough prototype or in some cases nothing physical to share at all. At Paved With Gold we’ve worked with so many businesses in this position over the years, helping them to understand how best to share about their launch and what they’ll need in order to be successful. Here are a few different ways we’ve reached out to press about a launch and their response.

Eyra - Kitchen Utensils

Only having a single set of 3D printed kitchen utensils to hand meant we weren’t able to send anything out that could be used for cooking. Eyra did however have a compelling mission to make design better for older people, alongside a great collaborator; Sebastian Conran. We made sure to include quotes and details on Sebastian’s experience in this area of design (which spanned 30+ years). We also offered one exclusive interview opportunity to select design publications. This led a wonderful article in Creative Review about the launch and Eyra’s mission. 

Flit - Folding e-bike

With Flit, we were lucky that we had a prototype of their innovative foldable e-bike which was already wowing test riders. A few weeks ahead of their Kickstarter campaign we offered a small selection of bike and tech journalists the opportunity to test ride it. We caught the attention of t3’s, Duncan Bell, who had already reviewed many industry leading e-bikes. Impressed, he shared some amazing feedback that we were able to use as part of the campaign, “we rode it up a big hill on the hottest day ever and didn't even break a sweat” and “a real challenger for Brompton's electric bike crown”. Perfect quotes to help prove the bike’s performance to those who hadn’t tried it yet.

Animaro - Solstice Clock

If your product is something that is beautiful or in Animaro’s case - mesmerising. Then having photography and a video to match is not only necessary to get people to buy but also for press to share. The Solstice Clock was shared by product design blogs like Core 77, through to creative publications like Colossal. Mashable liked it so much they edited their own video for it. 

Tip: Be sure to create two versions of your video. One superimposed with text for your marketing and another without anything overlayed that you can share with press that want to make their own content.

Foldable.Me - Little Cardboard People

Our first ever crowdfunded business all the way back in 2012 (check out Richard and his cardboard buddy!).

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign we followed up with the press to ask them to share about our official launch. Knowing that they already shared about us, we needed to give them something else to write about so we made personalised Foldables which we sent out ahead of launch. Folks from the likes of Wired and The Next Web loved this and were very happy to write about us again.

Remember, every product will have it’s own angle and pre-launch offering that’s going to work. But here goes to show that even without your final product there are interesting ways to pitch your story. Shoot us an email if this has got you thinking and you want to explore what might work for your project. 

Solstice, the Kinetic Clock is fully funded!

As mentors on the Central Research Laboratory’s Accelerator Programme we’ve helped many projects grow a community and launch their crowdfunding campaigns. The latest project to be successfully funded was for Solstice, a kinetic clock that turns passing hours into art.

Alongside our mentorship we also worked on their PR campaign, reaching press and influencers throughout the world of design and tech. Mashable, Colossal, Core77, Mental Floss and Lost At E Minor as well as many others shared their support for the mesmerising Solstice clock, contributing to it being fully funded in just 2 days!

The project is still going strong and excitingly almost 200% funded. If you’re interested in a very unique and beautifully designed timepiece then head over to Kickstarter.

Mentor Pilot Programme with Creative Scotland

We're excited to share about Crowdfunding Creativity! In partnership with Creative Scotland we will be delivering a mentoring programme to help artists, makers, designers and creatives crowdfund their projects.

The programme aims to provide people who are working in the creative industries in Scotland with the skills and knowledge to develop their own successful crowdfunding campaigns. Over the course of the programme, those selected to take part will learn not only how to develop their crowdfunding campaign but also gain key skills to help them support their creative practice.

In addition, the selected projects will benefit from access to 25% match-funding from Creative Scotland.

We're looking forward to working with talented creatives and helping to bring their ideas to life. If you want to apply or find out more visit Creative Scotland (Applications close 2 July 2018)