The video presentation of an equity crowdfunding campaign is one of the most important elements of the communication strategy, as it is the first touchpoint to arouse the interest of potential investors.
Here are 5 case studies of start-ups that have undertaken a campaign, with the help of video commercials created by SCAI Comunicazione. Each example shows a different way of creating a convincing video for equity crowdfunding campaigns.
Why a video in equity crowdfunding campaigns?
In our experience, a good crowdfunding campaign video is a must. Besides being required by all platforms, it is the easiest and quickest way to communicate to an investor but also to your community, your business, your target market, the values you believe in and what can make the “difference” is the founder and the team! Moreover, it is a good alternative, if done well, to read the campaign page and the investor deck data, which unfortunately few people do!
The choice of an interested party to finance a project is based as much on rational and economic data as on emotional aspects, such as the sharing of the company’s values. Especially in this second aspect, a presentation video can be a lever.
This concept is supported by statistics on the consumption habits of online content, which show a clear preference for video content.
A video also has the possibility to be easily
- shared through social platforms;
- used for presentations at events;
- disseminated to the media to boost campaign news.
That’s why a video. Now let’s move on to the how.
How to make an equity crowdfunding video
Making a convincing video often requires condensing a lot of information into a relatively short amount of time in order to convey the brand values and highlight the storytelling of our campaign in 3 minutes or, if possible, less.
In a previous article, we outlined the characteristics that need to be taken into account in order to create a good commercial, which we summarise below:
- Focus on uniqueness (convey your unique selling proposition);
- Choosing the most suitable content (conveying not only the innovative scope and economic returns, but also the passion and goodness of the project);
- Developing storytelling (creating a story that is engaging, exciting and capable of generating identification and empathy);
- Using the right tone of voice (finding the right balance between what our brand wants to convey and what the viewer is looking for);
- Choose the right length (communicate the essential concepts, without going into excessive detail. It is advisable to use a storyboard that builds a modular narrative);
- Putting your face on the spot (gaining trust through company representatives, testimonials or customers who have already tested the product);
- Don’t leave room for improvisation (always aim for quality).
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5 case studies of equity crowdfunding videos by Scai
Making a video for equity crowdfunding is a big challenge because in it you have to reconcile a story as faithful as possible to the entrepreneurs with the need to tell the soul of the company.
The video is certainly not the only way to tell the story of the project, but it does symbolise the “Trojan horse” of the campaign, the first breach in the attention of potential investors. For this reason, we have decided to recount some of the most illustrative cases among the many videos we have made.
Axieme: founders become actors
In the case of Axieme, for example, a highly skilled team of startuppers needed to tell the story of a new, more rewarding and people-friendly way of doing insurance.
The video they made is a story about what the startup does and at the same time about the dangers we all face as citizens and residents of a house. The idea behind it is identification: the team members therefore participated not only in their canonical form, recounting personal experiences and numbers, but also as actors. The flow created perfectly represents the attempt to reconcile these two aspects within the commercial. The campaign went very well, raising 500K!
Here is the video made for Axieme
2WATCH: more than just a game for kids
Just as in the 2WATCH commercial, the protagonists are team members. Here, too, a unique narrative flow was sought to explain the value of each team member, their strengths and their role in the team.
All this was done through a very playful mood – reflecting the startup’s field of interest, i.e. esport and gaming – but extremely clear in exposing data and numbers, through a very strong introduction in which the founders do not appear. This is to allow investors to enter immediately into the context and numbers of esport with a serious approach, as many are convinced that this is “kid’s stuff” or still underdeveloped, when in fact it moves very significant economies, more than 60 billion a year! Here, too, the campaign has been a success, with a collection of more than 500K and a lot of talk on portals and news.
Grownnectia: personal experience at the service of others
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Grownnectia is an innovative SME that works to incubate and accelerate other ideas through various forms. One of the strengths of the company is its founder, Massimo Ciaglia, a very charismatic and present person, as well as known and appreciated (in the public debate on startup issues, on social channels etc.).
In the video we decided to exploit this aspect, telling a part of Grownnectia’s life and workflow through his voice. His voice acts as the main guide throughout the video and his figure is also a constant point of reference in the stories of the other team members. The spot focuses on his personal experience and talks about how he has succeeded in some things (such as making more than one exit in his previous jobs) and his ability to transfer the same predisposition for doing business to his clients. The campaign raised 350K and is a very special case as it is not a startup, but a startup service SME. In fact, it had to overcome the skepticism that seemed not to want to recognise features such as scalability and, consequently, profitability for the investor!
Spiiky tells and informs while having fun
Spiiky is a startup from Emilia Romagna that has developed an app that saves money for users and increases visibility for companies.
We made a video with the intention of telling in a very funny way first how the startup came up with the idea of the product (the initial spark for the development) and then the benefits for the users of Spiiky.
We then made 3 scenes showing where and how a user can save money, thus giving value not only to the investment opportunity but also to the idea the startup is developing and its user experience.
Unfortunately, this was one of the few campaigns that did not succeed, mainly due to covid19, as the startup works with retail (the campaign was launched close to the start of the pandemic and investors were afraid to fund it). Despite everything, the startup is moving forward and, as well as wishing them the best for the future, we thought it would be interesting to talk about a certain way of making a commercial.
By the way, our account manager, Lina Da Nazaret, was on hand to act as the nervous restaurateur!
BionIT Labs: the values of a company
SoBionIT Labs successfully completed its equity crowdfunding campaign a few years ago. The company is dedicated to producing a bionic hand, thanks to a team of young researchers and engineers who are developing both software and hardware. The challenge of the BionIT Labs campaign video was to show what the product was (a prosthesis called Adam’s Hand) on the one hand and on the other hand the importance of research in this field, i.e., the startup’s greatest and noblest aim: the ability to give people hope again for their motility (the possibility of replacing one’s own limb with a bionic one, different from those already on the market). It was therefore decided to reveal how the team worked and to open the doors of the laboratories, showing the skill of the team at work and aiming to convey the greater purpose behind it. A very effective way of creating the video, led to a very successful campaign, despite the startup still being in the development and prototyping phase, which is usually seen as a brake on investment.
The SCAI way: emotion and valorisation
Making a video for equity crowdfunding means building a coherent storytelling capable of enhancing the peculiarities of the product, conveying emotions and creating empathy.
Each commercial is different from the next, even though it has to maintain a basic scheme that is informative and, if you like, sometimes a little didactic, but we try to identify and introduce in all of them a particular feature that can enhance the originality of the startup and its team! We try to make explicit the aspects that should convince the investor to empathise with the startup itself, as well as imagine the business and the potential profit.
