At Intrafocus we are great supporters of the environment, sustainability and welfare. We teach it in our strategy workshops. ‘Environmentally Friendly’ comes up as a core-value and occasionally as a strategic theme. we like to back up our teaching by supporting good causes.
Farms Not Factories is one such cause. Farms not Factories is a small not-for-profit organisation that campaigns to expose the true costs of cheap meat from factory farms and to inspire people to buy meat from local, high-welfare farms. Their raison-d’etre is to raise awareness. We were interested to see that they recently started a crowdfunding project, ostensibly to gain funds for some video advertising. Their crowdfunding initiative is interesting on two counts; 1. they are not a start-up looking for money to build a business and 2. the crowdfunding campaign will not only raise money it will raise awareness of their overall campaign. Strategically, the initiative is an act of genius. Whoever it was in Farms not Factories who thought of using Crowdfunding in this way deserves a medal.
Farms not Factories have some great supporters both in the celebrity and commercial world. What they don’t have is exposure. And that is the thing they need most. As a charity, they constantly need to rally existing supporters and attract new ones. More than this they need to ensure that their support base is passionate and therefore willing to help them evangelise their cause.
The crowdfunding initiative has all of the right elements to do just that. First; it puts the cause on a different and exciting platform. Crowdfunders are always on the lookout for something new, something to talk about and ultimately something to brag about. This in itself has the potential to bring about a viral outcome. Second; the opportunity to offer incentives means that people are more likely to invest. Farms not Factories has a big advantage here. It is almost certain their incentives were donated by existing supporters, therefore no cost. Third; the incentives are associated to a wide variety of celebrities, you may not identify with Vivienne Westwood, but you may well identify with Jon Snow. Finally, even if they do not hit their target, the campaign will have done its job, don’t forget, they are all about raising awareness – the money might be useful, but it is not the end game.
Having said that, let’s all help them hit their target, be part of The Pig Revolution and make an investment.
