2 equity crowdfunding campaigns that made the most of their brands

When it comes to reaching crowdfunding readiness, there’s a science to the preparation, but an art to the process.

There are many tried and tested ‘must dos’, that will help to build your crowd and position your company for investment. However, no matter how well prepared you are, if you do not ensure your brand successfully showcases your company, it will make it more of a challenge when trying to engage with potential investors.

A successful brand can allow you to connect with your audience on an emotional level, ensuring they believe in the product, and in turn begin to build your brand awareness. The branding process allows your company to look professional and confident. This is achieved by having a clear understanding of your brand values and using design and strategy to communicate them. A strong identity engages not only through great design but also through a carefully considered tone of voice.

To better explain the benefits branding can make to an equity crowdfunding campaign, we have selected two different yet successful equity crowdfunding campaigns, The Pressery and Camden Town Brewery, which have both made the most of their brands. Whether you’re a startup business, completing an early funding round, or an established company, looking for expansion, these case studies show how a well-thought-out brand can help you reach crowdfunding success.

The Pressery

The Pressery is a great example of carefully creating a brand identity that represents the ethos of a product and successfully tailors itself to a particular audience.

The Pressery was born out of a love for whole foods and their nutritional benefits. The use of raw almonds to create authentic and wholesome drinks, as a high-quality alternative to traditional dairy products, was at the heart of the brand identity for The Pressery.

Based on this, it was all about letting the product talk for itself. The Pressery branding is fresh, clean and minimal, reflecting the raw ingredients and lack of preservatives used in their natural organic drinks. In order to compete within the whole foods marketplace, it was essential for The Pressery to be attractive to the target audience of health-conscious, affluent foodies, whilst clearly communicating what the products are. Simple core messages such as ‘supernatural goodness’ and ‘organic raw activated’ are perfect examples of ‘less is more’ and helped to reinforce The Pressery’s unique selling point, as a healthy dairy alternative.

The strength of the branding allowed The Pressery to be positioned as a major player in the whole food industry. Creating a brand that exuded their ethos and values and allowed investors to envisage The Pressery within the market and recognise their long-term potential.

The Pressery utilised Crowdcube’s Sprint Programme, a dedicated scheme aimed to help early-stage British start-ups, to reach their crowdfunding goal. The Pressery was the first business to be part of the Sprint Programme and exceeded their £150,000 goal in less than two hours.

www.thepressery.co.uk

Camden Town Brewery

Camden Town Brewery not only produce a ‘truckload of beer’ but they do so with a truckload of personality.

Founded by larger than life Aussie, Jasper Cuppaidge, the brewery was born out of a desire to fill a gap in the market, to produce a range of great quality lagers in the London area. With the business being a quick-fire success, Jasper chose to turn to equity crowdfunding to raise investment for his large scale business dream, to become the ‘best brewery in the world’.

Despite their target of £1.5million, Camden Town Brewery remained true to their brand, putting together a fantastic crowdfunding video. The video utilised a conversational tone, friendly language and light-hearted jokes to deliver the core sales messages of their pitch.

A common mistake we see is companies forcing a change in their brand to fit the corporate world of investment. Whilst it is important to continually evolve your brand, in reality, investors want to invest in a company they can believe in and who can be confident enough to stay true to their values.

The Camden Town Brewery brand identity created an emotional tie with the audience, connecting to investors on a personal level and giving the impression that the pitch was created especially for them.

With a fun and bold brand design to match, the brewery raised over £2.75million from over 2,000 savvy Crowdcube investors. Since closing their funding, the company has been acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the largest brewer in the world with a 25% market share, set to deliver multiple returns for investors.

www.camdentownbrewery.com

Our 5 key take-home messages

In summary, what can we learn from these brands and others who have successfully utilised their branding for crowdfunding success?

Know who you are – know what you stand for, and create a brand identity to match. 

Understand your audience – your brand should be focused on communicating to your target audience and target investors. 

Be true to your values – this will allow investors to believe in and trust your product 

Be consistent – from your logo to your website, to your tone of voice, a good brand is consistent through all communications

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help – branding is an art, and that’s why there are many experts in this field.