When Robert Wolfe was a 21-year-old entrepreneur, he wanted to build a company that was fun. Which is exactly the top priority for a lot of 21-year-olds, but most don’t manage to be so successful. (The average 21-year-old with fun as a singular top priority spends at least a couple hours in jail.) But fun was front and center from the onset of Robert’s outdoor gear company, Moosejaw: for example, customers participated in a homerun derby in the parking lot. When it was time for Moosejaw to develop an online presence and e-commerce site, fun was back at the top of the to-do list.
Fast forward to the start of Robert’s wildly popular nonprofit, Crowdrise, and he put fun at the forefront once again. Similar to Trada, Crowdrise is built on a crowdsourcing premise. As Crowdrise describes themselves, “Crowdrise is about volunteering, raising money for Charity and having the most fun in the world while doing it.” Or to truly put a spotlight their personality, their tagline is, “If you don’t give back no one will like you.” Definitively true. No one likes a taker. Everyone likes a giver. (You can read about how Edward Norton is helping with Crowdrise on the WSJ)
Lots of people have fun, but few can make companies fun. I recently got to interview Robert on how he’s developed fun personalities for both brands online.
1) Make engagement fun and worth doing for your customer.
As I recently saw on Twitter from Brian Morrissey, “The only person who wants to have a relationship with most brands is the brand manager.” So how do you make your brand relationship worthy?
What Robert and his team execute well on is making engaging with Crowdrise and Moosejaw entertaining. He takes passionate users and makes their
days a little bit spicier and well…nuttier. An incredible example of this at play – Robert and a Moosejaw co-worker launched Wikipedia recently to see what was happening that day, and found that cricket player Phillip “Tuffers” Tufnell was having a birthday. They asked their nearly 8,000 Twitter followers to wish him a happy birthday and those that participated received Moosejaw rewards points.
Crowdrise includes a picture of a napkin on their About Us page. Just a funny aside that highlights a quirky personality of their brand. But what’s more is they continue to have fun with it and asked on Crowdrise’s Twitter account, “1st person to reply w/ a new pic of napkin http://tinyurl.com/33qd9y9 for us to use on Crowdrise gets a Crowdrise tee. This is the best day.”
2) Motivation through promotion
Can You Say No To This Face?
Understanding that users are motivated in different ways, Crowdrise makes fundraising, a sometimes thankless and tedious task, more personally rewarding. They offer fun promos to motivate people to donate and fundraise at different levels. Donate $9 for a chance to win an Apple Macbook Pro, donate $47 for a chance to win a Nintendo Wii and raise $7,000 for a chance to win three shower caps. And who doesn’t want to ensure their hair stays dry as they avoid washing their greasy roots? Their offbeat humor has won them big fans including the likes of Edward Norton, Kristen Bell and Will Ferrell.
As Will says, “Hi, I’m Will Ferrell. You may know me best as one of the front runners on the 50 Most Beautiful People list 10 years in a row. Some know me as an actor, others know me as the best yoga instructor on this side of town. But what I really want to be known for is the best fundraiser in the WORLD.Can you help me achieve this goal?
Yes.
Donate just $17 dollars and I will send you a bottle of my sexy sunscreen just in time for summer. Donate $34 dollars and I’ll send you 2 bottles. Then things can get really slippery.”
Even Will understands how online humor transfers to results. I’ll take two bottles, please! But I actually did donate to Will’s campaign. They grabbed my attention with a shared sense of humor, but they won me over with their commitment to a real cause – Cancer for College. An organization started by Ferrell’s fraternity brother, a two-time cancer survivor, the organization helps fund college scholarships for cancer survivors.
3) Incorporate Humor Into Your Communication With Users
Moms Love Stickers. Fact.
Moosejaw is a company that makes even the most tedious of tasks more humorous. How many other companies offer you a list of all the best mimes in Portland for signing up for their e-mail newsletter?
Even the thank you page for my donation was hilarious:
“Thank you so much for your donation to CANCER FOR COLLEGE. Amazon Payments will send you an email confirmation of your donation within 24 hours. We’re super excited that you’re getting involved and hope that you’re already telling all your friends about this amazing cause you donated to. My seventh grade English teacher gave me permission to end that previous sentence with a preposition.”
Both brands have personality and allow it to shine through in communication with users.
4) Motivation Through A Rewards Systems
I'm Racking Points Up
What both Crowdrise and Moosejaw nails is understanding different ways to motivate people. Not only does Crowdrise offer motivation through different promotions, it offers a comprehensive point system.
“Remember that you get 100 points for every vote you get from the Crowdrise community and 10 points for every $1 you raise or give. Points mean potential prizes, lots of respect and hopefully one day, a trip to the White House or at least a trip to Vegas.”
I received points for joining Crowdrise, by donating to Cancer for College and answering a trivia question. Reward points keep me engaged at every step. Plus, Crowdrise told me after I answered the trivia question, “you’re the smartest person in the world.” Don’t think I didn’t forward that to my boss.
Be sure to follow Crowdrise’s adventures on Twitter, through their Facebook page, and friend me up on Crowdrise. AND to sign up as a Crowdrise participant.
Full disclosure: Robert Wolfe is an investor in Trada. But that’s not why I like him. I like him because he gave me a Crowdrise sweatshirt and it is really soft.
About Elaine Ellis
