Yamaha Tsung.

YAMAHA TSUNG

Creative Director & Crowdfunding Specialist at Wise Box Alliance Ltd

Wise Box Alliance Ltd is a start-up station in Hong Kong that specialises in crowdfunding. We provide any kind of service required for a crowdfunding campaign. Starting with proof of concept, working prototype production, cost estimation, pre-campaign marketing; then all the way up to campaign launching, manufacturing, distributor referral, sales channel establishment and much more. WBA has launched over 20 crowdfunding campaigns, and all projects were successfully funded.

My design career commenced before I graduated. My goal for my final year project was to have it at the pre-production stage with a plan to launch it on Kickstarter after New Designers.

After I graduated, I moved back to Hong Kong and began the search for marketing agencies and manufacturers. Along the journey into my first Kickstarter campaign, I met some of the best marketing agencies in Hong Kong and visited some amazing factories in China. In 2017, I launched my first crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, one of the biggest names in crowdfunding platforms. Two months after my campaign ended, one of the companies I met approached me with a start-up idea, which was a company that specialised in crowdfunding campaigns. I could see the need for this type of service, as I was one of their target customers a few months prior when I was hustling for my campaign. I accepted their offer with almost no hesitation. After 8 months of preparation, Wise Box Alliance Ltd (WBA) was formed.

WBA currently has 5 brands. Each brand has its own sector, including board games, sports equipment, outdoor products, consumer electronics and household products. I am now the creative director of WBA. Besides designing products that are suitable for the crowdfunding market, I am also responsible for managing the production and other campaign-related tasks. Although it may seem that I am needed to take a role in each of the crowdfunding stages; holding a crowdfunding campaign is never a one-man job. I need to cooperate with different people throughout the process. For example, working with engineers in factories to modify the design, advising the production crew when filming the advertising video, monitoring the campaign with the marketing team, and so on. Besides our own campaign, WBA also helps other clients to launch their projects. Most crowdfunding projects, depending on their nature, take around 6 -10 months from proof of concept to the end of the campaign. It then takes around 4-5 months for manufacturing and shipment.

I also give advice to the clients on both design and campaign management. After all, it takes much time and effort to bring a project to life; my experience and professionalism can help to launch a successful project. Our target now is to launch 10 - 15 campaigns per year and we are working hard to get there.

Are crowdfunded projects scams? If you have experience backing a project on Kickstarter, Indiegogo or any other crowdfunding platform, you may know that there is a risk of the project being delayed, or not delivered at all. From my perspective of being both a creator and backer, I have some tips for you to decide if you should back a project or not.

Kickstarter has a very strict policy when submitting a campaign. All projects require development documentation that clearly illustrates the evolution of the idea, such as pictures of prototypes in different phases. However, sometimes these documents can be ‘generated’. So, be cautious. Before backing the project, analyze if the technology is capable or not. Especially projects showing mostly beautiful renders and animations but not having any pre-production samples or even working prototypes. Go for projects which give out samples to reviewers or showing a non-edited product demo video. They may prove the ideas are achievable and production-ready.

However, seeing a convincing production sample is just half of the story. Delivery and logistics are the blind spots for many backers which are also critical to a project’s success. Have a look at the creator’s information on the campaign page and see if they have any previous projects. If so, you may first see if their previous projects were successful. Then, go to the comments and if there are any ‘angry backers’. The comment section is for backers only. If backers have not received their reward after a long period of time, it will be easy to see these backers asking about this in the comments section.

Thirdly, consider the type of product. Projects such as bags and other non-electronic goods are usually easier to fulfil. These products should be less complicated to handle during the delivery process. However, if you are backing a new creator, and you are confident with the product, you may ask more about their fulfilment plan. A lot of new creators underestimate the logistics and shipping process. Especially the weight of the product. In ordinary cases, goods are sent by sea from the factory to the destination country, then delivered by the local warehouses. However, crowdfunding backers are from all around the world and shipment has to be done by air. Oversized items will greatly increase the shipping costs, and electronics with Bluetooth and batteries are difficult to register for logistics. Wrong costings and logistics failure can be one of the main reasons which delays many successful campaigns or even results in it being a ‘fail to fulfil’.

Many people, time, skills and professionalism come together for a successful crowdfunding campaign. Missing out one of them can have critical consequences to the bigger picture.

Our upcoming campaign! One of our brands, Sanoearth will be launching a new Kickstarter campaign soon. Sanoearth focuses on a quality lifestyle product which is achieved with a clever solution. This campaign is related to the new emerging trend of shared spaces. Follow Sanoearth on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to see the latest information and updates!

Connect with Yamaha on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yamaha/

Follow Wise Box Alliance on Twitter @wiseboxa

Check-Out Wise Box Alliance LTD: www.wiseboxa.com

Article from #MDXPD: 5 Years On (Class of 2016), #MDXPD 2021 p.37-38