A month or so ago I wrote about positive fundraising and a bit about crowd-funding on my work blog, you can read it here if you’re interested. It led to quite a lot of discussion on twitter about the role of positive and negative in getting attention to your product or brand, and also a bit about how appropriate it was to crowd fund certain activities or services. It seemed that lots of people were cool with the idea of crowd funding one off projects or start up business ideas, but less convinced that it should be used as a model for other services. So this post is hoping to capitalise on that energy about funding new businesses, ideas and projects.
Oxblood & Co. is the work of Adam Greasley, a graphic designer from Salford. Adam is launching a small range of hand lettered t-shirts that you can pre-order through Kickstarter. Each t-shirt will be a hand pulled screen print (I’m not sure I really know what that means but it sounds good) and for a mere £20 you get to support a new business, an all round sense of ‘I’ve done good today’ smug satisfaction and a unique t-shirt.
You may be wondering why I care so much. I quite simply love the iceberg tee, as a southerner I’d love it more if it had another ‘the’ in it, but I love it nonetheless. I can think of so many situations in life where I’ve been doubted, or in some way judged, by people. I think this is normal, but this t-shirt speaks to that in some way, all anyone is ever seeing is the tip of the iceberg, in any interaction. It’s deep for a t-shirt and worth remembering in life, it’s also worth remembering all we ever see of others is the tip of their iceberg!
Annnnyway. I don’t know Adam, I can’t guarantee this will come good, I do know it’s a risk I’ve been prepared to make, and I also know that Kickstarter rules are that if the idea isn’t funded by the deadline (July 27 2013) then Adam will have no cash and I’ll have no t-shirt! This is a very sad situation I’m sure you’ll agree. So you know what to do, visit Adam’s kickstarter page, watch his video and if you like what you see there, dig deep, pledge away and walk around feeling good about yourself for a bit and knowing you’ll be getting a cool t-shirt in a couple months!
20 July Update
Adam has changed the design so it’s lost it’s Yorkshire twang but (in my opinion at least) gained a better comprehension.
There are only seven days left to show your support and get your order in. This is your chance to support a young designer who has chosen to take the plunge to try and establish his business, through working hard in his spare time. He has drive, ambition, skill – all the things the media would have us believe aren’t apparent in our country any more. Not only that, but by pledging your support to his kickstarter campaign you’ll be giving work to the printer who will hand press each of the t-shirts in Leeds, thereby supporting the local Yorkshire economy. To top it off you get your own t-shirt, a more perfect t-shirt for your annual appraisal I can not imagine, or for graduation, or even a job interview. I’m also quite excited about the fact that you’ll also get the designs as wallpapers to use on your laptop or PC, I’m already imaging my ‘All you’re seeing….’ screensaver!!
Adam’s not asking you to part with your cash just for the sake of it, this isn’t about handouts, it’s about investing in someone’s potential, after all it’s worth remembering All you’re seeing is the tip of the iceberg. Go on, it’ll be the best £20 you spend this month: KICKSTART ADAM’S BUSINESS BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK