ARRC
Overview
ARRC (Advanced Rocket Research Center) is an organization under National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. In 2020, ARRC launched its second crowdfunding campaign, aiming to continue its invention on 100% made-in-Taiwan rocket. As a publicist, I was in charge of promoting the campaign to the crowd and raise fund for the facility.
This project reveals the capability of public relations, branding, multi-tasking, storytelling and project management.
Role
PR
Tools
Word & Excel
Google Doc
Slack
Deliverables
PR Strategy
Press Release
Media Interview
Influencers Co-op
Challenge & Strategy
Raise CAD 1.12 Million with Almost No PR Budget
As ARRC was raising fund from the crowd, the PR budget was very limited comparing to most branding projects. In terms of duration, the campaign ran for less than 2 months, with target to raise NTD 25 million (approximately CAD 1.12 million).
Meanwhile, the exposure had to be “earned”, which means the coverages need to be delivered without additional marketing budget.
Promote In-depth Knowledge to the Public
Rocket invention was a grand topic, and it was regarded distanced from daily lives for most of the people in Taiwan. As a result, it was challenging to not only make it digestible but also appealing to the extent for the crowd to donate.
Spreading News with Tailored Content: Media & Influencers
With market observation and research, I've divided media beats into technology and education and pitched them with news release and individual cold call, with the former to inform readers about the latest progress of space technology in Taiwan, and the latter to attract young adults or anyone that's interested in this field.
For influencers, I aimed at people that were likely to be trusted and followed by our target audience. I successfully pitched politicians, YouTubers in tech field, podcasters that aimed at latest news, as well as music band that was known for their indigenous awareness. With news and diverse content created by influencers, the campaign spread quickly among the public.
Outcome
Raise Amount and PR Coverage
- Final raise amount: NTD 25,185,953 (approximately CAD 1,126,320)
- Total funders: 5,942
- Media coverage: 78 news coverages
- Influencer coverage: 72 social media coverages
Highlights
This was the second time ARRC launching a crowdfunding campaign in Taiwan, while the final raise amount was more than double than that of the 1st time (about CAD 530,000). It was impressive as it's not a groundbreaking "news" for the crowd, and the progress made during the 5 years was not obvious enough for the crowd to see the difference.
In terms of content, the public was reached through diverse types of influencers and media, including print, TV broadcast, Internet news, podcast and more. Also, all PR content was earned instead of paid.
Contributors
Crowdfunding Agency: Backer-Founder
Project Team:
- Project Specialist: Chia-Lynn Wu
- Web Developer: Yu-Chieh Chueh
- Designer: Ping-Tse Wu & Tzu-Yung Tsai
- Public Relations: Emily Chu
- Advertising Video: MORIKOstudio