2016 Promo & Activation

BULAMBULI VALLEY

TitleBULAMBULI VALLEY
BrandCOMMUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
Product/ServiceCOMMUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
Category A08. Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages
Entrant DUDE Milan, ITALY
Idea Creation DUDE Milan, ITALY
Media Placement DUDE Milan, ITALY
PR DUDE Milan, ITALY
Production DUDE Milan, ITALY
Credits
Name Company Position
Livio Basoli DUDE EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Lorenzo Picchiotti DUDE EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
CURRO PIQUERAS FREELANCE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Giorgia Soi FREELANCE Director

The Campaign

We launched an actual crowdfunding campaign on international platform Indiegogo to support Bulambuli’s rural entrepreneurs, mocking the tone of voice and language of actual Silicon Valley startups. Thanks to groundbreaking products like Chicken™, the first 3D Egg Printer, Tomato, the 100% solar powered food revolution, or Chair, the wireless personal charging station, the story of Bulambuli reached the four corners of the world. The support from fans and media spawned a response campaign, with Bulambuli locals answering with videomessages to thank in first person youtube users, media outlets and internet personalities.

Campaign Success

Our main campaign video, told through the voices of real locals in Bulambuli, is your classic “Silicon Valley pitch video” with a twist. Small entrepreneurs from Uganda introduce us to the culture of innovation of Bulambuli Valley and its groundbreaking startups that you’d be supporting with your donations: chicken farming becomes the production of the first “3D Egg Printer”, while a farmer growing Tomatos tells us about his “100% Solar Powered Food Revolution”. The video marked, along with the crowdfunding page on Indiegogo, the beginning of the campaign and the 30 days of funding. Once it started to spread, we started a real time conversation with our new fans and donors, through a video response campaign straight from Bulambuli Valley.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

We reached our funding goal in less than 15 days and surpassed it, finishing the campaign at 141% of funding with over 21K $, coming from donors from 45 different countries. The PR coverage generated more than 18 Million impressions, 100% earned and spontaneous. After seeign the campaign Oxfam, Action Aid and other international NGOs reached out to Communities for Development to learn about their work, effectively puttting them on the international map of players trying to do good in Uganda. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, shared the campaign on his social media.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

With no media investment and no PR support, relying only on word of mouth, spontaneous PR coverage and the strength of our idea, our campaign managed to find the headlines of media outlets all over the world and gather more than 20K euros in donations from more than 45 countries in less than 30 days.

With millions and millions in funding gathered every month, crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are changing the way startups and independent companies fund their projects. These days, fans of technology, innovation and design who back crowdfunding campaigns are more used to donating money for a cause, than most of classic donors audiences have never been. By mocking their tropes and language, we created a strong connection with one of the most generous targets on the planet, underlining a simple message: if you love innovation and donate to Silicon Valley, maybe you should back our valley too.