Klong

Blending storytelling and strategy to create a top 5% Kickstarter campaign

Summary

Creation and execution of a crowdfunding campaign for Skymill, a mechanical weather display, covering everything from research and narrative development to animation, video editing, and campaign visuals.

Because of the product’s complexity, the funding goal was set high at €150,000, a milestone reached on day 28 of the campaign, placing Skymill among the top 5% of all Kickstarter projects ever to reach a goal of that scale.

See the campaign on Kickstarter

Client

Klong (Swedish interior design brand) Skymill designer Gustav Rosén.

Timeframe

3 months from start to campaign launch.

Team and roles

Team - one lead designer, one researcher. My responsibilities were overall creative direction, main client contact, narrative development, scriptwriting, 3D animation and video editing.

Process

Research

We began with an in-depth competitor and platform analysis, studying successful design-led Kickstarter projects to understand pricing models, tone of voice, and user expectations.

This informed how we could frame Skymill — not just as a gadget, but as a poetic intersection of weather, motion, and craft.

Analysis of 15+ Kickstarter campaigns. Each column is an analyzed campaign. The structures were color coded to distill repeated sections in successful campaigns.
The distilled sections were documented to give us a master template to inform the Skymill campaign.

Tone of voice

Drawing from these insight, I started by clearing the top level tone of voice that we would take with the campaign.

I presented the client with three alternatives approaches that were all seen to work well on the platform, with examples of what each could look and feel like.

During a workshop with the client, I presented them with three different common styles of tone of voice when making Kickstarter campaigns.

Script

After aligning on the overall direction, I started working on drafting a few different versions of the campaign video script, as the video would serve as both the centerpiece of the campaign, as well as at the tone for the rest of the material and marketing strategy.

Video shoot

The interview shots as well as B-roll for the campaign video were shot together with an external videographer at the Klong offices in Stockholm. During the shoot, my responsibility was as creative director and interviewer.

Interview shoot with designer Gustav Rosén

3D animation

Since the product only existed as a prototype, we relied on realistic 3D renders and animations to simulate its behavior and feel.

I led the creative direction as well as texturing and animation work for these sequences, ensuring the material qualities, lighting, and motion captured captured the design and matched the live action video of the static prototype.

3D animation of Skymill in motion, simulating natural camera shake to match seamlessly with real world footage of the static prototype.
Exploded view 3D render, showing the inner workings of Skymill.
Some of the 3D renders were specifically made to target high end interior decorating magazines.

Outcome

Skymill reached its €150,000 goal with 48 hours to spare and gathered over 500 backers from 20+ countries.

The campaign was featured in Wallpaper, Design Milk and Design Wanted, helping establish credibility far beyond the crowdfunding sphere.

More than validating demand, the campaign built the foundation for Skymill’s long-term product roadmap, now in production under Klong.

“Block Zero and its team has been extremely dedicated, very adaptive and very good at creating a team atmosphere between us throughout our Kickstarter campaign. They have done a great job in understanding our brand and our core values, carefully crafting it together for a strong and appealing narrative for the campaign. I’m truly impressed by their work.”

— Georg Hedendahl, CEO of Klong

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