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Mr. Stone was a passionate voice against racism, police brutality and political corruption, with credibility at both the statehouse and street levels.
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Most startups and creative talents would be proud to pull off one successful Kickstarter. But multi-talented musician Kawehi has just wrapped up her fifth, this time bringing in 10 times her goal and scoring widespread acclaim for her cover of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box."
We recently caught up with Kawehi (pronounced kah-VAY-hee) and asked her what advice she has to share with those aspiring to similar levels of Kickstarter greatness. We've also sprinkled in some of her music below, which will probably go further toward explaining her success than a Q&A could.
AdFreak: You've run six Kickstarter campaigns so far, and five have far exceeded your goals. The most recent, Robot Heart, brought in nearly 10 times as much money as you requested. Do you ever think you're being too conservative about what you can raise?
Kawehi: Could I raise more than I ask for? With the right amount of work, and with such amazing fans/support team, probably. But I think it's important to only ask for as much as you need. A lot of people come up with some astronomical number—without doing research and proper planning. I usually make EPs, which run anywhere from three to five songs. It's a much smaller project than an entire album, hence the much smaller funding goal.
I also do a lot more projects than most—it's pretty common to do one Kickstarter project a year. I usually do around three. It wouldn't feel right to me if I asked for more than I needed three times a year from my amazing fans.
With Robot Heart, how will raising $29,000 change the scope of a project you originally budgeted at $3,000?
For years now, I've been an independent artist. My husband, Paul, produces my music, shoots all of my music videos—while I write all of the music, handmake every CD/DVD, host livestream concerts, do essentially everything a record label would do—and personalize every Kickstarter package. It's been a two-person show for a while now.
We're definitely going to be able to afford a little help this time around—hire a local business to help out with making the CDs, hire local college students who need extra cash and want to be in the music business to help me put the packages together, help Paul with recording, learn a few things behind the scenes. It'll be really great to have all of this extra help and be able to invest into the community we live in with the extra money we raised.
What do you think made your Robot Heart campaign such a hit? Was it all the pass-around for your cover of "Heart-Shaped Box"?
Pretty much. I think before "Heart-Shaped Box" came out, I was at about $7,000. So the video definitely helped!
People magazine recently called your version "the Internet's favorite Nirvana cover." But it seems to have its share of detractors, too, who think it's too different from Nirvana's signature roughness. What kind of balance were you going for?
I always try to keep the integrity of the song—and I think the best way to do that is to be as creative as you can be. As a singer/songwriter, I would respect anyone who covered my song in a way that I wouldn't have thought of myself while still keeping the right emotions of the song.
I realize that by getting creative, that usually means coming from a different place/angle, and a lot of times, people don't like it. But I don't make music because I want people to like me—if they do, that's just a perk. 🙂 I make music because I have to, because I love to, because I couldn't imagine my life without it.
Everyone says great videos are the key to great Kickstarters. But yours are relatively simple and low budget. What do you think makes a good Kickstarter video?
I think it's more important to come up with a creative video than a high budget video. For my project VOX (where I was making an all-vocal EP), I wrote an all-vocal song about the project and performed it live—while flipping cue cards. For TOY (where I was making an EP with toy instruments), I wrote a song and looped it live with all toy instruments.
For Robot Heart, I dressed up in a homemade cardboard box robot suit. Quality is still important—I never just open up my laptop and shoot a video from there—but I think the idea behind the video is infinitely more important. And it should bring your project to life so people understand what the project is—why you're doing it, and ultimately, why they should be a part of it.
Your first Kickstarter in 2011 didn't get very far, with $1,315 raised toward a $15,000 goal. What did you learn from that experience that made your later campaigns such a hit?
I learned that it's foolish to think things will just "happen." I was so bummed after that failure. So I took a whole year to research. I looked into other successful projects, saw what they were doing, tried to come up with my own version of that. I also realized that I needed to put a LOT more work into building the right kind of fan base.
It was a horrible feeling—that failure—but I'm so happy that I lived that, because I'll never want to be there again.
For you, is Kickstarter more about building a long-term fan community than raising short-term funds?
It is. And I think if you have that kind of mentality, you'll have great projects. I don't do Kickstarter campaigns for short-term funds. I do it because it's a long-term path I chose—to stay independent, to do the kind of music I love and hopefully the kind of music my supporters will love.
Would it be easier to just sign with a label who'll financially support my project? Most likely. But the sacrifices I'd have to make creatively … I'm not willing to give that up. So I choose this path—and it allows me to create the way I want while allowing my fan community/support team to be there, right alongside me, experiencing it together.
Any other advice for someone who wants to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign?
Do the work. Do the research. Put out tons of quality material. Make good product and engage with your fan community. They're the ones making it happen—I never forget that, and neither should they!
Kawehi is a Hawaiian-born singer and songwriter living in Kansas. For more on her music, visit her Facebook page, YouTube channel and tracks available on iTunes.
Veet, the hair-removal brand, has a new ad campaign out from Havas Worldwide with the theme "Don't risk dudeness." Three ads feature women who turn into hairy, overweight men (actually, the same hairy, overweight man) because they "shaved yesterday."
A lover is disgusted, a nail technician is appalled, and a taxi driver refuses service because these gorgeous women are now sporting a whole 11 hours of hair growth. "Don't risk dudeness," Veet tells us, and follows up with the tagline, "Feel womanly around the clock."
I'm no Letterman, but he's retiring and I just drank a lot of iced tea, so I'm feeling good and I'll take a shot at a list. Check out the first ad below (it breaks tonight during Dancing with the Stars on ABC), and then my take on five things wrong with this strange campaign.
5. It makes fools of both men and women.
Veet impressively accomplishes the task of ridiculing both men and women here. The burly guy in the nightie speaks in a baby-girl voice, doing neither gender any favors.
To its credit, Veet has left the YouTube comments open, but it's not looking good. "I'm kind of dumbfounded as to how a campaign like this was passed when it's pushing a lot of really old ideas about gender typing," says the second of only two comments so far. (The first wasn't kind either.) "So if a woman doesn't shave her legs, it makes her a man? If a man wakes up next to his girlfriend, who hasn't shaved her legs in a day or two, it'll completely repulse him? It's considered 'rude?' If a man shaved his legs would it make him a woman?"
4. It's empirically wrong.
Realistically, not shaving for one day still goes unnoticed at the beach. I polled other women for this one. Results may vary, but no one's turning into Chewbacca overnight.
3. It's dumb.
Everything is exaggerated in a way that's supposed to be funny, but comes off as cringe-inducing—for example, the taxi driver who leaves the EW SO GROSS woman behind in one of the two spots below. (Also, the word "dudeness" can be bullet item 3b.)
2. It's mildly homophobic.
Guys are repulsed by other guys? I know this is supposed to be comedy, but … eh.
1. It shames women.
Telling women that they're less womanly if they miss a spot shaving their legs in the shower, or if they're part of an entire sect of women who choose not to shave at all, is closed-minded. And shame is a weird marketing tool.
In an age when marketers like Dove are seeing great response to ads about accepting one's imperfections, any products that demand women be squeaky clean 24/7 is rowing against the tide. Even cartoony humor can't gloss over that kind of regressive message. As a friend told me on Gchat: "I don't like it. Maybe it's cause my legs are always slightly fuzzy and I don't think that makes me a dude. I also don't like that it implies that only feminine women are sexy. Mostly it's just annoying."
A swing and a miss. Or maybe more like a shave and a nick, am I right? (Sorry.)
Executives suggested they would seek healthy increases in advertising rates when the upfront market for the 2014-15 season begins.
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Michelle Gass is putting her stamp on Kohl’s.
The former Starbucks executive joined the retailer just 10 months ago as chief customer officer, overseeing marketing, e-commerce and omnichannel experiences. In the absence of a chief marketing officer — a role Kohl’s has had previously — Ms. Gass is leading the charge. She’s overhauling the retailer’s marketing, showing a preference for emotional, heartwarming messages over promotional plays. And she’s pushing the marketer into the digital and social arena, while investing more money in elaborate TV campaigns.
Kohl’s latest campaign, “Find Your Yes,” is decidedly different from the retailer’s past advertising — though it is in the same vein as its holiday campaign — with products taking a backseat to tugging at consumers’ heartstrings. Peterson Milla Hooks, the Minneapolis-based shop that has worked with Target, J.C. Penney and Kmart, has been handling creative for Kohl’s.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
