Client: Crowdcube

Project name: Democratising finance.

Goal: Launch Crowdcube and equity crowdfunding, get start-up and scale-up businesses to raise money on the platform and drive investors to investment opportunities.

Our idea in a nutshell: First launch to entrepreneurs with communications that really connected with the emotion of finding funding. Separate campaigns followed for investors that simply outlined the opportunities to democratise their investment portfolio and support Britain’s fledgling startups.

Execution and results: Initial launch activity resulted in:

• Profiles of Crowdcube and features on crowdfunding in national media such as The Daily Telegraph (exclusive), BBC Radio 5 Live, The Independent and The Guardian.
• News coverage about the launch in the business trade and finance/investment media.
• Stories were crafted around report launches, including IRI’s new European Shopper report, allowing us to comment in broader issues like plastic packaging and nutritional labelling.

Ongoing campaign coverage continued to position Crowdcube as a British fast growth company. Specifically:

• Cross media strategy – we worked with business, national and vertical sector trade press to raise awareness of crowdfunding as a way to raise finance for start-ups and fast growth businesses. With the investor press we positioned Crowdcube as an alternative equity option.
• Business profiles – the company was profiled regularly including half page or full page profiles in The Sunday Times, Telegraph and City AM. More than 75 business profiles for Crowdcube and its members were published in seven years. We also achieved regular feature coverage in broadcast outlets such as Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio and BBC TV as well as business trade features in key business press such as Director, Management Today, The Economist (the latter with a front cover lead).
• Small business focus – a large part of our campaign focus was on the businesses that were raising finance. We advised them on their PR strategy, often executing PR campaigns around their fundraise ourselves which resulted in news and business profile coverage for companies like Monzo, Camden Town Brewery, Pip & Nut and VivoBarefoot among others.

Impact for Crowdcube: In a nutshell, growth. From two co-founders, Crowdcube is now a £5 million plus turnover company with more than 100 employees. More than £500 million has been invested in pitches on the platform by its 600,000 registered member investors. 100 British businesses have raised over £1 million and a total of more than £560 million has been invested on the platform. Crowdcube regularly achieved more than 75% share of voice in media coverage on crowdfunding and became a thought leader on small business finance and alternative investments. And, we are very proud to say, the PR became so famous that it was one of the top three reasons that businesses chose to raise finance on the platform.