Ideas in Action: Our New Brand Campaign
Showcasing success stories from our vibrant creator community via out-of-home and digital ads.
In honor of 15 years of Kickstarter – a milestone that we reached in April and are celebrating throughout the year – we’re launching "Ideas in Action," a multi-channel marketing campaign that spans both out-of-home (OOH) and digital platforms.
“Ideas in Action” showcases the powerful stories of creators who have brought their visions to life through Kickstarter. The name is a nod to how Kickstarter empowers creators to bring their creative ideas to life.
The creator stories at the heart of the campaign are:
- “And the Anonymous Nobody” – When iconic rap group De La Soul wanted to launch their first eighth studio album, they wanted it to be self-released and self-funded. They successfully raised funds for the project on Kickstarter in 2016.
- Exploding Kittens – This card game broke the record for most-funded Kickstarter project ever when it raised almost $9M in 2015.
- Soul Mama London – This joint venture between award-winning saxophonist, YolanDa Brown, and Creative Entrepreneur, Adetokunbo "T" Oyelola, became the most-funded restaurant project on Kickstarter ever in 2023.
- L'Appartement 4F – A couple who wanted to build a French bakery on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights launched a Kickstarter to help them open a brick-and-mortar location.
- Hair Love –This short film, funded on Kickstarter, went on to earn former NFL player Matthew A. Cherry his first Oscar.
- Villains – The team behind Villains, an award-winning PG-13 comedy sci-fi, wanted help getting the film into movie theaters. After raising more than $100,000 on Kickstarter, the film hit select theaters in April 2024.
- Gothamist – After Gothamist shut down in 2017, Gothamist’s staff launched a Kickstarter campaign to revive the website and newsletter.
These are just some of the extraordinary successes that have happened since we launched Kickstarter in 2009. Putting creator stories at the forefront of this new campaign allows us to keep our community at the center of our storytelling about the platform's journey and impact.
Where you’ll see our campaign come to life
To capture the attention of a broad audience, our multi-channel “Ideas in Action” campaign leverages the power of out-of-home (OOH) advertising and dynamic digital extensions.
For our OOH placements, we carefully selected high visibility locations in New York City, particularly Manhattan and Brooklyn. The locations also hold historical significance for Kickstarter. Kickstarter was launched in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. We had an office in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and later, we moved our headquarters to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Manhattan and Brooklyn are parts of Kickstarter’s origin story and growth.
If you’re in NYC, you’ll spot our campaign in digital billboards across Times Square, the Barclays Center, Greenpoint, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. We also have subway placements at the Dekalb Ave Station (L line) and the Times Square station (N, Q, R line) and finally we have wallscapes at the intersection of Flushing Avenue & Vandervoot Street (Brooklyn) and the intersection of Wythe Avenue and N 11th Street (Brooklyn)
This is Kickstarter’s first OOH campaign ever. We know there are so many other cities where our creators and backers live. We hope to extend these placements across other cities. Tell us where you’d like to see us.
Our OOH placements are complemented by digital efforts aimed at engaging people online where they live, work, and play. You’ll see digital ads featuring “Ideas in Action” to increase awareness of the brand and drive folks to our new microsite where we’re housing our new strategic vision and new product roadmap.
Why this matters
As we embark on the next 15 years, this campaign serves as a reminder of the incredible impact we can achieve together and a call to inspire the next generation of creators and backers, enabling us to enrich our platform with more diverse projects and foster a community where creative ideas can thrive.
We would not be here, at year 15, without our community of creators and backers.
Soon, you’ll see us feature more incredible stories from our journey on Kickstarter’s social channels. Keep an eye out and tell us who you think we should feature.
