My love affair with Cardboard Technologies began soon after Nimrod Elmish, the company’s CEO, approached me to assist in their marketing strategy. He was considering launching their product using one of the two largest crowdfunding websites: Indiegogo or Kickstarter. At the time, we weren’t sure which platform to use for the launch or which would better serve our growing start-up needs, but you can read more about that in my blog post: Cardboard Technologies: Indiegogo vs. Kickstarter.
The Revolutionary Technology
Let me tell you briefly about the product: it’s a bike, but it’s no ordinary bike. Using a revolutionary technology, Cardboard Technologies recycles used cardboard, plastic and rubber in building a cardboard bicycle that is durable, fire and waterproof, and can withstand over 250 pounds of weight. This remarkable innovation converts waste into an affordable and environmentally friendly method of transportation for people around the world.
Soon after meeting Nimrod, I got to take the bike out for a ‘test ride’ and was astonished by its performance. It was inconceivable: a bike made from recycled material functioning like any ordinary bicycle! Needless to say, I joined the Cardboard Technologies team.
Social Media Optimization
After some initial research, I discovered the cardboard bike had quite a following: thousands of people just as excited as I about Cardboard Technologies’ product. It didn’t take long before my inbox filled up with emails, inquiries and requests to be part of this revolutionary movement. It became clear by the overwhelming interest that this project was for the people, but we would need their support to turn this vision into a reality.
The online world serves as a perfect medium to tell your story and garner support. I worked out a plan to expand our support using Social Media Optimization (SMO). We created pages on the main social networks like Facebook and Twitter, generating publicity and increasing awareness of the cardboard bike (search engines are increasingly turning to recommendations by users of social networks to rank pages in their results).
The Ambassador Campaign
We then came back and challenged our supporters to take it a step further by establishing an ambassador campaign. The campaign calls upon our community to share the content of the campaign and earn green wheels, or virtual currency, redeemable for rewards on our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. With the help of our campaign platform, TrenDemon, we succeeded in recruiting hundreds of ambassadors helping to “spread the word” and increase support for the cardboard bike. What’s more incredible is that we achieved this solely via Social Media Optimization!
The Game Changer
We chose to foster this extraordinary community by creating what we refer to as, “The Game Changer.” To cultivate growth and participation, the idea behind the game changer is to shift the playing field of market economics: let’s downplay the idea of growth through capitalism and promote the concept of growth through social participation. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Now the only question is whether you are ready to join this concept revolutionizing the transportation world.
To learn more about Cardboard Technologies and to support the cardboard bicycle, visit our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-cardboard-bike.
To become a Cardboard Bike Ambassador, visit our Ambassador Campaign on TrenDemon: http://www.cardboardtech.com/ambassador/