Knightmare Convention
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Promotion: is the message getting to the right people? I know that lots of people are sharing the convention adverts, but possibly lots of Knightmare fans aren't on this website or friends with someone in the Facebook group.
Agreed. However:
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It's clear from comments on our Facebook posts that we're still continuing to attract members of the Knightmare Facebook page who haven't yet seen previous posts.
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It's difficult to know exactly where to put adverts. The advert has to be relevant enough that someone in the targeted community is likely to care.
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We've made numerous posts to Geek and Childrens TV based websites, Facebook pages and Twitter personalities. HuffPost have retweeted us, and Stuart Ashen has advertised on Twitter. I've done a couple of telephone interviews for blogs and we're working hard on pushing a press release.
To my knowledge, there's really not much more we can do. But by all means, if you come across anywhere, do feel free to push the campaign to them.
Any chance you could get an article on the BBC news website or some other high-traffic place I haven't thought of? So many people round Britain are very nostalgic for shows like Knightmare and it might get your message to a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise see it.
We can, and are, trying. However, ultimately, it's not within our control.
To some extent, these things are circular. We're more likely to get advertisements if we're doing well in the campaign. Hence why it's so important that members of the community make pledges.
Youtube videos? Both making your own and commenting on other popular Knightmare-related ones, to reach a wider audience that way.
The former has been done twice and there's a vague plan for a third. However, there's a limit to how many videos I can make of myself saying "please pledge". Getting the actors involved is asking a big favour of them and hugely time consuming. I'm hoping that the third video will do just that, but it'll take days to get it done, IF the actor concerned is interested.
And as always, there's a limit to how much time we have available.
We can't comment on Knightmare youtube videos. They infringe copyright. Again, feel free to do that if you like and if you think it will help.
Keeping your subscribers involved seems to be an important way to build goodwill: by updating the page with thanks, new perks (so people might think about upgrading), update messages, etc.
We've been doing this.
Coming up with new perks is something I'm particularly happy to do. But it's extremely hard to think of new ones that we can legitimately do.
Perks: Even if you have a target market identified it's difficult to get more than a small percentage to support you. So make it easy for people to give you money! I know people can buy more than one pledge for this campaign, but honestly that isn't competely clear to me from the front page. Can that be made really, really obvious?
Good point. Done.
Also, make it easier for people to give you more money at once by both having the mix-and-match pledges and combined options for people in a hurry. Why not have a combined Sat/Sun and deluxe Sat/Sun ticket in the £50-£100 range?
We can't.
We can only sell 350 tickets for each day, because that's the auditorium capacity. If someone buys a "two day ticket" there's no way to subsequently remove one ticket from each of the "Saturday" or "Sunday" allocations.
Also, are there any more rewards you can offer to people who really want to support the convention without buying a ticket?
I desperately want to do this, but nobody has been able to come up with anything.
I think I've come up with a way to ship the t-shirts and programmes. But I'm not sure people would be willing to spend the necessary £3-£4 for P&P.
Something non-physical would be perfect, but I'm at a loss for ideas.
One thing that's very effective is graded perks - persuade people to donate more by having stepped pledges where for £5 more you get the same as the previous perk plus one bonus thing, and so on.
This was done in David Rowe's campaign, and there was endless whinging about how people want one thing in the "package" but not everything. Hence, we went with the "build your own package" approach.
Obviously the unique selling points of the convention are the chance to be in the original Knightmare studios and to meet the fantastic guests you've got on board. Why not make more of your guests? Could you offer some "meet the guest/ask the guest a question/get an autograph or photo from the guest" type perks? Since you're offering that at the convention anyway I think that would be extremely popular and a great way to make up some of your costs in advance.
I can't go into the details, but:
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We can't advance sell photographs.
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"Selling" attention from the actors is problematic. It either means we need to extend the working day for them (which will cost us more money) or it means they'll have less time available to spend with everyone else.
How about "15 minute coffee break with (your favouite guest, if they're on board)", only available to advance supporters?
Well, we basically already have that with the backstage pass.
I might be tempted to reconsider the price of that since nobody has yet purchased one.
Lastly, are there any companies that would sponsor the event? You may already have thought of this, of course! But a few thousand pounds is a lot for one fan but may not seem all that much to a business in return for some advertising in brochures, etc.
We've tried a few, but in the current climate it is EXTREMELY difficult to find any kind of sponsorship.
By all means, feel free to act on our behalf by offering sponsorship opportunities to anyone you think might be interested. Have them get in touch with us with an offer and we can discuss it.
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Is there any way the deadline could be extended? I'm sorry but I do feel it's not long enough and to raise over £12,000 it's a huge ask.
No, it's not possible to extend a campaign once it's started.
AND it wouldn't help anyway, because we need to confirm the venue and guests at the time the campaign is currently due to end.
AND I'm not convinced that an extra week will make any real difference.
£12,000 is not that big of a deal. Knightmare Live raised over half of that. David Rowe's campaign raised nearly half of that. Other events on IndieGoGo easily raise £100,000+
Plus the VIP tickets, could they not be reduced? I do feel it's a lot of money for the perks given. Maybe if they were reduced you could have more success.
Perhaps.
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Out of interest, do we know how many people have accessed the campaign page? Are people seeing and not contributing or simply not seeing?
I sense some frustration building but let's not lose sight of the fact there's still time and funding curves tend to be exponential. Alan also seems to be totally 'on it'
We're edging towards £1000 which I'm hoping crosses some kind of psychological barrier and encourages others to see there might be a 'point' to pledging.
Hypothetical question - if a rich person came along and gave all the cash, would the convention go ahead with a really small number of attendees?!
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Out of interest, do we know how many people have accessed the campaign page? Are people seeing and not contributing or simply not seeing?
4,566 visits as of right now.
So by and large, people are not contributing.
Hypothetical question - if a rich person came along and gave all the cash, would the convention go ahead with a really small number of attendees?!
Yes
But then there'd be tickets available for sale after the campaign ended.
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But as I've already said, that was never an option.
sorry if I'm sounding a bit thick/puzzled but I don't quite understand how that is effected by venue bookings. it's too late now anyway.
At the same time, it did give them more exposure
Plus as Knigthamre fans I thought they would be very interested in seeing something like this survive. If I was in that position id be doing what I can.
Hypothetical question - if a rich person came along and gave all the cash, would the convention go ahead with a really small number of attendees?!
Are you going to be making a generous offer?
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sorry if I'm sounding a bit thick/puzzled but I don't quite understand how that is effected by venue bookings. it's too late now anyway.
The venue need us to confirm/pay for the venue a certain amount of time in advance of the event. That way, if we cannot get the money together, they have a chance to hire it out to someone else.
Extending the campaign (even if it was possible) wouldn't extend the date by which we'd have to confirm/pay for the venue and we don't get any money until the campaign is finished.
So the campaign can end no later than the date on which we have to confirm/pay for the venue.
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sorry if I'm sounding a bit thick/puzzled but I don't quite understand how that is effected by venue bookings. it's too late now anyway.
The venue need us to confirm/pay for the venue a certain amount of time in advance of the event. That way, if we cannot get the money together, they have a chance to hire it out to someone else.
Yeah I understand that, I don't mean extending it past the deadline, I mean the exact opposite, getting word out before starting the campaign, for example I see a lot of "coming soon to indiegogo" promos theses days. it's just something I've seen a lot recently, that's all, thought id just bring it up.
There was plenty of people who did like them.
Those who didn't were a minority from what I could tell from online observations, but all that comes with the territory of being a 'celeb' but if they're busy or have no interest in something like this then it's not fair to hassle them. I don't think they 'owe' anyone anything, but as fans id thought they'd be interested.
What about someone like Mark Cordory ? He made some of the Km props I think? His a busy man but might drop mention on his facebook?
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Perks: Even if you have a target market identified it's difficult to get more than a small percentage to support you. So make it easy for people to give you money! I know people can buy more than one pledge for this campaign, but honestly that isn't competely clear to me from the front page. Can that be made really, really obvious?
Good point. Done.
Looks good.
Also, are there any more rewards you can offer to people who really want to support the convention without buying a ticket?
I desperately want to do this, but nobody has been able to come up with anything.
I think I've come up with a way to ship the t-shirts and programmes. But I'm not sure people would be willing to spend the necessary £3-£4 for P&P.
That sounds good. Why not offer it anyway and see if people are willing? They definitely won't if the option isn't there.
One thing that's very effective is graded perks - persuade people to donate more by having stepped pledges where for £5 more you get the same as the previous perk plus one bonus thing, and so on.
This was done in David Rowe's campaign, and there was endless whinging about how people want one thing in the "package" but not everything. Hence, we went with the "build your own package" approach.
I don't think it's mutually exclusive, the perks could be offered separately or as a package to please all markets. Again, I'm thinking of making it easier for people to give you money.
How about "15 minute coffee break with (your favouite guest, if they're on board)", only available to advance supporters?
Well, we basically already have that with the backstage pass.
I might be tempted to reconsider the price of that since nobody has yet purchased one.
Wait... the backstage pass is to meet the actual guests of honour? Wow, that really needs pushing more. I thought "come and meet us all backstage" meant the convention planning team! Seriously, if that's what you meant then the backstage ticket now sounds like a really good offer. Please consider changing the words to emphasis the value of what you're offering here!
Lastly, are there any companies that would sponsor the event? You may already have thought of this, of course! But a few thousand pounds is a lot for one fan but may not seem all that much to a business in return for some advertising in brochures, etc.
We've tried a few, but in the current climate it is EXTREMELY difficult to find any kind of sponsorship.
By all means, feel free to act on our behalf by offering sponsorship opportunities to anyone you think might be interested. Have them get in touch with us with an offer and we can discuss it.
Agreed, it's easier said than done. I'll have a think. Perhaps some companies local to Norwich would be interested? Afraid I don't have any connections there.
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I think I've come up with a way to ship the t-shirts and programmes. But I'm not sure people would be willing to spend the necessary £3-£4 for P&P.
That sounds good. Why not offer it anyway and see if people are willing? They definitely won't if the option isn't there.
I shall do at the next IGG update.
This was done in David Rowe's campaign, and there was endless whinging about how people want one thing in the "package" but not everything. Hence, we went with the "build your own package" approach.
I don't think it's mutually exclusive, the perks could be offered separately or as a package to please all markets. Again, I'm thinking of making it easier for people to give you money.
True. However, I'm much more worried about the prospect of confusion, especially if we're going to start selling perks with shipping.
Well, we basically already have that with the backstage pass.
I might be tempted to reconsider the price of that since nobody has yet purchased one.
Wait... the backstage pass is to meet the actual guests of honour? Wow, that really needs pushing more. I thought "come and meet us all backstage" meant the convention planning team! Seriously, if that's what you meant then the backstage ticket now sounds like a really good offer. Please consider changing the words to emphasis the value of what you're offering here!
Yes.
In fairness, the short description says "meet us all" and the FAQ entry says "to chat with us, and our guests". I suppose I can tighten the language on the short description.
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Goodluck with this people, I will be def be sending some dollarz in support. Friends are getting Married that weekend plus for me never go back/meet your heros etc, so won't be there but hope it happens and look forward to seeing how it went.
In the worst case scenario and you don't raise the needed amount, could you not find a no thrills venue? Anywhere with enough capacity, the right presentation and not least the creators and cast would still be enough of a pull for many. U might loose the chance to 'play a room', but could still have a great event elsewhere? a plan b. Anyways all the best.
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Potentially, but as you'll see from the piechart we provided on the convention fundraising page, the guests are costing nearly half of the 12k. Once you add a reasonable venue in (keeping in mind that your venue dictates how many tickets you can sell), you're already a good way to your 12k.
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Indeed. Thanks to a very generous contributor who has chosen to remain anonymous, we're a good way further ahead of where we were
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Mystara, ok, I mentioned that on facebook via pm, but it's still just 10 and 15 when I look back at the people who've contributed, again sorry for the confusion and I hope it can be sorted out, otherwise I'm up the creek without a paddle.
That's right. There's no way for us to change what your donations actually were. Otherwise it would be possible for us to act in a fraudulent manner.
At the end of the campaign, we'll simply add up what you donated and you can choose what perk you get (as long as the perk is equal to or less than the amount you donated).
Hence, people can also "upgrade" if they want to, as well.
I know charlie brooker did a few seconds on knightmare when talking about the advent of how technology changed in the 80s with computers, is hs worth trying?.
Already did.
There's been nothing in regards of the convention news from itv, bbc news, guardian and the daily mail yet & I'm scratching My head and want to know why.
They may be awaiting our PR. They may also simply be watching to see if we get enough activity to be "worthy". Hence why it's important to continually share and spread the word every single day to everyone, everywhere.
I can make printouts of this conention if you guys want and bring it up Norwich next week when I get paid and should be a lot better as I'm 40 minutes from Norwich if that and the forum in Norwich is where look east news is, if that will help? and there's bound to be some adventure game stores in Norwich as well who might advertise for us possibly.
Go for it.
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Aren't there a few radio stations in Norwich as well, if there's any on My route I'll see if I can hand one or two of these in there as well.
You drop in the 'Film and television shop' near the forum, (the old bbc shop)
Knightmare being a tv thing, and a local production they might be cooperative.
Or the Norwich puppet theatre, they're quite supportive of local events, but that's a long shot.
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Thanks to a very generous contributor who has chosen to remain anonymous, we're a good way further ahead of where we were
It's an overwhelming vote of confidence. At the same time, every contribution of any size takes the Funders list up by one and forms part of a possible snowball effect. (As opposed to a Snowball & Napoleon effect, which is where one piggy bank is used to break open another piggy bank. Does raise funds but lots of farm animals get upset.)
Does the forum software still have an 'email all members' function? If so, it might be worth using it. I'm concerned about some of our old stalwarts emerging from the woodwork in weeks and months to come, asking, "Why didn't I know about this?"
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Yes, we actually ended up getting quite a good number of contributions yesterday.
However, we're still a good way away from our goal.
It does go to show that all the advertising and promotion that we're being doing has been worthwhile. All it takes is a few big donators and we'll be done.
As for the "email all" possibility - yes, I think the forum has this. However, I'm very very cautious about using it because it's extremely easy to be classed as a spammer for doing this kind of thing.
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I really hope we reach this, why aren't more of the km community getting involved?.
A good question and something I genuinely don't understand.
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Except that not supporting a KM convention will have a knock-on effect to anything else Knightmare related.
If the KM convention flops, it will suggest to media companies that there's simply no interest in Knightmare any longer.
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