J-RAO: The Conscious Cosmetic Collective
I’m Jennifer, a sustainability researcher, and whilst completing my PhD at the University of Dundee in 2017, I decided to use my environmental expertise to develop a retail business, J-RAO the Conscious Cosmetic Collective.
The idea behind J-RAO is simple. We believe that conscious consumerism is no longer a trend, it’s an urgency. The cosmetic market provides an exciting space to tackle many challenges faced by the consumer industry by developing premium products with ethical values. This means being environmentally responsible, gender inclusive and embracing circular economy through design.
Currently we sell two products (bathing salts and soap) which are vegan and organic (no parabens, sulphates, fragrance), so there’s a big effort at J-RAO to be kind to both skin and planet (we use refillable and recyclable packaging).
I launched a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign to raise £10,000 to help build a prototype and secure some matched grant funding. I offered a range of tiered rewards from £10 to £1,000, based on product bundles, discounts, recognition on our website and invites to a new product launch party.
I ended up raising £1250 from 25 supporters, somewhat short of my target!
But it wasn’t all about the money for me – I really saw the campaign as an opportunity to build community and ambassadorship around the brand, providing a pool of people that would be interested in the journey of the brand and also try out new product releases.
Crowdfunding encouraged me to be creative in new ways, such as using social media differently, following up with contacts and asking for support. I also developed a new product called CROWD-SUD (“Inspired by the power of crowdfunding to unite and create change”), with a donation of 10% of net profits from the sale of every CROWD-SUD product to Marine Conservation Society.
Running the campaign also helped me to have further conversations with fellow founders and local business organisations to talk about future support and funding that may be available to me, which was really helpful. From all these conversations I had a bit of a reality check around how I was approaching raising funds for my business and so I am now taking steps to becoming SEIS eligible.
Financially, raising £1250 progressed the development of my new product as it enabled me to complete some Intellectual Property (IP) work. So, despite not reaching target, there were lots of benefits to crowdfunding!
So, what would I do differently next time to ensure I met my target?
Looking back, the text in my campaign was more suited to an investor’s eye rather than the tone and pitch needed to be more impactful for crowdfunding – concise, emotionally engaging and accessible. My video could have been a little livelier too (I was wearing grey and black and looked a bit like a BBC correspondent reporting on a disaster…!).
I don’t think my rewards were right either – they just weren’t that suitable for the target market (new customers) I was trying to reach, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. Next time I will provide an ‘open / pledge what you can’ offer so I am not excluding anyone.
It was already a very busy time for me as a solo founder, so I was learning on the hoof quite a lot. During the campaign I learned that I should have had at least 25-30% of pledges (or at least calls to actions to support) pre-agreed. This meant in addition to replying and doing updates on the campaign I was also actively working my network to engage them. Very much a “growing wings whilst in flight” experience, so I would do a lot more preparation next time.
My top three tips for anyone thinking of crowdfunding are:
- Ask for help, even if you don’t have a team – getting people on board to support before, during and after the campaign will really help you keep your energy up.
- Try and get as many pledges pre-approved before going live with your campaign.
- Create your communications and engagement materials ahead of time and schedule these so they will be more manageable during the campaign. It’s all in the planning!
Crowdfunding is one of many investment raising tools that can really help raise the profile of an early-stage brand in, addition to raising finance. There’s a reason why revenue generating brands choose to crowdfund time and time again. The way crowdfunding can build community and even extend to brand ambassadorship is a massive benefit that’s sometimes overlooked.
Jennifer says:
Taking inspiration from Kathy Calvin
“Crowdfunding is not just about raising money; it’s about raising belief.” It’s not only an investment raising tool, its also a great way to learn a lot about yourself, your business and build a community in the process.
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