As a music-lover, I am thrilled to see this. The PONO music player, a new, ultra-high-fidelity portable music device, is blasting off on Kickstarter this week, already raising $2.6 million in the first three days of the campaign.
Kickstarter – Pono Music – Where Your Soul Rediscovers Music
Spearheaded by veteran rocker Neil Young, PONO hopes to provide a complete ecosystem for hi-fi music lovers, including the hardware device, software, and online store.
This is the beauty of crowdfunding – it facilitates an entirely different philosophy of product development. Instead of a mass-market, “good enough for most people” approach, PONO promises “perfectly awesome for the people who really want [X].” And, as of this writing, there are at least 8,000 people craving a deluxe music-listening experience using 21st century technology.
It’s not an Apple-sized gap in the market; but a PONO-sized gap? You bet. And crowdfunding makes it possible to reach the “consumers in the cracks”.
As far as the persuasion strategy for the campaign, Neil Young and Co. rely heavily on authority and social proof. The video shows legend after rock legend (Dave Grohl, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Beck, etc., etc) reacting to the sound of PONO. It worked on me. I want one!
Additionally, PONO offered an enticing “early bird” reward – a $200 discount from the retail price of the player. These were gobbled up almost instantly and helped to turbocharge the launch of the campaign.
Read more about authority, social proof, and other persuasive techniques for crowdfunding: The Art of Persuasion in Crowdfunding
