When Matthew Inman, creator of the online comic strip The Oatmeal, learned that the grounds of inventor Nicola Tesla’s (“the greatest geek who ever lived”) laboratory was in danger of being purchased and the remnants of the lab bulldozed for commercial retail space, he sought to raise $850,000 in six weeks to buy the land.
Inman launched his “Let’s Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum” campaign on social fundraising site Indiegogo. With 13 days to go as of this writing, he’s raised $1.3 million. His online call-to-action for the museum had a clear message and used the irreverent geek-out humor that attracts Oatmeal fans (in his call-out, Inman directly solicits Google, Tesla Motors, and actor Christian Bale, who recently signed on to star in a Tesla biopic).
The campaign may not be the most elaborate from a marketing standpoint, but he certainly knows how to get his fans to take action.
Check out more social campaigns and see how they rated:
