Cultura Playing Cards (KS)

[Mankin]

Hi everybody!

I'm Mankin Chan, a graphic and product designer. I recently got interested in custom playing cards and after a while I thought of designing my own deck. This resulted in the Cultura Playing Cards, which is now live on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/1F6lzRv

It is a full custom deck and colorful deck, so I hope you guys like it 

[Don Boyer]

I noticed that you tried launching the deck once before, but without success - raised just under €1,200 on a €8,500 goal.  Aside from the reduced goal of €6,500 this project looks to be exactly the same, and you've raised nearly the same amount of money so far.



This is for the original project.  It appears to have run for four days before you cancelled it.



Why cancel after only four days?  Sure, funding was nearly flat after day one, but that's fairly common and there are ways to overcome it.  This place is one of them - a place where you can reach a card-collecting audience.  But it looks like you need more than just card collectors.  Where else have you been advertising it?



The theme you've chosen might be what's making this a little difficult, I suspect.  The idea of showing elements of different cultures is interesting, but the four cultures you've chosen - what links them, if anything?  Finding people interested in one of the four cultures might not be enough to attract them to buy the deck, since it only covers their point of interest on 25% of the cards.

[Mankin]

Hi Don,

First of all thanks for your feedback.

I canceled the project the first time because I was not entirely happy with the funding goal and some of the shipping rates. I calculated with a wrong MOQ the first time so I could lower the goal by a lot. I am kind of perfectionistic about these things, it bugged me that I didn't do it right the first time, so after a couple of days I decided to relaunch it. But now I am entirely happy with the way I created the project so I will go all out to reach the goal this time.

Next to that I also was not prepared enough about media promotion, so I am trying to reach out to cultural website, retro design lovers and card collectors now.
Any tips for promotion are welcome off course.

These four countries are just countries I really like, and I think they all have a diverse distinctive culture. So I chose these to make the differences between the countries clear. The idea behind this is that I want to release more countries in the future with the same back design. That way people can choose their own four favorite countries and create their own favorite culture deck.

[Don Boyer]

These four countries are just countries I really like, and I think they all have a diverse distinctive culture. So I chose these to make the differences between the countries clear. The idea behind this is that I want to release more countries in the future with the same back design. That way people can choose their own four favorite countries and create their own favorite culture deck.

This is all well and good, but you should be more closely focused on completing the first design, successfully.

Have you considered instead of this, using the art and creating decks that focus on a single culture?  Or at the least, to focus on a single continent first?  That would give your deck a more coherent theme, making it an easier sell to a broad audience.

Think of it like this - I want to build a motor vehicle, so I go to a junkyard and buy a collection of parts.  What we have here is a frame from a pick-up truck, the chassis of a compact car, the engine of a lawn mower, and the interior of a full-sized car.  You could slap them together and make them cooperate, somehow, but it's nowhere near as functional and attractive as the result would be if you got all the parts from the same type of vehicle.  (Or in the case of your deck, nations from the same continent.)

[Mankin]

I actually thought that going more worldwide would be more succesful to attract people from different continents, but I understand what you mean. Might be a good idea to create a deck per continent, it would give a better focus. I will keep that in mind for the next time, thanks for the feedback.

Although I still hope to get this one funded first off course =)

[Mankin]

Anyone else got some useful feedback for me about my deck?

[Don Boyer]

Anyone else got some useful feedback for me about my deck?

After three weeks without additional comments?  I'd say probably not.

It's better to maintain a steady stream of contact when trying to reach out to possible backers on the forums.  Something more often than once every three weeks or three times per project...

[Mankin]

Fair comment.

I have been busy to get some more promotion on several websites these weeks.
I think these two stories will give you some more insight in my Cultura Deck.

http://www.kardify.com/2015/06/kickstarter-7-questions-with-mankin.html
http://www.maxplayingcards.com/en/2015/05/27/cultura-playing-cards-fun-tour-through-four-countries-and-their-traditions/