Capital Labs - Overcoming Ad Barriers to Raise $822k for Medicinal Cannabis

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About Capital Labs

Capital Labs is one of handful companies to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence to offer a crowd-sourced funding paltform (CSF). They launched their platform in 2019, partnering with Greenfields MC - a licensed medicinal cannabis importer and distributor in Australia, helping patients with pain management and chronic illnesses. Greenfeild MC partnered with Capital Labs to create and run a tailor-made equity crowdfunding campaign designed to raise capital and generate targeted brand awareness.

Challenge

Capital Labs choose Rocket as their digital marketing agency to bring their pioneer campaign with Greenfield MC to life. Rocket was challenged to devise the channel strategy and execution across media buying, ad creation, campaign optimisation, and reporting.

The goal was to attract and convert savvy investors looking for a unique investment opportunity. The KPI was ambitious - Rocket had to help raise $500,000+ in equity via the CSF platform in just 5.5 weeks of campaign activity.

The biggest challenge was to overcome multiple barriers set by advertising platforms regarding the promotion of products like medical cannabis. Naturally, this meant that there were no pre-set "audiences" that we could take advantage of to reach our goal. Their refreshed website went live on the same day as Rocket campaigns, raising more challenges in terms of testing conversion and any potential platform bugs.

Solution

Rocket took on the challenge and the digital marketing specialists crafted an outcome-focused digital marketing strategy. We maximised reach via Facebook, Instagram, Google Search and Google Display. The target audience included investors, people interested in science, impact/ethical investors, medical marijuana advocates, and people that used competitor platforms.

  • Google Search Ads were designed to convert buyers into investors, leveraging predetermined interest in medical cannabis.
  • Google Display campaigns leveraged authority and scarcity to encourage the audience to be the first to invest in a new era of patient care using countdowns.
  • Facebook and Instagram campaigns leveraged video to showcase powerful messages and drive action with clear CTAs.

All the chosen digital platforms have stringent guidelines around what can be advertised with respect to pharma products, medical marijuana, and also around some financial products. Whilst the product (equity shares in the company) is legal for advertising, the Rocket team had to manually negotiate to get all the ads passed approval stages with Facebook and Google. As the client had a new Facebook ad account, there were limits on campaign media spending ($100/day) and we had to flight media very carefully in a way that keep it within the threshold at the beginning and then ramped up once limits were removed. This was one of the most challenging campaigns to take to market.

Outcomes

$828k

raised in 5.5 weeks

165%

equity target achieved

522

investors converted

Result

Despite the challenges and short time frame to hit targets, the Rocket team pulled off the campaign with resounding success.

The campaign reached thousands of relevant people within Australia and drew in investments from 522 individuals across channels.

Rocket raised $828,476 in equity via the Capital Labs CSF for Greenfields MC in a matter of 5.5 weeks. That's 165% above the target! The campaign was deemed to be a complete success for all parties involved.

Creatives

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