When Atari put Rainfactory at the helm of reintroducing their brand to a new generation with Atari VCS, we were pumped. We were also terrified.
Our ability to deliver to the client was far from our concern. When entrepreneurs partner with Rainfactory, they get results. Where our concerns stemmed from, rather, was our respect for a long-invested and passionate fan base. We couldn’t get this wrong.
Of course, we knew there were tons of gamers, young and old, that would recognize the brand. This is good news, though we knew to expect those most familiar with Atari to be our biggest critics. Rainfactory worked with Atari to establish a social media presence. Our team handled comment moderation, which proved particularly demanding for this particular audience.
While demanding, community engagement and moderation did play an essential role in building brand trust and customer support in Atari’s name. Hardcore Atari fans yearned to recapture the magic of the video games they grew up with. Meanwhile, our younger demographic had doubts that a modern Atari console could ever compete with the likes of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. In a video from the Fine Brothers’ “Kids React To…” webseries, one thirteen-year-old girl remarks that she’s only heard of Atari in Cee-Lo Green’s song ‘Forget You.’
With Rainfactory’s hard and diligent work, Atari VCS raised more than $3 million to make the product commercially available. The campaign had the #1 most successful Launch Day in Indiegogo history, with $1 million collected within the first 24 hours. It even flooded Indiegogo’s servers, causing a half-hour of stress-inducing downtime.
With its development now complete, Atari VCS is slated for commercial release in 2020.
Need help scaling a product? We at Rainfactory know where to find an audience who will not only love your idea, but collectively donate hundreds of thousands—or even millions—to bring it into fruition. Start here.