A Wolf Wakes
(Not) announcing the launch of The Craftory
The Craftory Ltd today pointedly failed to announce its launch via conventional PR Newswire. That’s because press releases are both endearingly ineffective corporate relics of the 20th Century, and because The Craftory’s target audience – those fearless CEOs and founders of the world’s boldest challenger brands – wouldn’t know what a PR Newswire was if it bit them in the derrière.
The Craftory is a revolutionary concept: a new investment company, powered with $300M of permanent capital, dedicated entirely to backing the disruptive challengers toppling lumbering corporates in the consumer goods space. Founded by Elio Leoni-Sceti and Ernesto Schmitt, plus a dedicated frontline of craft experts, The Craftory is the anti-corporate anti-VC: its capital is permanent (meaning the brands in its pack aren’t subject to the short-termism of conventional VC/PE funds), its principals are entrepreneurs and brand experts themselves (as opposed to spreadsheet financiers), and its focus is on amplification, not raw profit: multiplying the impact and reach of its brands from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of consumers, without ever compromising the brands’ mission or purpose.
The Craftory delivers amplification through focus on the three skills: expertise in brand creative and storytelling, expertise in digital activation platforms, and expertise in scale-up efficiency:
Leading challengers win by fighting a righteous cause through disruptive innovation – thereby improving the categories they serve, our planet, or society. Effectively conveying this righteous cause through striking brand execution and mesmerising, relevant storytelling drives challenger consumers to spread brand equity directly and honestly, in a way the incumbent corporates can’t outspend with advertising dollars.
Similarly, the digital platforms on which successful challengers activate their consumers and transact with them deftly circumvent the scale advantage corporates have in big box retail distribution and media buys.
And finally, the best challengers know how to mega-scale their supply chains from agile to effective, without selling out on their promise. The Craftory has the capital, expertise, knowledge and empathy to amp the challengers under its wing in a very unique way.
Said Elio Leoni-Sceti, co-founder and chief crafter: "These are immensely exciting times for bold, mission-driven entrepreneurs taking aim at Big Business in consumer goods. The tide of history has turned. Consumer preference goes to brands with a story to tell and a genuine purpose to achieve”
Said Ernesto Schmitt, co-founder and arch crafter: “Think of the Craftory as a virtual Google Campus for challenger brands: a home for like-minded entrepreneurs sharing the same values and mission, supported by the capital and expertise they need to succeed at tremendous scale.”
The Craftory welcomes submissions for adoption from all high-growth consumer brands with $10M+ revenue out to conquer the world – and especially those in health- and beauty care, personal care (incl male grooming and feminine hygiene); health food and snacks; beer, wine & spirits; Tea, coffee and soft drinks; Chocolate (just because); household care; perfumes & fragrance; pet care; and any blended, multi-category plays.
Just step forward at challengers@thecraftory.io, and let’s see if we can make history together.
- NEVER ENDS -
