Bill Griffin , with a diverse background in marketing, television, advertising founded ‘Crowdwish’
Mr Griffin describes Crowdwish, as “a space where you can post the things you most desire in the world; whatever they may be. Products, experiences, advice, causes you believe in, services, anything.
The site asks users to complete the statement ‘I wish….’ in a hundred characters or less”
and the most popular wish will be acted upon.
At 6pm GMT , everyday action is taken on the most popular wish of the day, in the real world. These actions can be anything, but they are always fresh, imaginative and meaningful.
Their actions have ranged from, creating anti-bullying stickers for school-children, surprising hospital staff with various goodies, offering private cellar tours and restaurant kitchen experiences, lobbying CEOs for equal pay, helping people start businesses, tracking down the ’perfect black skinny trousers’, giving away mindfulness apps, creating morale-boosting personalised posters for people with self-esteem issues, helping find a bone marrow donor, to , taking 750 daffodils, 40 tulips and 27 Easter eggs to old people’s home, sending a leading politician a banana , arranging for an aspiring stage actress to meet with a casting director, protesting the handling of the kidnapped schoolgirls at the Nigerian government’s embassy, sending out party packs composed of balloons, bunting, disposable barbeques and invitations to help people get to know their neighbors better, explaining how to meet the Dalai Lama. All these and so much more has been accomplished.
The driving force and inspiration:
To be less focused on the past or the present but more on tomorrow, next week or next year – the future.
Hope he says, one of the powerful human emotions in the world. Because everyone on earth has hopes, dreams, desires and ambitions for their future; Everyone, from a shoe-less child in Kenya to the world’s most affluent hedge fund manager.
These hopes can be anything from a physical object, to a service, to a ‘bucket list’ style experience we would like to have, to an individual we would like to meet, to advice, to a cause we believe in.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is simple – to bring together the world’s hopes, dreams, ambitions and desires. This site creates connections between people looking for the same thing, because many voices are louder than one; thus the more a wish is shared, the more likely it is to come true.
It takes individual’s needs, hopes and dreams; to collate and quantifies them, then uses the combined power of their critical mass to help them to become a reality.
This might be through group purchasing, through lobbying or by tapping into the benefits of shared experience and collective wisdom.
Biggest hurdles and Competitors
Mr Griffin says, at the beginning Getting traction, gaining trust Raising capital etc. were their biggest hurdles. And a site called Impossible.com run by some friends which runs on similar lines and a couple of ‘Bucket List’ style sites are their biggest competitors
Monetizing Plans
The site works on four revenue models:
1. Through hosting brands as sponsors of wishes.
2. A content offering in the style of Upworthy; now the fastest growing media site of all time.
3. Direct transactional opportunities or affiliate revenues from partner companies.
4. ‘Freemium’ offering.
Crowdwish caters to everyone, as Mr Griffin rightly says, there’s nobody who doesn’t want anything. They cater from 12-year-old girls to grandfathers.
But their users are mainly 65% UK-based, with the rest overseas; mainly in the US.
They give things away every week. People need to sign up to take advantage.
For more information
Log on to www.crowdwish.com
And keep wishin’
