In another crazy viral Kickstarter phenomenon, Mathew Inman, creator of the popular webcomic The Oatmeal, fully funded his Kickstarter for a game called Exploding Kittens in just 20 minutes on Tuesday.
In less than an hour, it was 1,000 percent funded. And within just seven hours, it was 10,000 percent funded with over $1 million raised. The Kickstarter is now more than $2 million past its $10,000 goal with 29 days to go. Holy cow. That's even faster than Reading Rainbow reached $1 million.
It's yet another example of cat-loving Internet denizens making something go viral. But it's also a lesson in how The Oatmeal's online marketing chops and powerhouse social media presence translated into serious Kickstarter gold—a phenomenon we've seen for a number of niche marketers.
THANK YOU! https://t.co/YMyRgwMXG7pic.twitter.com/mYnvYOkjFg
— Matthew Inman (@Oatmeal) January 20, 2015Because it's not the video of still-frame drawings and Inman talking over some cheap needle drop that made this campaign explode. It's not the rewards, which are little more than various versions of the card game.
Nope, it was the day Inman spent updating his social networks with cute image macros of exploding kittens to reward and thank his "Precious Oatlets" for their loyalty in funding the game—while making those of us who hadn't clicked feel left out. Eventually he even sucked me in when an atomic blast of a kitten exploded across my Facebook page bragging about reaching the million mark.
Let's face it—it's hard to resist atomic bomb kittens.