What exactly is “crowdfunding”? When people first hear the term “funding,” many of them are a bit confused. For those who have found it hard to explain exactly what it means—even though it’s about people coming together to achieve something—here’s a simple explanation 🙂
What is crowdfunding?
An investment approach in which many small investors come together to create new value
You might think, “Ah, I kind of get the gist of it,” but it’s still hard to fully understand crowdfunding, isn’t it? 🙁 That’s why today I’d like to introduce Wadizcrowdfunding projects—the best way to really grasp the concept.
One peaceful day in April, I came across some unbelievable news. It was about “Oroliday,” a character with a face full of freckles, big eyes, and a playful yet joyful smile, who spreads positive energy.
What is Oroliday?
With a mission to “make your life happier,” this brand creates products, content, services, spaces, and communities, while constantly exploring and expressing ways to bring more joy into people’s lives. However, it seemed that this brand—which prides itself on being responsible for people’s happiness—was facing some trouble.
What on earth is the problem?
That's strange. Isn't it a Korean brand?
Source: @Oroliday Instagram – A counterfeit goods store that opened in Qingdao, China
Oroliday was launched in 2014 and has been sharing the brand’s story in various ways. As Oroliday’s message gained influence, a flood of counterfeit products emerged—some unauthorizedly using the brand’s characters, others blatantly copying them. This was true not only in Korea but also in China. Oroliday reportedly thought, “This is just a situation we have to face as we become more famous.” One company even registered over 30 trademarks in China, acting as if Oroliday’s trademarks and characters were their own.
Just as we were focusing on our work at our own pace, driven by the belief that counterfeits could never match the original, a problem arose. Counterfeit sellers began threatening buyers of genuine Oroliday products with trademark infringement claims and even opened large brick-and-mortar stores.
Source: @Oroliday Instagram – Rolly’s hand-drawn notebook from 2015
However, the counterfeiters have the audacity to make the absurd claim that “we’ve been a brand since 2011, and Korea copied us.” Despite their brazenness, Oroliday’s brand development history and the evidence we presented clearly proved that Oroliday was the original creator, allowing us to proceed with the lawsuit without any issues.
But the real problem came next. We realized that to win the case, we had to proceed with the lawsuit—and that the costs involved would be astronomical. To think that reclaiming our rightful claim would cost us over 100 million won! Although Oroliday had been growing steadily, we couldn’t easily come up with such a large sum, so we were really worried.
How about we try crowdfunding?
Oroliday successfully completed the project
As many people shared their thoughts after hearing the news, someone suggested, “Why don’t we try a crowdfunding campaign?” Upon hearing this news, a Wadiz project manager immediately reached out to Oroliday. Given the significance of the news, the project moved forward quickly, and we wanted to transparently share the project’s progress, fundraising total, and number of backers through Wadiz.
As a result, with the support of 1,065 backers, we raised 55 million won and successfully completed the project.
Messages from supporters posted on the funding community
Although the crowdfunding campaign was a success, we anticipate that this will be a long battle, as it’s an issue we’ll have to fight for a long time. We plan to keep you updated on the progress of the lawsuit through the “Latest News” section of the Oroliday crowdfunding project, so please stay tuned and continue to support Oroliday! 🙂
With the support of so many people behind it, I hope that Oroliday will not simply mark the end of a project, but rather the beginning of a new chapter, and that it will continue to uphold its core values!
Visit the Oroliday funding page 👉🏻
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