What exactly is “crowdfunding”? When people first hear the term “funding,” many of them are a bit puzzled. 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 where 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 takes people’s happiness to heart—was facing some trouble.
What on earth is the problem?
That's strange. Isn't this 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 characters, others blatantly copying them. This was true not only in Korea but also in China. Oroliday reportedly thought, “This is a situation we’ll inevitably have to face as we become more famous.” One company even registered over 30 trademarks in China, claiming that both Oroliday’s brand and characters were their own intellectual property.
Just as we were focusing on our tasks at our own pace, driven by the belief that counterfeits could never match the originals, a problem arose. A company selling counterfeits began threatening buyers of genuine Oroliday products with trademark infringement claims and even opened a large brick-and-mortar store.
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 this brazenness, after reviewing Oroliday’s brand development history and the evidence, it was clearly proven that Oroliday was the original creator, and we were able to proceed with the lawsuit without any issues.
But the real problem came next. I realized that to win the case, we’d have to proceed with the lawsuit—and that the costs involved would be astronomical. The idea that it would cost us over 100 million won just to reclaim a right that was rightfully ours was staggering! Although Oroliday had been growing steadily, we couldn’t easily come up with such a large sum, so we were really torn.
How about 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 wrapped up 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 there is still a lot of ground to cover. 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 us, I hope that Oroliday will not simply mark the end of this 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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