Kilara are pioneering measurement-based impact investing on a global scale. A theory of change sits under every investment decision they make. Outside the firm, it wasn’t broadly recognised.
The fund thesis – the market and the opportunity – needed explaining in an easily accessible way. The executives were repeatedly sharing the same information in person.
At the same time, travel was restricted, and a dramatic shift to online was underway. The coming generation of ‘digital first’ investors were forming their view of a fund before they ever met its people. Kilara had a Growth Fund to close, and no presence built for that.
Strategy
There are key choices a leadership team makes when directing marketing, investor relations and communications into a capital raise. Some of them eat executive time for months. A few make or break the close.
The stated need was video. The real work was those choices.
Kilara’s story lived in the heads of a handful of executives, and every conversation started from zero. Capture it once, in the words of their own people, and put it somewhere investors could find it on their own time.
Then measure it. If you can see who is watching, and what they’re watching, executive time goes to engaged, value aligned investors instead of another ‘this is what we are about’ meeting.
Do that well and it doesn’t just close this fund. It prepares the market for the next one.
Action
I started with a deep review of Kilara’s strategy, consulting with the executive. From that came the choices – what to build, what to measure, where the executives’ time would go.
Then I directed and managed the implementation.
A Tone of Voice document – the mission, who they’re talking to, what Kilara is and isn’t, the key messages.
A day of interviewing and filming with the team in Melbourne. The market and the opportunity. The Growth Fund. Why the themes they invest in matter for climate change. Cut into short videos on how they work with people, how you can work with them, and what they look for.
A second filming day in Sydney with their investees, so investors could meet the founders they’d be backing.
The videos were built into Kilara Insights, a branded video hub with integrated analytics, and a way for investors to tell Kilara the type of investor they are, their cheque size and their timeframe.
Around it, a year’s worth of short video, a content calendar, monthly insights emails and LinkedIn posts, with enquiries channelled through to specific people at Kilara.
You can see the system in action in the video insights on Kilara’s website. The main video is below.
Outcome
The $34M Growth Fund closed.
In the six weeks leading up to the close, over 4,300 individuals spent 39 hours watching Kilara’s new video content.
The work is still live on Kilara’s website – the investor team, the investees, and the thinking behind how they invest, in their own words. The system runs on without the executives having to be in the room.
If you’re directing marketing, investor relations and communications into a capital raise, and you don’t know which choices will eat your time or make or break the close – I can help.
