WNTI
“Your city is our beat”: Under this claim, the online magazine WNTI, in collaboration with Staub & Wirbel, launched a crowdfunding campaign in early 2025 and raised over 150,000 Swiss francs in seed capital.
Campaign Management Copywriting Media relations Strategy & concept
Mandate & Goals
WNTI created a new, independent online medium in Winterthur. A daily newsletter reporting on what moves the city: without a paywall, without corporate logic, but with a genuine local connection. Staub & Wirbel was commissioned to conceive and lead the crowdfunding campaign. The particular challenge: The company was being built up parallel to the campaign – there was no finished branding or established structures at the beginning.
Goals:
Startkapital sichern
Raise at least 100,000 Swiss francs by the end of March 2025 to finance the launch of the online medium
Community aufbauen
Build an initial community and gain newsletter subscribers
Bewerbung des neuen Mediums
Make WNTI known in Winterthur and position the new medium as the “talk of the town”
Insights
Strategy & Implementation
As the company itself was still being built, the storytelling had to be continuously aligned with the messages and vision, which were simultaneously taking shape. With a personal campaign that allowed much insight into the simultaneous creation of the medium and the people behind it, we created approachability and identification – not only with WNTI, but with local journalism in general. Our goal was to build a magazine that the people of Winterthur would have a direct connection to and be proud of.
Key measures:
Kampagnkonzept
Development of the strategy incl. target groups, messages, dramaturgy, and action plan from the pre-campaign phase to the final sprint
Copywriting
Texts for the crowdfunding page, media releases, newsletters, mailings, and social media
Social Media
Setup and management of Instagram and LinkedIn channels during the campaign phase incl. Testimonial series with well-known Winterthur personalities
Active story pitching and media support
Project management and coordination of the campaign team, multipliers, and external partners
Result & Impact
The crowdfunding was also a kind of acid test to see if Winterthur wanted and needed this medium. Accordingly, much was at stake. The campaign achieved all three of its goals with flying colors: It reached the fundraising target, increased awareness of the new medium, and built a community. Thus, it was also the launch. Since then, WNTI has been growing continuously and reports daily from the city of Eulach.