Springleap.com featured in the social media March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Small Capital (A practical guide for business owners). The social media issue includes a case study of Springleap, co-founders and co-owners Eran Eyal and Eric Edelstein gives insight into building online communities, crowdsourcing, and social media.

The Springleap case study delves into past achievements as well as future plans the entrepreneurs have.

Read full Springleap case study below:

Small Capital
Issue fourteen March 2010

A practical guide for business owners – The Social Media Issue

CASE STUDY: Springleap

To Eran Eyal and his partner Eric Edelstein, the sole purpose of their Springleap.com website is to enable the crowd.

“Our core business and intellectual property is building online communities and harnessing their power. We are all about crowdsourcing; t-shirts are how we chose to express it.”

The t-shirt business

The t-shirt side of Springleap.com’s business is deceptively simple. Every two weeks the Springleap.com community votes for their favourite t-shirt designs, submitted by other members of the community. The creator of the winning design wins R7 482, 18- half in t-shirts baring the designer’s name. T-shirts with the winning designs are printed and sold via the Springleap.com website, the Springleap store in Sea Point, Cape Town, and via preferred reseller partners such as Big Blue, Rockabilly, Idols, SKA, Lover and others. The artist also earns royalties on every t-shirt sold.

Apart from voting, subscribers to the Springleap.com website can browse through previous designs and buy t-shirts8 whenever they like. 8Springleap t-shirts are manufactured from high-quality South African cotton and delivered to their fans’ doorsteps free of charge.

The real business
As Eran and Eric point out, Springleap.com’s purpose is to empower its community and to keep the members coming back for more.

On the one hand, it is hugely empowering environment for artists. “They submit their designs and receive feedback not only from so-called ordinary people, but also from other artists,” says Eran. “In the two years of the website’s existence, we have seen numerous instances of artists collaborating, mentoring each other and commenting on each other’s work.”

On the other hand, Springleap.com is a hive of activity for all members. They can blog, comment, converse with other Springleap.com users, submit creations, win all sorts of prizes, photograph people wearing Springleap clothing and submit those pictures – the list is virtually endless. The trick, as Eran points out, is to keep the community busy and give then new and interesting reasons to visit the site.

One of Springleap.com’s success stories is the daily special. Every day at 12:00 noon, they announce a special offer on a specific (t-shirt( on their Twitter account (@Springleaping). With discounts ranging from 5% to 70%, buyers have only 24 hours to submit their orders. It is not surprising that the daily special is the cornerstone of their marketing strategy. “That is where our marketing budget is. To date, we have not spent a cent on advertising.”

Understanding that community building, and not t-shirts, is the heart of their business, has allowed Eric and Eran to diversify.
Springleap.com now works its crowdsourcing magic for all kinds of design projects for corporate clients in a variety of industries. In fact, this is the real money-spinner for the business. In 2008, Springleap.com was named the second most innovative company in the retail sector in the world, and in 2009 won the Jump.co.za *e-commerce award for best online clothing and accessories store.

Eran explains: “In 2010 we will relaunch Springleap.com and introduce a few other new brands. Even more exciting is that w will launch the platform as SAAS (Software as a Service). This means that anyone will be able to have their own free ‘Springleap-like’ crowdsourcing e-commerce social media community site in a matter of minutes, by simply dragging and dropping the elements into place. We will also have more advanced features for purchase as well as full-blown corporate models.”

The secrets behind Springleap’s success

1. Time and effort. Social media, community building and crowdsourcing have been Eric and Eran’s way of life for a decade. “We understand the platforms and how traffic is generated, directed and converted.”

2. Perseverance and very hard work. From developing the website to coming to grips with textile production, postage and delivery, the birth of Springleap.com was anything but painless. “All I can say is that sharks patrol these waters!” comments Eran.

3. Business common sense. Eran believes that three things make a business work: always be nice, make calls and network, and deliver what you promise.

4. A sixth sense. “In this business, you need a feel for what will work, much like a surfer senses a good wave.”

The Springleap.com team would like to thank Small Capital

For more information on crowdsourcing watch videos below

One of the reasons I love Springleap is that I’m allowed to be so locally relevant here with my thoughts.

While the rest of the world might wonder what the heck this image means, we all have heard the story of the man who’s the father of the nation , right?

Yep I know, it’s another Vader design, but hey I bet you never saw THIS joke before :)

Hey I just had a thought… If Zuma was Vader, does that make Malema …. Darth Maulema?? :D shoutBack 3 weeks, 3 days ago by

How can anyone not see the awesome in this?! This is sheer awesumnity! WINNER pls pls pls shoutBack 3 weeks, 5 days ago by

WAHAHAHHAHA!!!!! This is hilarious! Well done Tu! Jacob ZUman and Malema must be killing themselves laughing or raising some hairy eyebrows at this tshirt! shoutBack 4 weeks, 1 day ago by

I WANT IT!!! shoutBack on 4/3/10 by

Ah… Round 2 for Zuma Vader, who still likes this? Anyone? shoutBack on 3/3/10 by

Oh WOW look what phreek found for me! It's "Zuma X Zapiro X Vader! :D":http://www.flickr.com/photos/31936213N08/4380905797/ shoutBack on 23/2/10 by

Otter, that’s up to you! :P Thanks kunning :) shoutBack on 21/2/10 by

TU! Bastard guy! this shirt better win. I’ll but 3! shoutBack on 21/2/10 by

Classic Tuism! shoutBack on 20/2/10 by

As a thanks to the dudes and dudettes who’s supported my work, come and leave a comment here , if this tee gets printed I’ll pick one of the comments for a free tee :) shoutBack on 19/2/10 by

Freedom, cultural harmony, and multi-racial democracy are things many of us take for granted. Mandela said, “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself”. When I hear his name, I immediately think of the word courage.

This is a stylized drawing of Mandela smiling. After trying every color combination known to man, it looked best in a single ink. Royal blue or black would work nicely on the green shirt.

really love the lines you used! agree it could be a little smaller shoutBack 3 weeks, 3 days ago by

I like it.. shoutBack 3 weeks, 3 days ago by

I like the linework but the image is a bit on the large side shoutBack on 4/3/10 by

Thanks for the comments! The tee mockup was only a quick stab at how big it could go. Can also be made smaller and in other colors. shoutBack on 28/2/10 by

cool lines! shoutBack on 27/2/10 by

Nicely done, but waaay too huge on the t-shirt in my opinion. shoutBack on 26/2/10 by

Killer stylization ThirstyFly! shoutBack on 25/2/10 by

Shoo! Hectic i wonder what Iraq did after hahaha shoutBack 3 weeks, 5 days ago by

OKOKOK! So EVERYBODY knows about the sensation that has swept the South African Nation : Die Antwoord aka Zef Side

So who are these super crazy ninja cats who have captured the hearts and minds of everyone - from the average Joe to the media mogul?

Let’s take a quick gander at what Die Antwoord are telling people on video about their group and music and then get down to the crunch. Here’s an interview with them… not for the fainthearted though - language is a bit harsh ;) Be warned!

Woo!

Well - you can get a good intro from the above, but check out Die Antwoord Website - Taking over the Interweb to get a bit of a deeper gander into this insane expression of South African culture parody.

Basically, the team “Zef Side” consists of Waddy (Watkin Tudor Jones) (Now calling himself Ninja) aka Max Normal of the Max Normal music group and Max Normal TV, his wife Yolandi Visser (Now Yo-landie Vi$$er) and DJ Hi-Tek.

What a … special… bunch they are ;P

Max - or Ninja - has amazing commitment to the role and we applaud him - those tat’s are real by the way - a more recent addition for the role of Ninja.

They really have accomplished what most ad agencies have been THROWING money at for ages : the purposeful intention and complishment of taking their product VIRAL.

This was the first video of theirs I saw which had me rolling on the floor in tears

I present you with Die Antwoord : Zef Side

NOTE THAT THE VIDEO HAS ENJOYED ALMOST 700 000 VIEWS ON YOUTUBE!!! WOW!

So what’s their “official” story on the video about Die Antwoord’s music?

Well - Ninja has “Mad Gangsta Skeels”, his buddy DJ Hi-Tek has a PC Computer and produces next level beats and his gal Yo-Landi Vi$$er lives … she’s the next door neighbour across the road. And they have known each other for “ The whole time, since forever. A very long time… for very long.”

What is it about Die Antwoord that has made them so much a part of our lives? Is it the classic little dorp they live in with the white ou wine-ous with their missing teeth drinking black label? Is it Ninja’s out-of-control Pink-Floyd boxer pants and dancing wanger? :P Perhaps it’s the SUPERLATIVE production quality of their videos which are graphically flipping awesome…

It’s all of these… and more. They have captured parody elements of South African culture we have all come into contact with at some stage or another.

Here’s another of their classic music videos that has blown the minds of the public : ENTER The NINJA

Today I discovered that this video has had over 1.1 MILLION VIEWS on YouTube…

The jaw… hits the floor. Well done guys - MAXIMUM SPRINGLEAP RESPECT.

The above video depicts Ninja and his zany crew in a bit of a different light. My business partner Paul Simon (founder of YDE - Young Designers Emporium) simply said : “these guys have done it. He’s the new Eminem” - a steep compliment from the man himself.

What do Zef Side have to say about what Die Antwoord means? “the answer.” The Answer to What? “whatever, man.”

Without too much further discussions of Die Antwoord, their videos and music or the INCREDIBLE accomplishment they have achieved… here’s pretty much a full collection of their videos we could find thus far. ENJOY - by the looks of it Ninja and his crew are...

Die Antwoord - Wat Pomp music video - over 200 000 views

Zef Side performing Doofdronk at Ramfest Live

Scopie preformed live by Die Antwoord

Wat Kyk Jy live from the Purple Turtle in Cape Town, South Africa

This is a LIVE VIDEO version of Enter the ninja that Die Antwoord team performed in 2009 at Oppikoppi music festival.

Recently a very cool Cape Town based blog TaxiJam had the chance to interview Ninja, Yolandi and DJ Hi-Tek in the back of a South African Taxi. (Watch out - lyrics are a bit hectik!) - Check out the full interview at TaxiJam website.

Taxijam presents Die Antwoord from taxijam on Vimeo.

So! Did I leave anything out - any videos I have forgotten about? Pitch in and add yours!

A new LIVE Zef Side Die Antwoord video has surfaced - enjoy it here shoutBack 3 weeks, 5 days ago by

Woah these peeps are insane! But im loving it! It wouldnt be the way i would want South Africa portrayed but its so funny i just cant help myself! Die Antwoord is where its at! Vulgar YES, entertainting MOST CERTAINLY! I cant wait to see more from these guys! Springleap should do DIE ANTWOORD theme competition, Springleap would get some mad funny t-shirts from that! The new SA t-shirt? hahaha shoutBack 3 weeks, 5 days ago by

OH SNAP! Yet another Die Antwoord Music video has arisen. This time with a TWIST! I’m not sure if this is a fan video and mix of old school Enya Orinoco Flow vs NINJA in an all out Rap-fest to form the Orinoco Ninja Flow… or if it’s from Die Antwoord themselves. eish! shoutBack on 2/3/10 by

Checkit - WoOT! Found a new Die Antwoord music video here. You can read about Ninja was Here and watch the music video - Enjoy! shoutBack on 2/3/10 by

Cool stuff, I’d really like to know how they grabbed the nations attention! What strategies did they use? The ninja music video has over 1 million hits!!! shoutBack on 19/2/10 by

We also have a great posting of loads of SA Music videos that ROCK!!! From Jack Parrow to Zebra and Giraffe Check it out here shoutBack on 19/2/10 by

Oh Yes! I almost forgot - there are even people ripping the poor guys off in a sense and using their music for weird stuff like trying to promote Ninja mobile phone games - riding on a wave of their popularity. Poop. Upload your rad vids and show us some homegrown Springleap and Die Antwoord love! shoutBack on 19/2/10 by