INVENTIVE COMPANY MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Added on: 4th Mar 2016
ONE AD STUNT BY LAND AND BY SEA
In an attempt to break a Guinness World Record and garner publicity
for Virgin, CEO Richard Branson drove a Gibbs Aquada car from
London to Paris over roads and across the English Channel.
Branson drove into Paris wearing a tuxedo and surrounded by
a hail of fireworks and popping champagne bottles.
BIG BROTHER FOR CATS
Del Monte Foods created a show similar to the popular Big Brother
but with a different cast: cats. Entitled Meow Mix House, the
show featured 10 cats living in a house with their lives recorded
on cameras for the world to see. The stunt was for a good
cause – cat adoption – and every cat which was voted out
was adopted and given a year’s supply of Meow Mix.
KEEPING YOUR FACEBOOK FRIENDS CLOSE
Tattoos are becoming ever more popular (as is Facebook). Inking
studio Tattoo Dex released a video of a woman with 152 of her
Facebook friends – tattooed on her arm! After gathering massive
worldwide publicity, the company admitted it was a publicity stunt
and the ink was a wash-off variety.
THE BURGER FOR LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE
Massive fast-food chain Burger King wanted to cater to the
10% of Americans who are left-handed, releasing a left-handed
Whopper on April 1, 1998. See the problem? Burger King was
getting into the April Fool’s Day spirit with and succeeded in
selling more burgers as many customers went in asking for
the left- or right-handed Whopper.
DOCTORS LOVE HOT DOGS!
Nathan Handwerker split from his former employer – Coney Island
eatery Feltman’s – to open his own hot dog stand. In those early
days of Nathan’s Famous (hot dogs), he hired homeless people to
stand around his stand to make it look busier. After that didn’t
work, some say he then paid the homeless people to dress as
doctors in an attempt to increase business but it’s more likely
he gave free hot dogs to doctors and nurses who came in
uniform. Nathan soon put up a sign to drive home the message:
“If doctors eat our hot dogs, you know they’re good!”
TACO BELL'S NEW-OLD BELL
Fast-food company Taco Bell joined the fun on April Fool’s Day 1996
by taking out full-page advertisements in seven major U.S. newspapers
claiming they bought the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to work towards
lowering the national debt. An initial negative outcry from the
public turned to amusement when it was revealed the
advertisement was just a hoax.
LION MEAT TACOS
At Boca Tacos y Tequila in Tucson, Arizona, every Wednesday night
is Exotic Taco Night where specialty meats like python, kangaroo,
or frog legs make the menu. In 2011, they attempted to gather some
free publicity and spice up their menu by featuring lion meat
tacos. After drawing loads of interest but also major protests from
animal rights groups, they decided to cancel the promotion.
(NB: The lion meat would have been acquired legally from a farm
which raises lions for their meat in California.)
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO
There’s a small town in New Mexico called Truth or Consequences
(colloquially T or C), all due to a popular quiz show in the 1950’s.
“Truth or Consequences?” presenter Ralph Edwards announced
on-air he would have a broadcast from the first town to name itself
after the show. For the next 50 years, Edwards visited the town
annually even after no longer presenting the show.
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