- New Zealand SMM manager Selena Wright recorded a series of videos for TikTok in which she talked about the most absurd, ridiculous and funny facts from the world of marketing. The network users found the stories about big brands’ feuds, tricky tricks and ingenious strategies so interesting that Selena’s videos are gaining hundreds of thousands of views.
- Sears purposely made its catalogs smaller than those of its competitor Montgomery Ward so that housewives would put them on top, gathering magazines into a stack.
- In 2012, Dunkin Donuts launched a marketing campaign in Seoul that installed hot coffee-scented scent sprays on buses that were triggered every time a Dunkin Donuts commercial jingle played on the radio. The campaign reached more than 350,000 people, and sales at bus stops rose 29%.
- In 2008, a popular breakfast cereal brand in Canada and Great Britain announced a new diamond-shaped cereal, Diamond Shreddies. The makers made no secret that it was just a joke, and they simply reversed the image of the regular, square cereal. However, it got people talking about Shreddies again, and the company’s sales increased by 18%.
- T-shirts were invented in 1904, and at the time they were advertised as convenient clothing for bachelors who couldn’t sew on their own buttons.
- According to the birth certificate of Joanne Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling, she does not actually have a middle name. The initials appeared on book covers to appeal to a male audience, as it was believed that boys were less likely to read books written by a woman.
- In 2009, Tropicana spent $35 million on new packaging for its signature orange juice. In just two months, sales dropped 20% and the company lost significant market share. Then Tropicana went back to the old packaging, and the failed marketing campaign ended up costing them more than $50 million.
- The famous Philadelphia cottage cheese was invented in New York, and it was never made in Philadelphia. It was a marketing ploy in the 1880s because Philadelphia was famous for quality dairy products back then.
- In 2001, Jell-O kept track of the number of smiling and sad emoji posted on Twitter. When the national average for joyful emojis dropped below 51%, Jell-O began giving away discount coupons to those who had recently posted sad emojis on Twitter.
- Rumor has it that BlackBerry hired actresses who flirted with men in bars to draw attention to the brand. The so-called covert marketing involved girls exchanging phone numbers with men, and ostentatiously pulling out their Blackberry to record the number.
- Before tobacco was mass-marketed, doctors thought lung cancer was a rare disease. In just one HOUR, tobacco companies spend $940,000 on marketing.