Posted on Tuesday 16th of January 2007 at 13:06 in The Internet

The best viral marketing ever - Will It Blend?

Everyone has seen the majesty of Will It Blend and what the majority of users fail to recognise is how utterly superb an example of viral marketing this really is. Offices and bedrooms around the globe have groups of people huddled around a screen watching an iPod turned to dust by a blender, which is then posted on forums, sent over MSN etc... Will It Blend has become a household term (for techie types) and that's the true aim of viral marketing.

What is Viral Marketing?
Viral campaigns are self spreading advertising campaigns that obtain maximum exposure because people enjoy what they see and therefore show friends, who show friends, who email family, who show friends etc, until the campaign is common knowledge. The best campaigns always relate directly to the product. Places such as YouTube have given viral campaigns a new platform to approach but things such as funny videos and games always perform well.

Will It Blend?
Is what I consider the best viral marketing campaign, ever. The very notion of it is that Tom Dickson puts varying items inside a blender and proves that this machine can turn them all into smoothies. This blender has managed to annihilate iPods, full bottles of beer, a golf club and a broom handle - all of which makes fascinating watching and is very easy to send friends to.

The genius of it...
Is that all the time you're watching it you're amazed at what this blender can do - and who runs Will It Blend? Blendtec - the manufacturers. The first few times I showed my department at work the site a few quizzed where they could get such a machine - BANG - the website is more than happy to help. In fact, various models of blender are linked directly from the homepage. Perfect. People watch it, share it and then want to own it. 100% perfect viral marketing.

Good example of it's reach:
Hop onto popular social news site Digg and have a look through some of the top stories - at least one user has made a joke about whether the item in the story will blend or not. WIB has a blog and regular updates and I'm sure I'm not the only person who returns on a regular basis looking for more blender related mayhem. If you ever want to attempt video based viral marketing - you could do a lot worse than to look at WIB for inspiration.

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Comments

Showing most recent 7 of 7 comments

Oli,

I think a 500% increase in blender sales says enough.

by Jeremy on Sunday 6th of April 2008 at 15:10

Did it get "Will it blend" into your head? Well then it’s created branding...hmmm what’s the first thing you’d type into a search engine or as a URL...yup you got it, the same three words, leading you to the site where you can buy you "Will it blend" Blendtec blender. Mission Accomplished.

by Mikey on Friday 28th of March 2008 at 10:20

Even so Oli, but what is interesting in this campaign is that it is directly about the product and the product is a blender that blends just about anything. As to whether people will share it, is entirely up to them. That s the beauty of viral marketing in this age.. the freedom to share what is worth sharing.

by aronil on Monday 23rd of July 2007 at 01:36

the point is that the blender is better than all others because it CAN do these things. it’s a declaration of quality in a humourous way.

Don’t forget, marketing is about getting your product out there - it’s not like other campaigns that are just funny but then have the product name at the end - the blender is vital.

It’s made people want one and I’m certain it’s done something beneficial to the product.

by Harpo on Wednesday 17th of January 2007 at 05:28

>>No idea what the product is?

I mean marketing is supposed to define your product from the rest, right? "Will it blend" just shows me what happens when you blend certain crazy things together. Sure they’re funny but doesn’t it miss the point on the marketing front?

by Oli on Wednesday 17th of January 2007 at 04:16

No idea what the product is? The blender! It’s not just funny marketing it’s a demonstration of the product in an entertaining way.

by Harpo on Wednesday 17th of January 2007 at 02:40

The problem is I haven’t got a clue what the product is... More accurately, who makes it.

Just because somebody makes funny marketing, doesn’t mean it’s going to affect me when I go out to buy things.

by Oli on Wednesday 17th of January 2007 at 01:49