Well, the iPad’s been on sale — depending on where you live — for a couple of weeks now. Much has been made of the things it can do (such as be operated by cats and two-year-olds) and the things it can’t (such as multitask and display countless websites that use Flash). But only now are we hearing the question that matters most: “Will it blend?”
The person asking it is Tom Dickson, head of Blendtec. Since the 1970s, this company in Utah has been making the most powerful kitchen blenders known to man. However, to get people to buy a household appliance that costs $400 to $1,000 and that far exceeds everyday needs, Dickson had to think of a clever marketing strategy. And boy, has he found one.
To most Americans, seeing is believing. So Dickson dresses up as a mad scientist to demonstrate exactly what his Total Blender is capable of. In nearly 70 videos, Dickson blends mobile phones, light bulbs, running shoes, glow sticks, a makeup kit, half a chicken (bones and all) and a German-English dictionary on CD-ROM. All come out as powder, though in different colors.
Every episode is a running joke from start to finish, especially the part when he opens the blender and says, “Whew! ‘Pad smoke! Don’t breathe this!”
It’s easy to get hooked on watching these videos. The more I watched, the more I began to think about how:
1. Almost all of today’s consumer products can break easily.
2. Many of them are made using poisonous chemicals.
3. It’d be nice to have one of those blenders.
Other people are hooked, too. The iPad’s been out for only a few weeks, and already viewers have watched it be blended more than seven million times. They’ve left nearly 23,000 comments about it on YouTube.
Dickson’s marketing strategy works because:
1. His company puts most of its energy into one main product.
2. The head of the company personally stands behind his product.
3. He shows that the product does its job well.
4. He shows that it’s a fun product.
5. People will remember his testimonial.
6. They will get others to watch it.
In marketing the iPad, Apple’s Steve Jobs has followed almost all of these same rules. And as a result, both companies are happily selling their expensive gadgets during the recession.
What do you think? Would this strategy translate to Germany? Would it blend?
