Gore Vidal once said, “Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.”
Y’know, I don’t reckon there’s an Advertising Creative out there who wouldn’t agree with that line (at least to themselves).
But for as much as we may be an incredibly competitive bunch, I also think we’re quick to give credit where credit is due.
So here are 4 ideas I can selflessly acknowledge as acts of genius. (Although the fact these few examples probably never happened does make it a little easier for me to say.)
1 – Sell more toothpaste.
It’s a classic marketing urban legend and as such it’s probably a total fabrication. Regardless, it’s a ripper. Here’s the really short version: A toothpaste company figure out (or purchase) an idea that will sell them 40% more product. No, it’s not an ad campaign or staffing re-structure plan. They simply make the hole in the end of the toothpaste tube a little bit bigger. People inadvertently use more product; forcing them to buy more regularly. Bingo bango. Increased sales.
2 – Some Indian soap company.
I found this one while I was trying to find out more about the toothpaste story. It was written by Zeeshan Mahmood in the comments section of this page - http://bit.ly/bICdX1
To paraphrase: a Japanese soap company discovers that some of its soap boxes have been sent for sale without any soap in them. They spend a huge amount of time and money isolating the problem and redesigning their manufacturing systems so this won’t happen again. At the same time, a company in India finds themselves facing a similar problem. Their solution? They purchase a huge industrial fan and put it at the end of the assembly line. The empty boxes are simply blown away. Nice.
3 – NASA Space Pen.
Who doesn’t know this one? A couple of you? Ok, read on.
In the early days of the space race, NASA, as it is generally prone to do in urban legends of this type, tragically over-invests time, money and manpower developing a pen for its Astronauts that can write in zero gravity.
Meanwhile, the Russians give their Cosmonauts a pencil.
You may laugh, but this story has some truth to it. A space pen was developed in the US by the Fisher Company in the 60s and used on the Apollo 7 space mission. You can buy them at www.spacepen.com
4 – Listerine doubles sales.
Ok. If my memory serves me correctly, I think this following idea is actually true.
A few years ago when I was studying Advertising at RMIT, we had a pompous old marketer come out and give us a very long lecture. I don’t remember his name or where he was from (can you tell I wasn’t really taken by his preso?) but he did talk briefly about his time on Listerine in the 60s and 70s, and that was mildly interesting.
What he told us (unless I dreamt it – I was nodding off a bit) was that Listerine had reached a bit of a plateau in sales way back when. So they decided to go out with a new advertising campaign. Nothing radical there. Except this time they would add the line ‘morning and night’ at the end.
You see, previously people had only used Listerine in the morning. By suggesting people use it twice a day they were doubling consumption. Bingo bango – same result as the toothpaste example. Hang on a second! It is the toothpaste example – and in the same category!
I bet that guy’s been dining out on that story for years.
I’m really starting to think Mr. Vidal’s focus may have been too narrow.
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