In 2006, a Utah blender company with a small marketing budget filmed its founder pulverizing things that should not go in a blender. The result, Will It Blend?, became one of the first viral marketing hits of the YouTube era.
How it started
Blendtec’s founder, Tom Dickson, was known for testing his blenders by blending wood boards and other unlikely objects. The company’s marketing director, George Wright, saw the potential and spent a small sum on materials for a video. Dickson, wearing a white lab coat and safety glasses, would hold up an object, ask “Will it blend?” and then, almost always, reduce it to powder. “Don’t breathe this,” he would say of the dust.
The hits
Golf balls, marbles, rake handles and a rotisserie chicken with a can of soda all went in. The biggest hit came in 2007, when Dickson blended a brand-new iPhone days after its release. Later episodes took on iPads and other gadgets, always shortly after launch, riding the news cycle.
Why it worked
The videos were short, funny, and had a simple hook that anyone could repeat. Crucially, they also demonstrated the product. Nobody watching doubted that a Blendtec blender was powerful. The company has said the series drove a large increase in retail sales, and it became a standard case study in marketing classes about how a modest budget and a good idea can beat expensive advertising.
The legacy
The formula, an absurd product demonstration with a catchphrase, has been copied endlessly, from hydraulic-press channels to unboxing videos. Few have been as tidy as the original: ten seconds of suspense, a loud whirring noise, and a pile of dust.
Sources: Will It Blend?, Wikipedia; Blendtec, Wikipedia; Blendtec on YouTube.
