Another Boring Product Made Fun With Social Media

Back before the holidays I made two posts about how a church and a bank put a new spin on an old idea and created something with great viral potential. Today, I want offer up another example of how a company that creates a pretty boring product (a blender) put a David Letterman style thinking cap and created a viral video sensation.

If you've never seen the "Will it Blend" videos, here's one of the most popular.

I was reminded of Blendtec and their "Will it Blend" viral success while reading Seth Godin's new book, Meatball Sundae during my end of the year break. Seth points to Blendtec as a great example of a company who mixed creativity and social media technology to make a boring product interesting.

You'll note that their videos could have been created by pretty much any size company. Sure there's some music and some slow motion, but we're not talking about high level editing going on here. There are also no skilled actors or writers. This is just a video of a man blending things.

Well, and having a sense of humor:

And yet, Blendtec's YouTube stream is one of the 30 most subscribed to feeds on the site. Several of their videos have millions of views. At $400 a pop, these blenders are not for bargain shoppers, but they are the most popular blender for restaurants and smoothie stands.

Blendtec's "Will it Blend" series does an amazing job of generating word of mouth and name recognition, all while reinforcing their claim that they are the world's most powerful blender.

Blendtec also proves that just because your product is "boring" doesn't mean you have an excuse for not coming up with a great campaign that takes advantage of social media marketing.