« Will it blend ? » this simple question represents one of the most successful viral marketing campaign we ever seen on the internet.
For those who have never heared of this we assume you were on another planet or you didn’t had internet since now. In simple words, Blendtec, to promote his blender, did fun movies we can find on their website or on many videos websites.
It shows Tom Dickson who tries to blend each time something different (zyrconium, mobile phones, iphone …) and ask this question « Will it blend ? ». After the demonstration, the answer is the one we expected : « Yes ! It blends ! »
George Wright, from BlendTec, answers to a few questions.
Onirik : How did you get the idea of such fun movies ? Have you been inspired by « Brain Dead » from Peter Jackson in which he blends a zombie-baby ?
George Wright : The idea for Will it Blend? actually came from our own destructive testing. For years, we have used extreme tests to validate the quality and durability of our equipment. One day, I noticed a pile of wood shavings on the floor in a testing room. Upon inquiring about what happened, I was informed that Tom Dickson, the CEO of the company, was testing the new bearings on the blender. Tom’s way of testing was to shove a 2×2 board into a blender while it was operating – the result was a blended board, not a broken blender.
I thought it was amazing, and decided that we would film some extreme blending challenges and then post them to the internet.
O: Who is Tom Dickson ?
G.W. : Tom Dickson is the CEO of the company. He also is the original engineer of Blendtec equipment.
O : « Don’t try this » « Do not breathe », don’t you be afraid of children trying such experience anyway ?
G.W. : We do have a section on www.willitblend.com that actually has some challenges that you can try at home. These are blending challenges that can be performed in their homes.
As far as the « do not try this at home » section, we are showing things that literally should not be tried at home. There are many things that people can witness on TV, movies and the internet that they should not attempt. Will it Blend? is no different. We are blending professionals and take every precaution to verify the safety of our people.
O : How often people ask if « babies will blend » or any other animals ? What kind of other fun stuff people ask for ?
G.W. : We get hundreds of thousands of requests for things to blend. Some of the requests are quite interesting…. We get many requests for electronics, toys and personal items like false teeth etc. We do have limitations on what we will blend. We certainly will not be blending babies…
O : Will we know someday if a crowbar blend ?
G.W. : The Crowbar will not blend. We will actually release a version of the crowbar at some point in the campaign. The crowbar demonstration illustrates an important safety feature of the machine. If the blades hit an obstruction that will not blend, the machine will sense that the motor is not turning and will turn itself off. This allows you to clear the obstruction without harming the blender.
O : Is this advertising campaign successful for your sales ?
G.W. : Yes – we have had an increase in sales of more than 500 percent on our retail line. As more people become familiar with our brand, more people choose to purchase our products. Momentum continues to build, and we look forward to additional sales growth.
O : Is a cochicken[[a cochicken is when you blend a chicken and a coke together]] tasteful ?
G.W. : Cochicken actually doesn’t taste that bad…. It is certainly much better than some of the other things that we have blended. The blended fish or oysters in the shell was probably the worst… It is a bit different to taste chicken in a drink, but it actually was pretty good.
O : Can we buy a Blendtec in France ?
G.W. : Certainly – We have a wonderful dealer in France…
Company Name: Groupe Iridis-Reflex Service
Contact Name: Aymeric Desclos Le Peley
Address: 2 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
Z.A. Les Bruyeres
Trappes, 78190
FRANCE
Tel: +331-3013-9600
Fax: +331-3050-3640
Email: aymeric.deslos@reflex-service.com