Content – To some it seems like an easy thing to do, but no matter who you are or how much content you have put out in the past, at some point you will hit a road block. Most brands or individuals starting a blog begin with: “We need a blog!…what do we write about?”
The quick and simple answer: Your consumers/followers/fans have tuned in to hear more from you, so what knowledge do you have that can make their lives easier? It is usually best to stay within your industry, your company life, or how-tos with your products.
Blendtec is a brand that learned long ago how take a boring product and produce rock star content that people want to view. If you are unfamiliar with Blendtec, they produce blenders. Not just any blender, a $500 blender that blends just about anything (according to the videos).
Tom Dickinson, the viral video star of Blendtec’s YouTube channel, CEO of Blendtec, and blender extraordinaire, spent $50 on his first five “Will It Blend?” videos. Tom is a lovable character that takes objects like: light bulbs, canned food, magnets, frozen food, Bic lighters, and even an iPhone (on opening day), and blends them down to what appears to be a molecular level (may be a stretch). The videos took off, and they have created over 125 blending videos, which includes every Apple mobile product, that has amassed well over 200M video view.
Recently, Blendtec won a lengthy legal battle against their main competitor Vita-Mix, and Blendtec was awarded $24 million. To boil it down, a court ruled that Vita-Mix copied Blendtec’s blending jar. I know what you’re thinking, blenders are boring, but lawsuits are even more boring. Blendtec found a way to not only promote their victory, but engage consumers!
To celebrate their big win, they decided to take a part of the settlement and give away $1 million of the jar at the center of the lawsuit, a jar (yes, just the jar) that retails for $100. This was done in a first come, first served basis, but they didn’t just leave it at that. Tom, the inventor of the jar, seized an opportunity for additional justice. In what I am assuming was very satisfying, and in true Blendtec fashion, Tom created a video stating the facts of the case, poked fun at the competitions “archaic technology”, and then proceeded to literally blend it.
Once again Blendtec delivers out of the box content by showing us how to take not one, but two boring subjects and make them engaging! Keep this in mind next time you are creating content. We often look at our brand and wonder what in the world we would talk about on social media. Take a lesson from Blendtec’s Tom Dickinson, and find a way to extend the story of your brand and engage consumers and potential consumers in a way that reinforces your offering.