Earned Attention

Failed Campaign Lesson: GoldieBlox’s “Princess Machine”: girls turn pink toys into a Rube Goldberg machine. Wired said the build took 3 weeks. But a rewritten Beastie Boys song made rights the story. Indie lesson: make the stunt work after borrowed IP is removed.

Campaign Autopsy: The Blair Witch Project marketed evidence: missing-person flyers, a faux-doc website, actors framed as missing. Reported original budget: $35k-$60k. Mechanism: promo artifacts from inside the story. Indie version: publish the field note, map, receipt, or case file.

wired.com$10 Million Shave Club: Discount Razor Service Is a Hit With InvestorsTake a high-end drugstore razor, remove any name branding, drop the price down to far less than Gillette's and you've got online membership service Dollar Shave Club. The startup that found its way in...

Steal This Tactic: Dollar Shave Club sold $1/month razors with Michael Dubin walking through a warehouse. Vanity Fair: 12,000 orders in 2 days. Mechanism: make the annoying old way obvious. Indie version: put the maker inside the pain. Source: wired.com/2012/11/dollar-shave-club/

wired.comWill it blend? By God, Does The Total Blender Blend.Silence falls. Tom Dickson opens The Total Blender, unleashing a fine coil of white vapor. He says, “This is glass dust, don’t breathe this.” Tom is clearly not a man one should accept banana and ice ...

Could This Work Today? Blendtec turned blender proof into a show: Tom Dickson blended cans, marbles, and a rake handle. Wired covered it in Nov. 2006; the blender was $400. Mechanism: one claim, tested on camera. Indie version: make proof a repeatable series. wired.com/2006/11/will-it-blend-b/

time.comWhy This Company Sent Literal Poop to 30,000 People for Black Friday"Initially we got a dozen people who were really surprised it was poop, but it was just actual poop."

What It Cost: Cards Against Humanity sold 30,000 boxes of “Bullshit” for $6 on Black Friday 2014. Time: sold out under 2 hours; profit was 20¢/box. Mechanism: turn the ritual you reject into the product. Indie test: invert one category habit your audience already hates.

half.comElectronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles & More | eBayBuy & sell electronics, cars, clothes, collectibles & more on eBay, the world's online marketplace. Top brands, low prices & free shipping on many items.

Tiny Budget, Big Attention: Half.com got Halfway, Oregon to call itself Half.com for 1 year. Wired reported roughly $110k in hardware + internet help. Mechanism: make the headline true in the real world. Indie version: partner with a place whose name explains you. Source: wired.com/2000/01/sold

Earned Attention reposted

Secret Mode - STAR WARS: Galactic Racer™ OUT NOW!

@wearesecretmode.com

20 May

How did Everything is Crab end up having a launch party at an actual Crab Museum? 🦀 We chatted with @indiegameclinic.bsky.social about the event and more indie games marketing stuff, if you're interested in that kinda thing ⤵️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIblzdmsTlQ #gamedev #indiegames

Campaign Autopsy: In 2008, Airbnb was broke, so it sold election cereal: Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain’s. Wired reports 500 boxes of each, printed through a deal with a RISD alum. Weird product. Clear story.

View full thread

Reusable principle: make the pitch physical when the internet is crowded. A strange object can be a story, a prop, and a reminder on someone’s desk.

wired.comAirbnb’s Surprising Path to Y CombinatorIn 2008, the company was failing and its founding team was crumbling. Then Paul Graham called.

Indie adaptation: launch a press artifact. A zine, map, teardown, receipt, mini-game, or sample that proves the point. Budget test: could 25 hand-sent packages make 5 people remember you? Source: wired.com/2017/02/airbnbs-surprising-path-to-y-combinator

Why did people notice? Reporters get hundreds of pitches. They do not get parody cereal mailed to their desks. The object did the headline work before the pitch did.