In today’s episode, Melissa and Alexis take a look at Taco Bell’s 1996 claim to have purchased The Liberty Bell along with their intent to rename it to The Taco Liberty Bell. They took out an ad in several national newspapers saying they purchased the landmark to help decrease the national debt.

The ads ran April 1, 1996, and by noon that day, Taco Bell announced it was an April Fools Prank, and they’d be donating $50,000 to the National Parks Service for the upkeep of the Liberty Bell. That National Parks Service was inundated with phone calls from confused and outraged Americans. The Park Service didn’t seem to find the prank so funny since Taco Bell failed to let them in on it. Others, like Philadelphia’s Mayor, the White House Press Secretary and Tom Brokaw played along with the prank and overall it was considered a successful campaign.

The campaign cost $300,000 and generated an estimated $25 million in free publicity. More than 70 million Americans were exposed to the story which directly related to $500,000 sales increase in tacos on the first day the campaign ran and $600,000 increase the second day. This was just one of many Taco Bell stunts over the years; Alexis and Melissa discuss several more, including the many times Taco Bell has given away free tacos.

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Listen Now:

Resources:

Learn more about Taco Bell on their website.

Take a look at Taco Bell’s Liberty Bell announcement.

Tom Brokaw’s Taco Liberty Bell Segment.

The Washington Post article.

The AP article.

The Wikipedia entry.

In today’s episode, Alexis and Melissa take a look at the famous Lucky Strike Cigarettes marketing campaign that successfully got women in America to start smoking. What many don’t know is the campaign culminated in one of the first PR stunts that involved influencers. 

The story begins in 1928, when George Washington Hill, former president of the American Tobacco Company, took over efforts for Lucky Strike Cigarettes. Back then, Lucky Strike dominated when it came to market share, but Hill wanted more growth. He knew that if he could get women to start smoking, Lucky Strike would hit a “gold mine.”  

Back then, it was taboo for women to smoke. Only women who were villains in movies were ever seen to be smoking cigarettes in pop culture. 

In effort to get it to become socially acceptable for women to smoke, Hill hired the famous public relations strategist Edward Bernays. Bernays was popular at this time in America for his efforts with the U.S. Government in getting the public to support the U.S. involvement in WWI—he was also known for being related to Sigmund Freud, who was his uncle. 

Hill gave Bernays a retainer of $25,000 (equivalent to $400,000 today) to begin his campaign to get women to smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes. What Bernays did next was speak with psychologists to try and determine how he could get women to smoke. He calculated he could frame it in such a way that fell in line with the justice of women’s rights in society. 

The episode culminates on Easter morning of March 31^st, 1929 at the annual Easter Parade on 5^th Avenue in New York City. Bernays knew this event as one of the biggest women’s gatherings of the year, as companies flaunt their latest spring clothing releases on their models.  

So, what does Bernays do? He works his PR magic.  

Listen through to the end to find out specifically how he did it, and how Lucky Strike revenue increased 300% in that single year. 

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Follow Will It Stick on Instagram and check out our website.

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Resources:

History Today’s “The Original Influencer”

Feminism 3.0 “Torches of Freedom”

Oxford Present’s “Edward Bernays’ ‘Torches of Freedom’”

Wikipedia “Torches of Freedom”

The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth of Public Relations by Larry Tye

YourStory.com "Torches of Freedom: How The World's First PR Campaign Came To Be"

Welcome to the Will It Stick Podcast with Alexis and Melissa! In today’s episode, they take a look at Aviation American Gin and Ryan Reynold’s role as the brand's Creative Director and owner. While there has been an uptick in celebrity inducement in the liquor category, Reynolds brings this to a whole new level.

Alexis and Melissa talk about Ryan’s early obsession with Aviation American Gin in 2017 and how he quickly jumped into the business by buying company shares and becoming its creative director. They discuss Ryan’s roles in films and how he works to get other people, like George, involved in his business ventures. Working with a “small budget”, Ryan proves that he wanted to subvert the norms for marketing. Find out more about his auto-reply emails and “accessibility” to the public.

The episode continues as we dive into the YouTube e-commercials that were published and caught great popularity! From the intense process of creating his favorite gin to a Peloton Bike commercial dig to the story of a legal “leap year” drinker, Ryan strategically captured the public’s attention. They take a look at the OnlyFans website and content subscription service that catalyzed one of Ryan’s marketing movements. The overall talent behind taking such a nondescript brand on the shelf, to making it a well-known option within just years is insane!

Find out what Ryan is doing today and where he’s ventured off to after recently selling his share in this business. Alexis and Melissa cannot get over how Ryan moves so quickly through the narrow windows of time to ensure something is still funny and relevant. Learn that while every creative idea is bounced off something else, it really only sticks if you take it to the next level!

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Listen Now:

Resources:

Learn more about Aviation Gin on their website.
Check out Aviation Gin’s YouTube Channel.

Find the commercials Alexis and Melissa discussed:

• The Process of Making
• The Peloton Spiff
• Arlene’s Big Leap

Find the articles they mentioned:

• The Drum article
• The Fast Company article
• The Forbes article

Other sources:

• FamousCampaigns.com article
• AdWeek article
• Daily Commercials article

In this episode of Will It Stick, a podcast dedicated to breaking down the craziest brand stunts, hosts Alexis and Melissa discuss South Dakota’s meth campaign. Alexis begins the episode by taking listeners back in time to Monday, November 18, 2019. That morning, South Dakota’s new governor unveiled a new campaign featuring the headline “Meth. We’re On It”, which was subsequently plastered on billboards, advertisements and social media all across the state.

Needless to say, many people were taken aback by the abrupt advertisement, which declared its bold statement juxtaposed with photos and videos of everyday people. Despite the backlash, the governor deemed the campaign an instant success. The intention of the campaign, she said, was to grab people’s attention and show that anyone can become addicted to meth. The idea for the campaign began in early 2019 when Kristi Lynn Noem took office as South Dakota’s 33rd Governor. Focused on addressing what she called an escalating meth problem in the state, Noem was determined to address the problem in a big way. She knew the campaign would have to be edgy in order to stand out in the sludge of the media.

From 2014 to 2018, South Dakota saw a 200% increase in people seeking treatment for meth-related addiction, and studies show teens in South Dakota trying meth at 2x the rate of the rest of the country. The statistics continue on, proving the urgency of the crisis. The hope was to encourage more people to seek treatment for meth addiction rather than be eventually put behind bars. The Minneapolis-based advertisement firm Broadhead worked alongside the South Dakota government to develop the campaign. Lorri Gill, Cabinet Secretary at South Dakota Department of Social Services, gave a speech in which she clarified the advertisement’s play on words and their intent to convey that you don’t have to be a meth user to be affected by the substance.

As far as South Dakota’s government was concerned, the campaign exceeded their initial hopes. According to Broadhead, the campaign garnered 82,000 social mentions and 5.6 billion media impressions within its first thirteen weeks. It’s safe to assume the reluctance and shocking nature of the campaign only accelerated its popularity. Additionally, the state observed a rise in treatment discussion and voluntary treatment enrollment, which was the whole intent of the campaign. The campaign was ultimately successful because of its shocking nature, not despite of it, and is sure to stick around.

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Resources:

Follow Will It Stick on Instagram and check out our website.

Learn more about the campaign by visiting Broadhead’s website and everipedia.

Read the New York Times Article “Meth. We’re On It.”.

Read the NBC Article  by Ben Kesslen from Nov. 19, 2019

Read the Washington Post article by Michael Brice-Saddler from Nov. 19, 2019

Tune in to this episode of the Will It Stick? Podcast with hosts Alexis and Melissa as they take a look at how brands go viral over time. Listen as these two break down the craziest brand stunts and how the companies did—or didn’t—stick! In this episode, they take a look at the history of LifeLock, an identity theft and security monitoring company. Find out the crazy stunt that CEO, Todd Davis, performed in giving out his social security information to thousands of people in order to prove just how good their company was. Did it work? Find out here!

They take us back to 2007 in Arizona when this insane ordeal broke out. Todd Davis and Robert Maynard founded this company from the personal issue Robert had experienced in being arrested due to someone stealing his identification for a casino loan. While in Jail he realized that if credit bureaus were better at notifying customers, then this issue could be eradicated. Robert worked tirelessly to clear up his name and discovered the identity theft. Robert and Todd joined forces to stoke the public’s worst fears of identity theft.

LifeLock was created and offered to monitor credit for $10 a month. With the immediate positive press, Todd and Robert wanted to get a bigger buzz. Todd plastered his social security number and private information everywhere. They advertised that their company would “keep your identity safe, even in the wrong hands”. With this flagrant flashing of their confidence to the world, what do you think happened? Did it work? LifeLock is still in business today, what’s the story?

Find out that not only did this stunt fail one time, but Todd’s ID was successfully stolen 13 times out of 87 attempts! The Phoenix New Times in Texas leaked the story first, and the company grappled to cover-up by spinning the story. More leaks came out and it was said that Todd’s personal ID had been “gang-rapped”. To add a layer of complexity, during this time the media discovered Robert’s weird business history and that he was actually previously banned from working in the credit repair industry! The entire story of his identification being stolen was false.  He quickly resigned from LifeLock when this was leaked.

What about Todd and LifeLock? The FTC nailed them and basically accused them of operating a scam. They failed to pay the entire fine, so they were investigated again and fined an enormous amount. Todd resigned, but you’ll find out he is doing just fine today. Melissa and Alexis follow Robert and reveal that he tried another business already and it fell through just last year.

While this stunt was an excellent and bold concept, but it failed to have the significant impact it could do to product failure. Find out that the company has continued to thrive today despite this history!

Like, share, and subscribe for more episodes!

Listen Now:

Resources:

Discover the Phoenix New Times article discussed here.

Find more information from this Wired article.

Find more info on Wikipedia.

Learn about LifeLock today.

Check out the latest update on Robert Maynard’s recent fallout.

Read this article from BetterMarketing published on Medium by Sean Kernan on May 1, 2020

Follow Will It Stick on Instagram and check out our website.