Top 5 for Marketing
Bulldog Natural Grooming
Bulldog had to fight off household-name giants of men’s skincare, but without anything like their competition’s budget. They got Peep Show star David Mitchell to create comedy podcasts for them and before they knew it their branded content was iTunes’ most downloaded.
Sugru
Sugru is a putty that fixes stuff. The team boldly resisted selling to major retailers, deciding instead to interact directly with consumers. They built a huge community of fans by giving out samples pre-launch, and asked them to upload pictures and videos of their Sugru-use - dubbed 'hacking' in a clever piece own own-brand vocabulary. The resultant vibrant website has attracted huge attention.
4Networking
Founder Brad Burton self-promotes tirelessly to reach customers. He’s a relentless Twitterer, gives motivational talks around the UK, makes sure he can be contactable by anyone any time, and has published a book eye-catchingly titled ‘Get Off Your Arse’ to spread brand awareness. He’s made his personal story and image an integral part of his business, to huge success.
LINGsCARS
Ling Valentine created a website so eye-wateringly bright, flashy and crazy-looking that it spread virally across the internet the wildfire. The carefully calculated surge of visitors to her car-leasing site has guaranteed her plenty of custom. She also went on Dragons’ Den to turn down investment offers, gaining her further notoriety, popularity and, of course, customers.
Arena Flowers
This online florist has battled with sector giants like Interflora. It’s managed to bloom by forging canny partnerships with card and gift brands, and negotiating targeted ad campaigns with the likes of L’Oreal, Sega and PayPal. It’s built Facebook and Twitter apps, and has created white-label websites for the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.
Small businesses these days have a soul-crushing amount to
contend with: recession, multinational companies who buy up or
destroy every blip on their radars, and shorter consumer attention
span than ever before. But this lot thought miles outside the box
to grab customers' attention in all the right ways.
Watch the video below to find out why Bulldog Natural Grooming
is smart with marketing:
