We have people Marketing anything from billion dollar brands to SaaS startups to sidewalk power washing services (ik you’ve seen those satisfying videos on TikTok).
But today’s lesson highlights a brand flushing out the competition in an industry that’s, well, you’ll find out.
Let’s throw it back to 2007 when embattled entrepreneur, Suzy Batiz, stumbled upon a gold mine.
Her husband at the time loved to cook, so much so that he would make 3 meals a day for the family and their house was the go-to for all gatherings.
But after a good meal, we all know what happens on the back end (
).Suzy became incredibly annoyed by the pungent smells coming from her bathrooms, after her husband would cook.
An essential oils fanatic, Suzy began playing around with different oils to see if she could somehow mask the smell.
And wah-lah she did.
That’s when she founded Poo-Pourri, the “before-you-go toilet spray” that could make any bathroom smell like a bed of roses.
Suzy did some initial consumer research and discovered that women were the ones typically buying fragrances for the home.
Being that the bathroom is part of the home, and Suzy was selling a fragrance, she put two and two together and leaned into the female demographic.
Suzy targeted boutiques and slowly grew through word of mouth from 2007-2013.
But the real reason you’re here is to learn from her VIRAL marketing campaign in 2013 that altered the entire industry.
A campaign so effective that the launch video was 2013’s 5th most viewed ad in the world.
Yes, a bootstrapped boutique-selling startup created an ad that made more noise than almost all billion dollar budgeted brands.
It’s not until 50 seconds into the ad that Poo-Pourri is mentioned – so how were they able to capture AND hold their audience’s attention?
Timely and relevant humor highlighting consumer pain points.
The ad starts off with a perceivably quaint lady on the toilet, who announces “You would not believe the motherload I just dropped.”
Not what you were expecting, yet incredibly effective.
Humor activates our sense of wonder, starting the learning process, and increasing the likelihood of retention. A golden recipe for Marketers.
Then Poo-Pourri gets rolling. For the next 50 seconds, they set the scene on ALL the horrible places that you could possibly stink up. The shared bathroom at work? Yup.
Poo-Pourri reignites the pain we’ve all felt at least once in our life with a plethora of scenarios that reach a stinking perfect climax.
And that climax is when the audience is shown the perfect solution, Poo-Pourri.
Poo-Pourri uses classic competitive advertising to showcase the difference between their product and the ones that everyone uses in their homes.
Poo-Pourri highlights their unique selling point and begins to carve out their niche in their audience’s minds.
Consumers are left realizing a need they thought they were fulfilling, but weren’t even close
And it just keeps getting better. After talking about poop for 2 minutes, you can’t have a regular ‘ol CTA.
You need something solid (lol), something that flushes away any doubt of consumers leaving without product in their hands.
That’s when Poo-Pourri lets you know, “If your poop stinks, click here to get your Poo-Pourri today.”
A perfect culmination to a shockingly hilarious ad that has me wanting to buy some fragrances for my bathroom – LOL.
