Will It Blend? is a successful viral marketing campaign that became a show by itself and it is especially interesting for its permanence over time. Tom Dickson, Blendtec’s founder, shows how his blenders are able to destroy any kind of things in funny viral YouTube videos.
Each video has millions of views, and Dickson has blended a lot of different objects, including ice, matches, a Coca Cola can, credit cards, toys, mobile phones, a rake, lamps, playing cards, a chicken, golf balls, Bic lighters, a fish, a cassette, cubic zirconia, an iPhone and an iPad, among many other things, in more than 100 episodes.
According to Blendtec, the idea for this campaign came from the company’s experiments to test the quality and strength of their blenders. As a result of the campaign, sales have increased in 500%, and it is expected even more in the future.
Will It Blend? is still alive after more than 8 years and Blendtec’s YouTube account have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some of them write comments asking Dickson to blend specific objects. Some of the videos commemorate special events, like the Super Bowl or the World Cup.
Some of the “experiments” were really dangerous: blending six Bic lighters caused a fire that had to be put out with an extinguisher. That is why the campaign now includes safety messages like “Do not breath the smoke” and “Don’t try this at home”.
What impresses the most of this campaign is that it has been done without investing in sophisticated special effects, or hiring celebrities. A simple scenery that imitates a craft TV show is all they needed. “Will It Blend?” is probably the most successful viral marketing campaign ever made.