2 Principles to Remember from a Classic RedBull Marketing Hack

RedBull was a startup with a tiny budget but needed to promote their new drink to their target audience. So, they hired people to dump piles of empty RedBull cans into trash bins near nightclubs and leave empty cans on tables in bars and clubs. This created the illusion that "everyone is already drinking RedBull, and I'm not." And it worked - people started buying RedBull. That's how RedBull hacked marketing. So… My 1st takeaway: Marketing is about pushing two buttons. The first is ensuring people don’t feel foolish for buying the product ("everyone’s drinking it"). The second is making them feel foolish for not buying it ("and I’m not yet?"). My 2nd takeaway: For every expensive marketing tactic (like ads with celebrities drinking RedBull), there’s a cheaper but equally effective one (like hiring people to scatter empty cans). Are you pushing these two buttons in your marketing? Still complaining that advertising is too expensive? Maybe it’s time to rethink your marketing from a different angle.