The company that created value from nothing.

Have you ever wondered why we put a diamond ring on a woman's finger when proposing? How did the diamond ring become a symbol of love in the first place? The answer is not as romantic as you might think. The association between diamonds and marriage was strategically planted into our minds by a company, and was never a traditional at all.

Before the DeBeers Diamond Corporation came into the picture in the 1930s, people rarely exchanged more than the promise to love each other forever. It was an ad campaign that forever changed the way people thought about diamonds. Back then, diamonds were considered a luxury. Consumers spent their hard earned dollars on useful things like cars and appliances, not on a carbonized rock. But DeBeers wanted to change that mindset.

They began running ads that described a diamond ring as the "most valued symbol" of a man's devotion and the ultimate gift of love. But they didn't stop there. They wanted the diamond ring to be accessible to all income levels so they decided to put a price on how much you should spend.

Men were willing to spend one or two months salary because it was an incredibly emotional purchase. DeBeers ads made consumers feel like they were in the drivers seat by educating them on what to look for when buying the perfect diamond for that special someone.

After decades of advertising, this fabricated tradition is now heavily ingrained in our minds and has actually become tradition. It convinced women that diamonds were the truest symbol of a man's love and commitment. 

What value can you bring to your customers? Could it become a tradition?

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner

Show customers what their problem is.

For decades after its initial launch in the 1880's, Listerine remained a product with a variety of uses. It was originally invented as a surgical antiseptic but its germ killing properties also proved useful in foot cleaning, floor scrubbing and preventing infection in wounds. In later years, it was marketed to dentists to kill germs in the mouth, but originally, it failed to get their attention.

Unsatisfied with current product sales, company owner Jordan Wheat Lambert and his son devised a plan that would make the product take off. They invented the word halitosis from "halitus", the Latin word for breath, and added the medical sounding "osis".  They started putting the medical sounding "halitosis" in their ads, depicting social situations in which the condition would prevent them from attractive to others.

Poor, sad Edna remained single as she watched her friends happily moving forward with their lives and getting married. She was such a nice girl... what could be the problem?

Listerine had essentially used the fear of embarrassment as a selling tool which was, at the time, something that had not been attempted.

Listerine mouthwash remained a strong seller for many decades. That was, until the late 1960's, when P&G introduced Scope mouthwash and used Listerine's mediciney and unpleasant taste against them.  The ad below is from the 70’s and included two areas to scratch and sniff and allow consumers to compare the difference between Scope mouthwash and the competition’s "mediciney smelling antiseptic mouthwash".

Notice that Scope isn't the focus of the ad. This was done on purpose to change how consumers think about "the brand that shall not be named". Scope isn’t the immediate focus of this ad but luckily for consumers, they were there to save the day.

This repositioning campaign was effective in pocketing Listerine's market share, so much so, that they were forced to improve the taste of their product. Both companies were successful in identifying a problem their product could solve.

What problem can you help eradicate?

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner

Crowdsourcing a rebrand.

Mozilla, the free software community and creator of Firefox OS, is transparent in the truest sense of the word. I'm not referring to the fact that its Open source, i.e. where thousands of talented volunteer collaborators help build a product. I am referring to Mozilla's open philosophy. They listen to the opinions and perspectives of its vast global community which promotes a sense of shared purpose.

The Firefox OS brand was built on this open philosophy. The Firefox freely shares its design blueprint to encourage developers to create content on the Firefox OS platform. There are no corporate gatekeepers here.

Reaching out to the public for their input can be a good move if you want to promote transparency and gain trust. Challenging consumers to get involved can be a marketing strategy on its own.

Although Firefox now has millions of users, Mozilla's other works are less well-known. In order to raise awareness of its other projects. In an attempt to differentiate itself from its hero product, Mozilla decided to develop a new identity and positioning. In keeping with its open philosophy, they decided detail the creative process online, allowing the public to discuss and voice their opinions at each step of the rebrand.

Below are just two of the seven themes being considered by Mozilla.

The company invited people to post their comments about the new positioning. Feedback was analysed and a new designs were unveiled in August with the final decision to be revealed this coming November. You can follow the rebrand on Mozilla's blog page. Here's the latest.

Mozilla has proven that branding, even rebranding, does not need to be dictated from the top down. Inviting your customers to participate in such important decisions demonstrates that you care about them and that you believe in them enough to listen to what they have to say.

When was the last time you implemented change because of your customer feedback?

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner