To be memorable, marketers should pivot from purely digital tactics to quirky, offline activities like pop-up stands or unusual collaborations. These offline events generate buzz that can be amplified online. If an idea doesn't seem slightly risky or unconventional, it's likely not bold enough to capture attention.
Marketers should create temporary, high-energy events rather than long-term, low-engagement communities. A time-bound "24-hour vault unlock" or a 30-day pop-up group generates urgency and a fear of missing out, driving significant participation that permanent online spaces often fail to sustain, even in "boring" industries.
A repeatable framework for creating viral stunts is to take a familiar concept—like a toy store, meditation app, or musical—and create the "world's first" version specifically for your target audience. The inherent absurdity of a "meditation app for CISOs" or a "dating app for accountants" generates curiosity and makes the campaign highly shareable.
Attention is the prerequisite for everything else in business. Instead of viewing it as a dirty word, marketers should embrace creative, unconventional strategies to make more people aware they exist. This builds the audience you can later convert.
Differentiate marketing channels by their purpose. Use online platforms for broad reach and repeated touchpoints. Reserve offline, in-person events for fostering the genuine, vulnerable connections that are difficult to replicate digitally and are critical for building strong relationships.
Conventional, consensus-driven marketing seems safe but ensures your brand never cuts through the noise. To stand out and create something differentiated, marketers must be courageous and fight against mediocrity, even if it feels riskier in the short term.
While most marketers chase new technology like AI, true differentiation will come from applying creative, modern thinking to undervalued and seemingly archaic channels like radio or out-of-home. This contrarian approach creates disruptive, attention-grabbing moments.
Don't censor ideas early. The path to innovative marketing is generating a high volume of unconventional, even "bad," ideas. Most will fail, but the one or two that succeed can become massive multipliers for your brand, often requiring you to ask for forgiveness, not permission.
A low-cost physical activation, like a single billboard or street posters, can be amplified 10x by documenting it and sharing the story online. The real value isn't the physical impression but the digital content it generates for a broader audience.
This simple mantra is their starting point for brainstorming. They generate attention and differentiation not by improving on the status quo, but by intentionally subverting it. This creates marketing that doesn't feel like marketing and ensures their product remains unique and memorable.
In-person events create a powerful, hard-to-replicate competitive moat. While rivals can easily copy your digital products or content with AI, they cannot replicate the unique community, experience, and brand loyalty fostered by well-executed IRL gatherings.