AMC’s Mad Men has been rocking the airwaves for more than three years.  The show, which follows the exploits of Madison Avenue’s Sterling Cooper advertising agency in the first part of 1960’s, has just entered its fourth season and is still just as fresh and stirring as it was in its first.  Critics have applauded the show for making excellent use of marketing tactics, some real and some fictional.  Here we have collected fifteen of the most genius tactics aired to date. 
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Over the years, savvy marketers have systematically discovered and created not only the greatest products to sell, but precisely how to package and push them upon the world.  No matter the negatives, or how unnecessary a certain product or service is, corporations have found a way to portray themselves and their products as indispensable.  To reject those products and services is to reject happiness, or so the consumer should believe.  Over the years there have been some extreme standouts in this advertising game, most notably the following fifteen:
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In this day and age, someone is always trying to sell you something.  Look around yourself right now; it’s incredibly unlikely there is not an advertisement within arm’s reach. In such a crowded market, it’s no wonder advertisers have tended toward bolder messages and devices in an attempt to break through the average American’s consumption haze.  Then there are those who see “bold” and think “license to be offensive, patronizing, and hopelessly insane”.
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For many of us that get bombarded on an annual basis with the typical 6 inch, thick, yellow paged book from yester-year and do not feel comfortable with tossing it in the trash for fear getting attacked by many trees.

Here is a list of the Top 10 uses for the books:

10. Use many of them together as building blocks to for an incredible play house;

9.   Ideal book to place on top of head and walking for practicing balance and poise;

8.   Door Stop;

7.   Conduct annual Yellow Page Book throwing contest;

6.   Excellent mini step ladders for the hard to reach places around your house or business;

5.   Ideal for making several hundred paper airplanes;

4.   Excellent seat for those who are vertically challenged;

3.   Use as cones for out of bounds and the end zone during your next pick up game of football;

2.   Great wheel/tire chuck for under vehicles and trailers to prevent movement while parked;

1.   Perfect stand to place your desktop or notebook on for the correct height to conduct your Google searches.

Not to mention if the Google Gods caught you using such an antiquated instrument of Search….. you may have an algorithm change done to you

I received in the mail one of the most remarkable direct mail pieces ever (Photo thanks to BruceClay.com - Virginia Nussey talked about it here) via FedEx this week. I opened the package and pulled out a very professional package of chocolate covered grasshoppers.

The first thing I said to myself was, “Are these SERIOUSLY chocolate covered grasshoppers?”

And then I read in fine print at the bottom of the package:

*Yes, these are real grasshoppers. They are even approved by the FDA of Thailand.

Brilliant. I didn’t have any idea what it was… but that alone made me look into it further.

A tag attached to the grasshoppers said, “Entrepreneurs can change the world. Join the movement now!”

Now I’m intrigued.

So, I went to their site and it looks like they are compiling entrepreneurs together and offering some discounts on services… but in the end, they are promoting telecommunication services of some type.

Here’s the lesson… To start something viral… it needs to be worthy of being viral. Business owners talk to us everyday about how they want to do these viral campaigns, but they often want to do things so lame, that nobody really cares. So, take a lesson from the grasshopper guys (and possibly gals, too)… and do something worth talking about in your next viral marketing campaign.

Oh… I brought the package home and had my kids eat them. That’s what the video above’s all about. I know it’s a bit long… sorry.