A blender company with almost no marketing budget started filming its founder blending things that should never go in a blender. By its marketing director’s account, the videos drew tens of millions of views and blender sales rose several hundred per cent. Here is what actually made it work — and what a small business can realistically borrow.
Blendtec makes high-powered blenders in Utah. Its founder, Tom Dickson, had a habit of testing the machines by blending unusual objects to see what they could handle. George Wright, the company’s marketing director, saw that habit as something people might want to watch.
The result was Will It Blend?, a series of short videos in which Dickson, in a lab coat, feeds everything from marbles to smartphones into a blender and asks the question in the title.
What happened
Wright described the campaign’s results in a keynote at the Pubcon conference in November 2008, reported by Search Engine Roundtable. According to his presentation:
- The starting budget was $50.
- The early videos drew around 5 million views in three days.
- Sales rose by more than 500 per cent early on, and he later cited total blender sales up 700 per cent.
- The videos had accumulated around 65 million views on YouTube and 120 million on the Will It Blend website.
These are figures reported by the company itself rather than independently audited, and they should be read that way. Even allowing for that, the campaign is widely regarded as one of the defining examples of early online video marketing.
Why it worked
The marketing was the product demonstration
Every video answered the question a blender buyer actually has: is this machine powerful and durable? Watching it reduce a rake handle to dust demonstrates that more convincingly than any list of specifications. The entertainment and the sales argument were the same thing.
It came from something real
The idea was not invented in a brainstorm; it grew out of how Dickson already tested his products. That authenticity mattered. The founder was genuinely enthusiastic, the tests were genuine, and viewers could tell.
The format was simple and repeatable
One question, one object, one short video. The format made it easy to produce many episodes cheaply and easy for audiences to know what they were getting. Consistency built a following in a way a single clever video could not.
People wanted to share it
Viewers passed the videos on because they were entertaining, not because they were asked to. That sharing did the distribution work a large media budget would otherwise have had to buy.
What a local business can take from this
Show your expertise instead of describing it
Most businesses have a version of Dickson’s blender test: something they do every day that customers find fascinating. A roofer can show what storm damage really looks like. A mechanic can show what a neglected part does to an engine. A bakery can show how something is made. Short, honest demonstrations answer customer questions and build trust at the same time.
Consistency beats a single hit
Aiming for one viral video is a poor plan, because virality is unpredictable. A regular series that answers real questions is achievable, and it compounds: every video is another way to be found, whether on YouTube, social media or embedded on your own service pages.
Low budget is not the same as low effort
The fifty dollars is the memorable part of the story, but the campaign still needed a clear idea, a willing founder and sustained production. Small businesses can compete on creativity and knowledge rather than spend, but the creativity still has to be applied consistently.
A reality check
Blendtec had advantages that are easy to overlook: a product that lent itself to spectacular demonstration, an early position on YouTube when there was far less competition for attention, and a founder comfortable on camera. Most businesses will not see results on anything like this scale, and it would be wrong to promise that they will.
What does transfer is the principle. Useful, genuine demonstrations of what you do — produced consistently — are one of the most cost-effective ways a small business can earn attention and trust.
This article is part of our Media & Insights case study series on marketing lessons from around the world.
Not sure what your business should be showing?
We can help you work out which parts of your expertise are worth demonstrating, and how to turn them into content that supports your website and social channels rather than disappearing after a day.