Publicity Stunts

[mayana]

I want to hear some crazy ideas for publicity, like this one.

Nothing is off-limits...

 

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[DeletedUser2]

first, whats your product?
THEN we can have some fun

 

[mayana]

Cosmetics - body butters, scrubs, lip balms, etc

 

[AJ.]

Lip balm to camels... the one with most camels, wins.
Hold your breath under a tub full of body scrub.

??
It's still early over here. =)

 

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[PatrickP]

Body Butters

Oh the thoughts running through my head

 

[DeletedUser2]

worlds longest slip N slide with body butter, or a "Teen TEST" where you give 30 kids your stuff to play with outside, see how well it works for them.

what is the biggest benefit for the product?

 

[gfrye13]

I was going to say body butter wrestling

 

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[Rain]

Richard Branson is the king of crazy publicity stunts. I would definitely recommend doing a little bit of reading on him.

 

[mayana]

Love the body butter wrestling idea

Lip balm to camels... the one with most camels, wins.

I'm not sure I follow... but it sounds interesting. Could you explain a little more what you were thinking?

what is the biggest benefit for the product?

The products are "nearly-natural" - I use as little additives as possible, while still making great flavors and scents.

Richard Branson is the king of crazy publicity stunts. I would definitely recommend doing a little bit of reading on him.

Richard Branson is my hero.

So, one of the things I've been thinking of is a scavenger hunt - like city-wide or even nation-wide. Like the nation's biggest scavenger hunt. Or a crowdsourced scavenger hunt. C'mon. I know you guys have some crazy ideas.

 

[PatrickP]

Ntapia, I would love to hear more info about how you got started.

Not personal info or personal business info but general info if you are willing to talk about it.

As for crazy ideas I think I am afraid to do them lol

 

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[rocksolid]

Send your products to a local prison and have video of the inmates scrubbing down each other in the showers. Hey even prisoners like to look good

 

[mayana]

Ntapia, I would love to hear more info about how you got started.

I was inspired primarily by two books, MJ's Millionaire Fastlane , which I learned about from reading an article from this blog. It was completely by accident, since I was looking for information on a business idea I was working on. The second book was Felix Dennis' book How to Get Rich. Despite the titles of the book (lol), they are fantastic, fantastic business books.

We've all heard the advice: Follow the money. I was looking for something scalable that I could retain control over. I spent literally days searching through the INC 5000 list looking at all of the fastest growing businesses. I made a spreadsheet of all of the companies that caught my interest (my criteria was simple: was it something I could start with less than $500 and something I could see myself enjoying). Why reinvent the wheel? I figured if these companies were growing fast, then why not just ride the wave? There is enough market share to go around

I found a cosmetics company on this list and did a little research on the founder, history, etc. The story was inspiring and it spoke to me personally. I had been a little annoyed (read: Pain) after reading the labels of some of the products that I was using (what the heck is IODOPROPYNYL BUTYLCARBAMATE?). I decided to start making my own lip balms (I call them butters) without adding all sorts of crazy ingredients. Over time, I've added additional products.

I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing when I got started. I have read thousands of web pages about chemical reactions of cosmetics ingredients, watched videos and read blogs about how to make various products. I've completely flopped on different products, etc. The internet is great, though, because I have found great suppliers who are very helpful in my business. Some of my suppliers even provide information and product suggestions to their customers.

So far, I do all the work myself, except for when I do a big batch of products (I do custom products with custom labels for conventions, etc). I usually either enlist the help of friends/family to help out with labels and packaging (and the last resort is paying a temp to come help), etc. I designed my website (Wordpress is very versatile - you can get it to do almost anything), I design my own labels, packaging, logos.

A little on my background: I have a Bachelor's in International Affairs and an MBA. I guess I decided that I got tired of commuting - I remember sitting in rush hour traffic on my way to work on morning and I looked around me. We were all cattle, obediently following the invisible cattle-herder. I would read stories about successful business people and get so frustrated. Finally, I decided "screw it". I worked part-time at a restaurant so I would have the time do work on my business during the day. You do you what you have to do.

I hope that was what you were wanting to know... sorry for the ramble. As far as crazy ideas, I think that I am done being afraid. I'm up for anything (except maybe body butter wrestling... lol)

 

[PatrickP]

NO need to apologize at all and please do 'ramble' more as it is VERY interesting.

Couple points I REALLY love

I guess I decided that I got tired of commuting - I remember sitting in rush hour traffic on my way to work on morning and I looked around me. We were all cattle, obediently following the invisible cattle-herder.

and

I had been a little annoyed (read: Pain) after reading the labels of some of the products that I was using (what the heck is IODOPROPYNYL BUTYLCARBAMATE?)

I became annoyed about something with another company and that is what inspired me to start my business.

What a wonderful story, thank you.

 

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