You’re in the business of maximum impact from the least amount of money (and effort), right?

Well, when it comes to getting people to talk about your brand…

Creativity drives efficiency.

Opportunity doesn’t lie in following the crowd and doing what’s been tried and tested; it lies in thinking differently, considering unusual perspectives and giving wild ideas a try.

Doing something seemingly small but largely different can get an outsized reaction.

Putting more money into advertising can’t do that.

So, how can you efficiently get people talking about your brand using creativity?

One option is using what I like to call the Golden Razor concept. You can consider it much like a Trojan Horse but without the deception.

A Golden Razor is essentially an extreme version of your product that is likely to spark conversation and gain attention from the press.

You can use Golden Razors to cut through the noise in your market to get your audience’s attention, without spending a fortune on paid ads.

They’re also great for brand building, meaning your products will be bought for less rational, more emotional reasons, meaning you can charge more for them.

(I’ll explain where the Golden Razor got its name from shortly)

But first, let’s look at an example:

Adult Toys. In Easter Eggs.

Easter Eggs are for kids, right? Not anymore!

Dubbed ‘The Adult Kinder Surprise’, this is a classic ‘one plus one equals three’ situation. New brand Ricky needed a way to stand out in the highly competitive adult space, so they put their adult toys in Easter eggs and sold them. They combined two loved products to create something new and talk-worthy. Rise At Seven, the PR agency behind it, reported 96 pieces of news, each with a link back to the product page.

Three years later, it’s still doing the rounds in the news and social.

Here’s another example.

Back in the early noughties, Nintendo made a Golden Wii for the Queen. It was a publicity stunt to launch the new set of family games. The Palace Correspondence Team rejected it, but not before the press picked up on the story.

And it continued to make noise when it was discovered listed on eBay years later for $300,000.

Okay, final example… and where the concept came from, The Golden Razor.

In a previous email about generating wild ideas, I shared the story of an idea I had to create a solid gold razor worth thousands of pounds and list it for sale alongside the standard razors at Cornerstone.

Since then, they actually created a special edition gift set with a golden (not real!) handle, and each Valentine’s Day or Father’s Day etc., it finds its way into more customers’ hands.

Read more about the Adult Easter Eggs on the Rise At Seven agency blog.

Check out that golden Nintendo Wii here.

And Cornerstone’s golden razor handle on their website.

Have an idea for your own Golden Razor, or seen another successful example? Hit reply and let me know!

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