Bursts of Color - Branding on a Budget

I saw a pitch from Outlaw Soaps last week that made me smile because their branding is so darn fun. Who thinks to make deodorant with scents like The Gambler and Blazing Saddles? Of course I had to try the product, so can confirm that they’ve been thorough with the theme in all images, copy, packaging and comms. Even the shipping email was titled “The Outlaw’s Path: From our Safehouse to your door.” While we expect this kind of fine touch from Disney, Outlaw Soaps is a seed stage company with just a few employees.

Outlaw’s commitment to branding reminded me of Eat24, a successful food delivery startup that is now part of GrubHub. Despite its small team and budget, Eat24 grabbed attention with stunts like advertising on porn sites (“BLT with your BDSM” anyone?), writing a breakup letter to Facebook and running pre-roll videos labeled “Please Skip this Ad.” They also created their own funny TV ads – effectively free – using video clip art.

Effective promotion fascinates customers and makes them want to tell their friends. Preferably it’s also consistent with the image you’re trying to build. Of course, we see personal examples of this in social media all the time now. Here are a few other company examples that come to mind:

Most of these ideas don’t take much money. But they do take clever marketing and some elbow grease on execution.