5 Crazy Marketing Ideas Throughout History That Actually Worked

Once upon a time, people didn’t have the internet to spread viral videos or to advertise to all sides of the world.

Their creativity had to be high – and they had to think outside the box. Not that online ads aren’t creative, but it’s changed the way we market. Some of these crazy marketing ideas come from the time before the internet (do you even remember?) and some from after.

Either way, they were just crazy enough to work – no matter what that one person from HR said.

Want to get inspired? Read about the campaigns that knocked their sales out of the park and us off our feet below.

Crazy Marketing Ideas

If you’re thinking that you need to do something crazy instead of running the same old ads this time, you may have a multitude of ideas. But how do you know which ones are too crazy to succeed and which are just crazy enough to work?

Well, there are some things you can do that help move you in the direction of success.

Before we get into the examples, let’s talk about how to make you a true success story.

Step one:

Even the craziest stunts below had a coherent message and your future campaign should too. What’s the narrative that you’re trying to convey with your publicity stunt?

Is it that you’re opening a new location or that you launched a new product line? Maybe it’s a holiday sale – your stunt needs to tell people that.

Make sure the message of your crazy idea is clear – to everyone, including those you pitch it to!

Step two:

Don’t go overboard. If you put all the information about your campaign out there at once, people won’t engage more. Don’t overdo it with information or branding on the marketing itself.

You want people to get interested and google “why is there a giant naked lady on the parliament building?” The less information you give them, the more curious they’ll be.

Of course, you do need to give them something to go off of or they’ll fall into a pit of random google results.

As soon as your marketing campaign goes up, think about what questions people will post. Make relevant explanatory images or posts on your blog/social media.

Step three:

Don’t be subtle. We know, we started out the last point out with “don’t overdo it” but that was talking about branding. At this point, we’re talking about your audacity in general.

Ever heard the saying, the greater the risk, the greater the reward? That absolutely applies in this situation. People understand risks – they know that you’re taking a chance by doing something crazy. Don’t shy away from it.

You want them to remember you and be impressed, so don’t half-ass it. You committed, now follow through!

Step four:

Finally, if your stunt goes off and people are noticing, let the news media reach out to you. Don’t go chasing down their attention, they’ll catch on soon enough.

Examples of Crazy Campaigns

Now that you know what makes a successful campaign, see if you can see those aspects in the following campaigns. If they’re on this list, that means they were successful and you can learn something from them.

Let’s start out with the oldest event on our list – a title held by a bunch of naked ladies in Britain.

1. The Calendar Girls

Never has there been such a successful fundraiser by housewives in the history of the world – at least not this kind. Most people would think to have a bake sale or a car wash, but the women behind the original “Calendar girls” had a naughtier idea.

Why should cheerleaders and firefighters have all the fun with sexy calendars? They wanted to join in on the fun. So, they took a series of twelve photos, buck naked, but without being explicit.

Cleverly placed pastries and household objects covered their naughty bits. They then sold the calendars and gave the proceeds to a charity dear to their hearts.

The women raised over $800,000 with their calendars alone. Then, in 2003, they were immortalized in film. Stars such as Helen Mirren and Julie Walters shed their clothes to give homage to this historic event.

It’s available to rent on Amazon if you’d like to watch it.

2. The Floating City

You know how people say Miami and New York are going to be underwater in 100 years? Well, Vancouver is Canada’s next city of Atlantis.

In 2008, they wanted to show people that they, too, were at risk of global warming and rising ocean levels.

So, an environmental company took to the streets of Vancouver, literally. They inflated twenty or so life rafts, the kind you’d go rafting on.

They then hung these rafts from buildings, which was supposed to represent how far they would be underwater if the water did rise. Canadians on their way to work and school were suddenly looking up to strange, orange lifeboat umbrellas.

The stunt was a success, as people are still writing articles about it ten years later.

Why did it work?

This crazy stunt worked because it was shocking, but started a conversation. At that time, not everyone was talking about global warming. The term was known, but people hadn’t started to panic.

You can be sure they did after seeing that they’d have to raft to work if they didn’t get their act together.

3. Target Fashion Week 2010

What do you think about when you think of mega-retailer Target? The color red and their logo, the target bullseye. Right?

Well, that’s what Target wanted to convey to announce their new seasonal line in 2010.

During New York Fashion Week, they rented the building across from a large event. Inside, they changed the light bulbs to red and coordinated the lights in the windows to make a giant bullseye logo.

We didn’t know that Target needed that kind of publicity, but we’re not knocking it. They’re still in business, so it must have worked!

Now if we could only remember what we needed when we went in there . . .

4. Dunkin Donuts and The Dress

Junk/fast food ads have been so creative lately. Mostly, we’re talking about how Wendy’s constantly throws shade at McDonald’s on Twitter. Their banter is hilarious and the people at Wendy’s marketing department are our favorite catty people to follow.

However, the people over at Dunkin Donuts threw their name into the ring for creative marketing when “the dress” controversy happened. As you’ll remember if you use the internet at all, there was a photo of a dress that no one could agree on the color of.

Some people saw gold and white (that’s correct) and others, somehow, saw black and blue. It was a controversy that was discussed on talk shows, podcasts, even the news!

To capitalize on the craze, Dunkin Donuts posted a photo of two donuts, one decorated with gold and white, one with blue and black. They made a reference to the dress and said that you can pick the one you thought was appropriate and stick up for your team in donut form.

The same crazy thing happened with a pair of shoes a year or so later – but it didn’t cap the gold/white black/blue controversy.

Using delicious food is always a good idea for a campaign, especially if you’re in cannabis marketing.

5. KFC Nail Polishes

The Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel has done some crazy things in the past – so it’s a surprise this stunt still shocked us. But it did, and it shocked the whole globe!

China’s branch of KFC created two flavors of nail polish that supposedly tasted like chicken. One color was red to represent “hot and spicy” and the other brown for “original”.

The chain has always talked about their 11 secret herbs and spices, so that’s how they marketed this limited time product.

You want to wear 11 herbs and spices on just ten fingers? Well, you could – if you could get your hands on the polish. It wasn’t widely available in the US and only some lucky people got a taste.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t as delicious as a big bucket of chicken, but we give them props for trying. We’d like to run some things by the (probably high) person who first pitched that in the first meeting. Oh to be a fly on that wall!

Get Stunting

Now that you’ve had some inspiration from some of America, Britain, Canada, and China’s best – what will you do to get yourself on a future list like this?

What crazy marketing ideas have you or your staff been tossing around your brains? Do they think they’re too crazy to share?

Have a company brainstorm after sharing this article.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?