Creativity can be truly powerful marketing.

Need an example? Well, there’s the $3 Million bus stop campaign that ran for one single day…

 

​In 2005, a company known for its’ adhesive tape & post-it notes, 3M™ placed money inside a bus stop advertising case in Vancouver, BC to promote the strength of their new Scotchshield™ product. Yes, for real! What exactly is Scotchshield™? It’s a security film that you add to windows & glass to make them stronger so they don’t shatter.

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Once the money was safely in place, 3M™ hired a security team and literally challenged random pedestrians to try and break the glass using only their feet. If successful in their attempt, they could walk away with all the cash! Again, yes very much for real. You can imagine the lineups :)

 

Try as they may, no-one broke the glass and the money was still safely inside when things wrapped up. In fact, the only reason the challenge was stopped was when the bus shelter itself started coming apart. Since the challenge was about breaking the glass, not the cabinet frame the campaign was then declared over. The glass remained fully intact! Can you imagine?

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So no one broke the glass, but 3M™ gained over $1M in sales from the truly creative 1-day campaign with more orders incoming.

 

That was almost twenty years ago today but the stunt is still referenced (and often exaggerated) in college marketing and advertising classes to this day. Tesla even tried to channel some of that 3M™ mojo during their own ‘shatterproof glass‘ demonstration but that didn’t end quite so well. Google it for a giggle :)

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As a case study, this campaign is a prime example of advertising innovation and putting your money where your mouth is, quite literally in this case, with absolute faith in your product…

 

And it all began with some Creative Marketing.