Case Study

Brand Consistency and a Killer Marketing Campaign

Find out how we leveraged brand consistency and attractive design to make toasters and water seem like a good idea . . . at least for a few electric hours.
 
 

If you missed our April Fool’s Day campaign, that’s okay. You can click here to go and experience it for yourself. Then, come back and discover exactly how we turned a terrible business idea into something almost believable.

A few years ago, our team met together with a goal: to create a business idea so ridiculous that no one would ever take it seriously. Then, make people take it seriously.

How? Through brand consistency, snappy copywriting, and legitimate design.

The end results were a beautiful website and a rapid-fire April Fool’s Day campaign. Here’s how we got there.

The Need

We wanted to show that a compelling brand could get you to believe in a fake company. 

The Strategy

A multi-front campaign featuring a website, branding, email, and social media campaigns. 

The Result

The inception of a product no one knew they desperately needed.

Brainstorming the Idea

When we met as a team, we knew we wanted to combine two contrary concepts into one outlandish business idea.

Needless to say, this meeting was a lot of fun. We pitched rollercoasters and seafood. Speed dating for introverts. Meditation in a childcare center. Mustard and jello.

You get the idea.

We could (and did) go all day. But we ultimately settled on a concept for ToasterTubs: an exclusive brand for high-end toaster and hot tub combos. We were electrified by this idea.

Why?

We knew it would allow us to emphasize the difference consistent branding and legitimate marketing materials make.

Establishing Brand Guidelines

Myriad has a talented graphic designer in-house. But for this project, we knew we wanted a more traditional watercolor aesthetic. (Remember, for holiday campaigns, it’s fine to break a few of your brand guidelines.)

So, we hired a German painter whom we knew and were impressed with.

Of course, we were tempted to lean into goofy jokes or obvious puns (think: “Shockingly Good Deals” or “This Is the Last Hot Tub You’ll Ever Buy!”).

But we steered clear of anything that felt too on the nose. The goal was to present ToasterTubs as a legitimate brand.

So we took every step of building the brand guidelines seriously.

To create the brand guidelines, we had to answer a few questions, like:

  • What is ToasterTubs’ story?
  • What products or services do they offer?
  • Who is their ideal customer?
  • What are their brand's core values?
  • What font and color schemes do they use?
  • How would we describe TT's brand voice and personality?

Building a Legitimate Website

With the brand rules in hand, we cut our creatives loose so they could get to work. It was time to create something tangible.

We always recommend our clients start by creating a legitimate-looking and gorgeous website. And we always follow our own advice. So, first up: the ToasterTubs website.

Our team has been doing this for so long that we can basically make a beautiful website in our sleep. But even though the process is pretty routine for us, we never gloss over even a single detail.

The important thing is to design something that looks good, adheres to the brand, and has the end user in mind. Every website we create looks fantastic and works well on desktops and laptops as well as on tablets and mobile. No exceptions.

As you can see, we went to a lot of work to create something beautiful and authentic. Why? Because if a business doesn’t have a killer website, nobody takes it seriously.

  • Toasty.png
  • TT_Case Study Website Graphic_Resource Article.png
  • TT_Case Study Website Graphic_Social Media posts.png
  • TT_Case Study Website Graphic_Review.png
  • TT_Case Study Website Graphic_Merch.png

Crafting Killer Marketing Materials

With a fully fleshed-out website as our foundation, we began to construct our marketing materials:

  • We created a brand mascot, named Toasty, to help the audience make an emotional connection. (We think he’s pretty cute.)
  • We wrote a resource article to strengthen the brand’s authority and build trust with the audience.
  • We crafted a lineup of social media posts to deploy during our campaign.
  • We created a few fake reviews from “happy customers.” (Meet Mitch Howard, real person.)
  • We even invested in a line of branded merchandise to further establish the brand’s identity and credibility.

In short, we made sure there wasn’t one weak link in the chain of ToasterTub’s online presence. With each new product, be it social media or merchandise, we kept the branding hyper-consistent and in line with our original guidelines. If people were going to look into this company, we wanted to greet them with a megawatt smile from Toasty at every turn.

Step Five: Deploying the Campaign

On April 1st, we went live with our ToasterTubs campaign via a series of six social media drops. These posts were carefully prepared by our social media and graphic design experts well in advance.

Here’s what the final product looked like:

Drop 1, 8:00 AM: An announcement post introducing our “newest client,” ToasterTubs. 

Drop 2, 10:00 AM: A product carousel summarizing the three product types from ToasterTubs. (A.K.A. The Solo Soak, Aqua Toast Pro, and Baker’s Dozen.)

Drop 3, 12:00 PM: A "Toastimonial" graphic from one of ToasterTub’s happy customers.

Drop 4, 2:00 PM: An image carousel highlighting ToasterTub’s merchandise.

Drop 5, 4:00 PM: A resource graphic introducing the article, “Beyond Buttered Bread.”

Drop 6, 6:00 PM: A final social media post to cap off the day and say thanks to our followers.

 

Meanwhile, as all of this was happening on social media, we were also ready to promote ToasterTubs via an email marketing drip campaign. Once people signed up for the TT email list, we deployed a series of seven emails to market the brand. This email campaign is still active and includes the following:

If you’d like to sign up for the ToasterTubs email list so you can see those emails in action, visit the website or fill out the form above.

We think we did a pretty convincing job selling these fictional products. Between the email drip campaign and the social media launch, we were able to get a lot of eyeballs on this promotional April Fool’s Day prank. But was it worth the work?

Watching the Results

We received comments, texts, and emails asking if this was a real thing. Many people assumed it was an April Fool's joke until they clicked on the links in our social media posts and were brought face to face with a full website, branding, and merch store, then they began to doubt.

  • Visitors from US, UK, Australia, & more!
  • People thought it was REAL!
  • People are repping ToasterTubs with merch today!

Imagine what Myriad can do for
your real-life company

The goal of our ToasterTubs campaign was to make a fake company seem legitimate. We did that through cohesive and organized branding.

Of course, we assumed that no one would go to bed the night of April 1st thinking ToasterTubs was a real company. But some people did! We asked them what made them think it was real, and they all answered the same, "the branding seemed too good to be for a fake company."

Now, if this is what Myriad can do with a fake, terribly conceived idea for a business, imagine what we can do for you.

Odds are, you’re standing on much stronger ground than the owner of a toaster/hot tub company. But if you don’t have solid brand guidelines, a killer website, and legitimate marketing materials, your online audience won’t take you seriously. You may as well be selling toasters and hot tubs.

Remember, your brand should be more than just a logo. If you need help getting there, give us a call.