Will It Blend?
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Will It Blend? | |
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Genre | Viral marketing, Paid programming |
Created by | George Wright Tom Dickson Kels Goodman |
Written by | Kels Goodman Bruce Carlson |
Starring | Tom Dickson |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Kels Goodman |
Production location | Utah |
Camera setup | Kels Goodman |
Original release | |
Network | YouTube |
Release | October 30, 2006 November 10, 2020 | –
Will It Blend? is a viral marketing campaign consisting of a series of infomercials demonstrating the Blendtec line of blenders, particularly the Total Blender. In the show, Blendtec founder Tom Dickson attempts to blend unusual items to demonstrate the power of his blender. Dickson started this marketing campaign after doing a blending experiment with a box of matches.[1]
Structure
Each episode of the show starts with Tom Dickson introducing it with the phrase "Will it blend? That is the question." followed by the title sequence. He then briefly introduces the item being blended, before placing into the blender and starting it. The item in question then gets blended, often with slow-motion replays of it getting destroyed. Dickson then takes the blended item out of the blender and comments on its condition, followed by an on-screen caption of (usually) "yes, it blends!".
One of the most famous Will it Blend? creations is the "cochicken",
In an episode released on April 3, 2007, Dickson placed a camcorder in the blender while it was operating. Shortly afterwards, the production team, Kels Goodman and Ray Hansen, attempted to return what was left of the camcorder to Best Buy, with no success.[4]
On the July 10, 2007, episode, an iPhone played the video intro before being blended. The resulting remains of the iPhone (which consisted of powder and a mangled metal frame), along with a brand-new Blendtec blender and a DVD compilation of the commercials, were put up for auction on eBay and sold for US$901, which was donated to charity. This was repeated with an iPhone 3G on the July 11, 2008, episode, with the eBay auction including a "Will It Blend" t-shirt, an autographed jar holding the blended remains of the phone, the box the iPhone came in, the earphones, and a brand-new Blendtec Total Blender. On the April 5, 2010, episode, an iPad was blended after being smashed to fit into the blender.[5] The number of views this video received prompted Dickson to set up a contest on blendtec.com to give away either the shredded or the boxed iPad. Each prize came with a free Blendtec Total Blender. On the June 25, 2010, episode, an iPhone 4 was blended.[6]
Some episodes are produced to coincide with certain events. For example, three episodes aired during the weekend of
Impact
Dickson has revealed that the campaign has been a great success for Blendtec:
The campaign took off almost instantly. We have definitely felt an impact in sales. Will it Blend has had an amazing impact to our commercial and our retail products.[12]
Blendtec formerly sold Will It Blend? merchandise, including a shirt with the slogan "Tom Dickson is my Homeboy".[13]
Dickson has made many national
In April 2007, radio station KDRF (eD-FM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, enlisted Dickson to do a Will It Blend? promotion for the radio station. The three 30-second commercials show different styles of music (CDs) being blended to showcase the station's variety format.
In September 2007, the videos earned the second-highest annual payout of about
In 2008, Will It Blend? was featured on a
Will It Blend? was nominated for the 2007 YouTube award for Best Series.[17]
It won
As of November 2023, the Blendtec YouTube channel has more than 294 million views.[18]
See also
References
- ^ Esquire. Will it Blend? Archived 2007-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ John Mangan, "Can he blend it? Yes he can" Archived 2010-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, The Age, October 8, 2007.
- ^ Rachael King, "Business goes straight to video" Archived 2017-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, BusinessWeek, January 16, 2007.
- ^ "Will It Blend? Video Camera Part 2: The Return". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - iPad". YouTube. April 5, 2010. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - iPhone 4". YouTube. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Smoothie". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Conference Blend-Off". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Blend-Off". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - Transformers". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - Esky Award". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Squid News - "Will it blend?", the interview with Tom Dickson". September 14, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-09-14.
- ^ "Will It Blend? - Presented By Blendtec". Web Archive. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (2007-09-12). "Posters reap cash rewards at video-sharing site Revver". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
Utah-based Blendtec has received about $15,000 for clips that highlight weird things emulsified into oblivion in the company's blenders…
- ^ "Will it Blend on a Dibs Commercial". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "WILL IT BLEND - SECOND DIBS COMMERCIAL". Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "YouTube - Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Blendtec's Will It Blend? - YouTube". Youtube. Retrieved 2023-11-29.