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# Weird Marketing Tales
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Video transcript provided courtesy of Descript AI. May contain minor errors. The peak of Gridiron glory has been the NFL for what seems like forever. And while other leagues have changed drastically to avoid the NFL’s scope, the XFL has continued to step onto their field with ambitions as big 
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Video transcript provided courtesy of Descript AI. May contain minor errors. Have you ever thought, what would it be like to open and run a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in real life? We did, and it drove us kind of crazy, as this iconic horror game, and now film location, has 
Video transcript provided courtesy of Descript AI. May contain minor errors. Pokemon is a legendary gaming franchise, developed by Game Freak back in 1996, and has been going for almost 30 years. He has released 122 games in total, and collectively sold 480 million copies worldwide, making it one of 
Did you know every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized? Well, at least that’s the theory. It’s said that even back in 1996, Nintendo was able to create an AI that adapted to a player’s skill level, playstyle, and even desires. It’s so subtle you’d never notice it, until 
Step into a realm where reality bends and logic unravels. Picture a metropolis folding onto itself, an inverted tale of retribution. A relentless duel in a gravity-defying corridor and a heart-pounding race against the clock on a ravaged shoreline. These awe-inspiring spectacles transcend mere celluloid, for they are the distinctive 
Barbies and bombs. Normally you wouldn’t pair those two together. Unless you’re that kid from Toy Story. Or apparently, a movie exec. If you’re paying attention to summer blockbusters, you know that Barbie and Oppenheimer are coming out on exactly the same day.  Which resulted in a loving dubbed media 
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It’s me. Hi. I’m mad at Ticketmaster. It’s me.  That’s right – Swiftie Maria is back again, here to bring you a marketing breakdown of how Ticketmaster failed Swifties, its customers, the world, and every basic marketing class ever taught. If you’ve followed the news recently, you’ve probably heard about 
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s no secret that nostalgia holds a special place in our hearts. Just ask basically anyone doing marketing right now – you’d be hard-pressed to find someone not learning heavily on the concept to push their product.  But nostalgia is a powerful tool, no matter how you 
Released in 2003, The Room is widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made. It holds a score of 3.7 out of 10 on IMDb and an astounding 9 out of 100 on Metacritic. Film critic, Marg Mohan, claimed that the film “oozes sincerity, which is then 
“If you know you know.” So said the billboard in yellow block capitals on a stark black background as I was passing through my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was advertising Buc-ee’s, a gas station about an hour away. Weird marketing move, I thought, but only briefly. I’m no stranger 
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### More Utterly Bizarre Marketing Stories
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© 2024 Pangea Marketing Agency
If you’ve been on YouTube in the past decade, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Markiplier. We even covered him in our previous article talking about Unus Annus. He can’t stay out of the spotlight, as he recently released a teaser trailer for his horror film Iron Lung.  Now 
“Yum. Chocolate so fake, it couldn’t kill a dog and cream so fake, vegans can eat it. Team Hydrox, forever!” – Wendy’s TikTok, on Oreos. You don’t have to go far to find marketing disasters in the world of fast food, or really, food and drink more broadly. Marketers in the industry are so 
Imagine building one of the most culturally significant bands of the 21st century. Now imagine doing that while experimenting radically in a genre where copying others is a proven path to success. While never showing your face. Daft Punk did just that, and their success has been remarkable. Their sophomore 
The food industry is a highly competitive and constantly evolving landscape where marketing plays a crucial role in driving consumer demand. And while sometimes it can be a fun place filled with silly drinks aimed at kids, there are also plenty of instances where marketers have stumbled and fallen after 
I love events. It is no secret and has been a passion of mine since I was a wee child. My favorite part of my birthday as a kid was planning my party’s itinerary. I loved a good theme. And you can bet your bottom dollar that there were party 
“Shrek is love, Shrek is life.” – Famous meme from 4chan (NSFW) The original Shrek movie came out all the way back in 2001, over two decades ago. And yet even to this day, it remains a remarkably popular movie, especially among Generation Z. Despite being 22 years old, Shrek 
Imagine you’re five years old again, sitting in front of a TV one morning. Suddenly, a giant yellow bird comes on screen and starts singing about how to get to a place you’ve never heard of called “Sesame Street”.  You have no idea why, but you’re hooked!  Sesame Street has 
“Welcome, marketers, to the fascinating world of ChatGPT! In this post, we’ll take you on an exciting journey to explore the inner workings of this AI wizard and its seemingly magical text generation abilities.” – ChatGPT Wow, ChatGPT – self-aggrandizing much? But if you’ve been on the internet lately, you 
“We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane.” Originally spoken by Francis Ford Coppola about the filming of Apocalypse Now, I think this statement applies just as well to the marketing misadventures of Rax Roast Beef circa 1991. I’ve been fascinated 
Gam·​ers | ˈgā-mərs (noun): a subcategory of the species Homo sapiens that sits upon gaming chairs of varying colors and sizes. They are known for playing games for hours on end, often into the dead of night. Due to this, gamers are often deficient in vital vitamins and minerals needed so desperately 
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We all have fond memories of playing with toys when we were young. Whether it’s trading Pokemon cards or snuggling a favorite stuffed animal, it’s hard not to have at least one happy childhood toy story. Toys have been in the hearts and homes of kids for decades, centuries, even! 
Do you have a favorite movie that not many people have heard of? Or do you go to a coffee shop that you wouldn’t substitute for anything else? Or, perhaps, do you have a favorite product your rave about to everyone you meet? Well, you might be in a cult 
Facing a $140 million legal judgment, the leaders of Gawker had to face their sins. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to out billionaire Peter Thiel as gay in 2007. And maybe the world would have been a better place if they hadn’t released Hulk Hogan’s…private film in 2012. But 
Anime. You know it in one form or another. Maybe you watched it when you were young, or your kids watch it, or you’re watching it now. It’s a universal and ageless media that caters to everyone, and due to that immortality, it has expanded and evolved into every corner 
It was 21 years ago when I got my first American Girl Doll. As any typical 10 year old does on a July summer day, I was curled up behind my bed doing some summer reading (The Secret of Nimh, in case you were wondering). The doorbell rang, and my 
Imagine you walk into the bar and you order a beer. Something brushes up against your leg. You hear a meow. No, it’s not Mardi Gras and you’re not in New Orleans. You are in one of many cat cafés around the world. Yes, this is a real thing. Cat 
Minecraft was created by a solo developer with a day job in 2009. The graphics are 8-bit and servers will boot you for no reason sometimes. By all accounts, Minecraft should have crashed and burned early. It is the best-selling video game of all time. Over 200 million copies have 
I was shopping with my wife at the gardening store, looking – in true millennial fashion – for plants we can’t kill. Suddenly, apropos of nothing, I wondered “what the hell happened to Aeropostale?” Aeropostale was everywhere when I was in high school from 2006 to 2010. You couldn’t go 
Tattoos are just about everywhere you look these days. Whether you are in a hospital, library, or even on a college campus, odds are, you can find someone who has a tattoo. A recent Ipsos poll showed that 30% of Americans had at least one tattoo in 2019, up from 
I’m glad 2020 is over, and I’m not alone. We’ve all been tested in every aspect of life in the last year, right down to the cancellation of sports. There was only one shining exception: the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). They took the drastic step of moving the ring all 
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You’re a pretty regular person, right? Special in your own ways, to be sure. But you’d likely refer to yourself as pretty normal. And that’s awesome! Because we all have our own intricate way we’re put together.  And in that web of what makes us unique, no matter how normal 
A few years ago I was filling out some paperwork and it asked for my job title. I remember asking, “do you want my actual job title? Or just my field of work?” At the time I worked in insurance and my job title was unnecessarily complex. Fast forward a 
Drawing attention to your business is tough! Or at least it can seem that way if you’re not well-versed in the art of outreach. We talk a lot about customer retention, customer experience, and consumer behavior. But none of that means anything if you can’t acquire customers in the first 
The airline industry is an unspeakably difficult one. As of 2021, there are 18 major passenger airlines in the United States. The list of airlines that have died is so long that it takes up four separate Wikipedia articles for the US alone. Yet Delta Air Lines has been operating 
The marketing world is full of strange jargon and acronyms. One of the most common acronyms you’ll see people use is SEO. The internet is full of articles telling you that you should improve your SEO to grow your business. There’s good reason for that. Search engine optimization – SEO 
If you build it, they won’t just come. Your small business needs a product distribution strategy if you want to make sales. This is so important, in fact, that one of the 4 P’s of marketing is “place” as in “the place where people can buy your products.” But how 
Public relations! The phrase conjures up images of spin doctors working for evil megacorporations or politicians conspicuously pretending to be folksy in an effort to win voters. That first impression is definitely not wrong, but it’s for sure not the whole picture either! At its heart, public relations (PR, for 
Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics. Tom Peters, Quotes from Universal Cargo I find this quote 
Influencer marketing is a relatively new way for companies of all sizes to market their products. Today, we are going to dive into all things influencer marketing. We’ll answer questions like: What is influencer marketing? How to find and hire influencers? What influencers can do to help you sell your 
How do people find your business?  Vague question, I know. But take a moment and really ask yourself the question. Is it through outbound marketing? Do you have a steady stream of organic traffic coming to you? Or, are you taking a more “old-fashioned” approach and marketing specific client opportunities 
When you’re marketing your small business for the first time, advertising is just plain intimidating. Effective advertising requires you to understand both complex marketing ideas and the ins and outs of software like Facebook and Google Ads. Figuring out where to start with small business advertising is a difficult task 
Relationships matter. There are a million ways to say this simple fact, and a million ways to prove it too. Good relationships lead to customer retention, partnerships, referrals, and – ultimately – a big payday. That’s why well-run companies put so much emphasis on relationship marketing. Deep down, successful small 
Have you ever walked into a restaurant and waited forever to be seated, only to be treated rudely and have your food served cold? If so, it’s safe to say that you’ve had a bad customer experience. Odds are, you probably told others about it too. Maybe you even left 
Up until June of 2017, I had always used iTunes / Apple Music. It was all I knew. I went through various iPod models, transferring music from my laptop to my iPod, making new playlists as I went along. I knew what Spotify was but never paid much attention to 
As technology continues to improve, people will spend more and more time with products, systems, and services. This can be very good, too, since technology removes irritation and inconvenience from day-to-day life. But ultimately, systems need to feel like they’re made by humans for humans. In other words, it’s really 
Hundreds of millions of businesses exist. At any given moment, hundreds are vying for your attention in subtle ways. Yet as we’ve adjusted to the ubiquity of logos and branding in our everyday life, it’s all become background noise. The one thing that really stands out – genuine human connection, 
The title of this post may seem contradictory at a first glance. How can product returns become a source of revenue? The very act of handling returns means not only giving up revenue, but also incurring additional expenses in labor, supplies, and – for eCommerce companies – postage. Yet good 
Think about the companies you most admire. Odds are, when you do that, you don’t just think about the products or services themselves, though they may be very good. You probably think of all the pleasant interactions and little acts of generosity that define your business relationship. In other words, 
The world is a big and noisy place. As a small business, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of megacorporations, left unable to make a real impression. Many businesses need help looking professional in a competitive market. Fortunately, it’s not hard to look professional! The modern internet is 
Products come and products go, but businesses stay around for much longer. That’s because most businesses that succeed in the long-run don’t sell a single product or service. Indeed, successful businesses often rely on a unique product mix that keeps their business lively and fresh as the years go on. 