It’s the Little Things

Have you seen the Reynolds Wrap email that’s flying around right now? It seems that there is a little cardboard perf on the ends of all Reynolds Wraps boxes that, when punched in, prevents the roll of foil (or plastic wrap, or whatever) from tumbling out of the box, onto the floor, streaming the entire length of the material with it.

Here’s what the email looks like:

What’s crazy is this little packing innovation has probably been on the boxes for years, but nobody noticed. And Reynolds never told anyone about it. Now they’re getting tons of free publicity, thanks to a) social media and b) the fact that EVERYONE hates how the whole roll of foil leaps from the box when you try to rip off a sheet, and now feels naive because this “little helper” has been on the box all along. Here’s an example of how people are talking about it:

I googled to find other examples of webchatter about this, and found another surprise. While the email above was circulating yesterday, there are posts on the web from 2008 discussing this, often using identical copy, in the usual cut-and-paste web journalism tradition. It’s just taken a while for the Reynolds virus to spread.

It makes me wonder what other products have hidden surprises that could get them some spotlight. Years ago, on behalf of Flintstones Vitamins, we discovered that there was no vitamin in the shape of Betty, because when she came out of the stamping press she always looked like Dino. (or maybe it was Wilma.) Everyone at the company knew it, but the public sure didn’t. So we created the “Find Betty” in-pack game, gave away a bunch of prizes, sold a ton of product and won a bunch of awards, too.

And then there’s baking soda, which exists solely to help you bake. It’s in the name. But companies like Arm & Hammer also trumpet hundreds of other uses for the stuff, including exfoliating skin, uclogging drains, fighting class-B fires (whatever they are) and, my favorite, taking residue off of the statue of liberty (100 tons of it did the job).

Kind of along these same lines is Wizmark, a company that makes urinal cakes. Now they’ve turned them into “talking targets,” selling ad space and adding a little fun in the bathroom. Same product, new use.

Clients are struggling right now to find marketing ideas that combat price-cutting. Everyone’s asking for “added value.” I say the place to start looking is inside your own box . . .