I have to use Mulder's quote from the X Files series "Trust No One" to get into this short story about getting marketing exposure back in the day. There was a firm from back then that had a commercial on TV running which stated that, "There broker is, Blank Blank, and they say" and the commercial shows all the people stopping what they were doing to hear what this guy's broker said. Just playing it safe with the name.
At the time, I knew of a broker that worked fo one of these firms and he told me a story about one of the greatest marketing story of all times. The firm had their ear to the floor of the business community in order to keep on top of each company that they bought or sold stocks for on Wall Street. Wall Street tends to keep a good control on company activity so that they can properply respond to their audience should people want to buy or sell sticks in a particular company. They make money when their customers make money. The more money their customers make, the more money the broker will make in their commissions.
This story deals with a soft drink company that leaked to the press that they were going to change the formula for their popular soft drink. Naturally, since the drink happens to be very popular, the story gets more attention. I believe that then their marketing and/or sales department make contacts to promotoe the sory with the press and television stations.
The more publicity that the company got, the more the interest in the story was making on the airwaves. Before you knew it, it was the talk all over the news that this popular company was changing their main formula for thier most popular drink. It was completely out of the blue for this to happen.
If memory serves me right, my friend, who worked for this brokerage house at the time, said they couldn't believe how much publicity that this story was getting. The said that the amount of exposure that this company was getting was uheard of and the cost to them if they had they had to do this market campaign on their own would have been very costly.
He then told me that the company had no intention of changing the original formula for their most popular drink and that the marketing program that evolved from the leaked story was far beyond their wildest dreams. It was a win win situation for them and the company that they represented on Wall Street. Sales went throught the roof for the soft drink company and business went on as usual with no change to the initial formula.
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