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Will It Blend?

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Will It Blend?
GenreViral marketing, Paid programming
Created byGeorge Wright
Tom Dickson
Kels Goodman
Written byKels Goodman
Bruce Carlson
StarringTom Dickson
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerKels Goodman
Production locationUtah
Camera setupKels Goodman
Original release
NetworkYouTube
ReleaseOctober 30, 2006 (2006-10-30) –
November 10, 2020 (2020-11-10)

Will It Blend? was 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" or "cochiken",[2] which is half of a chicken (cooked, usually rotisserie) blended with 12 fluid ounces of Coca-Cola. Although the show's example was blended with the bones (and thus was disclaimed as unsafe to eat), a boneless version was made on NBC's Today[3] and served to Meredith Vieira.

In an episode released on April 3, 2007, Dickson placed a camcorder in the blender while it was operating. Shortly afterward, the production team, Kels Goodman and Ray Hansen, attempted to return what was left of the camcorder to Best Buy, with no success.[4]

Other technological devices were blended such as 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]

Tom Dickson blending at YouTube Live

Some episodes are produced to coincide with certain events. For example, three episodes aired during the weekend of Super Bowl XLI. Because of trademark restrictions, the words "Super Bowl" were substituted with other words such as "Super Sunday," "The Big Game" or "That Last Football Game." The first episode had Dickson blend a smoothie out of salsa, tortilla chips, Buffalo wings, and some Budweiser.[7] The second and third episodes used two blenders to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl by blending miniature helmets (AFC vs. NFC),[8] and foam footballs (Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears).[9] To coincide with the release of the film Transformers, Dickson blended toys of the Transformers characters Bumblebee and Swindle before challenging two of his grandchildren to transform the remains.[10] When Dickson learned that The Beach Boys did not win Esquire Magazine's 2007 Esky Award, he blended the trophy.[11]

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 television appearances, including NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 30, 2007, on which he blended a rake handle in seconds. The original videos have been used on The CW series Online Nation. Dickson also made his appearance in the History Channel series Modern Marvels. In the episode World's Strongest III aired March 6, 2008, Dickson blended the channel's longest-running series (in the form of a portable MP3 player).

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 US$15,000 from the video hosting service Revver.[14]

In 2008, Will It Blend? was featured in a Dreyer's/Edy's Dibs commercial. In the commercial, a girl holding a large lollipop tries some Dibs and wonders what will happen to lollipops when kids stop buying them in favor of the bite-sized ice cream treats. The next scene shows giant lollipops, used as alternatives to waxing a man's hairy back before Dickson blends them.[15] In a second version of the commercial, Dickson himself was waxed.[16]

Will It Blend? was nominated for the 2007 YouTube Award for Best Series.[17] It won Net (magazine)'s 2007 Viral Video Campaign of the Year and the bronze-level Clio Award for Viral Video in 2008.[citation needed] The iPhone episode of Will It Blend? won Ad of the Week in episode 8 of the Australian show The Gruen Transfer.

As of May 2024, the Blendtec YouTube channel has more than 294 million views.[18] The most recent episode was uploaded on November 10, 2020.

See also

References

  1. ^ Esquire. Will it Blend? Archived 2007-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ John Mangan, "Can he blend it? Yes he can" Archived 2010-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, The Age, October 8, 2007.
  3. ^ Rachael King, "Business goes straight to video" Archived 2017-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, BusinessWeek, January 16, 2007.
  4. ^ "Will It Blend? Video Camera Part 2: The Return". 16 August 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  5. ^ "Will It Blend? - iPad". YouTube. April 5, 2010. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  6. ^ "Will It Blend? - iPhone 4". YouTube. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  7. ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Smoothie". 30 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  8. ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Conference Blend-Off". 30 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  9. ^ "Will It Blend? - S***r B**l Blend-Off". 30 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  10. ^ "Will It Blend? - Transformers". 3 July 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  11. ^ "Will It Blend? - Esky Award". 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  12. ^ "Squid News - "Will it blend?", the interview with Tom Dickson". September 14, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-09-14.
  13. ^ "Will It Blend? - Presented By Blendtec". Web Archive. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  14. ^ 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…
  15. ^ "Will it Blend on a Dibs Commercial". 15 April 2008. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  16. ^ "WILL IT BLEND - SECOND DIBS COMMERCIAL". 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13 – via www.youtube.com.
  17. ^ "YouTube - Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  18. ^ "Blendtec's Will It Blend? - YouTube". Youtube. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
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