''Will It Blend?'' is a

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

campaign consisting of a series of

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s demonstrating the

Blendtec Blendtec is an American company that sells commercial and residential blenders. It is a division of K-TEC, Inc.

line of

blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

s, particularly the ''Total Blender''. In the show, Blendtec founder Tom Dickson attempts to blend various unusual items in order to show off the power of his blender. Dickson started this marketing campaign after doing a blending experiment with a box of

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

es.

Structure

One of the most famous, ''Will it Blend?'' creations is the "cochicken", which is half of a chicken (cooked, usually

rotisserie Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This metho ...

) blended with 12

fluid ounce A fluid ounce (abbreviated fl oz, fl. oz. or oz. fl., old forms ℥, fl ℥, f℥, ƒ ℥) is a unit of volume (also called ''capacity'') typically used for measuring liquids. The British Imperial, the United States customary, and the United St ...

s of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

. 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''Today'' and served to

Meredith Vieira Meredith Louise Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. She is best known as the original moderator of the daytime talk show '' The View'' (1997–2006), the original host of the syndicated ...

. In an episode released on April 3, 2007, Dickson placed a

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

in the blender, giving viewers a first-person look inside the container while it was blended. Shortly afterwards, the production team, Kels Goodman and Ray Hansen, attempted to return what was left of the camcorder to

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

, with no success. 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 The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

compilation of the commercials, were put up for auction on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

and sold for US$901 which was donated to charity. This was repeated with an

iPhone 3G The iPhone 3G (also known as iPhone 2) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc.; it is the second generation of iPhone, successor to the original iPhone, and was introduced on June 9, 2008, at the WWDC 2008 at the Moscon ...

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 The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

was blended after being smashed to fit into the blender. 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

. Each prize came with a free Blendtec Total Blender. On the June 25, 2010, episode, an iPhone 4 was blended. Tom Dickson

Some episodes are produced to coincide with certain events. For example, three episodes aired during the weekend of

Super Bowl XLI Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

. Because of

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

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 Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...

Buffalo wing A Buffalo wing in American cuisine is an unbreaded chicken wing section ( flat or drumette) that is generally deep-fried and then coated or dipped in a sauce consisting of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter prior to ser ...

s, and some

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

. The second and third episodes used two blenders to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl by blending miniature helmets ( AFC vs.

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

), and foam footballs (

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

vs.

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

). To coincide with the release of the film ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...

'', Dickson blended toys of the ''Transformers'' characters

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

and

Swindle A swindle is a kind of fraud or confidence trick. Swindle may also refer to: People * Swindle (surname) Places * Swindle Island, British Columbia, Canada * 8690 Swindle, an asteroid Films * ''Il bidone'' (English titles ''The Swindle'' or ' ...

before challenging two of his grandchildren to transform the remains. When Dickson learned that

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

did not win ''

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

s 2007 Esky Award, he blended the trophy.

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.''

Blendtec now sells ''Will It Blend?'' merchandise, including a spoof shirt with the slogan "Tom Dickson is my Homeboy". Dickson has made many national

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

appearances, including

's ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'' with

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

on March 30, 2007, on which he blended a rake handle in mere seconds. Dickson also made his appearance in the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

series ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's f ...

''. In the episode ''World's Strongest III'' aired March 6, 2008, the show ends with a special Will it Blend to prove if he can blend the channel's longest running series (in the form of a portable

MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

). In April 2007, radio station

KDRF KDRF (103.3 MHz) is a radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is owned by Cumulus Media and has an adult hits format as "Ed FM" and uses the slogan "playing stuff we like". Its studios are located in Downtown Albuquerque and the transmitte ...

(eD-FM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico enlisted Tom Dickson to do a ''Will It Blend?'' version to promote the radio station. The three 30-second commercials show different styles of music CDs being blended, intending to showcase the station's variety format. In September 2007, the videos earned the second-highest annual payout of about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

15,000 from the

video hosting service An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

Revver Revver (formerly ChangeTv) was an American video sharing website that hosted user-generated content. Until its shutdown in 2011,

. In 2008, ''Will It Blend?'' was featured on a

Dreyer's Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, ''Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream'' and ''Edy's ...

Edy's Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, ''Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream'' and ''Edy's ...

Dibs Dibs may refer to: * Pekmez, Arabic fruit molasses * Dibs (song), a 2015 Kelsea Ballerini song * The subject of '' Dibs in Search of Self'', an emotionally crippled boy * Mr Dibs (born 1964), a British rock musician * Nestlé Dibs, a frozen snac ...

commercial. In the commercial, a girl holding a large

lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are availa ...

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 being used as an alternative to

waxing Waxing is the process of hair removal from the root by using a covering of a sticky substance, such as wax, to adhere to body hair, and then removing this covering and pulling out the hair from the follicle. New hair will not grow back in the pr ...

a man's hairy back, before Dickson blends them. A second version of the commercial has Dickson himself being waxed. ''Will It Blend?'' was nominated for the 2007 YouTube award for Best Series, winner of '' .Net Magazine'''s 2007 Viral Video campaign of the year, and winner of the Bronze level Clio Award for Viral Video in 2008. The iPhone episode of ''Will It Blend?'' won Ad of the Week in episode 8 of the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

show ''

The Gruen Transfer ''Gruen'' (previously known as ''The Gruen Transfer'') is an Australian television program focusing on advertising, which debuted on the ABC on 28 May 2008. The program is hosted by Wil Anderson and produced by Andrew Denton's production co ...

''. As of November 2022, the Blendtec YouTube channel has more than 293 million views.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

''Will It Blend?'' channel on YouTube
2006 web series debuts 2020 web series endings Internet memes introduced in 2006 Internet properties established in 2006 Internet properties disestablished in 2020 Viral marketing YouTube original programming

Structure

Impact

See also

References

External links