How To Get Other People To Pay For Your Advertising

Most of us are obsessed with getting our product on TV (that’s our kicking tee on a commercial). It brings clout and an excellent picture you can show family and friends.

Here is how you can strategically get free air time in other people's ads and how we’ve done it at Rugby Bricks.

In almost all verticals, other companies host televised tournaments, events, awards or some form of X promotion. These companies will pay for televised ad slots to promote these.

In the world of rugby, you can think of Super Rugby. In the world of cinema, think of the Oscars.

Your goal is to find the events that need your product. In the cinema, you need mics; in rugby, you need kicking tees to make an ad about rugby.

Each of these organisations has its own advertising agencies.
These agencies will need props to make their commercials mirror what happens at these events.

Enter the savvy product placement marketer.

Here is how to find the ad agency, seed your product and get air time for free.

1. Head over to LinkedIn and find the “Head of Marketing” or similar role for the event you are targeting and say this:
   
   “Hey (first name),
   
   I just wanted to reach out briefly!
   
   I loved the ad that you ran (insert date). Which ad agency did you use? I’ve got a project I’d love to look at using them for. Would you mind giving me the name of the agency and who is best to reach out to there?”
   

2. Once they respond and you are armed with these details, you want to send them this message.
   
   “Hey (first name),
   
   I got your details from (X). We make a product that does (X), and you used this product (X) in your ad last year.
   
   I’d love to send you our product for free and see if you think it’s a better fit than what you used previously. If you are happy to take a look, reply with your address, and I’ll send it right over.”
   

3. Add in some extra goodies and leave a great impression.

Most of the time, people are happy to get anything free.

For the cost of your product, you can end up on prime-time television like we did for two weeks, for free.

How Gaston Glock Made Millions For Free By Being In Die Hard - Die Harder

Gaston Glock is the infamous inventor of the Glock-17, aptly named after his 17th round of iteration on his prototype. A handgun with gross margins of nearly 70% and the world’s most used side firearm, the company is worth over 1 B+ in revenue.

In the early days when Gaston was breaking into the US, they got mass distribution by placing their products in the hands of prop makers for movies.

They gave these people huge discounts and would let them cut the lines to get a hold of the product before anyone else.

Why? It’s the same tactic we deployed above - another form of free marketing.

The Glock-17 lands in the movie Die Hard 2. Here is what Bruce Willis’s character famously said about the Glock when speaking to a police captain.

“That punk pulled a Glock-7 on me. You know what that is? It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. It doesn’t show up in airpot x-rays machines and it costs more than you make in a month.”

Here are some facts about the Glock-17:

1. For astute readers, you will have seen that the gun is called a Glock-17, not a Glock-7. 

2. The Glock-17 is manufactured in Austria, not Germany.

3. The Glock-17 does show up in airport X-ray machines.

4. It costs far less than what a police captain makes in a month.

Despite all the errors about the Glock, it became an instant hit for all gun enthusiasts in the US. This drove consumer sales through the roof.

There are a few lessons here, but the pivotal one is that there are no new ideas.

The tactic we used to seed Rugby Bricks products to advertising agencies was that Gaston Glock and his team used in the 80s.

Studying the past will give you an edge in the future.

Charlie Munger, the famed investing partner of Warren Buffet, has said, “Tell me where I’m going to die, so I never go there.”

We all should learn from the successes and failures of those before us to make us more effective in the present.