MailShrimp?? .... Errr Maybe MailChimp!😁
The Story of Mailchimp's Unforgettable Campaign
They say, "curiosity killed the cat." But, in the world of marketing, curiosity is like that spark that ignites amazing ideas. Now, imagine you're at your computer, intending to visit Mailchimp's website for some browsing. But, uh-oh! Your finger slips, and instead of typing "Mailchimp," you end up with "Mailkimp." It's a simple and honest mistake, easily overlooked. Yet, who would have guessed that Mailchimp would take such a simple slip-up so seriously? No, they didn't go after the person who misspelled their name 😉- instead, they did something remarkably creative. They came up with this astonishing campaign, brimming with creativity and fresh ideas. So, one tiny typo, and suddenly, Mailchimp's name is on everyone's lips. What was this campaign all about and how was it constructed? What all went into it, and what was the result like of this campaign? I have dissected these details for you. I loved working on this blog because it's all about quirkiness. Read on; I'm sure you will love it too. 😊
Mailchimp started in 2001 by Ben Chestnut, Mark Armstrong, and Dan Kurzius. Originally named after one of their popular e-greetings card characters, Mailchimp quickly evolved into a platform serving thousands of users with marketing automation and email marketing. At first, Mailchimp charged people to use its service. Then, in 2009, it started offering a free version. This made it even more popular, and lots of people started using it. By 2014, Mailchimp was sending over 10 billion emails every month!
“I’ve been responding to questions about email’s imminent death for 16 years. The truth is, it’s great for e-commerce. If you spend a dollar on email, you get back $43 in extra sales.” - Ben Chestnut, MailChimp’s co-founder and chief executive
As time went by, Mailchimp started adding new features, like helping businesses track their customers and make websites. This made it even more useful for small businesses.
Despite numerous acquisition offers over two decades, Mailchimp remained independent until September 2021 when Intuit acquired the company for approximately $12 billion in cash and stock. This monumental acquisition marked a new chapter for Mailchimp, now operating under the name Intuit Mailchimp.
This is just a tiny introduction to the company Mailchimp, before we delve into understanding the right and left hemispheres of their brain that built some awe-inspiring marketing campaigns.
The Mis'spelt' Fit
When it comes to digital marketing, Mailchimp has become a household name, offering email marketing services and automation solutions to businesses worldwide. What lies behind this success, is a story of innovative marketing strategies that pushed it towards popularity.
In 2014, MailChimp partnered with Serial, a popular crime podcast boasting a large audience. At the start of each episode, listeners were greeted with MailChimp's pre-roll audio ad featuring various voices, some of which remained anonymous. In this pre-roll audio you'd hear different people saying "MailChimp." However, one person encountered difficulty pronouncing the otherwise straightforward name, prompting an amusing exchange: "Mail... Kimp? ... Chimp?" This turned into an inside joke among listeners of this podcast and #Mailkimp started doing rounds on Twitter.
MailChimp joined in on the joke too. The company's CEO, Ben Chestnut, changed his Twitter profile bio to say: "Co-founder and CEO of @mailchimp (mail—kimp?)." To add on, someone from New Zealand bought the domain name mailkimp.com. If you typed it on the browser, it would take you straight to mailchimp.com.
“We have a history of not taking ourselves too seriously and having fun with our name, and this felt like a perfect way to introduce ourselves to potential new customers in a big and creative way.”- Mark DiCristina, VP, Brand Experience at MailChimp
This made them create nine pretend brands. Fashion styles, sandwiches, hit songs, and short films were some of them. What was that one connect between all these brands? It was that they sounded similar to MailChimp.
(Image Courtesy: medium.com)
More so, they made short videos about some of these brands by partnering with an agency. Take a look at these videos and let me know if they piqued your curiosity.
What other things did Mailchimp do to make more people know about them? Apart from using YouTube, MailChimp also put up posters and ads in different places to get their name out there. They used big signs, trains, train stations, and paid to post on Instagram.
(Image Courtesy: medium.com)
“We used mispronunciation as a creative device to inspire all kinds of different executions, knowing that people would be curious about what they were seeing and search for more information. Anyone who searches for MailShrimp or MaleCrimp is asked, ‘Did you mean MailChimp?’” - Mark DiCristina, VP, Brand Experience at MailChimp
The campaign worked really well for MailChimp. More people learned about them, visited their website, and talked about them in the news. But not everyone liked what MailChimp did. Still, whether people talk about them in a good way or a bad way, it helps them get noticed, especially when people talk about it with others.
Running the 'Did You Mean MailChimp?' campaign cost a lot of money. But you don’t have to break the bank to think creatively and strategically. I'm sharing interesting stories of campaigns that blew my mind. Take what you can from these and use it in your own campaigns or just get inspired to think outside the box.
Fauxtail to Real Tale
So, MailChimp's objective was to achieve widespread brand recognition. How did they plan on achieving this? By creating quirky, attention-grabbing brands that rhymed with MailChimp. How did they decide to promote their campaign? Through multiple channels such as single-page websites, YouTube video ads, Instagram ads, subway ads, and billboard ads.
Finally, how did they intend to drive traffic to their actual website using all these indirect channels?
MailChimp had a clever plan. They knew that just making these fake brands wouldn't be enough. Their main motive behind this entire activity was for wanting people to check out their real website.
Firstly, they made sure people got interested in their fake brands. Then, they wanted those same people to become curious about MailChimp. But they didn't shout about MailChimp in the videos. Instead, they quietly put their logo at the end of each video. Even in the descriptions, they didn't talk about MailChimp. They made separate YouTube channels for each fake brand.
They wanted people to figure things out on their own. They had a route mapped for this. When someone went to a fake brand's website and scrolled to the end, a message popped up with a button that said, "Learn More" and showed the MailChimp logo. By clicking this, people would be taken to MailChimp’s landing page. This page just said, "Hi, We’re MailChimp."
(Image Courtesy: media.sumo.com)
Here again the page didn't say much about what MailChimp does. Even though you'd learn a bit more about MailChimp, they didn't talk about their products or services. They just told you their mission and how they could help. If you wanted to know more, you had to click another button - “Learn more about MailChimp.”
This is how MailChimp led people from their fake brands' websites to their real one without saying much about what they do. It was a shrewd move. They turned a simple mistake into a successful campaign, gaining lots of attention and website visitors.
Curiosity Campaign Conversion
The campaign attracted millions of online searches as people started noticing, went online to learn more, and were greeted with the question: "Did you mean MailChimp?"
Let's take a closer look at the tangible results achieved by the campaign, highlighting its widespread impact and impressive achievements.
Grabbing a lot of attention online and reaching 334 million people, the campaign built enormous levels of awareness. It was jam-packed with creativity, smartness, innovation, and a lot of brainpower. It's an unforgettable campaign, even almost a decade later, people still remember it for its quirkiness. That's the kind of recall a marketing campaign should have. Finally, to end the blog, I'm going to share a video created by Mailchimp that summarizes the 'Did you mean MailChimp?' campaign. Watch it, have fun, and stay creative. Until next time, ciao!
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