Why Didn’t We Think of This Before?

Sometimes there is a marketing gem so brilliant, yet so obvious, you can’t believe someone didn’t think of it earlier. A great example of this comes from a guilty TV pleasure of mine … The Young and the Restless. The 38-year-old soap centers around a family in the cosmetics industry. On the show, they started talking up a huge new product line that their company, Jabot, was just about to launch. Then I started seeing ads for real Jabot products in magazines!

There is a built-in audience of 6 million loyal daily viewers and unlimited product placement for free. They have also received a ton of press from vehicles such as Allure, Styelist.com, The Toronto Star, Women’s Wear Daily and Ad Age.

If you Google “Jabot Cosmetics” there are pages of listings for the real products … all from what started out as a fake company. Women’s Wear Daily has the revenue estimate at $50 million over the next two years. The taglines they use are pretty funny. “On set. In Hollywood. At home. Jabot lets you be the star of your own story” and “Hearts have been broken and blood has been lost over Jabot Cosmetics.”

The glamorous spokesperson for the high-end line of products is one of the prominent, leading ladies of the show. She plays Genoa City’s department store heiress and claims to use the product on set as well as in real life. She introduced the new brand on the red carpet at The Daytime Emmy Awards and has hosted HSN shows for the new line. She and the current on-screen president of Jabot even made a fictitious appearance on the CBS TV show The Talk which airs a bit later in the day.

The takeaway from this … Every company should think about all of the possibilities—including using what they already have right in front of them—to make the most out of their sales and marketing.