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OREM, Utah (AP) -- An Orem company's advertisements showing Coke, a rotisserie chicken, golf balls and marbles being pureed in a blender have garnered worldwide attention through the Internet, much to the surprise of company officials.
"I've never seen anything that's taken off quite like this in my life," said Blendtec marketing manager George Wright, who developed the idea for the "Will It Blend?" series.
The ads feature Blendtec owner and CEO Tom Dickson putting edible and non-edible items in the company's heavy duty home blender, proving its two blades and 13 amp motor can process anything.
The first videos of the series only received 10 views when they debuted on the company's web site Nov. 2. But the site received nearly 23,000 hits the next day. One showing Dickson grinding golf balls into colored confetti had received more than 1.3 million hits on www.YouTube.com by Monday.
"People started to hit it and started to love it," Wright said. "It just went nuts on YouTube, and it's just gone crazy from there."
Wright said he has received hundreds of e-mails each day on suggestions on what to drop in the blender. The company has plans to release a new video each Wednesday.
"You should hear some of the creative things they're telling us," Wright said. "'Precious Moments figurines, because 'I hate them' ... batteries, cell phones, iPods."
The low-cost ads -- nearly $50 for a rake, a Big Mac meal, Coke and some marbles -- have paid off for the company, thrusting them into the international market.
"We have built a top-of-mind brand recognition awareness of this company in a matter of days," Wright said.
Blendtec projected revenues close to $30 million this year, but the video ads are already causing sales to climb, he said.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
