Viral Branding: 10 Brands That Got Big Without Advertising

A vast majority of today's businesses started small and grew organically, up to a point. To get to the next level, however, they all had to invest in advertising to a degree. Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Nike, among others, have demonstrated the power of powerful advertising campaigns in building global brands. What is more compelling, however, is the growth of a well-known brand without any meaningful investment in advertising. I've outlined 10 brands that have successfully achieved household-name recognition with no advertising whatsoever in this article, as an inspiration to the rest of us.

The secret sauce

While each of the top 10 best brands has a unique story, they all share common DNA. There are a handful of factors that contributed to their success with word-of-mouth, public relations, and viral marketing instead of traditional advertising campaigns. In fact, some of the brands may never advertise, in order to minimize the blowback from core customers that value their authenticity and grassroots marketing efforts. Below are a number of strategies each brand leveraged to maximize its growth. If your company is consistently delivering on one or more of these strategies, it may be time to re-evaluate your marketing mix and the role advertising plays.

Solve a problem: Believe it or not, far too many companies create a solution to a problem nobody has or understands. Products that do not meet a need, like Chia Pets and any product in the newly defunct SkyMall magazine, tend to require a good deal of advertising to create the need (or they fail). Companies that successfully meet an existing need are best suited for organic growth.

Create a memorable experience: Brands like Amazon, Nordstrom, and Zappos have seen great success in creating unique and engaging customer experiences. All three brands grew rapidly without any major advertising. To please stakeholders and continue growing, these brands have turned to some form of advertising. They do earn an honorable mention for their customer-service-as-marketing efforts, however.

Engaging socially: Each of the 10 brands outlined here have all successfully engaged customers and fans via social media. They all create unique, compelling content and nurture relationships online through conversation. A few brands that didn't make the final cut but deserve honorable mention on this front include: Blue Moon, Ferrari, and Warby Parker.

Foster word-of-mouth referrals: A meaningful number of brands rely on word-of-mouth to sustain if not grow their business. Some do it much more effectively than others. Many of these brands also proactively identify influencers and build relationships with them as brand ambassadors. All of these brands understand their customers intimately and relentlessly focus on delighting those sub-groups. Honorable mentions for brands that have effectively leveraged word-of-mouth and influencer marketing include: Jiffy's Muffin Mix, lululemon, NoAd Sunscreen, and RollsRoyce.

Leverage third parties for validation: Brands that leverage influential third parties like the media, celebrities, and athletes have found the "validation" more effective than advertising. A few industries that do this extremely well include apparel, fashion, and retail. These brands all deserve honorable mention for their success with strategic marketing partnerships, PR, and product placement as a core component for growth: Abercrombie & Fitch, Asos, COS, Cotton On, Goyard, lululemon, Maison Martin Margiela, Manolo Blahnik, Marni, Monteith, Spanx, The Body Shop, and Uniqlo.

The top 10 advertising-free brands

Now that we've outlined the fundamental success factors, it's time to unveil the top 10 best ad-free brands. The following 10 brands have met all of the above criteria and sustained growth over time, without any investment in advertising.

(Disclaimer: Some of these brands may have a marketing budget that may include advertising budgets, but compared to companies of similar size, they spend virtually nothing. Most, however, technically spend $0 on advertising.)

Ben & Jerry's

Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, Ben & Jerry's has achieved iconic status as a counter-culture purveyor of ice cream. Funded with $12,000 to open its first retail store, the fledgling company significantly grew year-over-year for decades. Much of its success can be attributed to the founder's focus on building a socially conscious company and maintaining a sense of humor (check out CyClone Dairy to get a feel for their approach to marketing and education). One way the company has built a large following is annual Free Cone Day, which originally celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The company was acquired by Unilever in 2000 but remains largely untouched by the global holding company. Ben & Jerry's continues to rely on word-of-mouth and cause-driven marketing to grow the brand, instead of advertising. According to Jerry, "Most companies hire advertising firms to try and come up with an image they think will sell their products. We decided, in the beginning, to be real and honest about who we are. We relate to the average customer because Ben and I are average people."

Trader Joe’s

Another brand that famously spends no money on advertising, cult-favorite grocery store Trader Joe’s continues to succeed in the competitive grocery store market with its simple yet effective business strategy. By delighting customers with friendly staff, unique products, and thoughtfully designed store experiences, Trader Joe’s is able to rake in over $13 billion annually without so much as a single advertisement. The popular brand relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth advertising, whether that means recipe recommendations from excited family members and friends or product samples and suggestions from employees in-store. Though the brand itself has barely skimmed the surface of the social media world with its relatively new recipe-centered Instagram account, Trader Joe’s fans around the country flock to the brand’s fan accounts that review new products and share seasonal recipes. Some fan accounts even have millions of followers, running word of mouth advertising for the brand at no cost to them. Rather than advertise to anyone and everyone with the goal of gaining new customers, the brand succeeds by targeting its niche target market of those who appreciate healthy, innovative, and high-quality food with the goal of increasing the basket size of existing customers. Through in-store samples and word of mouth advertising combined with low prices and unique items, they are able to compete in a highly competitive industry spending few to no advertising dollars.

Costco

Costco, a membership-only warehouse club, has grown to become the second-largest retailer in the world, and without spending a dime on advertising. Based in Washington State, Costco opened its first warehouse store in 1983 and reached $1 billion in annual sales in its third year of operation and crested $3 billion in less than six years. Beyond investing a good deal of time getting to know its customer, Costco relies on word-of-mouth, fueled mostly by low prices on high-quality products, including its own Kirkland brand (named after the location of its former headquarters).

Dollar Shave Club

In early 2011, Mark Levine and Michael Dubin met at a party and shared mutual frustration about the price of razors. Initially self-funded, Dollar Shave Club was founded in July of that year to provide affordable disposable razors at a low cost to subscribers. In March of 2012, the company posted a video on YouTube that went viral immediately and redefined how a brand can launch on a little budget. The video features the deadpan humor of co-founder Michael Dubin, who apparently had an improvisational background. Rumors indicate the video was produced on a $14,000 bro-deal budget. Within 48 hours of posting the video, 12,000 orders poured in, and that included a period of time the site was down due to too much traffic. Sales (and further funding) poured in and the company grew staggeringly quickly (the video now has 23 million views). With venture capital investments totaling nearly $100 million, the company sold to Unilever for $1 billion in 2015, validating the power of viral video (and no advertising budget).

GoPro

Founded by an adrenaline junky, GoPro provides an affordable yet durable and weatherproof high-definition camera ideal for athletes and outdoor adventures. GoPro built its success on content marketing... specifically user-generated content. Its YouTube channel is robust and popular, with more than 4.2 million subscribers. A library of high-quality action videos greets YouTube visitors, featuring extreme sports, exotic locations, and thrill-seekers, either sponsored by GoPro or located by a team of researchers scouring the web looking for worthwhile content. The company continues to evolve its product line to include 360-degree video (via two back-to-back cameras), 4K UHD quality pictures, robust editing software (via acquisition), and a new drone, Karma. I expect to see further growth as the drone will open up a whole new world for fans and customers.

Glossier

Another brand that took off monumentally without spending on advertising, digital beauty giant Glossier is currently valued at $1.2 billion. Built almost entirely on word-of-mouth promotion by its cult-like followers, the brand estimates that at least 80% of its growth and sales are attributed to peer referrals by its enthusiastic Millennial and Gen Z fan base. The brand was founded four years after CEO Emily Weiss launched a first-of-its-kind beauty blog called Into The Gloss in 2010. The blog created a unique space for women to gather and converse about their favorite makeup and skincare products without being influenced by major brands that spent tons of money on advertising. Due to the massive success of the blog, Weiss launched Glossier in 2014 after identifying a gap in the market for minimal makeup and skincare that actually listened to what its users wanted in their everyday products. Weiss revolutionized the beauty industry by creating a digital presence that utilizes social media to listen to, understand, and converse with its users. Today, the brand has over 2.7 million Instagram followers who continue to promote the brand with user-generated content.

Krispy Kreme

In 1937, Vernon Rudolph purchased a donut recipe and opened Krispy Kreme in Winston-Salem. The company experienced early success due to word-of-mouth, particularly from Southern transplants. The company has continued to grow with no advertising, cresting at over $1 billion in revenue worldwide. The company believes customers have an emotional connection with the brand, which may be fueled by Krispy Kreme's focus on community involvement like fundraisers. With 5.3 million "likes" on Facebook, the brand has a large fan-base to leverage. The company struggled a bit after its IPO but sold in July 2016 to JAB Beech for $1.35 billion. Despite the acquisition, the company has no plans to begin advertising and will continue to focus on the fundamental word-of-mouth strategy, backed by social media.

Sriracha

When Vietnamese American David Tran created Huy Fong Foods Sriracha "rooster sauce" in 1980, he may not have envisioned becoming a household name. The hot sauce has become a cultural phenomenon, with a rabid foodie following, and without advertising. Instead, Tran attributes his success to a commitment to making a great product. As proof, look at the social media profiles and you'll notice a relatively small following for such an iconic brand. Those numbers do not reflect the level of customer engagement as much as the company's lack of focus on social media until very recently. It appears the company has focused more on updating its only presence (including a newer website) yet still does not do any formal advertising. The product itself continues to be the No. 1 marketing vehicle.

Tesla Motors

Tesla was the first premium electric vehicle manufacturer to hit the market in 2008. The Roadster was fast and sexy and set the bar high. After some in-fighting, Elon Musk took the helm and launched the Model S luxury sedan in 2012. Three years later, the S became the top-selling electric vehicle, surpassing 100,000 units. The company has expanded the product line to include an affordable Model 3 and luxury SUV Model X. Its success cannot be attributed to advertising. Instead, the company relied on award-winning product quality to drive PR and word-of-mouth. The innovative branded store concept varied from a more traditional dealership model and further generated awareness and buzz. The company lacks an agency or chief marketing officer, but Elon Musk has expertly leveraged the media (and judicial system) to generate unprecedented levels of coverage and sales. In early 2021, Tesla made history by passing a market-cap milestone of over $700 billion, overtaking Facebook as the most valuable tech giant. In January of 2021, Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world with a net worth of over $185 billion.

TikTok

With over 1.5 billion active users, it is hard to argue with the seemingly overnight success of Chinese video app TikTok. The app started out as two separate entities owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, a dance app called Douyin in China and a platform for quirky lip-synching videos called Musical.ly in America. The two merged into what we know today as TikTok in 2018 and shortly surpassed Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat in downloads in the U.S just a mere two months later. The app started out with a focus on music, allowing trendy and music-obsessed teens to lip-sync or dance to their favorite songs. Recently, it has expanded into short videos on subject matters of all kinds, from comedy to niche hobbies -- essentially making the app a more customized version of YouTube built for mobile. While there was some advertising on social media platforms as the app rose in popularity, much of its success has to do with prominent influencers and celebrities joining the platform as a way to connect with fans. Additionally, the platform’s short and amusing videos are optimal for sharing, optimizing its ability to spread quickly by word of mouth among peers. As of 2020, TikTok was last valued at $60 billion.

While each brand is unique in its own way, these 10 companies have done an exemplary job of building recognition and revenue without advertising. By following the success factors I've outlined above, perhaps your brand can stretch or eliminate your ad budget and not sacrifice growth as a result. If you want help growing your brand virally, reach out to me at Anvil.