At Firehouse, we preach the power of unconventional ideas and the importance of zigging in categories that always zag if you hope to earn disproportionate attention. It is a philosophy born out of experience; we’ve seen it work time and time again for brands like Interstate Batteries and HVAC giant Lennox.
We often say, one of the ways to defy convention is to speak the unspoken truths, to say the things no other brand in your space will. And, it was very early in my career when I witnessed the power of that behavior firsthand.
It was the early 90s, and the agency I worked at created an ad for Quaker Rice Cakes that had the audacity to acknowledge common perceptions of the product, comparing its taste and texture to a styrofoam cup. The ad had stopping power; the key visual, a styrofoam cup with a lipsticked bite out of it, telegraphed that the brand “got it”and heralded the introduction of flavors. It also helped fuel the business to the $100 million mark for the first time, won a gold EFFIEⓇ award, and was featured in marketing textbooks for the next two decades.
But speaking unspoken truths is just one way a brand can bend being unconventional to its favor. And you don’t have to go back to the early 90s to find examples of unconventional behaviors leading to exponential gains. CPG brands are a great place to look, as tight competition, difficult differentiation and hard-won customer loyalty place a premium on creating consumer connection.
In February 2010, just prior to the Super Bowl, Old Spice debuted new advertising we all now know well. Yes, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” looked and sounded like no body wash ad that came before it. It engaged a new audience for men’s body wash, women, in a conversation about just how much more “manly” their man could be. The result: Old Spice became hip to a younger demographic, their YouTube channel became one of the most subscribed, and, most importantly, the brand’s sales doubled within a few short months of the campaign’s launch.
Four years later, Glossier turned the beauty products category on its head by eschewing the celebrity-first approach of most brands to focus on real people. As opposed to hawking the promise of perfection, Glossier encouraged fans to share their “real skin” on Instagram and leveraged micro-influencers and everyday users as brand advocates. Further, Glossier built its product line based on direct feedback from beauty blog readers and social media followers. As a result, the brand developed a cult-like following and a valuation of over $1 billion, with 80% of growth driven by peer-to-peer recommendations.
In 2019, Liquid Death made waves when it launched water in a black can with heavy-metal graphics. Running completely counter to the bottled water category, the brand used slogans like “Murder Your Thirst” and created over-the-top ad content, including fake horror movie trailers. Leveraging social media and influencer partnerships to build a cult following, within two years, the brand had national distribution across major retailers and was the number one selling water on Amazon. By 2024, revenue was approaching $350 million.
All this to say, even in categories like CPG, often thought to be the most “safe”, breaking the rules—when done with strategy and authenticity—can fuel outsized results. Which is why, at Firehouse, we always start with understanding the rote behaviors and consumer expectations in a category, then we look for ways to disrupt them and to create work that is more than wallpaper and instead invites attention and drives real business results.
