The most unhinged product I’ve seen… that actually worked
I would have bet money that this thing would bomb.
It was a message card product and it had this naked cartoon guy on it.
He's lying sideways in the design and he's got a beer mug covering over his junk.
And it's got this phrase that's so vulgar, I'm not even sure I can type it here.
I mean, this is one of those products that looked like a gag gift from the back of a Spencer's store from the early 2000s.
I never would have thought this thing sold, but somehow it did.
It's kind of mind-blowing, actually.
It moved a substantial amount of units.
Six figures.
You have to understand this went against everything I was teaching at the time.
I was telling everybody to go sentimental, emotional, lovey-dovey, that kind of thing.
“If they cry, they'll buy.“
But this product worked, and I had to pause and ask myself, why?
Why did this product work?
And it hit me.
It worked for the same reasons the other products work.
It made people feel something.
Most print-on-demand merchants stick to what's safe, right?
They're just copying what they think is working.
That means most of the print-on-demand products are carbon copies of something else.
They've got the same sentimental messages.
They have the same look and feel about them.
It's fine - that's what works most of the time.
But it only works when they really strike a nerve with the core audience.
We should never forget that the real game in print-on-demand isn’t design.
It's not even necessarily about being clever (even though this product was really clever).
It’s about emotion.
That's what the whole thing comes down to.
And the more visceral the emotion, the better.
That's why I say make them cry.
Make them laugh.
Make them remember a lost loved one.
Make them feel anything.
Because emotion = attention.
And attention = sales.
Now, this ridiculous little product had almost zero polish.
It broke all the design rules.
But it worked because of that and not in spite of it.
Meanwhile, I see perfectly crafted tasteful little designs just sit untouched in catalogs.
So if you're not making any progress on the sentimental side, maybe try something that you're secretly a little bit afraid is going to be too much.
Too weird.
Too bold.
Whatever.
Because that might actually be the exact thing that breaks through.
Now, just for clarity, I'm not saying go full freak show here.
But maybe the next time you're struggling with what idea to pursue, just remember that the naked beer mug guy made a bunch of sales.
…and perhaps your idea might too.
Hope this helps,
-Michael ✌️