Chiquinho Scarpa is a Brazilian Playboy.
Chiquinho is also one of Brazil’s most eccentric, controversial millionaires.
Chiquinho is the son of a very wealthy family of Italian-Brazilian industrialists.
But Chiquinho became famous as a socialite. Mainly because of scandals that usually involve ex-girlfriends or famous, beautiful women.
In 2013 Chiquinho shocked Brazil. But this time for a different reason.
Chiquinho posted on his Facebook page that he was going to bury his $500,000+ Bentley.
You see, Egyptian Pharaohs were often buried with their most precious treasures. And they did this so they could use them in the afterlife.
So Chiquinho announced to Brazil he was going to bury his precious Bentley Continental Flying Spur in the garden of his mansion in São Paulo.
Just like the Egyptian Pharaohs.
The following 3 days Chiquinho posted 3 new photos.
Chiquinho was all dressed up in a fancy suit and digging the hole where he was going to bury his Bentley.
Brazil was furious.
Brazilians started trashing Chiquinho online and called him all sorts of nasty things.
Then Globo, Veja, Exame and other popular Brazilian print and TV news outlets pick up the story. Then the international press.
And on National TV commentators were also outraged, “he could donate it, what a stupid thing to do” many said.
Then a famous Talk Show called “Agora é tarde” invites Scarpa so he could explain to Brazil what the hell was he thinking.
So Scarpa shows up and announces, “The funeral is scheduled for Friday 11 AM”.
Then he invites journalists to attend the funeral.
On Friday a bunch of journalists show up to broadcast the funeral live.
Suddenly as his Bentley was about to be buried Scarpa shouts, “Stop! Let’s stop this funeral. I’d like to invite you all to come inside my house”.
A few minutes later Scarpa announces, “Many people said that burying my Bentley was absurd. But the truth is, most people bury things much more valuable than my car. Most people bury their organs. Healthy organs that can save so many lives. This is absurd. I officially announce I am an organ donor this week. I’m an organ donor. Are you? Tell your family.”
Turns out this was a PR stunt to raise awareness and encourage organ donation in Brazil.
And just like that in just a few minutes Chiquinho went from national villain to national hero.
Organ donations quickly became a National topic of conversation.
The campaign earned $USD 22 million worth of free press. And organ donations in Brazil increased by 31.5% in 1 month.
Whenever your brand has a complex, boring, unfamiliar problem to solve, finding a memorable analogy for the problem opens new possibilities.
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》Dangerous Ideas:
1/ Find a memorable and interesting/weird/fun analogy and you’ll solve any marketing problem
You see, our brains run on stone age hardware. They operate like "anticipation machines" with caveman survival instincts.
Survival depends on quick thinking and on making quick decisions.
Which is why during our lifetime our brains are constantly learning the patterns around us. These patterns are then transformed into mental shortcuts that can help us make quick judgments and act fast.
Which is why analogies work. Because they’re a quick shortcut to understand complex facts.
2/ Using real product facts is good. Dramatizing facts and making them interesting is even better.
3/ Think of your campaigns as newspaper headlines.
Because as ad legend George Lois once said, “All your ad campaigns must be built-in PR campaigns. If your advertising doesn’t have the power to become a topic of conversation for everyone in the nation, you forfeit the chance for it to be famous.”
Your pal,
🚀 Founder & Chief Copywriter: Teardwn
💌 Newsletter: Creative Samba
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