TRANSCRIPT
Michael: All right, all right, all right. It's another episode of the All Green Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Ghazal. I'm coming in live by myself, but I'm really excited about being here because today I am sharing a new marketing project.
When I went to business school, one of the things that I thought was really fun was case studies. We get to learn about a case, learn about a situation that happened and for our own small business, see how can we take it and learn from it and grow or even just use it for our own business and our own projects?
So this is a unique marketing project. It comes from Josh Fairhurst. He's the CEO of Limited Run Games. So this is an indie game developer. They publish a lot of video games, like physical console games, PlayStation games, Xbox games, a lot of collector edition games, and games that are nostalgic that I used to play in my childhood growing up. And one of the most famous ones, And the story I want to talk about, I'm excited about is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So Limited Run Games is actually relaunching one called Shredder's Revenge. And the idea is that they actually had a unique marketing project where when you buy the game, you can get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. And how cool is that? You're able to get a free pizza with a video game.
I think, number one, that's unique in itself of that, like, people who love video games love pizza. And I'm not just saying that I myself love pizza and video games. And I think in general, it's just a really cool collaboration. But how did that collaboration actually come to be? Honestly, it only came with grit and determination. So Josh, he literally had to email over 300 times to Pizza Hut to get that project. You would think that a big company like Pizza Hut would love to be in a very famous game, but they're not. They didn't. He had to send over 300 cold emails, and that's from a famous video game company. You'd think that, like, they would be all over it, but they're not.
So the company that owns Pizza Hut is called Yum Brands. They also own KFC. They own Taco Bell. So I'm sure they're also busy as well. But the funny thing is that it didn't stop Josh. To send over 300 cold emails is a great lesson in perseverance. And that just deserves a shout out on itself. So I think that's really cool. The idea is, like, you get that video game, and then you get a free pizza, and it's just like a fun, unique marketing project in and of itself because I bet you a lot of influencers, a lot of people kind of mention that part and when they do the promotion. So it's just a cool marketing stunt, I think.
But what can we learn from this kind of story? I think there's three lessons that I would take away, I just wanted to share.
Number one, I think, is that big corporations, they're just full of people. You can build great relationships with these people all the time. And just because it's a big company, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't work with them or that you can't grow and gain sales from them together. At Eco Four Twenty, honestly, we're so fortunate and lucky to have the opportunity to work with, I'd say, like, 10-12 public companies so far. Honestly, I lost count. But I treat them equally as the same as small businesses. To me, it's whether it's a big company or a small company, I treat them with respect. I try to work with them efficiently and make sure that we get the job done. Like, if we promise we're going to deliver something, we make sure our filters get there in time, or whatever marketing project we say we're going to do, we make sure to do it to the best of our ability. I think whether it's a big company or small company, they're all just full of people. I think Josh knew that, and when he was emailing people, he was maybe emailing different people in that department, try to maybe message them on different platforms. I'm sure there's ways that you can connect with individual people, especially rather than just going through the info @ line, because that might not get anywhere. But to send over 300 emails really shows like, good perseverance.
Another lesson I learned, honestly, is I really think unique marketing projects are awesome. This is such a unique thing because of the collaboration, because of the pizza and the video games, because of the Nostalgic pizza was in the actual Ninja Turtles game. So to have it be such an integral part of the game and then also come to real life, it's like a collaboration made in heaven. I think it's such a unique marketing project, but there's ways that you yourself, as a small business owner, as an entrepreneur, just as an individual person, can do unique marketing things. Some that are out there, some that help you stand out, some that are just fun. I famously, I love to say it because I went on Dragons Den. I then bought this blow up dragons costume that I then ran around a trade show to help market the fact that I went on Dragons Den. Was that stupid? Yes. Was it funny? Yes. Was it a unique marketing project? Yes. I think a lot of people loved it. I loved it personally and honestly. One of the reasons I love working at Eco Four Twenty, is because I get to do a lot of these fun small marketing projects. So I think in your own entrepreneurial projects and endeavours, you can just think about, how can I do unique ways to stand out in my business?
No offense to lawyers, no offense to accountants, no offense to real estate agents, but there's a lot of them out there. If you're able to market yourself in a unique way to do these kind of fun marketing projects in your local area, you definitely should do it. There's so many people out there in every field that you do need to stand out. And whether that's on social media or in person, there's many ways that you can do unique marketing projects. So I definitely think it's possible. And you know what? If you're not able to do it, there's awesome influencers out there who you can pay a reasonable fee to do it. So there's no excuses, guys, I think unique projects are out there. This Pizza Hut example is just one small example, but there's dozens. And I definitely think that you should do it in your own projects.
The third and final lesson of this story, honestly, is just to keep going, keep pushing. Don't let no stop you. Honestly, I'm so honoured to learn about this story because there's a lot of times where I've emailed large companies and I didn't get an answer. And it's cool to know that I'm not alone. Josh must have emailed Pizza Hut or Yum brands dozens of times. I can imagine the different people he contacted, the stress that he went wanting to do this project. And also because it's a limited time too, if the video game launches, you can't do the Pizza project anymore. So he even had a tight deadline based on the production schedule of the project. So I think it's just really cool, and I love that I played that game growing up, and then now I get to talk about it on a podcast. It's so cool to see, don't let a no stop you because there's so many wonderful things you can do in this world. But if you let a no stop you, you're going to let hit those roadblocks.
When I started Eco Four Twenty, I got a lot of people saying no to me. They didn't like the idea. They didn't think a filter would be useful. They didn't see it. And that's okay, because a lot of people have their own experience in life, their own time in life. Sometimes they just don't see the issue for themselves. And that's okay. That means they're not your person, they're not your investor, they're not your customer. But there's literally billions of people out there. So you will find your group and people that like your product and your project. Especially with the Internet, it's a lot easier to find these groups because it's just about search terms now. You can literally search up things and people who've never met me have bought my product just from this search kind of thing. So I just feel like don't let a no stop you. Keep pushing. There's so many no's that you'll get with your business. This in projects or people just ignore you because they're busy. They get hundreds of emails a day. Don't let that kind of no stop you, whether it's a big company or a small company.
Famously, I got one of the harshest no's, which was Dragons Den. Me and Andrea, we went on Dragons den. We worked for over a year, blood, sweat, and tears, trying to get through to do Dragons Den and do it well. Hell, to have all of them say no, but I totally understand it. I've reasoned with it. They're all older Dragons who didn't have the same issues growing up, where they had to hide bad odours. They didn't have issues where they lived in such tight quarters. They live in million dollar mansions and travel around the world like they're not the same customers for our products. Our customers are people who might have to hide when consuming. So I feel like it's just understanding who your customers are and understanding who might your investors be and being okay with those no's. I totally understand that. They all have their own businesses that they wanted to run. They didn't like the industry for whatever reason, and that's on them. That's okay. I'm okay with those no's. And I don't let it stop me. I would keep pushing forward. And we have it's been two years since Dragons Den, and just to be able to keep pushing and persevering with no matter what the no's. It might even be your close family members who don't believe in your business or your projects, but don't let that know take you for granted, because you can definitely keep pushing and keep going forward.
And I think this small story, in case of how Limited Run Games was able to get a Pizza Hut coupon in their video game, that's only because of somebody was dealing with 300 no's, 300 ignored emails. And I just think that's an amazing story. It's something we as entrepreneurs and small business owners can learn from. So if there's another case study that you ever want us to talk about, please share it. You could send me an email at "mike@ecofourtwenty.com" Or just tell me maybe there's unique marketing projects you saw in your everyday life that you kind of wanted to share or hear about. So, yeah, thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned something from this kind of cool case study, and thank you for helping make the world greener one podcast at a time. Thank you so much and have a great day.