Our Marketing Copywriter’s mother used to say something like, “Anyone can sell anything: If all a person has is dirt and stones, they can find a way to sell them.” Well, she was right. 

The story we’re going to share proves the above point through strange events. It began 21 years ago, so it’s an old story. But It was so weird, fun, and informative that we haven’t forgotten it since. So we decided to take another look at it because we felt it had an important lesson to teach marketers and business owners through an unusual narrative.

So keep reading to learn a powerful lesson from an odd story!

New York, 2001 — Justin Gignac’s co-worker expressed doubt about the importance of package design. Perhaps this co-worker believed buyers wanted quality products regardless of their presentation. Anyway, Gignac felt compelled to prove his co-worker wrong. As you’ll soon see, he was VERY compelled to make his counterpoint. Perhaps his holding a BFA in advertising and graphic design made him feel that his trade was being attacked.

So he searched for something to prove that package design was important. One day, he observed the trash that littered Times Square in New York. That’s when he got the idea that would blossom into the bizzare but successful NYC Garbage project.

His idea led him to picking up garbage off the streets of New York and eventually putting it into smell-proof, transparent boxes with minimal and contemporary type that read “Garbage of New York City”. According to Insider, these objects first cost $10.00, then $25.00, and finally $100 as they grew in popularity and significance to buyers.

Gignac has sold 1,400+ garbage-filled boxes to people in 30 countries. He later extended his garbage collection to include items from Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Ireland! If you visit his online store and try to purchase one of these garbage boxes, you’ll be met with messages saying you’ll need to get on a waiting list to buy one or that the product is sold out. 

What can we learn from this story? Besides confirming a wise mother’s saying that “anyone can sell anything…”, this story shows the tremendous power of good marketing and merchandising to sell “anything”. 

Now imagine the remarkable results of leveraging good marketing and merchandising to sell a good product or service. If you’ve been searching for a way to spread your business’s message and increase sales, contact Big Deal Marketing today by clicking here. We’ll get you remarkable results!