Blink Twice
What Is a Brand Trojan Horse?
The product that keeps selling long after the sale.
Most customers buy once and forget you. You paid to win them, and now you'll pay again to bring them back. The brands that avoid this have usually planted something in their customers' lives that keeps the brand there.
What it is
A Brand Trojan Horse is a secondary product that gives customers real value and stays in their life long after the sale. The best ones are free, or cheap next to your main products. The low price is what gets them into daily life, and every time one gets used, your brand comes along with it.
What separates it from merch is fit. A tote from a conference you've forgotten is swag, and it ends up in the bin. A Trojan Horse matches the brand so closely that it reminds people what you stand for every time they pick it up.
Four that worked
The Michelin Guide is the classic. A tyre company published a guide to help drivers find good food around France. More road trips meant more worn tyres, and more worn tyres meant more sales. The guide became the world's most trusted restaurant rating, and turned a tyre brand into a byword for good taste.
IKEA's blue FRAKTA bag was designed to get customers buying more at the checkout, because they could finally carry it all. Then it took on a life of its own: laundry, house moves, the boot of the car. It's cheap, tough and useful, which is IKEA in one object.
The Red Bulletin gives Red Bull's world of athletes, racing and stunts a physical home. It works because it's real journalism, worth reading for its own sake.
Rhode's phone case has a slot for its lip tint. It goes everywhere with you and turns up in every mirror selfie. Customers become ambassadors without noticing.
How to make one
The brands above all got the same three things right.
Make it fit. Be clear on what you want people to associate with you before you make anything. The product should say the same thing your brand does.
Make it visible. The best Trojan Horses get seen by more than the person who owns them. A bright blue bag on the bus. A phone case in a photo.
Make its value obvious. Nobody should have to ask whether they need it. If it takes selling, it's too expensive or too vague.
A good place to start is a product that's cheap, common and used often. Make a distinctive version of it and you're halfway there.
Where it fits
The Brand Trojan Horse is the last of the eight moves, and it only works once the others are in place. It has to carry a story, and you need to know what that story is first. Brand Eye 01 goes deeper, with more examples.
The free Brand Trojan Horse tool walks you through finding yours.
Then see where your brand world breaks. The Brand World Score is eight questions, two minutes and a score out of 10.