Products That Advertise Themselves

Around the early 2000's and maybe earlier, I began seeing the occasional person walking around with a white paper cup (or a clear plastic one) with a green logo on it. Some of these people were parents of friends or acquaintances of mine and thinking back, the personality type of these people was often outgoing, successful and entrepreneurial. The product which they were carrying was a cup of Starbucks coffee, clearly marked with the Starbucks logo, which is now ubiquitous. Starbucks products advertise themselves once purchased. They go from the counter of the store with whoever buys them to wherever these people are going, potentially being seen by many people along the way. Even the paper sleeve that comes with hot beverages at Starbucks, which covers the logo on the cup, also has the Starbucks logo on it (in fact, it looks a little larger to me than the logo on a 12 ounce Starbucks cup).

Many clothing brands are great at doing this as well. There is no real reason a piece of clothing needs a prominent logo on it. In fact, in many cases (especially I imagine when it was a new concept), a consumer might not like to have a logo prominently located on their clothing. But if a company can get consumers to buy clothing with a logo on it, that person then becomes a walking advertisement, wherever they go, whenever they wear that piece of clothing. In contrast with a consumer who doesn't want a prominent logo on their clothes, some consumers even prefer to purchase an article of clothing from a store that had the logo clearly visible on it, especially if it is perceived as a trendy or popular brand.

Of course, there are many other products which do this besides coffee cups and clothing as well. I think this method of advertising has several benefits. It can be a very subtle way to advertise, it is virtually free and there are creative ways to make a product advertise itself. Products which advertise themselves may not be new anymore but I think this method of advertising will continue to be used by many companies in the future.