Creative Marketing Trick in 2019

We don’t often come across genius. But when we do, we have to stop in our tracks and share it with you. In this post, we’re going to be looking at a creative marketing trick in 2019 — one that provides credibility for curious shoppers and a point of assurance for the actual target audience.

We came across Maurten (Maurten.com) — a company that makes sports fuels that are “easier to tolerate by encapsulating high concentrations of carbohydrates in hydrogels.”

According to them, their products are being used by some of the world’s best runners.

But here’s the problem: top runners are all sponsored by other companies, yet they want to use Maurten’s products to get a performance edge. Doing so openly would be a violation of their contracts.

Maurten created a shop that caters to these athletes and solves this problem.

Maurten’s Navbar

Here is the Maurten.com navbar (notice the second button, which is named “Unofficial Shop”):

We’re willing to bet this button receives a lot of clicks. Why? It’s unconventional. And things that are unconventional stand out. How often have you heard of a site having a Shop and an Unofficial Shop? What even is an unofficial shop?

We’re glad you asked.

Maurten’s Unofficial Shop

After navigating to the Unofficial Shop, we see the above. Notice how they’ve blurred out their logo and removed all of their packaging design. This isn’t just a gimmick. They’re actually selling products without their branding!

If you are just as surprised as we were, don’t worry. Lower on the page, they explain why they do this:

Essentially, Maurten tells their shopper that their product is so good that athletes sponsored by other companies are using them.

This does two things:

1. It provides credibility. Shoppers who aren’t sponsored athletes but were curious by the “Unofficial Shop” button would see this message. That means they’d see how credible the product is, return to the regular Shop page, and continue with placing an order.
2. It provides a point of assurance for sponsored athletes. This page is likely targeting actually sponsored athletes. Like we said — it’s not a gimmick. You can actually buy these products and receive them in equally discreet packaging. That means an athlete sponsored by Powerbar, for example, could openly use Maurten’s products without the risk of violating their contract.

Why Are We Sharing This?

We’re not telling you to do something similar on your site. However, what Maurten has displayed is an amazing ability of creative problem solving.

We all see “creative problem solving” on résumé after résumé — so much that it has lost its meaning. But whoever came up with this marketing idea definitely shows that ability.

So we’re challenging you to look at your site, your product, and your business. Then ask yourself: what problems are you facing and what problems are your current or potential customers facing? What creative solutions can you come up with to tackle those problems?