In honor of Constitution Day, we’d like to shine a light on a company that is all about America.
Chris White is a United States Marine Corp Veteran and CEO of a lifestyle company based in Houston, Texas called Freedom Hard. He has a passion for the prevention of veteran suicides and is taking a nontraditional method to marketing to spread patriotism and the awareness of veteran suicides.
He got his start by making crazy videos containing large amounts of fireworks, American silky shorts, explosives, etc. and posting them on social media. You know…things that all patriotic people own. Now he’s taking to public events to spark a conversation. These videos have thousands of views with his top video having 45 million views.
If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably heard about him. He recently went “streaking” at the Astros game in the beginning of August. White went live on Freedom Hard’s Facebook page and ran onto the field at Minute Maid Park during the Houston Astros vs Texas Rangers game wearing nothing but American flag underwear and patriotic sneakers. Two security officers even ran into each other trying to take him down making the video even more humorous. Naturally, social media went crazy. There’s even a meme of the event!
This marketing tactic that White uses is a form of guerrilla marketing combined with the power of social media. For those of you that don’t know what guerrilla marketing is, it’s defined as “innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.” It’s the kind of marketing that goes beyond the traditional realm of advertising and with social media, it’s the quickest and cheapest way to get people talking about your business.
This form of marketing is all about awareness, the very opening on the marketing funnel or sales process. White is increasing the awareness of Freedom Hard while simultaneously creating awareness of the issue of veteran suicides. Once people are aware of him and form a type of connection with him, they’ll start researching more about him. When they discover his brand, they discover his mission to help bring awareness to veteran suicide.
The company’s website states:
“Freedom Hard works with a number of non-profit organizations across the US, supporting events, fundraisers and other charitable initiatives to give back to their country.
$1.00 from each bag [of coffee] sold will be donated to the Non-Profit Organization of your choice from this list: Camp4Heroes and Warrior Suicide Prevention Foundation. “
There’s even a “spread freedom evenly” option if you want to support both.
Along with his out-of-the-box guerrilla marketing, he knows that his branding must match the hype he creates with his videos. The coffee is flavored based on three levels of patriotism: Independence (light roast), Patriotic (medium roast), 1776 (dark roast). Their packaging further reflects their patriotic enthusiasm with red, white, and blue stars and stripes designs. An overall great brand experience.
If you’re interested in good guerrilla marketing, take notes from this guy. This is sneaky marketing. It’s disguised as entertainment. It’s the kind of marketing that goes way outside the box and gets mega attention with good content and -before you know it—you’re pledging allegiance and pledging dollars for his cause.
“It’s not if you freedom, but how hard.” -Chris White
