3 Killer Ways MSCHF Perfects buzz

New York art collective MSCHF has made some interesting headway in the world of viral marketing from their sneakers where they were sued by Vans and Nike to toaster shaped bath bombs to a shell restaurant which allowed corporate employees to funnel company funds to anti corporate politicans. They’ve clearly been very successful selling their drops out in minutes and raising close to 12 million dollars in venture funding. What can we learn from their antics

1 – People love mischievous (MSCHF) puzzles 

MSCHF released their two million dollar puzzle where players have to put a very hard puzzle together of a QR code (there is no picture to follow and a QR code to a human is essentially gobbledygook). Scan the QR code and enter in a special code and see if you win anywhere from $1 to $1 million. 

Similarly the group bought a real Andy Warhol drawing and mixed it in with 999 other copies essentially making it near impossible to figure out which is the $20,000 drawing. Each drawing costs $250. Called the Museum of Forgeries, it draws attention to Warhol’s own ironic take on art. Why is one picture worth $20,000 when the same exact replica is worthless? Ah, the beautiful and rational art world, that’s why! Regardless, MSCHF fans were quick to snap these up in hopes of landing maybe the real work or perhaps a fake one.

Contests bring out the competitiveness in people as well as the risk reward sense in most people. It’s why people like gambling, buying lottery tickets, and entering their company’s March Madness pool even when they know nothing about basketball! There might be an opportunity to bring out this competitive nature with a contest or giveaway yourself!

2 – Jump on what’s hot

MSCHF opened up an ice cream a few weekends ago in Los Angeles and New York for a project called “Eat the Rich.” The group sold $10 Popsicle looking face pops in the form of our favorite billionaires: Bezos, Jack Ma, Zuck, Bill Gates, and Musk. With all of the news happening around their businesses, extra curricular activities, and determination of our collective future, it is a timely collaboration around a hot topic.

The Asylum is a film production company that focuses on low budget films that the press has dubbed mockbusters. Part of the way that the company can keep its film budget low is not only low production quality but hopping onto the marketing of some of Hollywood’s biggest films. Some of their titles include “The Day the Earth Stopped” a spoof on “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, “American Battleship” not to be confused with Universal Pictures’ “Battleship”, or “Transmorphers” which is not to be confused with the franchise of the “Transformers.” 

3 – Playing into the hype

The limited edition, pre sale model that has taken over many art drops and collaborations is one that MSCHF falls into as well. Since they have calculated that demand will far exceed supply, they have an added link to resale websites like StockX that artist Daniel Arsham does as well. In homage to flipper culture, the art collective sold 1000 hats to the ultimate flipper who is most likely selling them on StockX, eBay, Grailed, and a number of other reseller sites. 

We mentioned the power of the collab recently and how the limited edition pre sale model works perfectly to continue driving the hype of your products. Take a look at Supreme which seems to have pioneered this model. It is better to sell out and let the flippers take a cut than to try to price the flippers out of creating a secondary market for your goods.

Have you participated in any of MSCHF’s drops? What do you think? Do you think that they are here to last or just a mischievous flash in the pan? Drop us a note with your thoughts and comments!