I often talk about how movement building can be a powerful tool for companies.  It generates a level of buzz that can be hard to achieve, it increases the number of evangelists spreading your word and, ultimately, it sells products.  In that spirit, we are going to examine an effort that blends the distinction between political movement and company.

Fire Logs

As far as products go, firelogs don’t seem particularly movement worthy.  I am talking about those little, highly flammable logs used to start the fire in your fireplace.  These are utilitarian products with little differentiation between manufacturers.  Consequently, price is the determining factor for most customers, leaving a relatively low profit margin and little room for new competitors with small budgets.

Reinventing the Log

In other words, producing the same old firelogs would to be an uphill battle for any newcomer.  Realizing this, a company named XOtherm decided to reinvent the log.  It chose to reshape the traditional fire-starter and give it a new face, literally.  It put faces of well known politicians on each log and is currently marketing The Burning Bush and The Flaming Liberal.

First of all, XOtherm has positioned its products as humorous novelty items (for which it can charge a premium) rather than practical fire-starters.  More importantly, it has launched products “hot” enough to generate a buzz.  While a traditional firelog can’t earn too much press, the idea of burning political figures certainly can.

Building a Political Movement

Past being attention worthy, political fire-starters can be used to generate a movement.   Regardless of whether it is well placed, there is a lot of antipathy directed toward President Bush.  Other groups have been capitalizing on this sentiment for a while, such as the National Organization of Women (NOW) launching the site The Truth About George.  Today XOtherm is using the existing passion of its audience to build a movement.

For Inauguration Day the company is promoting a national celebration of the end of Bush’s term.  This celebration is billed as cathartic and purging, representing our country turning a new page in its history.  The Burning Bush fire-starters will serve as the visual and symbolic focal point for this celebration.  Notably, there is little emphasis on the practical nature of the fire-starter as a tool to ignite logs; instead, the focus remains on how this tool enables the company’s audience to express its passions.

Political movements are a good fit for select companies and it is interesting to see how this XOtherm is using a movement to sell a traditionally utilitarian product.  Are there other examples that come to mind of companies combining movements and products in a novel fashion?  Please include them in the comments below.