Weird Marketing: The Exploding Whales

Infamous exploding whale in 1970

What does an exploding whale have to do with marketing? What the heck is an exploding whale? The exploding whale is an infamous event in Oregon. Let me share a little local history with you.

Beaches collect all sorts of things that wash up on the shore. Logs, floats, and occasionally dead animals. In 1970, a 45-foot-long sperm whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Oregon. The large animal quickly became odiferous, and the Oregon Highway Division, which had jurisdiction over the beaches, looked for ways to remove the rotting carcass. They landed on using dynamite to blow it up. This may seem odd, but this was not a novel method. The use of dynamite to dispose of a whale carcass began in the 1920s. However, in this case, things went wrong.

Historically, when dynamite was used to dispose of a dead whale, the body was hauled out to sea. In this case, the highway department chose to dispose of the decaying body where it lay in the sand. With a half ton of dynamite and the belief in their plan, they prepped the body for disposal. It was assumed this amount of explosives would, essentially, disintegrate the carcass, leaving small bits behind for seagulls and other scavenger animals to clean up.

The destruction of the whale brought onlookers to the beach for the show. Even a news crew was there to witness the event. In video footage from a KATU television news team, the explosion is shown, followed by a shower of debris landing with audible thumping. The news crew briefly stopped filming due to large pieces of falling debris landing on the onlookers and nearby cars. The video then shows the damage caused by large chunks that smashed the roof of one car. The carcass did not disintegrate, and what remained was buried in the sand.

This story is legendary to the point of being parodied in The Simpsons. My grown daughter loves to share this story with her friends in Tennessee, who had not heard of this strange story from the coast. So, why am I sharing this story?

Weird marketing

Weird marketing is using the odd, unexpected, and sometimes bizarre to market a product. This type of marketing stands out by surprising the consumer with something unexpected and outside the norm.

The Eugene Emeralds, a minor league baseball team in Oregon, have adopted the Exploding Whales as an alter ego. A few times during the season, they suit up in uniforms with an image of a grinning whale holding a lit stick of dynamite. It's pretty darn awesome.

The stated purpose of the Exploding Whales identity is to bring awareness to climate change and the effect it has on whale migration patterns. They provide educational materials during the rebranded games. The team has used this alternate identity since 2023 and regularly sells out of the Exploding Whales merchandise.

Keys to using weird marketing

1. Know your audience. It's pretty safe to say that most Oregonians know the infamous story of the exploding whale and get a good laugh about it. The Emeralds use this to their advantage. The Exploding Whales just would not resonate the same in Arizona.

2. Strategically embrace the bizarre or unusual. This can be achieved by finding a balance between the traditional and the unexpected.

3. Align with your brand's core values. Oregon is known as an environmentally conscious state. Incorporating climate change as a value, the team is bringing awareness by offering educational materials about the effects of climate change on whale migration patterns during their rebranded games.

4. Keep with your marketing goal. Obviously, this team wanted to raise its profile and has done so successfully. This brilliant piece of weird marketing gained them national attention from the likes of CNN and HBO's John Oliver. The marketing might look different if you were trying to sell a product.

   
   

With so much content available on a daily basis, weird marketing is one way of making your brand stand out. If done well, it will draw attention and resonate with your audience. Use a writer to find creative methods of making your marketing weird, but still connect with your audience.