MailChimp: Did You Mean...

As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of MailChimp. They take a seemingly boring product (email marketing) and breathe life into it with a lovely tone of voice in their copy, empty states, success messages, and more. Just check out their awesome confirmation state for the moment before you send your campaign out into the world:

The sweaty monkey hand understands that this is a big step for you and acknowledges that.

I first noticed an ad for something called “Fail Chips” on my instagram feed yesterday, and while I do love me some potato chips, I didn't think much of it because I try to block out the advertisements that sneak into my vision.

Then today, Fail Chips hit me again on Designer News, when someone posted about its site design (which is actually amazing). 

Fail Chips are actually the little chip crumbs at the bottom of the bag that you slide into your mouth by angling the bag over your face. So now, you simply cut a little hole in the bag and it becomes a no-mess, one-handed snack! Amazing.

Did you note that little monkey printed on the chip at the bottom of the screenshot? I sure did. It was at this moment that I realized Fail Chips are actually a marketing ploy from MailChimp to promote its new marketing system. Seriously, amazing.

If you head over to MailChimp's main marketing page for the new product, you'll see lots of different ‘alternative spellings’ of the brand, including MailShrimp, NailChamp, MaleCrimp and more. Each of these is an actual website with some sort of fun product like short films, a weekly contest for rating the best fingernail designs, and a site dedicated to men who crimp their hair like it's the early 2000s.

MailShrimp

NailChamp

MaleCrimp

“Looking for FailChips, WhaleSynth, MaleCrimp, MailShrimp, VeilHymn, KaleLimp, or JailBlimp? Officially, we're MailChimp, but you can call us whatever.”

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, MailChimp.

I am amazed at how this company consistently succeeds to surprise and delight in everything they do. I urge you to check out the rest of the ad campaigns, which are extremely hilarious. See them here.