Gorilla Glue sales skyrocket after Tessica Brown hair saga

Tessica Brown’s sticky saga has been a branding bonanza for Gorilla Glue — whose sales have reportedly skyrocketed.

The industrial-strength adhesive’s Amazon search volume jumped by a whopping 4,378 percent and its best-seller rank spiked by 129 percent, Ad Age reported, citing the e-commerce analytics site Profitero.

Google searches for the glue company also jumped 50-fold in February from a month earlier, according to the magazine, which noted that the data translate to a significant boost in sales.

Amid all the free publicity, Gorilla Glue — which has expressed its empathy for Brown, who got the powerful gunk removed pro bono by a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon — has spent almost nothing on ads, Ad Age reported.

The brand shelled out just $411 on TV in the first half of February, according to iSpot, while Pathmatics showed no digital spending by the company during the month, the mag reported.

Last year, the Cincinnati-based Gorilla Glue spent $400,000 during the first two weeks of February as part of a $14.4 million advertising effort, it added, citing data from iSpot.

CEO Mark Mercurio told Ad Age in an email that the company hasn’t changed its media plans in response to the social media explosion about Brown’s hairy crisis, but declined to comment further.

 

Amid all the free publicity, Gorilla Glue has spent almost nothing on ads.

 On Feb. 8, the brand — which brands its product as geared for “The Toughest Jobs on Planet Earth” — has noted that its product isn’t indicated for use on hair, skin or clothes.

“Brown’s bad news was their good news,” Robert Passikoff, founder and president of consultancy Brand Keys, told Ad Age.

 

Tessica Brown, 40, from Violet, Louisiana, was unable to remove the glue for a month since placing it in her hair and reportedly spent 22 hours in the ER.

 “Nobody died. It’s one of those things where from a brand perspective, almost everyone is saying, from a rational perspective, you probably ought to watch what you’re putting on your head,” he added.

Brian Dolan, managing director of CPG Camp, which provides marketing training from brand leaders, told the mag that Gorilla Glue’s actions “feel right for the moment.”

Tessica Brown’s Instagram post about mistakenly using Gorilla Glue on her natural hair went viral

 “They have much to lose by appearing negligent or, worse, appearing to capitalize on the situation,” he said.

“Reinforcing instructions for use, expressing empathy for the victim and providing advice to resolve, while temporarily pausing any media, positions them as a responsible advocate for brand safety,” Dolan added.

Source: New York Post