The Tank vs. Coca-Cola Cans
Richard Branson drove a Sherman tank through Times Square and crushed a wall of Coca-Cola cans to launch Virgin Cola in the US. The product didn't survive the soda wars, but the stunt did — a textbook example of using earned media instead of paid impressions.
The story
Virgin had no shelf space, no distribution, and no chance against Coke in the US. So Richard Branson borrowed a WWII-era Sherman tank, drove it down Fifth Avenue, and rolled over a literal wall of Coca-Cola cans in the middle of Times Square. The morning news ran it, the evening news ran it, and Branson — in his bomber jacket, grinning — became the face of a soda almost nobody would ever drink. Virgin Cola failed commercially within a few years, but the stunt is still studied in challenger-brand strategy: when you can't outspend the leader, you have to outdo them in spectacle. The tank cost less than a single 30-second network spot, and made the front page of every paper in America.
Why it worked
An asymmetric attack on a giant nobody dares to attack. Coke couldn't punch back without looking small.
Takeaway for marketers
Challenger brands win by giving journalists a photo they can't resist running.