I think I have it narrowed down to three. This is obviously gonna step on somebody's toes, and that's not my intention here. Marketing is partially my job at work and I wish I could pull off the wizardry these guys do.
In no particular order:
Coors: Coors light is garbage, possibly the worst of the mass produced beers in the US yet it's the third highest selling domestic beer. They get premium shelf space in a lot of distributors/grocers, top billing at a lot of chain restaurants and tap space at every bar in America despite having a sup-par product.
Starbucks: Man, they got the world fooled with that over-roasted and over-priced stuff they sell. All of the sudden otherwise normal people will stand in line to pay $5+ for a coffee that has to have caramel and whipped cream in it. I remember when simply getting cream in your coffee would get you a punch in the arm from your buddies at work. Now, if all you order at Starbuck's is a black coffee I'm not sure they would know how to fill the order. Coffee used to mean dashing into 7-11 and throwing 99 cents on the counter while you poured yourself a large cup. Now it's 10 minutes in line and you need an engineering degree to order it.
Well played, Starbuck's.
Ford: Specifically the folks at the truck division. Somehow they have made what was meant to be a work vehicle a definition of your manhood. Most guys don't NEED a truck, but for some reason they WANT one and they want one that can tow a small state all the while having nothing to tow. Every time a guy at work gets a truck sure enough someone gets one bigger, and then one bigger. Funny thing is all of them have perfect bed liners in them, not a scratch in those beds. I guess they just enjoy bad gas mileage and being asked by friends to help them move.
The above are masters of the Jedi Mind Trick IMO and have not only driven their companies sales to the top, but created markets where one didn't even really exist.
:talk: