Zippo. The guarantee is the advert.
It's virtually unchanged for nearly 100 years, and you probably want one even though you don't smoke. Here's why.
This is one of the coolest things you can hold in your hand. It's virtually unchanged for nearly 100 years. I bet you really want one, even though you don't smoke.
That's because what you're holding is a promise. They made it in 1932, and they've never once broken it.
What is the Zippo promise?
600 million of these have been made since 1932, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Bradford. Every single one has come with the same promise. It works, or we fix it for free, forever.
It sounds generous. It is. It also happens to be very clever.
How can a free repair for life be cheap?
Now think about what that promise actually is. A lighter rarely breaks. But it does get lost. So hardly any of them ever end up getting sent back for the free fix.
And when one does come back, Zippo gets to see exactly where it wore out. So the repair shop is the design department.
That guarantee is the advert. It's one of the cheapest adverts ever made, because the customer only ever cashes it in when you let them down. In this case, that's barely ever.
How did the war put a Zippo in millions of pockets?
Then came the war. Zippo stopped selling to the public and sent everything it had to the US military. So millions of GIs came home with one in their pocket.
How does a lighter survive the end of smoking?
Meanwhile, the thing it's actually designed for has collapsed. 42% of adults smoked in 1964. Now it's less than one in five.
And they still sell 10 million of these a year, 60% of them abroad. Think about that. A product for a habit that is shrinking, selling in the millions. Something else is doing the work.
If it isn't reliability, why do people want one?
So no one is really buying a Zippo because it's reliable. You want one because of who else has had one. The GI in the trench. The detective in the rain. The 2,000 films that have used that sound.
It was in your head long before it was in your hand.
The guarantee never made this cool. It just kept it alive long enough to get cool. And it's still here after the smoking has stopped.
That's the job of a promise. Not to be the story, but to keep the story going.
Does a lifetime guarantee make you pay more?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What is the Zippo guarantee?
It works, or Zippo fixes it for free, forever. Every one of the 600 million made since 1932 has come with that promise.
Why is the Zippo guarantee so cheap to offer?
A lighter rarely breaks, but it does get lost, so hardly any come back for the free fix. When one does, Zippo sees exactly where it wore out.
Why do people buy Zippos if they don't smoke?
Not because it's reliable. People want one because of who else has had one: the GI, the detective, the 2,000 films that have used that sound.
See you on the next one.
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