• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 27, 2012

When Dr. Bob, inventor of tongue-cleaning devices Orabrush, developed the breakthrough oral hygiene product, he couldn’t figure out why no one would buy it. Not retailers who failed to stock it, and not consumers, when they actually did put it on their shelves.

So he turned to bytes, you know the digital kind. Specifically, online ones.

Stymied by conventional approaches to distribution and marketing, Dr. Bob turned to a local college in Utah and asked one of their marketing classes to research it, Austin Craig, social media strategist – and primary YouTube spokesman – for Orabrush told Brand Marketers Summit attendees.

The class concluded that 92% of online users would not buy an Orabrush online, and recommended that Dr. Bob not even try. But one of the students pointed out that actually meant that 8% of the Internet population might want to buy an Orabrush online, and that was still a pretty good marketplace.

So Dr. Bob made a deal with the student: Find a way to market Orabrush online, and he would give him his motorcycle.

That student no doubt is easy riding, because the rest is, well, YouTube history.

With an initial budget of only $500, Orabrush – through a combination of video whimsy and product attributes – has made a significant market for the tongue-cleaning brand.

Now that’s word-of-mouth, literally.