Frederic Tudor

The Ice King gave bartenders free ice to create demand

Frederic Tudor shipped New England ice to hot climates before refrigeration existed, but buyers did not know what to do with it and complained when it melted. He found a hero use case, cold drinks on a hot day, gave bartenders free ice to serve chilled rum, and created a demand that built a whole trade.

“I have to get them to want it. I have to build the desire in their mind. And so he goes and he figures out what's the key product? What's my hero? hero product here. He's like, I need to sell cold drinks on a hot day. So he goes to the bartenders and he says, look, I'm going to chip you off a little ice here. This is free for you, but you need to start serving rum cold in a chilled, chilled drink. And so they— he gets the bartenders free ice. They start giving people ice out of the, you know, cold drinks. And guess what? Once you've had cold, cold rum, you never want to go back to that warm piss again.”

Steal thisWhen customers don't get a new product, find the one hero use case that sells it and seed it for free through gatekeepers until the habit forms.