How to Build Real Demand: 3 Timeless Marketing Lessons from Iconic Brands

Why Most Startup Marketing Fails: 3 Timeless Lessons on Building Real Demand

Most startups waste thousands on ads, influencers, and content creation only to discover their product still doesn’t sell. The problem isn’t lack of effort or budget. It’s that most founders rely on tactics without strategy.

True marketing isn’t about how many ads you run or how many followers you gain. It’s about understanding human psychology, shaping perception, and creating an emotional pull so strong that your audience feels drawn to your product. Without that, even the best campaigns will fall flat.

Let’s look at three powerful, real-world examples that show how smart positioning not brute-force advertising creates lasting demand.

Cigarettes: Selling Identity, Not Just Tobacco

When cigarettes were first introduced widely, they struggled to gain traction. Traditional tobacco rolls were cheaper, familiar, and culturally accepted. Cigarettes felt strange they cost more, looked unfamiliar, and produced more smoke.

The tobacco companies didn’t just run more ads. They reframed the product entirely.

• They distributed free samples, making cigarettes easy to try.
• They introduced the Marlboro Man, a rugged cowboy who symbolized confidence and masculinity.
• Movies began showing heroes who smoked, making cigarettes aspirational and tied to status.
• Shops were incentivized with higher margins, ensuring wide availability.

Cigarettes stopped being “just tobacco.” They became a statement of identity a way to feel powerful, rebellious, and admired.

Lesson: You’re not just selling what your product does. You’re selling who your customer becomes when they use it.

Marmite: Turning a Weakness Into a Strength

Marmite, a yeast-based spread, was notorious for its strong, polarizing taste and smell. Kids hated it. But instead of trying to make it more appealing, the brand leaned into the very thing people disliked.

• It was marketed as a nutrient-rich, vitamin-packed spread parents could trust for their children’s health.
• Its bitter taste became proof that it was healthy unlike sugary spreads that were known to be bad for you.
• The messaging targeted parents, not kids, because parents were the real decision-makers.

By aligning with parents’ motivations to choose health over taste, Marmite turned a perceived weakness into a unique selling point.

Lesson: Your product doesn’t need to please everyone. It just needs to resonate with the motivations of the true buyer.

Nestlé in Japan: Creating Familiarity Before Demand

When Nestlé first tried selling coffee in Japan, it failed miserably. Tea drinking was a deeply ingrained cultural habit. Coffee felt foreign, unnecessary, and hard to accept.

So Nestlé took a different approach.

• They introduced coffee-flavored candies and toffees an easy, low-resistance way to experience the taste.
• Over time, kids grew familiar with the flavor and developed a positive association with it.
• Years later, when those kids became adults, coffee didn’t feel foreign anymore. It was already part of their memory.

When Nestlé reintroduced coffee, the market embraced it.

Lesson: Sometimes you need an entry product that primes the audience before selling the main offer. Familiarity lowers resistance and builds long-term demand.

The Deeper Truth Behind These Stories

All three examples reveal the same principle: successful marketing isn’t about pushing harder it’s about shaping how people think and feel.

• Cigarettes sold identity.
• Marmite sold trust to decision-makers.
• Nestlé sold familiarity before the actual product.

In each case, the strategy wasn’t about copying competitors or running endless ads. It was about finding the psychological entry point that made the product feel natural and desirable.

A Simple 3-Step Emotional Marketing Framework

Before you launch your next campaign, ask yourself:

1. Does it create desire beyond the product itself?
   What identity, aspiration, or deeper feeling does it fulfill?
2. Does it speak to the true decision-maker?
   Are you appealing to the person who actually chooses to buy?
3. Does it reduce resistance and build familiarity?
   Are you making it easy for people to accept and trust what you offer?

If your strategy fails any of these, no amount of ad spend will fix it.

How Founders and Marketers Can Apply This

• Stop thinking of marketing as just ads or content. Think of it as shaping beliefs.
• Reframe weaknesses. What your audience sees as a flaw could be positioned as proof of authenticity or value.
• Introduce bridges. If your product is disruptive, create a low-barrier entry point that warms people up.
• Focus on long-term demand, not just short-term clicks.

Final Thoughts

Great marketing doesn’t push products. It shapes minds. The brands that endure aren’t the ones shouting the loudest; they’re the ones who understand their audience so deeply that the product feels inevitable.

So, before you spend another dollar on ads or hire another influencer, pause and ask: Am I truly connecting with the right emotion, the right buyer, and the right moment?

Because when you get that right, the tactics will work naturally.