SP case quiz

discussable, understandable

Squatty Potty faced two major challenges: 

Make the problem ________: People experience constipation/bathroom issues, but don't necessarily want to talk about them. 

Make the product _________: Consumers needed to understand why raising their feet and changing their posture could help. 

accessible creators

Stage	What it provided	Barrier reduced
____ _____	Personal experience	"Would someone like me use this?"

health media

Stage	What it provided	Barrier reduced
___ _____ / Dr. Oz	Legitimacy + explanation	"Is this real?"

entertainment

Stage	What it provided	Barrier reduced
_______/ Howard Stern	Humor + permission	"Can we talk about this?"

retail

Stage	What it provided	Barrier reduced
Shark Tank + ____	Social proof + availability	"Can I trust/find/buy it?"

distance

four strategic purposes: 

______ → Fantasy made the embarrassing subject less uncomfortable. 

attention

four strategic purposes: 

_______ → The bizarre imagery made people curious. 

education

four strategic purposes: 

_______ → The prince actually explained the mechanism/product. 

conversion

four strategic purposes: 

________ → The video repeatedly returned to the product and gave people a reason to buy. 

uncover

UNICORN Framework

U — _____ the avoided tension 
What problem does the audience avoid discussing? 

name the behavior

UNICORN Framework

N — _____ ____ ___ 
What should consumers notice, understand, share, or do? 

introduce distance

UNICORN Framework

I —______ ____
Make the uncomfortable topic easier to approach. 

carry the mechanism

UNICORN Framework

C — _____ ___ _______ 
Entertainment should actually explain why/how the product works. 

offer the next action

UNICORN Framework

O — ____ ___ ___ ____
Give consumers an obvious next step: visit, compare, locate, buy. 

release

UNICORN Framework

R — ______ deliberately 
Don't just post content and hope. Seed it intentionally. 

nail the learning loop

UNICORN Framework

N — ___ __ ____ ___
Measure attention, behavior, economics, assets, and causal lift when possible.  

paid distribution

_____ ______ gave the content its initial audience. Then the content had to be good enough to earn sharing and organic distribution. 

attention

Evidence Ladder: _______

Examples: views, reach, watch time, shares 

Proves: people encountered the content 

Does NOT automatically prove: sales, profit, persuasion, loyalty, etc. 

behavior

Evidence Ladder: _______

Examples: clicks, searches, store locator use, add-to-cart, checkout 

Proves: people moved through the funnel 

economics

Evidence Ladder: ______

Examples: acquisition cost, contribution, payback, marginal return 

Proves: whether tracked demand plausibly covered variable spending 

assets

Evidence Ladder: ______

Examples: email lists, first-party audiences, pixels, creator rights, brand characters, retail proof 

Proves: campaign created future strategic options 

attribution

"Was an exposure observed before a purchase?" 

Useful for reporting and optimization. 

incrementality

"Would the purchase have happened WITHOUT the exposure?" 

This is about causation. 

35k

family's initial funding 

74 + shipping

approximate price of early wooden units 

75k followers

early vegan blogger 

350k for 10%

Lori Greiner's Shark Tank investment 

1 mill

sales within roughly 24–48 hours after Shark Tank 

168 mill

headline video views 

35%

estimated COGS + shipping as percentage of revenue 

$2.85

So approximately _____ contribution remained per $1 of promotional spend, before fixed costs, overhead, returns, and taxes. 

average return

avg vs marginal return
"How did the campaign perform?" 

marginal return

avg vs marginal return
"What will the NEXT dollar do?" 

marginal

Scaling decisions should focus on _____ return. 

need

audience targetting

____ fit → Does this person actually have a reason to care? 

message

audience targeting

________ fit → Does the creative resonate with them? 

economic

audience targeting

_______ fit → Can you reach and convert them profitably? 

C. Turning a successful viral campaign into a repeatable growth system 

What was Squatty Potty's primary strategic challenge at the beginning of 2017? 

A. Determining whether social media could generate awareness 
B. Finding an investor willing to fund the company 
C. Turning a successful viral campaign into a repeatable growth system 
D. Developing its first direct-to-consumer website 

B. Make the problem discussable and make the product understandable 

Which combination best describes the two marketing jobs Squatty Potty needed to accomplish? 

A. Lower its price and increase retail distribution 
B. Make the problem discussable and make the product understandable 
C. Increase production and eliminate competitors 
D. Target older consumers and decrease online advertising 

C. Humor combined with mechanism and demonstration 

What was the most productive communication approach for Squatty Potty? 

A. Highly clinical medical explanations 
B. Shock humor without product education 
C. Humor combined with mechanism and demonstration 
D. Avoiding discussion of bowel movements entirely 

C. Credible creators can transfer trust to unfamiliar products when their audiences are relevant 

What was the main lesson from Squatty Potty's early creator outreach? 

A. Influencers need millions of followers to generate sales 
B. Paid celebrity endorsements outperform authentic experiences 
C. Credible creators can transfer trust to unfamiliar products when their audiences are relevant 
D. Creator marketing is primarily useful for generating views rather than sales 

B. Gain social proof, investor validation, and retail access 

What did Squatty Potty's Shark Tank appearance particularly help the company accomplish? 

A. Eliminate the need for social media 
B. Gain social proof, investor validation, and retail access 
C. Replace its direct-to-consumer business 
D. Develop the original wooden product 

B. $350,000 for 10% 

Lori Greiner's Shark Tank investment was approximately: 

A. $250,000 for 20% 
B. $350,000 for 10% 
C. $500,000 for 15% 
D. $1 million for 10% 

D. Exclusivity 

Which was NOT one of the four jobs performed by the unicorn video's creative concept? 

A. Distance 
B. Attention 
C. Education 
D. Exclusivity 

B. Introduce distance 

In the UNICORN framework, what does "I" represent? 

A. Increase engagement 
B. Introduce distance 
C. Identify influencers 
D. Improve attribution 

C. Release deliberately 

In the UNICORN framework, what does "R" represent? 

A. Retarget customers 
B. Reduce costs 
C. Release deliberately 
D. Rebuild credibility 

B. Paid seed → watch behavior → sharing → more efficient reach → traffic/sales → reinvestment 

Which sequence best represents the campaign's growth flywheel? 

A. Organic reach → product development → retail → paid advertising 
B. Paid seed → watch behavior → sharing → more efficient reach → traffic/sales → reinvestment 
C. Retail → influencer → television → website → sales 
D. Awareness → production → targeting → pricing → distribution 

B. The company deliberately used paid distribution to seed the campaign 

Why is it misleading to describe the unicorn campaign as simply "organic virality"? 

A. Most consumers discovered the product in stores 
B. The company deliberately used paid distribution to seed the campaign 
C. The campaign did not receive any shares 
D. The company only advertised on television 

C. Video views 

Which of the following is an ATTENTION metric? 

A. Acquisition cost 
B. Checkout 
C. Video views 
D. Contribution margin 

A. Views measure attention rather than economics or causal impact 

Why can't 168 million video views alone prove that the campaign was profitable? 

A. Views measure attention rather than economics or causal impact 
B. Views can only be measured on YouTube 
C. Facebook does not count video views 
D. Views cannot be generated through paid advertising 

B. Attribution asks whether exposure preceded purchase; incrementality asks whether the purchase would have occurred without exposure 

What is the key difference between attribution and incrementality? 

A. Attribution measures profit while incrementality measures revenue 
B. Attribution asks whether exposure preceded purchase; incrementality asks whether the purchase would have occurred without exposure 
C. Attribution measures offline sales while incrementality measures online sales 
D. Attribution measures new customers while incrementality measures existing customers 

C. Using a randomized audience or geographic holdout 

Which technique would provide stronger evidence of incrementality? 

A. Counting Facebook views 
B. Measuring total website visits 
C. Using a randomized audience or geographic holdout 
D. Counting social media comments 

B. $2.85 

Approximately how much contribution remained per $1 of paid promotion after subtracting 35% COGS/shipping and the $1 promotional spend from $5.92 of associated revenue? 

A. $1.00 
B. $2.85 
C. $3.48 
D. $5.92 

A. Marginal return estimates what the next advertising dollar may produce 

Why is marginal return more important than historical average return when deciding whether to increase advertising spending? 

A. Marginal return estimates what the next advertising dollar may produce 
B. Historical averages only measure organic traffic 
C. Marginal return ignores advertising costs 
D. Historical return cannot be calculated from sales data 

B. Need fit, message fit, and economic fit 

Which three factors should Squatty Potty consider when evaluating an audience? 

A. Age fit, platform fit, and follower fit 
B. Need fit, message fit, and economic fit 
C. Awareness fit, retail fit, and demographic fit 
D. Product fit, celebrity fit, and geographic fit 

C. Sequel fatigue could reduce novelty while requiring expensive creative investment 

What is the primary risk of making another premium prince-and-unicorn video? 

A. The company would lose all retail distribution 
B. Existing customers would be unable to recognize the characters 
C. Sequel fatigue could reduce novelty while requiring expensive creative investment 
D. The company would no longer be able to use paid media 

D. Sustainable social growth requires understanding the mechanism connecting creative, distribution, conversion, and learning 

Which statement BEST summarizes the central lesson of the Squatty Potty case? 

A. Viral marketing works primarily when brands use unusual characters 
B. Companies should maximize views before worrying about conversion 
C. Brands should copy successful creative executions as closely as possible 
D. Sustainable social growth requires understanding the mechanism connecting creative, distribution, conversion, and learning