Thales

Thales' bottled water marketing strategy was lauded throughout antiquity.

Thales (Greek: Θαλῆς) was an ancient Greek marketing director for bottled water supplier Dasani. Considered an advertising genius by his competitors, Thales' most significant contribution to the world of marketing was the tagline "Water: the primary principle," which caused record-breaking sales during the pre-Socratic era. Little is known of Thales' life, though historians have been able to study his marketing work from surviving Dasani advertisements. Thales' strategy usually consisted of stylizing water as the "primary," "basic," or "originating" principle.

Life

At a young age, Thales was considered to be an economics prodigy, and was quickly hired by the fledgling bottled water supplying company Dasani. After hours of deep philosophical thought, Thales was said to have exclaimed his newfound ideas to Dasani executives. Within weeks, Thales' numerous marketing techniques, including his famous "Water: the primary principle," tripled sales from city-state to city-state. Thales held a lifelong sales competition with Anaximenes (Greek: Άναξιμένης), an air conditioning supplier, who is often believed to have stolen Thales' idea for his tagline "Air is everything." After his death, many later Greek thinkers, including Socrates, Plato, and especially Aristotle, praised Thales' work, earning his place in marketing history.