A master of giving people what they don’t know they want—like poo flavored frozen yogurt and party songs for funerals—branding expert Nathan Fielder is a relentless advocate for the underdogs, ingeniously offering small business creative, hilarious and undeniably peculiar business tips. Each Thursday at 10/9c on Comedy Central’s Nathan For You, Nathan brings some of his best and boldest strategies to struggling small businesses. Here are 10 of his most disruptive ideas.
1 - Petting Zoo Pet Project
Nathan gives laughing goat videos his own spin turning a local petting zoo into a viral internet sensation—in this case, a hero pig saving a drowning goat. Pulling it off requires nothing short of death threats.
2 - Facilitating Horsey Rides for the Morbidly Obese
Tapping into an underserved market, namely obese people who want to ride horses, Nathan floats an idea for getting around the 220-pound weight limit—without injuring the animals. It’s the most heartwarming thing you’ve seen since bronies.
3 - Maids to Order
Watching someone else clean your house can turn into a real chore. Nathan does the math and realizes it can be done faster when you get a team of 40 maids working together. What was once tedious grunt work becomes a rapid-fire task, done in less time than it takes to grab a Starbucks.
4 - The House Whisperer
Nathan decided to turn on L.A.-based real estate agent into a hot commodity by catering to an unrepresented niche of home buyers: the 50 percent who believe in ghosts. Rebranding her as the Ghost Realtor she offers a ghost and demon-free guarantee.
5 - Fetishizing Frozen Yogurt
To get more traffic into a struggling neighborhood frozen yogurt shop, Nathan invokes the old saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity and decides to court controversy with a shocking new flavor: feces.
6 - Breaking In the Souvenirs Market
Being in the right place at the right time can make or break a Hollywood career—especially for souvenir shops. To get more business for an out-of-the-way store, Nathan sets up a bogus movie set and casts tourists as paying customers.
7 - Death Is Big Business at Boyd Funeral Home
Everyone wants a big social network and nothing says popularity like a crowded funeral so Nathan suggests that a local funeral expand its services with a new add-on: mourners for hire. He hires actors to fill in for friends and family.
8 - Pet Cemetery
When someone loses a pet, they’re vulnerable and lonely. Nathan determines that targeting them with an ad campaign in a pet cemetery is a great move to drive business at a local pet shop. Introducing tombstone billboards.
9 - Crossing The Line at the Hot Dog Stand
A hot dog business has a line down the block, but Nathan believes this could still be deterring some customers, like people in a rush. His express service idea—line-cutting for people with good excuses—goes well until one customer crosses the line.
10 - A Haunted House for Hypochondriacs
Haunted houses are big business, but being the scariest one out there is key. Nathan decides to make the horror more realistic by making people believe they’re really going to die—and not from laughing.
Watch new episodes of Nathan for You Thursdays at 10/9c on Comedy Central or anytime on the Comedy Central app.
