Neiman Marcus launched The Kitchen Computer in 1969. This was a time when personal computing was still a far-fetched vision. The Kitchen Computer helped you create the perfect menu for any dinner. The total cost was $10,000 and you needed to enter in the recipes manually in binary (1’s and 0’s).

Unsurprisingly, Neiman Marcus didn’t sell a single Kitchen Computer. $10,000 could buy you a house at that time and who wanted to enter in binary code by hand?

The 1969 [Neiman Marcus] Christmas Catalog featured the Kitchen Computer. For $10,600 you got the computer, a cookbook, an apron, and a two-week programming course.

Despite the lack of sales this was a smashing success for Neiman Marcus! It was talked about in magazines and brought up in many many conversations. Neiman Marcus knew this going in. Their goal was to be known as a cutting edge brand and this showed it. This was a product invented purely for marketing and nothing else.

Do you know any products that were launched purely for branding? Let me know in the comments.