This French Student Made Money Selling a Tin Full of Nothing
A mispronunciation amused French speakers the world over
Montcuq is a small village in the south of France.
It has a castle, an artificial lake, and an Office de Tourisme.
Surprising — considering it has a population that would fit into an average-sized Travelodge.
Montcuq is set in the Midi-Pyrenees in the heart of the Quercy Blanc region and is as picture-perfect as a butterfly’s backside.
The town circles a natural butt in the earth with a castle at its centre.
Surrounded by rich agricultural land, touristy types with pockets full of pounds, dollars, and yen boost the farming economy.
It’s sleepy. It’s chic. It’s as French as a Gauloise cigarette.
It is also home to student entrepreneur Antoine Deblay
In 2013, Montcuq Middle School finished for its summer term.
The students scattered to the four corners of Quercy Blanc to help on family farms during the day and make clandestine arrangements with their petite amis of an evening.
Not Antoine Deblay. Antoine had an idea.
Antoine posted his proposal onto a French crowdfunding site, and to his delight, he raised enough money to get his idea off the ground.
Antoine set up a website, designed a label for his packaging, et voila Air de Montcuq was born.
What went into this tin was nothing. He harvested the air. Just fresh air. But it was quirky, and it was cool.
The gallant Antoine used his powers of persuasion. His sales copy translated as:
“When you are lacking creative inspiration, the Air de Montcuq immerses you in the depths of this small village to refresh your ideas.”
And he played on its limited supply:
“In order not to empty Montcuq of its air, each week we limit our harvest to 10 litres of air.”
An old trick used by advertisers, the power of scarcity — delightfully ironic, don’t you think?
The idea was new. It was weird. It was wonderful. But would people pay for a tin full of nothing? Antoine knew he would only make money with the right publicity.
And he got it.
The French press brimmed with enthusiasm
In France, the name Montcuq is frequently mispronounced as “mon cul,” which translates to English as “my ass.” So, “Air de Montcuq” roughly translates as “the wind of my ass.”
You can imagine why this amused the French (and moi).
Soon the world was reading about Antoine’s Fresh Air of Montcuq.
A flurry of orders blew in. He sold 1000 tins in the first three weeks.
The Connexion reported on Antoine’s money-making idea. “Farts selling well from Montcuq.”
“Farts selling well from Montcuq.”
Antoine’s marketing was a hit.
Whatever happened to Antoine Deblay?
Antoine’s website is still up and running.
But he hasn’t updated it since 2014. Maybe the idea went flat? I tried to purchase a tin, but the link is broken.
His product, with its 60% profit margin, would appear to have been short-lived. A novelty.
We are interested in the new, amused by the strange, or intrigued by things to which we are unaccustomed. This soon wears off.
It happens every year with children clamouring for the latest hyped toys. Remember Cabbage Patch Kids, Tamagotchis, or Fidget Spinners? They were all the ‘in’ thing.
It appears Air de Montcuq passed its sell-by-date.
That’s not to say it wasn’t a good idea.
Antoine must have learned a great deal from the process. Although on a small scale, he came up with an idea, designed a product, got funding, put it into production, marketed his idea, and made some money.
Surely an imaginative guy like Antoine went on to greater things?
I imagined he’d be working on big marketing projects by now or running a multimillion-dollar enterprise somewhere.
His current enterprise
Air de Montcuq has a Twitter account, but this hasn’t been updated since July 2014. Antoine Deblay is on Twitter, but he has posted nothing since November 2013.
I searched for Antoine on LinkedIn and this drew a blank, or should I say blanc?
I found him on Facebook, but his last entry was an update to his profile picture in August 2015.
I asked the question on Quora and months later I got a reply with a link to his current enterprise.
Antoine has an ephemeral vintage pop-up store in Toulouse, France and it is apparently doing quite well.
“After a huge success in February, a vintage sale is back in downtown Toulouse with discounts on a whole selection.”
If you are ever in Toulouse and in need of dresses, skirts, or blouses, pop along to rue Bouquières for a look at Antoine’s collection.