If it makes your jaw drop, it’s probably guerrilla marketing

 Guerrilla marketing is a great alternative to traditional marketing. It thrives on original thinking and creativity, where imagination and ingenuity beat out big budgets. 

Guerrilla marketing also tends to be cheaper than traditional marketing.

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1. Steal Jeep’s Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

This ad plays on the power of driving a Jeep (and parking it, apparently) and the features it offers its drivers.

Of course, some may argue that this is a little on the risky side because there could be arguments over parking guidelines and respect within the community but, I think we could all agree that guerrilla marketing does exactly that; it is just the right mix of provocative and witty.

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2. Guerrilla Marketing Example for Environmental Issues

The very fact that people can see the trees about to be cut off is a suggestion to passers-by that they can take action and they can play a part in the environment.

What would you do if you were driving down the highway and saw a giant cat resting on these road lights?

Obviously, this is another creative guerrilla ad for raising environmental awareness.

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3. Nike Makes the Perfect Guerrilla Marketing Example With Its History of Ads

One of the most important components of a successful guerrilla marketing idea is for it to incorporate or embody the brand values.

Nike has been known for its “Just do it” attitude and tagline. This abstract bench, therefore, serves as a signal for the company motto.

Consistent with its brand personality of pushing one’s limits, Nike makes the perfect guerrilla marketing example with its history of ads.

OK, I bet no one was particularly happy to see this.

But, I think most of us will agree it does a good job of suggesting a benefit, doesn’t it?

I am positive that whoever ran into this escalator was reminded of the brand’s motto and was forced to take the stairs, thus initiating their workout routine.

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4. Changing What We Thought About Certain Signs

Axe Body Spray uses custom stickers attached to the classic “exit man” signs that are so commonplace in establishments everywhere. The added stickers create a story about the familiar exit man — and to think all this time we thought he was escaping from a fire!

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5. Coffin-Shaped Beach Towels Raise Skin Cancer Awareness

These unusual towels serve as not-so-subtle warnings to beach-goers, tanning on the beach.

Crosswalks are another urban structure often used by guerrilla marketers. In this example, Mr. Clean shows off his cleaning power on a crosswalk.

TicTac flashmob | Really, really bad breath

Happy National Day From Zain – Flashmob

Behind The Scenes

Beach-Volleyball Stars| QR code Assvertising.

Here are two QR codes that might not get lost in the shuffle. Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin, the British champion beach-volleyball players, have struck a five-figure deal to give gambling company Betfair sponsorship rights to their butts. Specifically, the pair will have QR codes on the backs of their bikinis—which will send people to the Betfair website when they take a photo of the players' backsides with a smartphone. The not-at-all-skeevy client rep Andy Lulham explained: "As far as we're aware, this is the first time QR codes have been used in in-play sports advertising, and what better way to test its effectiveness than by putting them on one of the places that is likely to get photographed the most." This seems like an OK idea—except Dampney and Mullin recently complained about people sexualizing beach volleyball. "Here in England we are still stuck at the stage where people think beach volleyball is about sex, not a sport," said Mullin. (She has a marketing degree and probably just couldn't help herself with the Betfair deal.) Dampney and Mullin will represent England at the London Olympics next summer, but they'll have to restrict their marketing to other events—any form of sponsorship is banned at the games.

 

Victim Support |Find The Strength

Victim Support, a UK charity giving free and confidential help to victims of crime, witnesses, their family and friends, is running a print, radio, television and ambient advertising campaign featuring the stories of people affected by crimes. Launched in May 2010, the campaign began with the narratives of victims of attack, burglary and domestic violence, written in handwriting across the faces of the victims, with a reference to the role of Victim Support in helping each one find the inner strength to face life again. The campaign, promoting Victim Support’s new logo and strapline, “Find the Strength”, was followed up with a further campaign with the tagline, “Invest Now”.

On Saturday 11th June, 27 volunteers performed a mini flashmob drama in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens. Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK8G6Ei3-g4

Credits

The Find the Strength campaign was developed at MWO, London, by art directors Steve Williams, Mark Hurst, Jo Webb, copywriters Martyn Smith, Natasha Freedman, Jez Cripps, and photographer Jad Oakes.

BOOBSvertising

At the 2010 World Cup, Paraguay ( which was eliminated by Spain in the quarter-finals ), and the world, discovered an unusual supporter in the person of Larissa Riquelme , who proudly showed off his passion ( and buxom ) for its national team nicknamed "The Albirroja".

A year later, while playing Paraguay in the Copa America ( the equivalent of the European Cup of Nations ), another supporter, which is unknown at this time the name, is about her becoming the new darling of Paraguayan media. A rival for Larissa Riqueleme ( we will not complain eh ... )?

Seeing her wear his cap "Tigo" (a telephone Paraguay), one can doubt the sincerity of the girl (since when women love football? ^ ^) But who cares, Larissa Riquelme had been recovered by Axe last year, right?

For information, Larissa Riquelme has recently vowed to strip the public square if they win selection to the Paraguayan Copa America. So we all hope that Paraguay Rétière his performance in 1999 (3-0 win in the final against Brazil) and the two young ladies can agree! First step tonight in Mendoza, in the 1 / 2 final between Venezuela and Paraguay in 1 / 2 finals ...

Operation Christmas

The Ministry of Defence in Colombia ran “Operación Navidad” (Operation Christmas), in an attempt to encourage the demobilization of guerilla fighters in the jungles of Colombia. Las FARC has been fighting a battle against the Colombian government for 60 years, retreating deeper and deeper into the jungle every day. Operación Navidad involved decorating ten 25 meter tall trees with Christmas lights. When guerrilla fighters approached the trees, movement sensors made it light up with a banner announcing the message, “If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize. Everything is possible at Christmas.” 331 guerrillas who have demobilized acknowledge that the Operacion Navidad trees motivated them to finally give up their weapons. The campaign won a Gold Outdoor Lion at Cannes International Festival of Creativity 2011.
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Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLoYpy_HFw

Credits

The Operacion Navidad campaign was developed at Lowe-SSP3 Bogotá, Colombia, by chief creative officer Jose Miguel Sokoloff, creative directors Alejandro Benavides and Santiago Mesa, copywriter Sergio Leon, art director Carlos Andres Rodriguez, account director Juan Pablo Garcia, account executive Emiliano Arango, agency producer Jose Vicente Altamar. The case study was filmed by directors Jose Maria Angel and Jaime Gonzalez, editor David Abril and animator Alejandro Ussa, with creatives Alejandro Aponte and copywriter Mario Lagos.

Niqabitches|Two French students protest Burka Ban in face veils & hot pants

Two anonymous French students in their 20s recently donned niqābs and short shorts and strolled through the streets of Paris, making sure to hit several government ministry buildings. The women, one of whom is Muslim, call themselves "Niqabitches."
"We were not looking to attack or degrade the image of Muslim fundamentalists – each to their own – but rather to question politicians who voted for this law that we consider clearly unconstitutional," they said. "We want to de-dramatise the situation."
On the news Web site, rue89, the women, students in their 20s, write, “We asked ourselves: ‘How would the authorities react when faced with women wearing a burka and mini-shorts?’”
The French senate passed the law last month. It is due to go into effect early next year. A woman who chooses to defy the ban will receive a fine of 150 euros (£125) or a course of citizenship lessons, according to the Telegraph. A man who forces a woman to go veiled will be fined 30,000 euros and serve a jail term.

Flashmob

In March 2006, Bill Wasik, inventor of the Flash Mob, wrote a great report on how he created and grew the flashmob phenomenon - Harper's Magazine (March 2006 issue.)

He talks about how events moved from the original email he sent out ('Q: Why would I want to join an inexplicable mob? A: Tons of other people are doing it') through to discussing the MOBs at the New York shoe store, the Grand Hyatt next to Central Station and the dinosaur worshipping in Times Square Toys R Us. Bill discusses how the phenomenon grew and analyses the different stages of awareness, participation and media coverage.

Bill Wasik ran 8 MOBs and reasoned that the Flash mob craze would die out, thinking that 'co-optation of the flash mob by the nation's large conglomerates would, I reasoned, be its final (and fatal) phase.' This moment seemed to have come when in summer 2005 the "Fusion Flash Concerts" were announced, a 'series of flash mobbing events staged by the Ford Motor Company and Sony Pictures Digital to promote the launch of the new Ford Fusion car.'

However, this did not mark the end of flash mob gatherings. If anything 2009 has been the year of the flash mob - albeit slightly removed from the purity of the original mobs. The MOBs of 2009 have tended to be ad funded and corporately organised displays intended to surprise those who were not in the know, rather than random spontaneous assembly for no obvious purpose.

T-mobile were largely responsible for the re-birth of flash mobbing with a TV ad (subsequently uploaded to YouTube) filmed in Liverpool St station in London - now with over 15m YouTube views:

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In March a Belgian TV channel then created a mass performance of 'Do-Re-Mi' in the Central Station in Antwerp:

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In April Trident Unwrapped used 100 Beyonce lookalikes in Piccadilly Circus London:

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Michael Jackson's death sparked global 'flash mob' performances of his dance routines - the highlight (probably) being this performance in Stockholm:

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In September 2009, to launch the new Oprah season, Oprah hosted a Black Eyed Peas outdoor concert in Chicago - where to her surprise the crowd turned into a huge flash mob:

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In October 2009 HTC ran a flash mob at Raffles Place in Singapore:

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In October the Bondi Beach 'Say Cheese' performance became Australia's most significant contribution to the flash mob craze (a stunt to promote Flip):

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Earlier this month Elf Yourself ran a flash mob in Union Square in New York to promote the fact that Elf Yourself is back for 2009:

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3 days ago Janet Jackson appeared at a Janet Jackson flashmob in Los Angeles (a series of MOBs occurred across LA on the same day to promote her new album):

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and Flash mobs are even now happening inside retail stores!

In October TV2 in Sweden ran a MOB in a Swedish IKEA store to promote the new series of 'Skal vi danse' ('Shall We Dance'):

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and now we have Microsoft store staff dancing to the Black Eyed Peas too:

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So why didn't mobs die when Bill Wasik predicted they would? The above are only a few of the mobs from this year, so why has 2009 seen so many? I think there are two main reasons:

1) Joy. It doesn't matter how many times this is done, being near or part of a flash mob / spontaneous outburst of performance raises a smile. With so many economic issues in the world this year, bringing happiness to people (no matter how tenuous the link) creates a positive feeling - a good context for an advertiser message.

2) Social. A flash mob creates Conversation. Those people who are present tweet about it, update their Facebook, take videos and upload to YouTube. Some of these films (or associated UGC versions) have huge, huge view numbers. Often the most effective way of creating buzz in online communities and social networks is to do something in the real world that then prompts people to share it in their virtual ones. Being part of an event gives participants something to talk about and the act of sharing with friends increases buzz and awareness (invariably it will prompt them to search out the info for themelves.)

Conversation (talking about the event) drives people to The Destination (the relevant video, channel, Facebook page etc). If the content is good, these visitors will then share it with their friends, who then talk about it, prompting even more people to visit the Destination. Thus an event can be far more cost-effective at driving coverage than a traditional campaign. (Not forgetting that it also instills joy and positive feeling into the message too.)

In 2003 Bill Wasik was surprised to see his MOB events featuring on blogs who were syndicating the email instrutions - but he did not object. He 'did not want anyone to learn the mob details without making human contact with another mob member, but blogs are by their nature such intimate endeavours that even the most widely read among them seem to foster a sense of close connectedness among their readers.' 'A mob spread partly by blogs was still, as I had intended, a virtual community made physical.'

MOB founder Bill was forward thinking, but in his mind it was all about email / blogs / WOM etc pushing people to the event. In today's media model it's the other way round. Advertisers are creating events to push UGC coverage, a physical community made virtual . The event drives the Conversation, rather than the other way round as Bill intended.

'Social media' doesn't happen in isolation, Conversation needs to be driven and then end up somewhere - and if the Destination is strong enough it will fuel further Conversation and keep looping and growing.

Nokia Snake in Bogotà

Flashmob action by Coke

Surprise Wedding Reception

we picked a random couple getting married at the City Clerk’s Office in Manhattan and threw them a surprise wedding reception. The couple was treated to dancing, toasts, cake, and gifts, all with complete strangers.

Hammer Pants Dance

Beyonce 100 Single Ladies Flash-Dance

Piccadilly Circus, London for Trident Unwrapped

I Gotta Feeling - Lipdub - One Take Music Video in University Of Quebec

FLASHMOB.CL - Aprendiendo a volar

Agencia El Traductor de Donald Paseo Ahumada Chile

Untitled from ortegaxpriest on Vimeo.

The Condo mob

Greenpeace shock Zurich

Activists from Greenpeace and the alliance "No to nuclear" , as part of a campaign against the use of nuclear energy, produced on May 25 last flash mob who knows some success, especially on the Internet .Flash mob in question uses the lever action shocking, and not surprisingly, the video displays 370,000 views in six days.