In an oceanside city like Baltimore, nobody’s much surprised by the sight of water. Fish, neither. But even longtime residents of the famed Maryland metropolis stopped at scratched their heads at a recent stunt pulled off by Arnold, Boston. Filling the plate-glass window of an otherwise empty storefront at 100 Park Avenue was a massive aquarium—a study in azure blue, complete with bubbles, exotic fish and plant life rippling in the currents. Given that the client, Carnival, was a cruise-ship company, the installation was both clever and appropriate. But a closer look revealed something strange about that underwater world.

None of it was real.

Not only was everything in the “tank”—including the tank itself—a digital figment, it was a fully interactive environment. A combination of computer vision technology, flash animation, and mobile gaming software, enabled pedestrians to use their cell phones to call a special number to create their own personalized fish, then interact with their similarly finned friends. When the swim was over, each participant received a text message inviting them to visit Carnival’s promotional Web site.

Welcome to guerrilla marketing, 2010 style, where the traditional street-level “gotcha” has  been reinterpreted—and made more effective—through a digital lens. “As technology and the Internet grow, opportunities will grow,” observes Jay Levinson, the “father of guerrilla marketing” and author of many books. Technology, he adds, has become easier to use, “and we surely can’t discount the new mobility of markets.”

Indeed, there are many forces that today’s guerrilla marketer can no longer discount. The importance of altruism, for example, and the need to explore the margins of cities for venues that yesterday’s marketers would have dismissed as too gritty. Fortunately, guerrilla’s traditional ingredients—an unusual idea, an irreverent execution, and the element of surprise—are still essential. But now, so is the need for complete interactivity surrounding a stunt that at one time was enough just to stare at. In this issue, we take a look at four major trends that are shaping guerrilla marketing as we know it, along with brands and firms that are on the cutting edge of testing the new waters.

Including, in one case, virtual waters full of virtual fish.

—The Editors



The Technology Revolution
Planning a branding ambush? Better bring that digital gadget first.

Guerrilla marketing has traditionally been about turning heads on the street. It still is. But with most people now walking around with digital gadgets, marketers have begun to realize that a splash of high-tech is essential to turn a passing glance into active engagement. Signs of this trend emerged a few years ago when cameras became standard on cell phones, resulting in a craze for scavenger hunts that required people to snap pics of their finds. That’s old hat now, as new mobile technologies like GPS, QR codes and augmented reality have filled the void.

For instance, Blu Dot, the Minneapolis-based furniture maker, ran an innovative promotion last November in which it left its $129 “Real Good Chair” at various curbsides in New York City. Concealed within the chair’s modish contours was a GPS device, allowing Mono, Blu Dot’s marketing agency, to track the chairs back to the homes of those who rescued them. Blu Dot posted a Google Map on its Web site showing the chairs’ paths, and a Twitter feed also updated the objects’ statuses. “It answered a simple question,” says Mono’s creative director Michael Hart. “If we brought these chairs, who would take them and where would they go?” (Later, Blu Dot closed the marketing loop by dispatching street teams to locate the scavengers at their homes; those who agreed to chat received a second free chair.)

Meanwhile, QR codes offer a twist on camera phone-based promotions. For the uninitiated, QR (“Quick Response”) codes are symbols that, when photographed with a smartphone, automatically lead the phone’s browser to a Web site, a process known as hardlinking. So when the skate band Zoo York wanted to publicize a memorial event for skateboarder and actor Harold Hunter last year, it put posters with QR codes in Tompkins Square Park, Hunter’s old haunt. Jeremy Hollister, creative director for We Are Plus, the New York g-marketing agency that created the effort, said the technology wasn’t essential but helped lift the campaign above the ordinary: “The QR code added the frosting.” We Are Plus also used QR codes for a promotion for toy designer KidRobot, which was launching its Dunny Series 2009 collectible vinyl rabbit toys. The agency placed posters all over New York with QR codes. Those who used the codes to visit the specified URLs were eligible to win prizes.  

Still-newer technologies are likely to expand the palette for mobile-related promotions. For instance, last month Google released Google Goggles, a “visual search application” for Google’s Android phones. Just use your Android phone to take a picture of an object, and Google Goggles will provide you with a link, provided it recognizes it. The app also includes an augmented reality feature where you can bring a local business into your camera’s view and get info about it. For guerrilla marketers, Google Goggles could wind up making QR codes look primitive.

—Todd Wasserman



Wanted: Unwanted Spaces
To some, abandoned buildings are an eyesore; to others, a marketing opportunity.

Out in the California cities of Berkeley and Emeryville, there’s no shortage of empty, abandoned buildings. But where most people see only industrial eyesores, Bryan Kennedy sees beauty and opportunity. Kennedy runs a fringe outfit called MobMov, which for the past five years has been spontaneously showing movies on the sides of empty warehouses via a car-mounted projector to a fan base summoned via e-mail blast. A fringe idea for fringe people—until Discovery Network called, that is.

“They wanted to promote Mythbusters,” Kennedy recalls. So he set up an episode premiere in an abandoned parking lot. One of the show’s stars came—and so did a ton of people. Discovery was happy. “They wanted to be involved in something that was unique and groundbreaking,” Kennedy says.

What brand doesn’t? But there’s a law of diminishing returns with guerrilla marketing: What worked five years ago won’t cut it with today’s shock-proof consumers. Setting up shop in abandoned buildings has to be one of the strangest ways to make an impression, but there’s no arguing with what works. Forsaken spaces are cheap to use, spacious and flexible. And for brands willing to do anything to achieve street cred, abandoned structures can lend the kind of grit and edginess that no commercial can give them.

“It’s a very close form to true street art,” says Christian Jurinka, managing director of Attack Marketing, which this past March got the contract to promote the New York Red Bulls soccer team. Attack commandeered some tumble-down buildings on Manhattan’s West Side, then projected sound-enriched game footage right on the bricks. “With a static billboard, there’s nothing that jumps out at you—but this pulls people in,” Jurinka says.

Projections are just one way to commandeer unused buildings. In Baltimore, New York, and several other cities, Boston shop Arnold rented abandoned storefronts and installed a huge virtual aquarium in each—complete with “fish” that passersby could control with their cell phones—to promote client Carnival Cruises. “Vacant storefront spaces in high-traffic areas [allowed us to] engage consumers in a spontaneous and interactive experience,” says Arnold svp Stephanie Evans, who adds that the interaction rate was nine times what their online rich media ads generate.

Of course, it’s not as easy as picking a decrepit building and setting up shop. Even abandoned buildings are owned by someone, which means the brand has to get permission to use them. Drew Neisser, whose Renegade Marketing has recently promoted the new liquor Harlem by doing poster installations in abandoned Chicago storefronts, explains that “the real difficulty is finding consistent quality”—derelict buildings that have usable space and surfaces, street traffic high enough to justify the effort—and a landlord who wants to cooperate. But Neisser thinks that guerrilla marketers have only begun to tap the potential of abandoned urban spaces. “There’s an inherent coolness to them,” he says, “and for the right brands with the right kind of story to tell, this is a ripe area.”

—Robert Klara



The Art of Being a Charity Case
Altruistic guerrilla marketing? Yep, just what the recession ordered.

Even for a discount retailer, it was a tough sell. The American workforce was drowning in an unemployment rate of 10 percent (counting those who were underemployed or only working part-time, it might have been closer to 20 percent). Money was tight, and good jobs were impossible to come by.

Bad time to be in the suit business.

But Syms, the 51-year-old clothing chain that sells sharply discounted designer menswear, had an idea. Last July, instead of trying to ignore the rotten job market, it decided it would help its customers to conquer it. The contest would benefit both the brand and the personal fortunes of the shoppers (or, at least those lucky enough to be selected). Syms decided to give away 30 high-end suits to people who were looking for work. Each winner would also receive a session with a career coach and even the attention of a personal stylist. “Suit Camp,” as it came to be known, was an unusual promotion with an altruistic bent; guerrilla meets humanitarianism.

“There is an altruistic aspect in the sense that Syms is giving away value,” explains Mark DiMassimo, CEO, DiMassimo Goldstein, the agency behind the effort. “But what they’re really doing is bonding. Some companies sell services, some sell products and neither think in terms of experience. Create an experience for your target and your money goes further.” A promo that empowered the job seeker was also a good fit for the retailer’s longstanding motto: “An educated consumer is our best customer.” And plenty of customers came forward. The Secaucus, N.J.-based chain signed up more than 15,000 people in 13 states during the seven-week giveaway.

When did all this guerrilla do-gooding begin? Some observers credit Procter & Gamble, which set up a public rest room at the height of the 2006 holiday shopping season in Times Square—to the genuine relief and enduring memory of tourists in a city notorious for its lack of public potties. (Some 5,600 people visited the Charmin Restroom in its first 24 hours that year, and the guerrilla stunt returned in 2007.)

As the national economy has foundered, more and more brands have stepped into the role of public benefactor with altruistic guerrilla stunts. In the past year alone, Denny’s fed 2 million Americans free Grand Slam breakfasts; McDonald’s picked up the tab for a free day of parking for workers in Western Canada; and Yahoo staffers paid for passenger baggage costs at two Northern California airports during the holidays. “Rather than just interrupt their day, we gave consumers something to feel good about [over] the brand,” says Rob Sweetman, a creative director at Cossette, Vancouver, which handled the McDonald’s effort.

On a more sophisticated level, marketers have also learned to gain the loyalty of consumers by aligning themselves with social causes. P&G launched its Tide “Loads of Hope” promotion after Hurricane Katrina, outfitting a special tractor-trailer with rows of washer/dryer machines and offering free laundry services to anyone down in New Orleans who needed it. Amanda Treeby, Tide relationship brand manager, explains that while the effort was largely associated with such large-scale disasters events, it also actively plays out in a grassroots level. Last week, for instance, Tide’s Facebook page featured an interview with a Honolulu laundromat owner who has started donating business proceeds to those affected by flooding in the Philippines and the tsunami in Samoa.

However well-intentioned, altruistic guerrilla strategies do run the risk of obvious brand flogging. For many, the perception of Loads of Hope is in Tide’s TV ad where the product’s logo is on prominent display. “With Tide, it felt like a brand using a cause to promote a brand,” says Sam Ewen, CEO, Interference Inc. “It’s not a bad thing to do, but are you doing a random act of kindness, or [just] marketing?”

—Noreen O’Leary



Planning a Social Uprising? Try Social Media First
Sure, word of mouth still works—but the Web makes for faster chatter.

Since 1830, Trafalgar Square has been London’s “centre of national democracy.” Amid a backdrop of monuments, sculptures and fountains, the square has hosted innumerable protests, sit-ins and political demonstrations. But last April, thanks to T-Mobile, the legendary plaza experienced a true first.
It became a karaoke bar.

Summoned via Twitter, Facebook and text messages (plus an earlier “flash mob” gathering at the Liverpool Station), some 13,500 Londoners gathered on April 30th with no idea what was actually in store. What they found was a host—the pop star Pink—2,000 microphones and a simple request: start singing. They did (“Hey Jude” alone dragged on for several minutes), and the results turned into an integrated TV, radio, outdoor and print campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi. Participants used their phones to send out real-time pictures, and soon thousands of home vids showed up on YouTube, drawing 2 million watchers.

Pretty good for a simple invite that said little more than please show up. T-Mobile’s “Life Is for Sharing” event is a textbook case for how social media is transforming the world of guerrilla marketing. Sure, simple word of mouth might have drawn just as big a crowd—but never in the four days between the first tweets and the actual event.

“In 2009 we saw the whole social media category go mainstream,” notes Sam Ewen, the founder and CEO of New York-based guerrilla firm Interference (read his editorial on page 22). “Community experience became a happening with guerrilla things like T-Mobile with its ‘Hey Jude’ sing-along.”

Seeking to create another “happening,” Ford reached for social media-augmented guerrilla for its 2011 Fiesta. The company chose 100 ordinary drivers and slid them each keys to a new sedan. The only requirement in the six-month freebie was for each motorist to blog, post and tweet about their experiences behind the wheel. “This is how the world talks to each other, for better or worse,” says Curt Jaksen, group account director, WPP’s Team Detroit. “It’s the evolution of word of mouth,” he says. “And it has become very powerful communication.”

Note that “for better or worse” bit. The downside to using social media in guerrilla executions is that marketers have to surrender a good amount of control. Ford was relieved by the overall favorable response, but just a few breakdowns could have changed the exercise into something far different. Connie Fontaine, brand content manager for Ford, observes that “it’s important to stay transparent with everything. Our credibility lies in letting the consumer shape the communications.”

That said, use of social media is fast becoming a natural extension of the guerrilla strategies everywhere. “Guerrilla marketing has traditionally required a lot of time, elbow grease and creativity instead of just spending big ad dollars,” says Erin Byrne, chief digital strategist, Burson Marsteller. “Social media is no different in that you have to be creative in creating content and an experience for people to want to carry the message for you.”

—Noreen O’Leary