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Daredevils Not Required for Stunt Marketing

 

-- As seen in the Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Memphis Daily News, by Lori Turner, Managing Partner --

 

We could all learn a marketing lesson from the Miss America pageant, which debuted back in 1921 as a stunt to draw tourists to Atlantic City after the high season. It’s proof that no daredevil is required for stunt marketing, which is anything unusual or spectacular done to gain publicity or generate buzz.

 

One of the most common forms of guerrilla marketing, stunts can make your brand stand out, breaking through the messaging clutter. A good stunt’s buzz can long outlive your campaign.

 

In Sydney, Australia, the Aussie Coffee Festival created a replica of the Mona Lisa out of coffee. “Artists” used varying shades of light and dark coffee (3,600 cups) to make a 20 foot by 13 foot marketing masterpiece. 

 

The obscure coffee festival created a whirlwind of international buzz by using good old-fashioned ingenuity with little financial investment – that’s the idea behind guerrilla marketing. 

 

Why was it so effective? The stunt aligned with what festival organizers understood about prospective participants – upscale with an appreciation for fine art.

 

It’s easier to create an effective stunt if awareness is the only goal. With a complex message, more skill and creativity are required.

 

Writer, director and Tennessee native Quentin Tarantino is known for his edgy films. So, movie promoters used equally controversial guerrilla marketing techniques to generate buzz around Tarantino’s Death Proof.

 

Passersby on a busy street corner in the Netherlands were startled to see a severed arm lying on the sidewalk. Upon closer scrutiny, they noticed the gory movie prop was holding a copy of the Death Proof DVD. The buzz was global.

 

Either one of these stunts could have just as easily been executed by a small business here in Memphis. That’s the beauty of guerrilla marketing. It’s the great equalizer, allowing small businesses to compete with the big dogs because it relies more on creativity than cash.

 

The danger with stunt marketing is that failure can be very public and costly.

 

Adult Swim, an adult-oriented cable TV network featuring animated shows, learned that lesson with a stunt in 2007.

 

To promote animated program “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” the network placed 40 lighted electronic boards (looking similar to the Lite Bright I played with as a child) across the city of Boston projecting images of the show’s lead characters.

 

For its targeted consumer niche, it clearly resonated. For the rest of the city, in a post 9-11 environment, mysterious electronic gadgets placed near bridges and high-traffic areas caused alarm.

 

Bomb squads were called and major traffic arteries were shut down. The cost to the city, and ultimately to the network, was huge.

 

In hindsight, Adult Swim would have gotten feedback from a variety of stakeholders before launching a stunt. They might have also considered testing their stunt somewhere low profile before launching it full scale.

 

While we should learn from Adult Swim’s mistakes, don’t let them deter you from stunt marketing as a way to stretch a limited marketing budget.

 

Looking for support in developing your firm’s guerrilla marketing strategy? Email Rover.

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