Every now and again, it’s good to feel validated – and we did after watching Businessweek’s recent video post on guerrilla marketing “Guerrilla Marketing Goes Mainstream“.
The piece underscores what we’ve been saying for a decade now: guerrilla marketing is an economical and effective way to reach people directly.
It also highlights the fact that guerrilla marketing has come a long way from its humble beginnings as the red-headed stepchild of the marketing world and is currently enjoying tremendous growth as well as the embrace of major corporations.
Big Business doesn’t invest heavily in things that aren’t proven to show results. As Businessweek points out, consumers are exposed to approximately 300 advertisements every day. Breaking through that white noise – not to mention doing it on a recession-influenced budget – is where guerrilla marketing excels.
When executed properly, the impact of a creative, well-executed street-level campaign can blow traditional advertising and marketing results out of the water. Just ask the Seattle Sounders FC.
The Sounders faced a daunting proposition – launching a new team in market yet to be proven soccer-friendly. Rather than barrage Seattleites with sterile ads, the Sounders quite literally took their campaign to the streets (and also overpasses – more on that in a minute.)
A city-wide wildposting campaign slowly introduced the players, bringing the Sounders’ story to life and generating real excitement as people “met” the team and were urged to give them “your full 90” – a tagline repeated on billboards throughout the city.
The stand-out element of the campaign, however, was the “Scarf Seattle” movement, which saw Sounders scarves large and small draped in strategic locations throughout the city. As part of the push, posterGIANT carried out a rush hour promotion – an oversized scarf displayed by enthusiastic street teams on overpasses during the morning commute. It’s easy to ignore something you pass every day – it’s pretty difficult to overlook a gigantic, brightly colored scarf, even if the coffee hasn’t quite kicked in!
You want to talk ROI? For a minimal expenditure, the Sounders captured Seattle’s imagination, riled up team spirit for an unknown entity and scored a sold-out first season that was punctuated by a sea of blue and green scarves.
That’s just one of the many success stories we’ve been involved in. For more examples of how guerrilla marketing works and to see how it could work for you, visit our website at www.postergiant.net, check out our Facebook Page or connect with us on Twitter or Google+ to keep up with the latest happenings here at posterGIANT Inc.
