On The Ground Looking Up

Look Up In The Sky...It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Guerrilla Marketing!

Anson Burtch gave us the tip on this one. For the upcoming superhero movie Chronicle, which features some flying characters, Thinkmodo created flying devices in the shape of human forms and flew them in some public parks around New York City. The visual comes off pretty well if you ask me and nice use of technology and experience. I think it may have been more appropriate to do it at Sundance or SXSW to get crowds involved instead of relatively empty parks (it is not just about the viral video folks) but still, it worked well on camera. 

How could this be utilized to get crowds interested and as the article points out, how easy will it be for the audience to make the connection?

Also via Techcrunch

Order Room Service - Check, Steal A Banksy - Check

Interesting idea here and certainly one to generate interest among the art set. Art Series Hotels in Australia is offering guests the chance to steal one of two Banksy pieces, No Ball Games and Pulp Friction. The deal, if you can get away with the crime, you get to keep the valuable art. Supposedly one has successfully been stolen while one still remails.

Clandestine collectors have used tactics ranging from re-wiring the internal security cameras so would be thieves couldn't be seen to scantily clad women distracting staff.

I wonder if Banksy would approve?

 

*Thanks Sasha for the hookup via Juxtapoz.

Romeo & Juliet - The Graffiti Social Media Version

Not sure who the creator of this street art gem is but originally shot by Irit.

When Good Ideas Get Stolen - The Blood Edition

Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But what about when your direct competitor blatently steals the exact same idea? Usually we don't see this on the upper rungs of brand fame and brand managers tend to not want to draw any attention to their competition, it is more likey to happen with smaller companies who are just grasping for something to stand out.

So, I was really surprised as I was going through my blog list this morning and I came across this promotion in Romania for HBO's True Blood.

Which would have been super sweet if not that Showtime had done the EXACT same idea for Dexter a few years ago.

I mean come on, in the world of Google how can we as agencies not do our homework and perhaps put a small twist on the creative that will discern us from directly copying our main rival. Sadly, it probably did get them a fair amount of attention on the back of the originator of the concept.

Be Brave Get Free Beer

No, not a promo for Sons of Anarchy (awesome show btw) but for Carlsberg beer. Are you brave enough to hang with this crowd as you and your date go to the movies? If so, you are rewarded with a cold beer!

 

Creative Guerrillas Take On White Supremacists

In one of the more brilliant guerrilla initiatives I have seen in a while, a group called Exit Deutschland sent a large batch of t-shirts to an right wing event on August 6th in Germany to be distributed to attendees. The shirts bore a skull and crossbones and the message 'Hardcore Rebels - National and Free.'  The rub is that after the first washing, the message changed to read 'If your T-shirt can do it, so can you. We'll help to free you from right-wing extremism.'

While we don't know how many minds it changed, it was a great awareness activation and I am sure it got under the skin of the target group they most want to effect.

It also reminds me of the protest clothing line targeting airport security's use of x-ray scanners from 4th Amendment Wear.  If you have not seen that, it was wonderful as well.

 

VIA and ThePentagon.

Top 7 SharkWeek Marketing Stunts

As Tracy Jordan so eloquently put it, "Live every week like it's SharkWeek"

Well the 24th SharkWeek is upon us and in recognition of this special time of planktonian fear I bring you the top 7 SharkWeek Marketing Stunts ever created. 

 

7. Australia Coastal Watch - Lovely little map trickery for the Australian edition.(Thx Cor for the memories :)

6. Worlds Largest Aerial Billboard - At over 13,000 square feet we created this gem to buzz the people of Los Angeles, giving them quite the scare. It was the largest aerial billboard ever at point of creation, that may no longer be true. (Disclosure: we did this)

5. SharkFin Media - For 2 weeks this 30 foot Shark Fin floated the waterways of New York and The Hamptons (also an Interference project).

4. Shark Runners - area/code created this gem for the 20th anniversary. It was a hybrid online-offline game where you maneuvered your virtual boat through dangerous waters trying to find sharks. The catch, the movement of the sharks was real as actual sharks were tagged with GPS.

3. SharkBite Media - Done in NY and LA, we found anything we could get on Ebay and Craigslist and took a shark bite out of it. The pieces were then stenciled and left around for people to see, photograph and steal. Many ended up back on the sites we bought them from, this time at a higher price.

This idea was then copied borrowed for another promotion for SharkWeek Australia (see below)

 

2. Discovery's Offices Have Been SharkWeek'd - This huge and pressworthy inflatable showed up a few years ago (and has made a return visit here and there since) generating some serious excitement around SilverSpring, MD and it made many headlines as well. Interference did not do this one, but I wish I had :)

1. The 80ft Underwater Billboard - As mentioned too many times, one of the campaigns I am most proud of in my career.

Why Take The Stairs When You Can Slide To The Train

Enter the Transfer Accelerator from Dutch rail company ProRail. They wanted to give commuters and easier, and certainly more exciting way, to get to their train. We need these in NYC, although I am not sure where to slide your metrocard.

And on video

via and via

D*Face Creates Generative Skateboard Art

Artist D*Face has come up with a mounting kit for skateboards that uses spray paint to color while you ride. Attached to the bottom of the board, the can paints the lines your board travels creating a completely unique art piece based on your riding style. And of course, he brought it to an empty pool. NIKE can't be far behind on this type of idea.

Thanks to Happybox for the find.

Band Releases New Single On Edible Record

Scottish band FOUND needed to get some attention for thier new single "Anti-Climb Paint." So instead of going the way of embedding the mp3 in a hidden level of Angry Birds, they went analog, and not only analog, but edible analog.

The 7" record as well as the sleeve it comes in are completely edible. And yes, the record does play.

For more info and a vid about project, click on over here.