On The Ground Looking Up

Keep Calm

Hello Friday.

Random Images From My Desktop 28

Nagi Noda's Hair Hats Have Guerrilla Stunt Written All Over Them

I have seen these across a few blogs recently, but the more I look at them, the more I realize that if someone adapts this idea for a public spectacle, it will get some serious attention.

Nagi Noda's Hair Hats (click for interactive image)

When is the Westminster dog show again?

Originally seen on Blog Gamil

 

The Revolution Will Not Be DataVisualized

A small techno-nerd homage to Gil Scott Heron.

10 Years After — 4. 10 Campaigns I Created That Made 10 Years Worth It

I am often asked the question "What is your favorite campaign that you have created over the years?" and most often my response is something along the lines of "Well, honestly, by the time the campaign is executed and done, I have spent so much time on it that I am ready to move on to the next idea." and that is not far from the truth, creative sparks are amazing yet when working on the idea for 16 weeks straight, you start to look forward to when it will be finished. But obviously, there have been jobs we have executed that stand out in my mind as being at the core of who we are and personify our vision. So looking back at the hundreds of clients we have worked on over the last 10 years, I decided to pick out 10 campaigns that to me are special, listed in no particular order.

1. Shark Week - Discovery Channel

This was the first really big execution we did for Discovery Channel's Shark Week. An 80 foot shark on the bottom of the pool at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (We also did a slightly smaller one in Orlando). We received 5 news stories about the campaign and were one of the first to do underwater media.

 
In addition to the underwater billboards above, in NY and LA we created Shark Bite media. We bought hundreds of items off of Ebay and Craigslist, had bites taken out of them, stenciled them, and then left them on the streets for people to see and take. Everything from cars and surfboards to office desks and pet carriers were branded. This is one my all time favorite ideas and was lifted for Shark Week Australia 2 years ago.

 

A 30' floating shark fin prowled the waters from NYC to the Hamptons for 2 weeks to promote another season of Shark Week.

2. Le Tigre Launch

We were asked to help create a guerrilla  plan for the Le Tigre clothing brand relaunch. We had three main ideas. 1- Use the iconic logo and create clings that we could apply to any and every advertisement we saw. They may be promoting Apple, but they are wearing Le Tigre. 2. Clean Graffiti - We were the first to bring Clean Graffiti to the states and worked with the originator of the idea, Moose, to make it work. 3. Sponsorship take-over. Lacoste was the apparel sponsor of the US Open, and was giving away keychains. So we decided to take a group of guys and gals, give them 10,000 polo shirts over 3 days to distribute, and have them ride the 7 train out to the tennis stadium. They would get on the train 3 stops before the stadium, anyone who had a ticket to the US Open could choose their size and color of polo for free while on the train. The team then rode the train one extra stop and came back to do it again. What it meant was that more people were wearing and connecting with Le Tigre then Lacoste, and yet the competition nor US Open sponsorship team, had any idea how we were getting the product inside. This earned us national press and helped launch the brand to it's target audience.

3. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
What started as an insider campaign meant to target a diehard niche audience ended up being a national controversy when the people and authorities of Boston mistook our electronic graffiti for 'suspicious devices.' Quite possibly the most insecure moment of my career as we saw an idea intended for one thing, spiral into something very different. Yes, it raised our profile greatly, but I still stand by the fact that both we and our client would not have wanted this type of attention and that the whole thing was blown out of proportion. One up side is that we were referred to on the Colbert Report, which to this day is still on my DVR.

A year later, some artists in Boston turned me into a SamTravisEwenite as a tribute.

4. Vespa Free Parking

I love the simple ideas. To promote the eco-friendly Vespa, we chopped traditional parking spaces meant for 1 car, into mini parking spaces for 8 Vespas. For a month Vespas could park free in them at parking lots across manhattan.  

 

 

 

 

 

5. Women & Company

The women's financial membership service from Citigroup came to us early on and we worked together for 5 years creating a variety of ground level media and promotions. The above, to use actual mirrors as our outdoor campaign, back in 2004, was very unique and tied in very well to the brand promise to personalize the financial planning experience.

6. SONY Ericsson Stealth Campaign

The 7 city stealth marketing campaign done with Fathom Communications for the SONY Ericsson T68i phone in 2003 was the first time that we saw major press with a creative idea. The Wall Street Journal broke the campaign about our 'Fake Tourists' going around and asking people to take their photo in front of major city sights, only the tourists would not hand a camera, but would instead hand over the T68i (the first phone in the US with a camera attached, ahhh the good old days). This went over well with some, not so well with others, but along with all of the other tactics employed, helped launch an industry. A recent film, The Joneses, largely takes from this campaign.  

7. Come Home For The Holidays with HGTV

This campaign done with Doner for HGTV was not the easiest we have ever done. We had to build a 3000 square foot house in 3 days in Herald Square, NYC right before Thanksgiving. We then had thousands of people come through and record holiday greetings for their family, who they were generally not with, so that they could virtually be 'Home for the Holidays.' Those videos were then burned on a DVD and could be watched, downloaded or emailed from the application. It rained 2 of the 3 nights we were building as well, and then the temp dropped 20 degrees, meaning we had to bring in extra heating units. In the end we still had over 10,000 people come through the house, meet the HGTV stars and share some seasonal love with their families which made all the work pay off. 

8.GE Appliances - High Profile Pair In The Square

It takes over 3000 articles of clothing to cover 7 blocks of Times Square with laundry lines. We found this out the hard way. For this event, to launch the GE Profile Washer/Dryer that could do 6 months of laundry without refilling the detergent, we had the idea to cover Times Square in laundry.  Over 1200 feet of laundry lines were installed through 7 blocks of the busiest neighborhood in the world all of which ended in huge inflatable versions of the Washer/Dryer pair. We also had celebrity jeans that we were auctioning off with The Biggest Loser's Alison Sweeney for charity. The campaign was extremely successful garnering over 125 million press impressions and raising thousands of dollars for the Clothes Off Our Back charity.

9.TLC Overhaulin'

Another one of those simple ideas that just made sense. For the TLC show Overhaulin', we found real old beater cars on craigslist, and then had half of them tricked out to show that a transformation was happening. Since this was in essence what the show did, it felt right. Tow Truck Media! We then hired tow trucks to drive the modified cars around NY, Chicago and DC to the delight and wonder of the crowds around. Any place the trucks stopped, we would immediately be overloaded with questions, requests for samples and more than anything requests for pictures with the car. One of the Overhaulin' cars was in the Discovery Channel/TLC Lobby last time I went to visit.

10. Nurse Jackie - The RX Games

 
To promote season 2 of Showtime's Nurse Jackie, we created The RX Games, a charity event for New York's finest nurses, nursing students and select charities. The event brought the stars and those they portray together for a unique event that raised $100,000 for the charities that participated. The American Cancer Society team was the big winner but the opportunity to raise awareness about an often under-appreciated segment of the healthcare industry, while also giving a nod to the new season of Nurse Jackie was a big win for us and this event was one of the most fun and exciting events we have done.

10 Years After — 2. On Sampling, Brand Ambassadors and Booth Babes

In my second post reflecting on the last 10 years, I want to focus on what many people consider to be at the heart of Guerrilla Marketing, the Brand Ambassador (or sampler, evangelist, promoguys, hot chicks who hand out stuff, etc. depending on who you are talking to). These are often the face of the brand in live executions and their roll has changed quite a bit over the years.   

When we started out, one of the tasks that we undertook was to create a solid nationwide collection of brand ambassadors and local market managers. Having often outsourced this task with some of my other ventures, I knew the value of a good, dedicated set of people that you could trust to replicate the creative vision in their local market and did not feel like the nationwide staffing companies, in general could guarantee that. I also made two decisions that could get in the way of business growth, I felt I needed to institute. The first was that we would pay our brand ambassadors 10-20% above market average depending on the complexity of the job. The second was that they would get paid at maximum three weeks after they worked (usually 2 weeks), regardless if we received payment from our client or not.

These rules were put in place for a few very simple reasons. Loyal people will work harder for you and if you pay a premium, you can expect a premium. The staff that we have worked with, over 7,000 of them in all across the world, understood that we were going to take care of them and in return we wanted them to work harder, be more engaging and be focused on our job only when they were on site.  We were very specific in training them, hiring them and overseeing them in the field. Nobody got a job without being interviewed, without role-playing, without being able to correctly communicate the specific brand values, copy points, and promotion we were selling. And  we cut the bottom 10% of performers after every job, so the best always rose to the top.  And in exchange, they were paid better, and they always knew when their compensation was coming. And 10 years later, we still do the same thing.

We have had staff working everything from early mornings at the Today Show, very late nights in seedy bars, the hottest night clubs there are and at trade shows all over the world. Our staff have delivered product to key influencers in France, Japan and Kuala Lumpur among other foreign lands and have dressed as cavemen and wandered the streets of major cities instructed to not utter a single English word, only to grunt and climb.  For a large percentage of our jobs we have utilized these people to represent our clients, our company and me personally, and I believe they have done an amazing job at it. Of course there were the few that we had to reprimand here and there, fire on the spot or pay for their mistakes, but in general, our commitment to them and in turn, theirs to us has helped us do some outstanding work and they deserve every bit of praise I can give. I still run into some of the early promo staff here and there. Some have gone on to successful acting careers, some started their own companies and a surprising amount of them ended up in Real Estate, but across the board they mention how good it was to work with us for the few years that most of them did and how we took care of them and taught them some useful skills that they still utilize.

It is amazing to me how the role of the brand ambassador has changed in those 10 years. There has been a transition from BAs focused on handing out large numbers of free samples to brand ambassadors now being utilized to perform and generate truly creative experiences. Where we have often measured their success in their take rate, now we often measure the number of views their viral videos receive.  At one point it was about how little can we get them to wear, now we are seeing more elaborate costumes and how we can embed social technologies into the costumes themselves (that battery pack goes where?!?!).

Brand ambassadors are often hired for their ability to be engaging, attractive and convincing but unlike 10 years ago, now they are often asked to bring in their social networks into the promotion as a part of the job (Have 1150 twitter followers? You are hired!).  Back then nobody had ever heard of a FlashMob or a Pop-up store, now they are already becoming old hat.  In essence the nature of the experience has changed and the sampler/BA role has adapted with it.  

There is one thing that has really changed in regards to effectively staffing a promotion, guerrilla action or tradeshow, and not for the better.  Yes, I am talking about our friend the smart phone. It is one of the single hardest challenges we have had to deal with. Effecitive brand ambassadors have to be in a head-up position. They have to be able to see their target audience coming down the block or hall and using body language, eye contact and often a simple smile, put that person at ease. With smart phones and the realities of texting, email, Twitter, Facebook, and all of the other distractions hitting the small screen, those same people who are the face of the brand now adopt a head-down posture, where not only are they very often not paying attention to who is approaching and where the traffic flow is coming from, but those that do want information or a sample feel like they are interrupting the staffer because they seem ‘busy.’  It makes the job of managing and getting a great experience much harder and you literally have staff that will not take a job if they are told they have to leave their phone in their bag as if it is an appendage they cannot live without. Don’t get me wrong, I would be lost without my devices, but for a brand looking to create quality connections, smart phones are the enemy.

I think as we become an even more social and connected society, that the brand ambassador role will continue to change and evolve with it. Evangelists with large social followings may command more dollars and importance in the promotion process. Looks and attitude will still be desired, but so will those with strong valued voices. The sphere of influence is widening and those whom we often hired to be outgoing and approachable are doing so in their own lives and may realize that connection is currency, and that should be encouraged. Don’t get me wrong, people will always take free stuff or want to talk to a handsome actor looking to introduce the latest energy drink, but the more that those instances live beyond the specific point of contact, the more valuable they become.

GuerrillArt - Darth Vader, Urinal Wars

Awesome find from @jiminyoo

If Nike Made Cars

<Via>

Free Beer, Topless Bartenders and...

Could not have said it better myself.

 

Stolen from Advertising Is Good For You

Random Images From My Desktop - Volume 27

There is an idea here...

Dark Side Of The Dorito

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