vrijdag 21 januari 2011

Heineken: Ultimate Guerrilla Marketing



The last article that I'm going to post is my favorite Guerrilla Marketing. This stunt is the whole reason I decided to dedicate this blog to Guerrilla Marketing. It's a Guerrilla Marketing stunt done by the beer brand Heineken.

Most people associate beer with men, and what better way to reach a large group of men by the number one male sport in the world, soccer. On the 21st of October, their was a champions league match between AC Milan and Real Madrid. In Italy, this is one of the biggest matches there is. So Heineken decided to play a joke on them. They had 100 girlfriends, 50 professors and a couple of journalists as their accomplices. These people told there boyfriends/students/employees that they would miss the match because they had to go to a string quartet. On the night of the game, 1136 victims were sitting in a big hall where they were going to watch a concert. They were filmed and aired all over the world. After about 15 minutes, they suddenly noticed the text were changing on the big screen above the quartet. It said that they were set up, and of course they wouldn't miss the match.

There are multiple reasons why this stunt is my all time favorite. I like the fact that they reached millions of people, because it was aired live before the game started. I like the fact that people actually were extremely relieved and happy when they found out that they wouldn't miss the game. And I think that Heineken really set a standard here about Guerrilla Marketing.


I'm sad to say that this was my last entry, but I found out that I really like writing these small posts. Maybe I'll start a new one some that, and I'll be sure to post the link here.

The Phone: Someone's calling



I'm almost at the end of my series of posts about Guerrilla Marketing. For this week I'll discuss a Guerrilla Marketing stunt which I watched on TV, far before I knew what Guerrilla Marketing even was. The stunt was designed for the TV-show The Phone. In this show people can win €25.000 by completing the challenges given to them through a mobile phone. These contestants are selected by answering a phone which is taped somewhere in a public area.

To promote this show, the art directors wanted to get the media's attention. They decided to pursue the media in the same way they selected their candidates. In a couple of live television shows they taped mobile phones under the table. When the show was airing live, the producers called the show to tell them when the new season of their show started.

A couple of days later the media bureau which was hired for this stunt, announced that with these simple calls, they reached over 5 million people. This to me means that the stunt was very successful, especially if you take into consideration that Holland only has 16 million people.

I liked this stunt for the element of surprise, and because a lot of people were witnesses of this stunt. Because their stunt took place live on the television, you really could see the first reaction of the persons who answered the phone. So in my opinion, this was a very successful Guerrilla Marketing stunt.

Burger King: Gone to BK - Ronald



My next topic will be the Guerrilla Marketing stunt by Burger King. The fast-food chain Burger King does a lot of Guerrilla Marketing stunt. Some were very successful, and some failed desperately. The one I'm going to discuss today is a attack on McDonald's to try to win over the Asian costumers. Employees of Burger King placed a lot of different Burger King items around McDonald's stores. Ronald McDonald, the mascot of McDonald's was dressed up in Burger King T-shirts. They placed huge footsteps from McDonald's up to Burger King and on empty benches before the McDonald's they left a note: “Gone to BK – Ronald”.

Even though I find the stunt amusing, I don't know if I really support the fact that they attacked another fast-food chain. Normally I would find it a bit offensive, but I don't mind this stunt that much. I think it's mostly because they used their mascot to say, Burger King is better, and didn't say McDonald's was bad.

McDonald's and Burger King are huge rivals, and they both make use of Guerrilla Marketing. I like both companies, but I think the Guerrilla Marketing stunts of Burger King are more creative and have a lot more effect. This wasn't even one of the biggest stunts, but I liked to review it because this was the only Guerrilla Marketing stunt were one brand uses another brand to make themselves look better.

The sopranos: Dead mafia in cab



Because I've talked about brands so much the past couple of weeks, I'll be doing something else this week. This week I'll talk about a Guerrilla Marketing stunt done to promote a TV-show. HBO's the Sopranos is a TV-show about a mafia family. So the Art directors thought it would be funny to use the mafia aspect of the show to create a buzz. They made several life-like arms and placed these at the back of several cabs who drive through New York. The arm made it look like there was a body in the trunk, and the arm was sticking out. Next to the arm they placed a bumper sticker of the sopranos, so people would get the gesture.

I do like this stunt, because it really relates to the subject that they're promoting. I do have one thing to say about this stunt though. I don't know if it was a smart move to only place a small bumper sticker on the back. People who see a arm hanging out of a trunk won't pay attention to that small sticker next to it. My first reaction would be to call the police, and I seriously wonder if not one of the witnesses of this stunt has called in this supposed 'crime'. I don't think the NYPD would be very thrilled getting phone calls all day about arms sticking out of trunks. But if this hasn't caused problems, I do think it's a funny Guerrilla Marketing stunt.

Bavaria: Danish or Dutch



One of the best known Dutch Guerrilla Marketing stunts was performed by the beer brand Bavaria. Bavaria wanted to promote their beer and the special dresses they made for the World Championship of soccer. So what better way to promote this than to do it during one of the soccer matches, Netherlands – Denmark . A group of good looking dutch girls dressed up like supporters of Denmark. Underneath these outfits, they all wore the orange Bavaria dutch dress. When the match started, they stripped from their Danish clothes and danced around in their orange dresses. Millions of people witnessed this, because it was all over international television.

This stunt became famous after two of the girls got arrested. Since Heineken was the official sponsor of the World Championship, it wasn't allowed to promote another beer brand in a 2 mile radius around the stadium. The arrest became world wide news, and Bavaria got a lot of publicity. Even though I don't agree with the saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity, I don't really believe this was a bad thing for the Bavaria brand. By most people, the FIFA was the bad guy in the story, and Bavaria wasn't doing anything illegal.

So to conclude this story, I do believe this Guerrilla Marketing was successful since almost everyone knew the brand Bavaria after this stunt. But I do believe that doing something illegal isn't the way to use Guerrilla Marketing as a promotional tool for your brand.

UNICEF: fancy a drink?



A company that uses a lot of Guerrilla Marketing to attract donors is UNICEF. There are many examples of Guerrilla Marketing stunts done by UNICEF, but I chose to discuss just one of them. My favorite stunt is the one with dirty bottled water. UNICEF bottled the dirty water that millions of children living in third world countries drink every day. They made a vending machine and placed it in the middle of the streets of New York. People who were passing by got offered a bottle of dirty water. There were different types of water, all named after a disease like hepatitis and cholera. Of course nobody wanted to drink this water, which was exactly the point UNICEF tried to make.

I like this stunt a lot, mainly because it really takes the essence of the action and brings it to the people. What I also think is really great, is that the people could actually donate fresh water to those children by buying one of the dirty bottles. Almost everyone donated, which is what this stunt was all about.

I do believe UNICEF attracted a lot of publicity by this stunt. The stunt was seen by millions of people on the internet, but also on the television, since press showed up when they heard about this stunt. I really believe that they made their cause know by this stunt, so in my opinion, this particular Guerrilla Marketing was very successful.

KLM: It's like you're sitting on air



My next Guerrilla Marketing stunt is a very simple one. It was done by the airline company KLM. To promote their Economy class, they placed a man in the middle of an airport. The man seemed to be sitting on nothing but air. Of course that was just an illusion, underneath his clothes was a chair shaped like the man. But a lot of people and especially children stopped to take a look at the man. Some passengers took photo's of the man, others tried to feel under him, as if there could be an invisible chair underneath him.

I'm not really enthusiastic about this stunt. I don't think the stunt was noticeable enough. If you're going on a trip or coming back from one you have a lot of other things on your mind. I don't think a sitting man is outgoing enough to be remembered. And even if they remembered it, they are probably wondering about how that man was sitting, and not about the Economy class of KLM.

I do believe it falls into the category of Guerrilla Marketing. It is a cheap and unexpected way to promote a service. I just don't believe it really created the buzz that a Guerrilla Marketing stunt often gets. And I think a stunt isn't successful until a lot of people talk about it with others. This is the way to check if a Guerrilla Marketing stunt actually had the effect the company had intended.

Red Bull: Street style competition



Red Bull created a world wide buzz with their Guerrilla Marketing stunt. In Egypt Red Bull hosts the Red Bull street style competition. Basically people show their skills with a soccer ball. To promote this, they played on one of the famous human insights of Egyptians. Whenever someone starts a fight, people gather around. So a couple of Egypt actors started fights in busy placed. But instead of actually fighting, they challenged each other in a street style battle.

What I like about this particular stunt is that they chose multiple places, and bystanders could join in. In one fight you actually see bystanders getting involved by trying to stop the fight. I also like the fact that this Guerrilla Marketing is done by people instead of objects. This way the actors can adapt to the current audience, and it's really cheap.

What I dislike about this stunt is that it involves arguments. I think a Guerrilla Marketing stunt has to be positive, and even though it attracts a lot of people, I don't think yelling and arguing with another is the right way to attract that attention. On the other hand, they do set the example of competing against each other instead of fighting, which is a good message to send out.

Even though I wouldn't have done this Guerrilla Marketing stunt, I do feel like it worked in the end. The video's went around the world, and ultimately the audience was enthusiastic about the stunt. In the end, it's the audience who decides if a Guerrilla Marketing is actually successful.


McDonald's: You coffee is ready



My next entry is about a Guerrilla Marketing stunt by McDonald's. McDonald's had a promotional action where they gave away free coffee for two weeks. To promote this action, they decides to use Guerrilla Marketing. They hang posters of a cup of McDonald's coffee in a couple of bus stops. What people didn't know was that there was a steam generator build into these bus stop posters. Sporadically a burst of steam came out, showing the hidden message on the poster: 'Your coffee is ready'.

I watched the movie of this stunt on Youtube, and what I loved the most about it were the peoples faces. They all were waiting patiently for their bus to come, not even noticing the posters. Then steam comes up and they all start to look. It showed to me that it was a great way of making people notice you. And this is also what I love the most of Guerrilla Marketing, it is unexpected.

I do wonder if the stunt had the effect that McDonald's wanted. I don't think many people will go and get coffee when they are waiting on the bus, because they could miss it. And will people really remember this stunt at the end of the day, and tell their friends about it? Was is even that obvious that the message was send by McDonald's? All things aside, I do believe the stunt itself was original and well executed, I only doubt if it had the expected outcome.

Jägermeister: Unleash the beast



This time I'll be discussing two Guerrilla Marketing stunts in stead of one. Both stunts were developed and executed by the same brand, Jägermeister. Jägermeister goes by the slogan: Unleash the Beast. A slogan that they took very literally in their first stunt. They placed an empty cage in the middle of a street in Amsterdam, from which the bars were broken and bend. A near by liquor store had a smashed in window and the road was blocked by police. People walked by in shock, before they understood that it was just a stunt by Jägermeister. The other stunt was placing an enormous cube of ice on a limousine. The block of Ice had bottles of Jägermeister in it. Most passengers stopped to take a look, and a couple of them even started to chop the ice cube to get a bottle out.

What I think is so great about these stunts, is that Jägermeister really focused on his target market. Even though the stunts were witnessed by a lot of people, it had the most success on the teenagers and young adults, which is in fact Jägermeister's target audience.

What I do have to say about these stunts is that they both cost a lot of money. A limousine costs a lot, and so does a shop window. Therefore, even though I really like these stunts, I don't think they are the best examples of Guerrilla stunts.



Nike: Run on air



September the 22nd is the international car-free day. This is why the sports brand Nike decided to promote their new running shoes. There tools were simple, some cardboard cut-outs and a couple of papers looking like fines. On hundreds of cars around the city of Prague, they placed cardboard's looking like running shoes on the tires. They stuck the note on the window, just like the police does. The message of Nike was simple: Run on air. I like this particular stunt because it's so simple and still very clever. Not only did they promote their sport shoe, they also had a little environmental statement hidden in their message. Car's run on gas, which is bad for the environment, while air is everywhere and causes no harm what so ever. Maybe they even tried to make an health related statement, after all, running is far better than driving.

For me, this is what Guerrilla marketing is all about. It doesn't cost a lot, it makes people laugh and it's something people like to tell their friends. I do have a lot of stunts which I'm going to discuss in the next few weeks, but I started with this one because I really believe that this is the essence of Guerrilla marketing.

The last thing I'm going to say about this stunt, is that I think Nike is doing a great job rebuilding it's image. They had to deal with a lot of negative publicity when it became know that their shoes where made by use of child labor. Their image was destroyed, and I think stunts like this make people forget the bad things the company has done in the past.