Guerrillas of Marketing – In Our Midst

Imagine you are waiting at the Park St. Station for the next green line train–and for what seems like an hour. An Alewife bound train has just dumped a flood of businessmen into the station and now they all herd towards the financial district. Suddenly a group of ghostly looking commuters break into a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’ Following a five-minute verse and chorus performance, the dancers disperse into the crowd, the music fades away, and it is as if nothing ever happened.
The situation is hypothetical. But what would your reaction be if you were there to witness the performance? Would you applaud, call security, or look for a hat to drop some change? Or might you take a 30 second video clip with your hand held all in one phone (email, text, mp3 player, digital camera, and video recording)? Anything is possible.
In fact, the Thriller Stunt was really executed in the London Underground and the Sydney Opera House, among other places. Of course, videos were shot of theses performances edited and uploaded onto YouTube. When the number of viewers soared to over 1 million, Sony BMG executives patted themselves on the shoulder.
The ‘Thriller’ dancers were set up as a guerilla-marketing stunt meant to spread virally to commemorate ‘Thriller’s’ 25th anniversary. Including original content and bonus tracks from Kanye West and Fergie, the Sony BMG album quickly became a favorite in Europe, even becoming a number one hit in France.
Faced with Michael Jackson’s tarnished reputation and his desire to shy away from public performances, the label was searching for an unconventional approach to promote the album’s release. The solution took full advantage of the adage that “no press is bad press”. Sony executives equate these street productions to an ongoing effort to “reach consumers without turning them off.” With most of the ‘Thriller’ marketing being targeted towards a younger demographic, the guerilla tactics proved successful.
Roger Menz, Sony’s VP for international strategic marketing, was quoted by the New York Times. “It’s really guerrilla marketing”, he said. “You go in, do your thing, and leave as fast as you can. There was never any intention to hand out leaflets and say ‘Thriller’ is coming out again. It’s just bringing ‘Thriller’ back in the minds of people, but without the hard sell.”
Traditionally, the music market chose outlets like radio, print, retail POS, concert, and merchandise as a means for marketing. This is where the “hard sells” happen. With this generation’s mentality of “out with old and in with new”, we’ve been seeing more and more creative attempts to promote the not so popular CD. And along with the guerrilla efforts mentioned earlier, Sony created a website to embed a 3-d avatar into the video. Such approaches tactics, of course, add great value to a campaign, especially if the site is attractive.
Some efforts are impressive. The NIN Year Zero release in 2007 on Interscope Records included encrypted t-shirt messages, numerous websites, a virtual game, and some abandoned USB drives. Then there was Band in a Bubble. Originally designed for an art installation, this bold invention turned out to be an advertiser’s dream, but a brand over-kill. With the introduction of USB drive releases, moreover, we may go so far as to alter one of the four p’s of marketing, i.e., packaging.
Other non–music related companies, such as Craftsman’s Tools, are embracing viral, guerilla and experiential marketing. And in the music industry, for instance, product companies like Korg are now looking for an experiential outlet for their consumers, such that they can touch and interact with the gear, further enforcing the “try then buy mentality”. Media companies in music, such as Fuse TV, have begun scouting for new marketing approaches.
This increase in the demand of non-traditional marketing campaign is known well to me, for my employer is Street Attack Marketing. I have had the privilege of working there since last October. This Boston based “think tank” began in 2001 and specializes in new marketing tactics, online viral, outdoor alternative media, light projections, wild-postings, and mobile marketing.
With clients like Miller Brewing Company, Propellerheads, and Red Bull, we see a variety of products looking for a distinctive marketing edge on a daily basis. In my job, I get to let my creativity run lose and then deliver it to the public. This business forces me to stay on top of up-coming and current trends in the music, arts, and culture scenes, both nationally and internationally. I need to constantly be thinking of new ideas, developments, and trends that I can implement into programs for our clients
Increased interest in these new marketing methods are driven by a generation that thrives on over-stimulation. Conventional methods just blend into the background and never really strike. Yet the music industry landscape is starting to target the individual rather than blanket target the crowd.
In the end, though, it must be remembered that current practice are not entirely original. You can take an old idea (like the ‘Thriller’ video), and recreate it in an unconventional way (like dancing live in the London Underground). Moreover, documentation of non-traditional marketing existed, for instance, already back in 1911, when sales associates of Heinz Vinegar went door-to-door demonstrating the product, in effect practicing experiential marketing. With time, their efforts created an in-store demand that shop owners could not ignore. Heinz became an instant household name.

By Selena Hoover

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