Communicating with Guerillas

Came across this article on CBC and it just goes to show you that guerilla, grassroots or any other type of marketing takes just as much coordination as putting together a mailing campaign or radio advertisement. It talks about a new campaign that Ikea has been trying throughout Canada where they spray paint "Any space can be beautiful" on a bland, high-trafficked area around the city. These spaces send people to the http://www.anyspacecanbebeautiful.ca/ website which allows consumers to post photos of the rooms they need a makeover on. Other people that go to the website can vote on which space they think deserves to win a $15,000 makeover. Seems like a pretty well thought out concept.

Just one problem.....it was not communicated/coordinated well between the parties involved.

The ads were spraypainted on city property without city approval, okay no problem that is part of guerilla marketing.

But then they painted them on the storefronts of other businesses, why would another business allow you to get away with advertising on it???? Not well executed. There definately needed to be more direction or more hands on supervision from the creative agency over the painting company. Now they have to power wash all the ads off at their own cost, while losing some of the impact of the campaign.

Now some of the points of the article are completely irrelevant such as the business owners claim that Ikea can afford billboards and tv so they shouldn't be using such a tactic. As a small owner it's understandable that he was frustrated with them advertising on his space but they probably paid a good chunk of money for this campaign. And just because you are a large corporation does not mean you are excluded from using different/inventive marketing tactics.

Sex saves the environment

This is one of my favourite marketing stories of the year and it comes out of the Fast Company blog. Everybody knows that marketing with a green twist is a great way to show your business is socially responsible and get brownie points from consumers. You may have thought in the past "I don't know if my company can take advantage of this marketing fad to help us engage customers."

......and then this story came along

"You know Thomas, this economic downturn has really affected our brothel. Not nearly as many people these days are paying for sex! It's like they realized it was an unnecessary cost, so they are now going to the bars and trying to pick up girls with the rest of the male population."

"I know. But don't worry I have a way to get press, make our brothel appear environmentally concious, and get more guys in the door. We'll offer a $7 discount for anyone who bike or take the train to their chikka chikka bow wow."

"Next step..........carpool discount!"

GM still singing the blue

In an update to my post from yesterday GM has decided to thankfully stay with the blue background for its logo. Smart decision i'd say.

Here's the post from Marketing News.

All in all Mr. Henderson seems to be making sense, my only problem came with this line

The new company will focus on three top priorities, customers, cars and culture, Henderson said

Okay.......either that is the dumbest statement ever or that just goes to show you why this company is in such trouble. They didn't even know that "Cars" or "Customers" should have been a top priority!!!!! It took a trip to bankruptcy to make this obvious????

Why are Bentleys so expensive?

They have style, tradition, and exclusiveness going for them, along with top of the line parts and performance. But here is one reason that they don't advertise...




I wouldn't be surprised if this video starts getting some pretty good viral action going for itself. Who doesn't enjoy watching an incredibly committed crackhead attempting to break into a luxury car at 3 in the morning.

But that being said, this is the kind of video that brands dream about people posting to youtube. They didn't have to do anything and their customer is happy and bragging to all of his no-doubt equally rich friends about how his Bentley can't be stolen. It's interesting to think about how a brand can utilize such great social marketing material such as this video. In Bentley's case, a page on their website where their customers can upload videos/pictures/stories of their favourite Bentley moments, like Tim Horton's did with everycup.ca, would not fit their upscale, posh brand image. But wouldn't a marketing video made up of amateur videos such as this one showing off the cars' impressive unknown characteristics be a great in-house sales tool? Or a great way to go even more viral?

Oh and here is what the car looked like after that fellows repeated attempts to gain entry.

GM to turn tides from Blue to Green?

Let me start by saying this isn't confirmed, nor does it sound like its anywhere near officially occuring for GM, but according to Marketing News a source has told them that GM is considering switching the blue background of their logo to green.

Firstly, I think this is a bad idea because I don't see GM being able to back up this change, which would in essence symbolize the movement to a greener, more efficient car company. There is a scene in the hilarious tv sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Dennis attempts to become an environmentalist by showing up at a dump in a cashmere sweater and Range Rover to help people recycle products that have been thrown away. He is immediately called out by the environmentalists as a part-time enviro and ridiculed.

That is how I see that GM experiment working. Everyone would see right through the plan and they would be further ridiculed for trying to talk the talk without walking the walk.

Now, that being said, if GM were to switch their logo to green and then immediately back it up by putting the Volt and other seemingly green cars on the market then I think they would stand a better chance of pulling it off.

Check out It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia if you haven't already, definately better than another GM blog post from yours truly.

My 2 cents on Free

There is a large discussion going on in the marketing world these days about Chris Anderson's new book Free - The Future of a Radical Price. Now, I haven't read the book yet but you can basically get a sense of what it is about by reading some of the reviews/postings about it (they are all available on this squidoo page). Some of the biggest names out there have chimed in including Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, and Mitch Joel. This clearly is a topic of great interest/debate.

From what i've read so far, the book is about the idea/marketing of Free as opposed to charging for something. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a review that didn't take Chris' side and has sparked Godin, Joel and others to come out on Anderson's side. These blogs actually provide some fascinating reading and some very interesting points of view regarding how the digital landscape is taking the world towards getting most anything "Free".

In my mind the process of moving towards a Free world is essentially already happening as we speak. More and more companies are making things available to their consumers without charge, and many of them are finding this as a great way to build brand loyalty, cross-sell, and up-sell. Now, they aren't giving away everything for free but they are providing value to their consumers without charging for it. Maybe Coca-cola has a water park set up for a weekend for children to enjoy free of charge or as discussed in the book Amazon gives away Free shipping for purchases over a certain amount. Free is being leveraged everywhere and is a great way for your company to keep your customers engaged and satisfied. Mitch Joel and Seth Godin are giving away their marketing/digital/management opinions for free on their blogs, would any company have given away their intelletual property 50 years ago? 25 years ago? 10 years ago? The digital landscape and the transfer of information as a result have changed business dramatically and your company had better be willing to adapt and take advantage of this new world. Otherwise your competitors will snag your customers for Free.

Manners when you have a monopoly

Here's the situation: In a north american city (let's call it Vancouver), the taxi cab companies essentially have a deal with each other that means specific companies rule over areas of the city. For example, if you need a cab in North Vancouver you have to go through North Shore Taxi. So they drop you off downtown and now you want a ride home from this same cab company that offered good service to get you downtown. Not possible. The only way for them to pick you up downtown is if one of their cabs happens to be driving by and someone flags it down while its empty. An odd system which leads to a sort of monopoly mentality amongst the cab companies.

Here's the main problem that comes with all this, the customer service is downright embarassing and the majority of that can probably be attributed to the monopolistic way of this business.

So if you have a monopoly should you really treat your customers any different than if there is fierce competition in your business area???

No, you shouldn't. Especially not in this day and age. Consumers will find a way to call you out and eventually something will enter the market that removes the need for your service. 2 such things entering the market in this fictional city of Vancouver are Zip Car and Keys Please.

Zip Car allows people without cars a way to basically rent a car for an hourly rate. The gas, insurance and kilometers are included in the hourly price which comes in at a reasonable $9.75 during the week and $10.25 on weekends. Compare that to a taxi which can cost someone upwards of $30 for a 20 minute ride. It sells itself really.

Another common reason for needing a cab is if you have driven your car to a friends place and one Zima soon turns into 12. Now you need to get home without endangering yourself or others on the road. Well, you can call Keys Please and have your car driven home right behind you as you get a ride. So instead of having to deal with a cab company and then somehow reaquire your car in the morning, your car is waiting for you in your driveway the next morning. Now you just have to remember how it got there.

So, these alternatives may have arrived on the scene whether the taxi companies' customer service was exceptional or not, but I guarantee you they will have more success due to customers frustration in dealing with the monopolistic cab companies. We'll see how this plays out but if the cab companies had the attitude of building customer loyalty instead of providing the bare minimum level of service then they might have more success in the future.