What's the problem UTA...Gorillas or Guerrillas?

Recently we've taken to the streets to break up the cold and monotonous winter commute many of us that live in Utah are faced with.

We thought it'd be fun to have a couple of our street team members dress up in Gorilla Costumes with MINDWISE T-shirts and ride the public light rail. Our own little "Guerrilla Marketing" stunt in our own backyard. With specific instructions not to talk to anyone, not be a distraction, mind their own business and just see what kind of buzz we'd create. If asked, the Gorillas could hand a MINDWISE media kit with more information on what we do.

We've received overwhelming responses of laughter, excitement, twitter messages and more from well wishing commuters. Of course, not surprisingly with all the good, we received a little resistance from the Utah Transit Authority. I guess a few UTA corporates got together and decided that this attention getting endeavor, was illegal (we were told our team couldn't wear masks), after taking off the masks, we were then told we couldn't wear T-shirts (that was blatant Advertising-which needed to be paid for via bus boards and go directly through them). Of course, we obliged but thought it an excellent case study to share some of our views on the topic of Guerrilla Marketing.

We've done numerous guerrilla marketing and promotional campaigns across the nation. From LA to New York and Chicago. Each city has its own flair and attitudes, but all seem to welcome and even embrace non traditional approaches to marketing. The issue, how I see it is this: In this market, Utah (government especially) may be a tad bit ignorant and even a little too cautious when it comes to stepping outside the norms of marketing. Sure, we have a top 40 media market. TV, Radio, Outdoor all thrive. But what if you desire something more? Something to engage, interact and inspire consumers beyond traditional media?

I guess thats where we come in. Warning-shameless plug: Call us. And next time you board a UTA bus or trax train, make sure you're not wearing a T-shirt that can be confused as advertising.

Who's Your Daddy (Sampling Case Study)

Who’s Your Daddy Energy Drink was relatively new in the Utah Market and wanted to increase market share by amongst other tactics; branding and sampling.

MINDWISE developed a unique sponsorship with the Utah State Fair for WYD that included naming rights, exclusive energy drink across all events, and an 11-day intense sampling campaign across fairgrounds. WYD sampling teams worked from open to close to sample 4 unique flavors to a previously un-tasted crowd. Needless to say, those 11 days at the Utah State Fair cultivated probably the most energetic and active crowds in history.

Retail partnerships, admission discounts with WYD purchase, media and pr exposure all added to a successful sampling campaign.

Disney on Ice (Guerrilla Marketing Case Study)

Disney on Ice hired MINDWISE to execute a grass roots/guerrilla marketing campaign to promote one of their shows in the Utah market. A huge part of this campaign was “partnership marketing”.

MINDWISE organized and aligned the Disney on Ice with hundreds of local vendors such as kids clothing stores, grocery outlets, shopping centers, fast food locations, movie complexes and more to put custom signage, enter to win displays on store counters and windows.

MINDWISE also secured many high profile events for Disney on Ice to be apart of including skating events, family winter activities, radio events, public and community outdoor activities and facilities and more.

Best Friends Animal Society (Guerrilla Marketing Case Study)

Best Friends Animal society turned to MINDWISE to help educate the public about it’s organization and homeless pets overall.

MINDWISE used a “startling facts” guerrilla marketing campaign to educate and invite the public to get involved to help save homeless pets.

Over 4 consecutive weeks, Best Friends brand ambassadors engaged and interacted with people in the greater Los Angeles area on beaches, walking/jogging trails, dog parks, shopping centers and more to encourage future pet owners in getting their next pet from a shelter and invited them to text in to a Best Friends custom short code for event updates, adoption info and more. A “Pick a Pet” memory game was created to interact with a core audience and share startling facts about homeless pets and ingrain the No More Homeless Pets message through out the campaign.

Best Friends pet food scoops, fridge magnets, brand ambassadors, shirts and more helped spread the word.

Dew Tour (Guerrilla Marketing Case Study)

The AST Dew Tour contracted with MINDWISE to execute a guerrilla marketing campaign to promote the Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City.

Dew Tour street team members interacting with potential ticket holders at skate parks, boat ramps, concerts, baseball games and other outdoor activities influenced a key demographic that held active lifestyles where traditional media otherwise couldn’t reach.

Onsite skate competitions, demos, bean bag tosses, “tix for tricks” and more quickly drew in crowds to provide a little taste of the Dew Tour brand. Guerrilla signage, partnership marketing, enter to win displays and location procurement were all key components in the success of the campaign.

Being the first time The AST Dew Tour held an event in the Salt Lake market, MINDWISE’s expertise of the local market was a huge advantage. In fact, the past two years while MINDWISE has been involved, each Salt Lake City stop has broken Nationwide Dew Tour records for attendance.

Mother Knows Best

“Economic downturn,” it’s a phrase we’re totally sick of hearing, but maybe instead of trying to pretend it’s not there, we should stop and pay attention.  We’ve heard that somehow we can make lemonade with these recession lemons.  How? Let’s start with mom’s.  There’s a really great article that explains how to market to recession moms. (http://promomagazine.com/retail/news/marketing-recession-tips-0428/index.html)  Really it seems as though experiential marketing, sampling, guerrilla marketing, etc. may be the way to go with these newly created prudent shoppers.  We’re seeing less and less of the spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment shoppers and more and more of the wise, cautious shoppers.  This is why experiential marketing is key.  Shoppers need to be able to try the products first-hand now.  Also, they’ll need to understand how this product is worthwhile financially.  The shopaholics’ days are numbered.

Have you heard of the new human race, mommy bloggers?  You may even have one living and breathing in your home.  Not only that, but their population is exploding.  Tropicana’s decided to accommodate this new market by creating an online digital kitchen specifically for these tech-savvy mommas. http://www.blogher.com/groups/juice It’s a great form of viral marketing that allows women to share their kitchen, health, and whatever other secrets they’ve learned about woman-living.

If you’re doubting the kind of pull that these online moms have, just read about the Johnson & Johnson Motrin video ad that was taken off the internet within an hour due to mother’s complaints. (http://bigfatmarketingblog.com/2008/11/19/mothers-brigade-on-the-march/)  How many of us listen to our mothers?  Now mom’s have found a voice like never before, which can mean great and terrible things for business.  We just have to get the moms on our side.

Who says this is Guerrilla Marketing?

I just read an article in AAAA Smartbrief (an Adweek article) with the headline of: T.J. Maxx, Marshalls team up for TV, guerilla effort

So as we specialize in Guerrilla Marketing, I naturally gave it a read. After chuckling at the classification of Guerrilla Marketing, I thought I'd offer my 2 cents.  Although I agree the platform and message are creative, labeling this as "Guerrilla Marketing" seems a little too far fetched. Let's call this what it is: Outdoor. (Out of Home even) It seems with all the buzz about Guerrilla Marketing, many brands, agencies and others want to jump in the sandbox and start playing...although they don't really know the rules.

Here's a few suggestions on what we would have done: What if they had this same group of women "intervene" with real shoppers on the streets of these large cities, with Marshalls and T.J. Maxx shopping bags...directing shoppers to stores with promotions, coupons and special offers. And how about static displays of these same women- only this time as mannequins, in public areas sporting the shopping bags and directional messaging...and what about teaming up with non-competing businesses to lease their window displays (live mannequins?) all promoting the "intervene" theme...now THAT would be Guerrilla Marketing.

read the article here.