Nobody likes gorilla advertising

Opinion Nobody likes gorilla advertising

By Chris Staples

Back in the day (the late '90s), guerrilla advertising was the tool of choice for small brands trying to get some big buzz.

Today, guerrilla campaigns are dangerously close to becoming mainstream, with big brands like Ikea and Volkswagen entering the fray.

So, what if you’re a Goliath instead of a David? The short answer is: the bigger the brand, the bigger the risks.

We’ve created our fair share of guerrilla stunts for clients large and small. If you want to pull one off without looking like a 900-pound gorilla, consider the following strategies.

Do no harm

Because guerrilla ads often happen in public places, you need to be extremely respectful of your surroundings. Ikea recently got into a lot of trouble by using a spray chalk on sidewalks that looked a lot like spray paint. Business owners went berserk— especially since they thought a big brand like Ikea should know better.

Remember: guerrilla ads are held to a higher standard

People hate bad ads wherever they are— especially if they turn up in an unexpected place, like on a sidewalk or inside a urinal. Bad guerrilla ads tap into an immediate well of resentment about advertising encroachment.

To prevent resentment, guerrilla ads need to be even better than the best mainstream ads. They need to disarm people by being extra charming and funny and relevant. As a rule, the better the ad, the less chance of a backlash.

A great example is the recent FunTheory.com stunts put on by Volkswagen. Subway stairs were outfitted with keyboard steps, like in the movie Big. Step on the stairs, create a tune. The result? A 66 percent jump in the number of people who took the stairs versus the escalator.

Beware of the hoax

It’s fun to watch Punk’d; not so fun to live it. Stunts that try to fool people are especially prone to disaster.

Take the recent case of BC’s Sumac Ridge Winery. They planted hundreds of handwritten journals all over town. Then they posted telephone pole ads from the “owners” of the “lost” journals asking for their return, with the promise of a reward.

The journals turned out to be filled with recipes and hard-sell copy on a Sumac Ridge vintage. People were incensed that the winery tricked them using a fake sob story. Furious back-pedalling ensued.

Make it interactive

Too many guerrilla ads just sit there. People think that putting an odd object or sign in an unexpected place will somehow be front-page news. The real trick, in our experience, is to engage people. Over the past few years we’ve created a transit shelter that sneezes all over people, a vending machine that dispenses useless free items, and an event where passersby can actually walk on water. In each case you don’t just watch the stunt— you participate in it.

Keep it simple

This is true for all forms of advertising, but especially guerrilla. In a crowded urban environment, you only have a few seconds to stand out and get your message across. We tend to avoid stunts that need a URL to pay them off. The best stunts are self-contained and simple— like our transit shelter stunt for 3M security glass film or the world’s first un-stationary bicycle for Funktion personal training. No one likes to take a long walk for a short drink.

Amplify your stunt online

In the pre-digital Dark Ages, you’d send out press releases about your stunt and hope a reporter or two would show up. Now, we get our own footage of every stunt and distribute the video online. This summer, we created a stunt for Parissa wax strips. The stunt only lasted a day on Kits Beach, but the video went viral, and weeks later there were over 8,000 search results for “backvertising” on Google. Great stunts live on and on and on…

Of course, some people think every guerrilla stunt should die a quick death. So which side are you on? Are guerrilla ads a welcome distraction or an unwanted intrusion? Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Any prime examples of recent guerrilla— or gorilla— stunts?

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Chris Staples, partner and co-creative director with Rethink Communications in Vancouver, Canada.