To Your Stealth
Send your PR operatives and undercover product lovers deep into customer territory.
Big companies, typically slow to adopt cutting-edge marketing
strategies, are flocking to low-cost and high-visibility street
marketing. Also known as "stealth" or
"undercover" marketing, what was the domain of
entrepreneurs is now in the hands of giants. When IBM had its logo
spray-painted on sidewalks for the "Peace, Love and
Linux" campaign, it raised eyebrows (and the ire of public
works departments) and got a lot of media hype for a little
cash. "Brands are finding [street marketing] programs are
cost-effective and lend credibility," says Kelly Weinberg,
senior vice president of sales and marketing for RPMC, a marketing
and promotions agency in Calabasas, California, that has created
street events for Levi Strauss and 7-Eleven. A 30-second TV spot may deliver millions of eyeballs, says Sam
Travis Ewen, CEO of Interference Inc., a New York City marketing
agency, but a well-executed street campaign creates
"evangelical" customers. Content Continues Below
Consider how these companies influenced people where they live,
work and play: - Beer.com produced 50,000
bottle caps featuring its name and left them in bars during peak
party times such as Mardi Gras and spring break.
- MainSpring, a Cambridge,
Massachusetts, e-business consulting firm, planted subway riders
with newspapers featuring fake back-page ads for the company. The
idea was to give the impression the firm is well-established and
very successful.
- A vodka company hired ad agency Big
Fat to place young hipsters with nice cheekbones at bars
throughout New York City. Their mission? Sing the praises of vodka
cocktails and oh-so-subtly get patrons to sample the spirit
themselves.
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