Understanding Urban Landscapes Is Key In Guerrilla Marketing

It’s kind of cool hearing people I know in the youth marketing scene talking about “the ‘Aqua Teen’ bomb scare”  on NPR and CNN—just yesterday I listened to Mr. Youth’s Matt Britton on Talk of the Nation and my old Current TV colleague Karl Carter (who works with GTM) texted me that he would be talking about this last night on Anderson Cooper. Ypulse reader Brett Zaccardi, who is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Street Attack Marketing, also sent me his thoughts on the Lite Brite debacle in a guest post:

Clearly, this kind of marketing isn’t for everyone and is better suited to reach certain demographics more than others. However, when you execute in a public space, your message reaches everyone, so you must evaluate how the message will be interpreted by different age groups, genders and religions, and so on.  Guerrilla marketing isn’t for every brand and company.  I think the companies that have an edgy style and irreverent attitude won’t be swayed from such marketing efforts by what happened in Boston this past week. That said, these recent events have helped illuminate certain sensitivities we must factor in when planning campaigns. Understanding the urban landscapes that we work with is a key factor in making the right judgment calls.

On the other hand, while more traditional brands are usually scared of such strategies, right now they are more likely than ever to be curious about guerrilla marketing in light of the undeniable exposure Aqua Teen received. Guerrilla marketing campaigns are getting increased interest because of their creativity and edginess—that is what attracts the attention of certain demographics, particularly youth audiences.  This type of marketing is certainly not based on scare tactics.

At the end of the day I’d imagine that sales will increase for the new DVD and that all issues will be worked out behind closed doors by TBS and the City of Boston. This hiccup will have some ramifications for future guerrilla marketing efforts, particularly in making careful judgment calls, understanding generation gaps, and structuring contractual agreements, but it keeps us all on our toes—and that’s a good thing.

Feel free to respond to Brett’s post with your own thoughts on this in the comments…