Guerrilla Marketing, Promotion and Social Media

• Using social media to engage consumers? Check! Yes, you had to log in to your Facebook account using your smartphone and actually like them. I did it, of course, when I got home and messaged them. They got 25 likes that night. Not a lot, but considering their initial base, they increased their “likes” by 18 percent.

       

• Promotions? Check! They did have a cooler with soft drinks and even posted where they were buying all the soft drinks for their Wynwood promotion. A few days before the event, they also began advertising the upcoming promotion on their Facebook page.
• Word of mouth? Check! I don’t know the details of the 25 people who liked them, but certainly now they are featured on my own Facebook timeline, with 1,300 or so people potentially exposed. I am sure that many people will tell their friends and share their pictures. I did, the one with the girl and the poster.

To be sure, there were some glaring issues:

• Not having a Twitter is the most obvious one, as Twitter has been shown by almost every TV network and event to be way faster than Facebook in reaching out to audiences during events.
• The catalog they had (I stopped by to get the full sell) was a mess: small type (on a dark sidewalk); not organized; their story, services and supply rental businesses all mixed up.
• No follow-through: I would have had 4×6 postcards with the services, perhaps a reminder of the Wynwood stunt, a “coupon” for another free soda – anything to keep the conversation going.
• Little follow-up: They did not have a place to write down the names and contact info of everyone who stopped. They also have not followed up with me after I “liked” them on Facebook.

I pointed those out, and I’m sure they will improve. Carlos Vaca, CEO of BBDO in Mexico, once gave a presentation in an industry event in which he basically told everyone, “There’s no excuse for bad creative. None. If you accept bad creative or mediocre creative, it is your choice.” Then he showed some great examples of everyday products that we normally associate with blah creative using outrageously good messaging to break through the clutter. I happen to agree 200 percent: Bad or mediocre creative is a personal choice. There is nothing inherent in any product or service that should make us settle for anything less. Normally, a piece like this would have some sort of uplifting ending. I have no clue how to do that here. It is easy to be jaded, cynical, critical and poo-pooh efforts like those of the event planners. I am going to follow up; I am curious how the entire thing will play out for them.         Other articles by Marcelo: Three Essential Marketing Campaign Components Create A Unified Strategic, Media and Creative Plan Engage Customers With An Aligned Media Strategy How to Use Product Targeting to Determine the Right Channel Mix Thinking Physics to Increase Your ROI (part 1) Using Consumer Clusters To Ramp Up ROI Marcelo Salup‘s 30-plus-year career in advertising covers a wide range of everything. A wide range of roles: he began his career on the creative side, won two Addies, changed to media, included strategic planning and consumer insight and has been an agency owner several times. A wide range of venues: Spain, Latin America, international and the U.S. A wide range of clients that range from automotive to banking to electronics to fast food to soft drinks and much more. But can be summed up in four words “Only Performance is Real.” His website can be found at www.marcelosalup.com.