My dog co-wrote this issue on guerilla marketing
Season 7, Issue 5: š»An Interview with [redacted] - I got ghosted š»
š¬ In this issue:
Things Iāve seen on the streets of Sydney (safe for work)
An interview withā¦ jokes, they ghosted me so I doubled down on digging out this info myself
Answering the question: Is guerilla marketing a reasonable advertising channel for B2B brands to explore, and how could it best be utilised?
Links!
By the way, if you missed the announcement, I released a 26 minute guide on nailing your next website rebuild project (and made a bunch of free templates/resources)
Hi Mehketeers!
I have a dog, his name is Major and he likes LONG walks. He canāt catch, doesnāt really play with other dogs, and heās going the distance. This dog gets 2.5 hours of walking MINIMUM per day over three walks.
As a result, I see a lot of streets of Sydney. After youāve seen the same street hundreds of times you really start to take in the details. During a walk, I noticed a sticker on the pavement for Tash Sultanaās Sugar EP (an ok EP, I did listen to it). It released in August 2023, so I think the sticker probably went up maybe a month before?
That sticker is still there.
And then I noticed one for Saltburn (which I also remembered to watch because of seeing the ad, my rating is 7/10). It has a date stamped on it, so I know itās from at least November 2023. Itās also still there. Then I noticed one for Lush. I started noticing them way more once I was aware of it.
All of these photos were taken in February of 2024:
Then my marketing brain kicked in and I was like, damn the return on ad spend must be good if they last this long. And then I was like I have to find out more. SO THATāS WHAT THIS ISSUE IS!
Guerilla marketing
Quick context and background info:
Guerilla marketing is named after guerilla warfare, so it encompasses any type of marketing that is unconventional, makeshift, outside of the box, or otherwise unusual campaigns. It typically goes for attention, is tied to a location, and might include shock factor.
This is [redactedās] specialty. They [and many other providers] offer these pavement ads as well as other guerilla tactics like driving trucks with ad displays on them, having people walk around with mini billboards strapped to them, giving out free samples on the street, and heaps more. Check out [redacted].
[Redacted] agreed to be interviewed and then never sent in their answers nor responded to follow up, so here are some re-written questions and Major the dog answered them!
Kayla: If I wanted to do this myself, what materials would I need?
Major: Thereās a thing called ālandscape chalkā which lasts 30 days and can be used on pavements, grass, etc. Itās less than $12 from Bunnings and comes in heaps of colours. Stencils are made out of a material called mylar, you can get it from Amazon and cut it with a craft knife or you can probably find someone with a Cricut who will make your stencil for you. Just make sure itās not too detailed as it wonāt come across in the stencil.
K: If I donāt want to do it myself, how much does it cost?
M: There seems to be an average minimum of 200 āplacementsā per campaign, at $35 per placement (AKA $7k+GST) plus a $300 fee to create the stencil. I got that pricing from here (which isnāt [redacted])
K: How can brands measure the results of this type of campaign?
M: The way I can gather agencies are doing this, is theyāre getting people to stand and count the amount of people who directly look at the stencil on the ground in a certain time period, and then theyāre using this number to average out a guesstimate āimpressionsā count.
If you create a unique webpage, and use a URL shortener so it fits on the stencil, you can assume all traffic came from the stencil. You canāt target by demographic, only by geolocation, so pick your locations and dates carefully.
K: Do you see many B2B brands using guerilla marketing, and do you think itās a suitable channel for B2B?
M: Just based on my walks around Sydney, Iāve seen 5-6 of this campaign type and only one of them has been for B2B (Dovetail did it for employer branding to show they were hiring.) That was probably not the best use of this campaign type since how can you equate a location with job seekers?
I think this is a good channel for startups/B2B companies who are trying to break the āB2B brandā and arenāt afraid of being mischevious or trying to disrupt a competitorās event, for example.
K: How legal is this? Do you need a permit?
M: Iām an illiterate dog so donāt take my bark for gospel,, but my many Google searches across various councils couldnāt dig up anything about these. I did sniff out a sticker style campaign from Carriageworks on York Street near QVB in Sydney soā¦ I guess City of Sydney is ok with it.
I also would ask you to remember what itās like to be a minimum wage worker and see someone doing something theyāre not supposed to (not saying council workers are minimum wage, just that they donāt care and arenāt going to huff and puff to the town hall and report you.)
Also, donāt do it on private property, they will probably chase after you.
K: If I wanted to go bigger, and do a whole chalk mural, what would that include?
M: So you could get a busking permit and have an artist do a chalk mural that would be hand done, way more detail, all sorts of colours, and you could even do something creative like a 3D design. Busking permits exist for explicit art making, and allow an artist to sit in designated spots for up to 8 hours in one day. Canāt speak for other councils. Your cost would be the busking permit (inexpensive) and the time and materials of the artist.
So do I believe this is a good channel for B2B?
Yeah I do, if you use it in creative ways:
Every path leading to a conference your customers will be at (cheaper than a sponsorshipā¦)
Outside the offices of your target accounts (cheaper than ABM on LinkedIn)
Suggest your own idea:
The pavement ads come in a few varieties:
Power washing a stencil (lasts until the pavement gets dirty enough to cover it up, apparently these can be twice the size as chalk - but since Iām digging into this in light of being ghosted, I really donāt understand why?)
Chalk stencils (can come in multi-colour, lasts until the pavement gets wet/it rains, or foot traffic wears it off)
Thereās definitely a vinyl sticker thing variety, the Tash Sultana one was definitely thick when it was fresh and now itās worn down and you can see the pavement texture under it, I couldnāt find more info on this one.
I did see one that was a QR code on [redacted]ās portfolio but my phone couldnāt read it so I donāt know if thatās because it was a picture of it, or if the QR codes arenāt reliable enough of a design for this medium.
Links
A collection of just plain weird marketing for the Madame Web movie, including this ad I got on Reddit of all places:
Iām currently reading a book called Talk to Me, itās about being a better interviewer, and so far these quotes have really caught my eye:
we are trying to gain perspective on something. If we depend solely on our own thoughts and observations and donāt take into account the thoughts and obsservations of others who are not just like us, we run the risk of coming to inaccurate conclusions and possibly taking harmful actions. Other perspectives reveal our own biases and assumptions.
On bad interviewers:
They depend too much on the hope that the source will say something interesting, and not enough on the preparation that will draw that source out.
My favourite question theyāve put forward in the book so far is āhow can I make your day better?ā
Lastly, one little 8 minute video for you to watch as a break between work tasks.
If youāre into interior design/architecture, or live in a really tiny space, this oneās for you! This series is great, and this particular episode features an oddly shaped, 50 square metre home thatās got 2 adults, a baby, and a dog living in it - yet they insisted on having an industrial kitchen and a gelato machine.
See you next week,
Kayla (and Major)