Kaboom Advertising

As I talk to my friends I am excited to tell them about my roll with a Guerilla Marketing firm. I get a little long winded, but it can be summed up with I am involved in guerilla marketing, viral campaigns, online media buying and email marketing. That is when I get stopped. Email marketing? That’s spam right? So, you spam people for a living? I choose to be nothing but offended by this comment. It appears that email marketing is synonymous with spam, just as telemarketing is synonymous with receiving a call from Time Life magazine with an amazing new offer while you are trying to enjoy dinner with your family. I suppose other professionals have also received a stereotype due to their line of work. Let’s see… mechanics, salespeople, telemarketers and anyone that sells Ginsu knives come to mind. A good friend of mine is a mechanic. I would never dream of asking if he replaces completely functioning parts just to make an extra buck, or if he siphons gas from people’s cars as they sit overnight in his garage. No one in their right mind would accuse a friend of such things. I take pride in my work, but perhaps I am taking all of this a little too personally.
 
Regardless of its reputation email marketing is extremely effective. A 2006 Direct Marketing Association study found that email marketing had a return on investment of $57.25 for every dollar spent. This is remarkable and light years beyond the ROI of television, radio and the newspaper. Email marketing is an efficient marketing tool, when used responsibly. It is unfortunate that a handful of people out there have given email marketing such a bad name. I curse those people every time I get into a conversation about my job. There is nothing I can do about it except continue to educate. For the record, email marketing is more cost efficient, much more targeted, instantaneous and just more fun than other forms of media. Help spread the word.

Spam is not funny, but it is here. Check out this skit from Monty Python.

In a day when everything  from used chewing gum to tying shoelaces is being blogged about on the internet it doesn’t come as a shocker that gangs are now getting into the game.  There are many websites out there that deal with the topic of gangs.  Streetgangs.com is an interesting site filled with everything you could ever want to know about this way of life.  The site includes lists of gang-related interests and activities; from movies to songs, and yes, they even have a book club (I will be sure to pick up “Home of the Body Bags” next time I am at Barnes & Noble).   It also includes numbers of gangs and what cities they are in - most gangs reside in Los Angeles if you wanted to know.   Sites like streetgangs.com are mostly informative but other areas of the internet are being infiltrated by gangs trying to recruit members through websites and blogs.

Gangs have recently implemented a large viral marketing campaign to recruitment members online.  Videos have been popping up on MySpace and YouTube glorifying the gang life.  Another way gangs are recruiting members are through blogs.  Some of this new online recruitment must be working because gang membership is increasing (there are currently over 760,000 gang members in the U.S.) and gang related crime is also (on the rise) increasing.  Don’t worry though, law enforcement (the po-pos for short) is doing something about this.  They are able to remove a lot of these videos and postings to hopefully lessen the number of people that are exposed to the videos.

It seems to me that in a day when everywhere you go you are being marketed to in someway or another (don’t get me wrong, marketing is what I do and how I get paid so I like it!) why wouldn’t gangs use the internet to their advantage and market themselves to their target audience?  I never considered gang members as effective marketers but it seems they are doing well in driving their numbers.  I got to give it to them (not that I condone gangs at all), I think gang members are just a little smarter then I gave them credit for.

So, there are people in this world who don’t like advertising. Well, that’s too bad. I don’t like road construction, but I don’t run over the road crew. When you consider the facts, isn’t that exactly what the Anti-Advertising Agency is doing?

By limiting the number of locations advertising can be displayed, you are in effect limiting the number of jobs and the amount of income those who work in advertising can obtain. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates over 250,000 people work in the advertising industry. That’s a lot of points if driving! Advertising professionals don’t just work for ad agencies; they work for in-house agencies, departments inside large companies, and independents workings as advertising sales representatives. This number is expected to grow as agencies merge and become more global. So why not run over ad people in Europe and Japan too?

Forget the people who work in advertising, think about this - without advertising would we have television, newspapers, or magazines? If we did, I’m guessing they would cost a small fortune. Need to find a job or want to know what’s on sale? – Well, start walking. Forget about the internet, agencies spend almost as much there as they do on the radio. I wonder if the Anti-Ad people ever enjoyed any of these products or services.

Let’s talk revenue. City buses sell advertising to help pay for the vehicles, maintenance, equipment, and salaries of their drivers. Without this revenue the cost to ride the bus (or even the subway) would be beyond affordable. Inside the city, small business and private property owners rely on revenue generated by renting or leasing their space to advertisers as necessary income. Even if you think only the big guys do this and for more money than they need, you’re thinking small and just not realizing how advertising affects the economy as a whole. 

Based on only the top 100 leaders in advertising in the last 50 years, over $105 billion dollars has been spent in advertising. Considering this amount was at $2.1 billion back in 1956, this is a considerable leap. For those thinking, “What about the cost of inflation?” that same amount would be only $15.4 billion by today’s standards. That’s a lot of bread on the table or at least a few tanks of gas.

Let’s go a step farther. Put the advertisers, employees, and independents aside and think about the social impact of advertising. An increasing number of states have enacted laws or regulations to allow digital billboards. Why? - Because digital billboards can save lives. Ever heard of Amber Alert? These boards can deliver emergency, public safety and disaster information in real time.  They can also be used by law enforcement to catch bad guys and seek tips. Of the 450,000 billboards in America, an estimated 700 are digital. As a side note, of the $6.8 billion in revenue generated by the 1000 companies who represent outdoor advertising, over $390 million of space is donated to charitable organizations. That is a considerable amount of money not asked for of you and me.

Traditional advertising is dead.  Well, not completely, but certainly it’s wounded.   In a recent story from CBS News it was reported in the 1970’s that we saw an average of 500 advertisements per day.  Today, that number has jumped to as many as 5,000 and increasing daily!  That’s a lot of clutter.  How is anyone or anything supposed to get anybody to pay attention to you?  Simple:  be creative, be unique, and be different.  Guerilla marketing or alternative advertising allows the differences to be noticed and praised. 

Guerilla marketing is also way more hip than traditional marketing.  I’ve never gotten an inter-office memo with a forwarded TV commercial reel with a note saying,

“Check this out – I almost peed my pants it was so funny.  Pass it on.”
 
Have you? Nope, but who hasn’t seen the email with the kitten being chased by purple monsters with a moral message about self-gratification? (wikipedia - god kills a kitten)?

Guerilla advertising works because people enjoy it. They take note of differences in a product or service because someone made the effort to engage them. It’s about time. The masses deserve better and so do the kittens.

So, where does that leave advertising now? Well, for those of us who work in alternative advertising, I’d say in a very good spot.  No, not that spot. We love what we do, because people respond so positively to something different.  They are craving it! and are glad we can provide that service!