Marketing stunts with grunt

This sculpture certainly got noticed when it was plunged into a German lake.

As any marketing wizard will attest you can easily run your own publicity drive for free. All you have to do is enlist the usual social media suspects – the likes of Twitter and Facebook, and now Google+. But (yawn) running a marketing campaign that way is starting to look tired and trite.

For inspiration on building your brand without busting the budget, consider some stunts spotted by observers in the know.

The efforts below suggest that money matters less than imagination. Lateral thinking carries the day.

The larger than life lady is still creating word-of-mouth. Photo: Getty Images

1. Making a splash

Erik Bigalk, creative marketing consultant

On August 2, UK beauty brand Soap Glory plunged a huge sculpture of a bather into the Inner Alster: a lake in Hamburg, Germany. The two tonne steel-and-polystyrene woman, who stretches 20 metres, was a way for the firm to thank German buyers of their products after launching in the country nine months ago.

This campaign by Grill’d doesn’t cost much, but makes the restaurant looks like it cares.

The sculpture made a splash, he adds, in terms of instant public impact and “lasting word-of-mouth”.

He describes the stunt as “well outside of the box” and a way of boosting the company’s branding mileage.

The stunt also gave Soap Glory greater market reach because, he says, the story made international news beyond the UK, in Australia and the US.

Marketing consultant Erik Bigalk.

At time of writing, CNN’s story had inspired 169 comments and 1839 Facebook recommendations.

2. Aussie rules

Michael Halligan, founder/chief marketer, Engage Marketing

The soft drink brand Jarritos pulled off a “very cool, clever and remarkably simple” stunt for the AFL grand final, Halligan says.

The driver of the Jarritos-branded van rose early to be the first vehicle admitted to the grand final car park at the stadium’s front.

“All he had to do was pay the $8 parking ticket and he got the brand in front of a hell of a lot of eyeballs,” Halligan says.

The event lures an audience of 100,000 people. While Halligan doubts that the stunt appeared on TV, many people blogged about it and spoke about it on social media. “So its reach went far beyond the 100,000 people at the game,” he says.

3. Ethical bribe

Phil Steinke, social media expert, the Internerd

Productivity guru Tim Ferriss promoted pre-sale copies of his book The 4-Hour Body to make the New York Times number-one spot for the second time – a unique feat.

Ferriss’ trick was to give away $US 4 million in financial bonuses that panned out as all kinds of goodies including books and sunglasses, which went to anyone who ordered the book. He was effectively bribing customers to buy multiple pre-launch copies.

Ferriss also offered bulk buyers perks including a tour of India with Miss India.

After Ferris announced the giveaway to his social media fans, word went viral.

“Ferriss is applying the most remarkable and ingenious marketing I’ve ever seen,” Steinke says, adding that Ferriss builds his community indirectly.

“So although he’s the best I’ve ever seen at self-promotion, you never feel like he is selling to you – he sells around the product, which is key.”

4. Nest egg

Kimberly Palmer, marketing blogger

When out enjoying a Grill’d Zen Hen chicken burger, marketing blogger Kimberly Palmer noticed a campaign the Grill’d burger chain is running. According to Palmer, it demonstrates “likeable thinking” that may win clients’ hearts.

Here’s how Grill’d's campaign works. Each branch chooses three local causes to support in a month. When you buy a burger, you get a bottle cap to put in your favourite cause container. The cause with most bottle caps gets $300, and the other two get $100 donated.

So, the outlay for each restaurant is low. But the stunt makes the restaurant look as if it cares: a great image boost. In a bonus, the causes’ worthiness encourages people to visit.

Palmer calls the stunt “a win for customers, a win for the charities – and big ticks for the store: all for $500 a month – cool idea”.

5. Bondi branding

Adam Franklin, web strategist, Bluewire Media

The best marketing ploy that Franklin has seen was conducted by Reef sandals. The firm simply gave away thongs on the beach. In the sole of each was a cut-out of the company name.

Each person who wandered Bondi Beach in a pair left “a nice, neat logo embedded in the sand. I just really liked the idea behind it. Certainly got talked about,” Franklin says.

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Google+ Could Be Marketing Stronghold For Clients

 

While Facebook still dwarfs Google+ in the U.S. in terms of usage, at least one agency — Omnicom Group’s Momentum — is telling clients that the new site could be a powerhouse marketing vehicle, given some of the ways it is differentiating itself from the pack of social-media sites.

The agency is urging clients to come up with plans now so they will be ready when the search giant activates a slew of brand pages for its social site — expected in about six weeks, according to Chris Wallace, associate director at Resolution and the author of a guide to optimizing marketing goals on the Google+ site. That guide was recently issued to clients.

“The big differentiator is the way that Google+ allows users to segment their contacts into different circles,” said Wallace. “It will be much easier for marketers to pinpoint their target audiences and only give them information that they find important,” he said.

“Because there are no brands on Google+ today other than Ford, marketers have a huge opportunity to really go out there and be front runners and steal traffic” when the site finalizes its marketing parameters, said Wallace. “The first 10 or 20 brands that get out there and really do something different are going to be the ones that own the space and help evolve what the Google+ offering becomes.”

Wallace said that other brands had created profiles on Google+, but that the site had requested they be taken down until it activates the brand pages it is finalizing. Google says the site is still in test mode, and the Ford page on the site is clearly labeled “Test Account.”

One thing is clear, Wallace said: “The Google+ plus that is here today will not be the same offering that we will see a year from now. But that’s a really good thing, to be able to interact with consumers and get feedback and help Google evolve the product into better fits for brands and customers.”

While it is growing fast, Google+ is still relatively small in terms of traffic. Comscore reported that the site had a little over 5 million visitors in July, just a month after its launch. By contrast, during the same period, Facebook had a record 162 million visitors to its U.S. site.

In his marketing guide, Wallace states that Google+ will incorporate brand assets, like earned media beyond the brand Web site on search engine results pages, “making it all the more important for marketers to integrate their digital marketing programs.”

He also indicated that the site, from a paid media perspective, will be more heavily focused on click-based advertising, “driving higher click through rates than other social networks have been historically.”

Wallace notes that one feature of the Google+ site is a “Hangouts” section where a user can instantly video chat with any person, circle of contacts or even an entire contact list. Two suggestions for clients: Use Hangouts for real-time customer service, and use the hangout to launch a product to one or more circles with specific interests.

Earlier this week, Ford used the hangout section of its test page to stream a forum it held in New York called “Cracking the Code on Millennials.”

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