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Past Issues

July 2009

We Are la Familia

A hugely successful campaign done for an auto insurance company was targeted at the Hispanic population in Southern California. Guerilla marketing techniques were used in a three-month marketing program to both sell auto insurance and to garner contact information and referrals for the product.

Noting that the Hispanic community in general is very family-oriented, they targeted places where Hispanic families gathered and chose product giveaways that targeted the family and automobiles. Television ads, they decided, are too expensive. Besides, with 256 channels available, the medium has become too segmented. You're never really sure the people you want to hear your message will hear it. However, research showed that many Hispanics in Southern California gather at swap meets and flea markets on the weekends.

The insurance company rented space at the swap meets and flea markets. Each Saturday and Sunday, licensed agents manned the booth for the attendees who might want to apply for insurance. Bilingual staff members collected names and contact information. Attendees were enticed to the booth with automobile-related giveaways of key chains, flashlights, travel mugs and sunglass clips. If they referred a family member, neighbor or friend, they received a special "Accident Reporting Kit," which contained everything you need in case of an accident: A small zip pouch bag with a single-use camera, a notepad, pen and questionnaire to ensure the driver gets all the necessary information.

Visitors were also offered the opportunity to enter a raffle for a $25 gift card or $25 in merchandise. Those raffles served as another means of garnering contact information for future marketing efforts. Finally, a grand prize raffle at the end of each day offered participants a chance at family packs that included merchandise and family passes to local events and theme parks.

In the end, the insurance company was pleased with the results and measured its success through the size of the database they were able to build using the price quote request and referral forms. Success with guerilla marketing depends on good relationship building. Guerrilla marketers know the importance of staying in touch.

A Starbucks "Gotcha!"

When Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee wanted to increase awareness of the Starbucks Holiday Red Cup, it took its campaign to the streets. "We designed replicas of the vente coffee cups," says Drew Livingston, "chief ideation officer" at Free Car Media (www.freecarmedia.com), which itself is a nontraditional marketing company. When Starbucks approached the California-based firm, Livingston developed the idea of attaching the cups to the roofs of cars and driving around in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and, of course, Seattle. "It looked liked the driver put the cup on the roof of the car and then forgot about it," he says.

Some Good Samaritans alerted the drivers to their error and were rewarded with a $5 Starbucks card. Livingston says each Brand Ambassador drove a targeted route for eight hours a day for seven days in each of the four cities; 19 million total impressions were made and the promotion produced favorable reviews on several Internet sites and garnered the company a spot on MSN. "It grew organically," Livingston says, adding that the Internet exposure was not too surprising because consumers control the content on many sites.

The campaign reflected the goals of Free Car Media. "Rather than mass marketing, this is targeted marketing," Livingston says. The message is about the consumer, rather than about the product. "We bring the message in a non-traditional way that the customer would never expect," he says. Most successful guerrilla marketers, says Levinson, know the value of the customer experience: "Great customer service is whatever the customer says it is."

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Favorite Quotations

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Just For Grins

Helpdesk: Good day. How may I help you?

Customer: Hello. . . I can't print.

Helpdesk: Would you click on "Start" for me and. . .

Customer: Listen pal -- don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates ya know!