Welcome to

A few days ago I posted briefly about the terrorism scare in Boston caused by a few guerilla marketers promoting Aqua Teen Hunger Force by spreading a few suspicious-looking devices around town which, it turns out, caused a scare, then paranoia, then over-reaction, then anger and fierce calls for reprisal against the perpetrators, who may wind up doing jail time.

 At the time, I was inclined to join the world in saying “what a bad idea”. But I’ve been thinking about it further, and have decided that the mark of a successful campaign is not keeping the marketing team out of jail, but rather, driving new business/viewers/customers to the client. Granted, 5-10 of hard time may be an awful high price to pay.

 The campaign would be a failure if it didn’t create customers, or worse, scared away current customers. But the target audience for ATHF is not district attorneys, and policemen, and politicians — it’s slackers and college students.  And the fact is, a whole new audience of slackers and college students probably heard about the show for the first time courtesy of the media coverage of this campaign and its aftermath.

Is it possible we can put promotions into 3 categories?:

1. Those aimed at everybody. Coca-Cola comes to mind.
2. Those aimed at a particular target group, but mindful of the opinion of everyone else too. The target group cares about societies opinion. Maybe we could place Wal-Mart in here.
3. Those aimed at a particular target group which doesn’t care at all what society thinks. In fact, the target group might like the product MORE if society hates it. These are the non-conformists, the punk rockers (and the slackers and college students?). What’s the best way to market a new band to kids? Make sure their parents hate it. This is why every time the establishment tries to shut down a new underground sensation, they only succeed in fanning the flames. When someone yells fire in a crowded theater, these guys want to buy the DVD. Who could we put in this group? How about South Park, Linkin Park, … and Aqua Teen Hunger Force?

Pursuing controversy for its own sake is not for everyone. I’m not sure it’s for me. You can wind up doing time! But that’s not to say it’s ineffective.