A heist shop and a missing globe? Check out how Netflix promoted one of its biggest movies in 2021! [Thursdays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
Miles Everson’s Business Builder Daily speaks to the heart of what great marketers, business leaders, and other professionals need to succeed in advertising, communications, managing their investments, career strategy, and more.
A Note from Miles Everson:
Marketing is an essential part of businesses. It helps brands connect with their target market through effective strategies that promote their products or services.
As someone who’s been in the industry for 30+ years now, I believe one of the best ways to effectively raise awareness about your brand and connect with your target audience is through marketing strategies that generate a good kind of buzz.
How can you achieve that?
One way is through Guerrilla Marketing!
Keep reading below to know about an example of this marketing strategy and how it helps brands and businesses interact with their target market and leave a lasting impression on them.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing
Have you ever encountered a shop where you can get everything for FREE?
Snacks, clothes, shoes, gadgets―name it. You can literally get anything you want without having to pay for it.
Sounds awesome, right?
In November 2021, a similar concept shop opened in Mumbai, India. However, there was a twist in the shop’s rule: You could only get the items for free… if you could STEAL them without getting caught.
“Red Notice” is a 2021 American action comedy film written, directed, and produced by Rawson Marshall Thurber.
In this movie, actor Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock stars as an FBI agent who reluctantly teams up with a notorious art thief (Ryan Reynolds) to catch an even more notorious art thief (Gal Gadot).
As one of Netflix’s biggest hits in 2021, how did the “Red Notice” movie capture the attention of viewers worldwide?
A huge part of that was through these two guerrilla marketing tactics:
- The “Red Notice” Shop in Mumbai, India
In this marketing stunt, Netflix invited fans to experience an adrenaline rush at the “Red Notice Shop” where everything is FREE―if they can steal the items without getting caught.
Conceptualized with the help of marketing agency 22feet Tribal Worldwide, the shop was a 3000-square feet retail space at the Phoenix Palladium, one of the largest shopping malls in India.
The interior of the store was guarded with lasers, sensors, secret codes, CCTV cameras, alarms, and top-notch security.
That’s pretty much everything you would see in the “Red Notice” movie but transformed into a retail shop.
Once the setup was complete, the campaign team invited its target audience to try and steal from the shop. If they successfully do so, they could keep the items they stole for free.
On top of that, successful “thieves” also received additional rewards enclosed in a fake Fabergé egg (a jeweled egg created by the jewelry firm House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917).
To spread the invite to all who might be interested, Netflix shared a video of the “Red Notice Shop” on its social media accounts. This video garnered lots of attention from celebrities and fans alike, and content creators like Abish Mathew, Kumar Varun, Mermaid Scales, and more shared the post on their own social media accounts.
The “Red Notice Shop” was open for 3 days, from November 25-28, 2021. Many adrenaline seekers showed up at the shop and enjoyed a thrilling time with their companions.
If Netflix also conducted this guerrilla marketing stunt in your city or country, would you take the opportunity to be part of the heist?
- The Missing Globe at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, Philippines
The SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Globe has been an iconic landmark of the Philippines’ largest mall since its opening in 2006.
For years, the huge sphere has stood elegantly, making tourists and even locals marvel at its beauty.
However, as midnight was approaching on November 13, 2021, netizens were shocked by the news that the SM MOA Globe was gone… or STOLEN.
*Gasp*
Who dared to steal this giant structure?!
A viral video from a Filipino netizen captured a red helicopter taking the globe before midnight.
This earned reactions from Filipino celebrities like Donnalyn Bartolome, Jerald Napoles, Juan Karlos Labajo, etc. who posted on their social media accounts and created a lot of buzz.
Translation: The MOA GLOBE is missing!! Whoever took that is SMART. 😉
Translation: SMART, WHERE DID YOU PUT THE MOA GLOBE????
Note: As a joke, the celebrities were playing with the words “Globe” and “Smart.” These are the brand names of two major mobile network operators in the country, also known to be major competitors.
After news broke online that the iconic sphere was missing, SM MOA released a public notice that said,
“SM Mall of Asia is currently working with authorities in investigating the MOA Globe incident. With our security measures in place, rest assured that SM Mall of Asia continues to be a safe place for family and friends.”
Following this announcement from SM MOA, Netflix revealed the answer to the mysterious heist on its Facebook page through a 59-second video that explained the situation.
It turned out this was the streaming platform’s ploy in collaboration with SM MOA to promote the “Red Notice” movie!
You definitely got us there, Netflix and SM!
To assure people that the iconic globe was back and that everything that happened was simply a marketing stunt, SM MOA released another statement that said:
A clever guerrilla marketing tactic indeed!
Was Netflix’s guerrilla marketing campaigns for the “Red Notice” movie effective?
Both the “Red Notice Shop” in India and the missing SM MOA Globe in the Philippines effectively captured people’s attention.
For the shop, lots of people interacted with it offline (experiencing the thrill inside the store) and online (sharing Netflix’s social media posts to encourage more people to visit the shop).
Meanwhile, the missing SM MOA Globe generated online buzz and even made netizens unleash their inner detectives as they tried to investigate and figure out what happened and who stole the globe.
Here are a few more results from the guerrilla marketing campaigns:
- Netflix’s post about the “Red Notice Shop” garnered 100,000+ views, 18,000+ likes, 20,000+ shares, and 50+ comments on Instagram within 24 hours.
- Over 50,000 people experienced the thrill at the “Red Notice Shop” in India.
- The hashtag, #MOAGlobe, became a trending topic on Twitter for a week with over 130,000 tweets from various users.
- Netflix’s trailer explanation about the missing SM MOA Globe garnered a total of 14,000+ likes, 11,000+ comments, and 105,000+ shares.
- “Red Notice” became part of Netflix’s Top 10 Most-Watched Movies list in 94 countries for November 2021―thanks to the help of the two guerrilla marketing stunts in promoting the film.
Clearly, these numbers show that a good amount of buzz and creativity can do wonders for brands, businesses, and even movies!
A round of applause for Netflix and its clever marketing tactics for the “Red Notice” film!
—
There were two things that Netflix did right in its guerrilla marketing campaigns for the movie:
First, the streaming platform stayed true to the core of the film. “Red Notice” involved lots of heists and action so that’s what Netflix did to effectively promote it.
This shows that when you want to advertise a certain brand, you don’t need to look too far to come up with a great marketing campaign. Focus on what that brand is all about, then start planning a fun and engaging campaign around that concept.
The more relevant your marketing tactics are to your brand’s core or offerings, the more it will leave a lasting brand recall on your target market’s minds.
Second, Netflix almost always goes ALL OUT in the guerrilla marketing stunts it does for various series or movies. From the “Trese” and “Sweet Tooth” marketing campaigns to the “Squid Game” and “Red Notice” brand activations, the streaming platform makes sure its strategies WILL deliver.
What does this imply to you as a business owner or marketer?
Always do your best in planning your ads, promotions, or campaigns for your brand. Guerrilla marketing doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, but as long as your marketing strategies are fun, appealing, interesting, and engaging, they will help you capture customers’ attention and connect with them.
We hope you’ve gotten some inspiration and great ideas from Netflix’s guerrilla marketing tactics for the “Red Notice” movie!
By sticking to your brand’s core and doing your best in planning and executing your marketing campaigns, you’ll not only effectively promote your business but you’ll also leave a memorable impression on your target audience.
Enjoy planning your future guerrilla marketing strategies!
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers, and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
Powered by Valens Research
www.valens-research.com
