A Waterloo Station takeover?! Find out how these giant reptiles stomped their way back to life in 2015! [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:
I love Guerrilla Marketing!
Campaigns of this type remind me that there are lots of creative ways to advertise a brand and engage with customers.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term yet, guerrilla marketing is an unconventional, engaging, impactful, and easy-to-execute marketing strategy. According to Jay Conrad Levinson, this strategy sparks an emotional reaction that enables consumers to effectively remember a brand.
Today, we’re excited to share with you an example of a fun and interactive guerrilla marketing stunt.
Keep reading to know how this movie promotion captivated commuters’ attention at London’s Waterloo Station through life-sized displays of long-extinct, giant reptiles.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing
There are many things to expect during rush hour at different train stations around the world.
Long queues…
Lots of shuffling here and there…
Instances of elbowing, and sometimes hearing bits of swearing from those who missed the last train…
Nothing much is new in these everyday scenarios.
What if one day, you suddenly see a large shipping container oddly left at the center of the train station? Would you stop on your tracks and look at what’s inside, or continue going about your usual commute?
In 2015, a similar scenario happened at London’s Waterloo Station. People were curious as to what’s inside the shipping container. Eventually, as the insides of the container were revealed, they figured it was part of the strategy to promote this science-fiction film:
Jurassic World!
In a past “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing” article, we featured a guerrilla marketing stunt created for “Jurassic World: Dominion.”
There, we highlighted how the campaign team promoted the film by floating a life-sized fake T-Rex on the Thames River, setting up a giant T-Rex statue in front of London’s City Hall, conducting cast appearances, and dominating King’s Cross Station with vinyl stickers and life-sized Velociraptor statues.
Today, we’ll focus on “Jurassic World’s” Waterloo Station domination…
#JurassicWaterloo: The Raptor Breakout
Imagine you’ve just entered a train station as you’re on your way to work. Would you believe your eyes if you come across 4 Velociraptors roaming around the place?
No way!
You might even pat your cheeks a few times to see if you’re dreaming or not!
On Friday, June 5, 2015, a shipping container was left at the center of Waterloo Station. The container had signage that read:
“Danger”
“Predatory Livestock”
“Trained Handlers Only”
The container was left as is for a couple of days, and attracted intrigue from commuters and tourists alike. Many were seen peeking inside the container in an attempt to get a view of its contents.
Now, for the BIG reveal…
In the early morning of Monday, June 8, 2015 (when the train station wasn’t open yet), station personnel helped the campaign team unload the contents of the shipping container.
Guess what was inside?
Four life-sized fake Velociraptors!
Two of the large creatures were placed beside the shipping container’s main doors, while the other two were placed on top of the container.
Their positions looked like they managed to get out on their own, with the container’s doors opened and a bit deformed.
Universal Pictures, the company under which “Jurassic World” was produced and distributed, also placed signage on the floor, inviting passersby to take selfies and post them on social media using the hashtag, #JurassicWaterloo.
The stunt was accompanied by more Jurassic Waterloo signages, and images of the raptors were placed on the train station’s walls. There was also signage that warned people about the presence of dinosaurs throughout the station.
What’s more?
The campaign team also set up a “Jurassic World” gift shop at the train station. There, commuters bought movie tickets, dinosaur stuffed toys, etc. for themselves and their loved ones.
Was the Raptor Breakout at Waterloo Station effective?
The dinosaurs’ domination at London’s Waterloo Station lasted from June 5 to 19, 2015. Thousands of commuters were amazed at the guerrilla marketing stunt and even invited their friends and family to the train station to take photos with the Velociraptors.
What were the results of the campaign?
- The hashtag, #JurassicWaterloo, was used more than 50,000 times on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr during the campaign.
- Over 300,000 people encountered and interacted with the guerrilla marketing stunt at Waterloo Station.
- 50,000+ movie tickets were sold at the train station’s “Jurassic World” gift shop. Overall, ticket sales for the film’s first 5 days in London theaters reached GBP 18 million.
- “Jurassic World” became the second-highest grossing film in London in 2015.
- The campaign made it to the front page of The LA Times newspaper, and was featured in articles from various digital media outlets like Campaign U.K., Creative Pool, LBBOnline, AdCommunications, T4 Media, and more.
Clearly, these results show taking over London’s largest and busiest train station was a great move for the promotion of the movie!
*Applause*
—
What made this guerrilla marketing campaign memorable was its ability to provide commuters with an overall wonderful time. There was something to experience everywhere in the train station—vinyl wraps, digital panels, dinosaur statues, etc.!
In true theme park style, there was even a gift shop where people could buy their “Jurassic World” memorabilia and movie tickets. This created a sensory immersion into film director Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction masterpiece.
What else?
By literally transforming Waterloo Station into Jurassic World, the campaign team enabled thousands of commuters to not only experience the thrill of a dinosaur theme park for themselves but also share that experience with their family and friends.
Because of that, Jurassic Waterloo provided plenty of consumers with a different level of engagement, excitement, and anticipation for the actual film.
Get inspired with “Jurassic World’s” Raptor Breakout!
Always remember that fun and positive interactions aid in longer brand recalls. By utilizing various tools and techniques to creatively market your brand, you will also provide a one-of-a-kind experience your target audience will enjoy.
Start planning your own immersive and adventure-filled marketing campaigns!
(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 Thursday, 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
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