Running out of gift ideas for Christmas? This out-of-the-box campaign just might inspire you! [Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
‘Tis the season to be jolly!
What gifts are you planning to give to your loved ones this Christmas?
Books?
Clothes?
Shoes?
According to an article published by remote learning solutions company Lumen Learning, whenever people prepare presents, some of the factors they consider are the recipient’s background, preferences, personality, and motivations.
This means when people give gifts, they make sure the recipients will find these things meaningful and useful based on their lifestyles.
What other presents do you think your loved ones will appreciate and enjoy?
Let’s look at one gift suggestion from this brand’s holiday-themed guerrilla marketing campaign…
MINI is a British automotive company founded in 1969. The brand is known for manufacturing and marketing a range of small cars.
Contrary to its name and association with small cars, MINI promotes its products through BIG, eye-catching, and ambient guerilla marketing techniques.
These include turning a building into a giant car vending machine and sticking life-sized models of a MINI Cooper car on a billboard.
Giving Consumers in Amsterdam a Very MINI Christmas
In December 2009, MINI upheld its status as a marketing genius through another guerrilla marketing campaign that embodied the Christmas spirit of giving.
What is that campaign?
The giant MINI Cooper cardboard boxes!
In this campaign, the brand LITERALLY did something out-of-the-box!
The idea was that the MINI Cooper car is so small it can fit inside a box… and to communicate this message to consumers, the brand left huge cardboard boxes with ripped gift wrappers and printed photos of the MINI Cooper in popular locations around Amsterdam.
This made it look like someone just got a brand new MINI Cooper as a Christmas present!
The branded giant cardboard boxes stood out in the locations where they were placed. The best part about this guerrilla marketing tactic?
These boxes made people stop on their tracks and take a peek inside, probably expecting to find an actual MINI Cooper! Check out their reactions here.
Some even took photos of themselves standing beside or in front of these boxes.
Were MINI’s giant MINI Cooper cardboard boxes an effective marketing strategy?
Aside from gaining the attention of almost every person that walked past the boxes in Amsterdam, the campaign also contributed to MINI’s worldwide sales. The company’s sales increased from 216,000 cars sold in 2009 to over 234,000 cars sold in 2010. 12% of these sales (over 29,000 units) were MINI Coopers.
There’s more!
In 2010, MINI won the Gold Pencil Award at The One Show for the giant MINI Cooper cardboard boxes campaign!
… and when a brand wins this award, that means the brand’s campaign is outstanding enough that it deserves recognition in one of the world’s most prestigious award shows in advertising, design and digital marketing.
Well done, MINI!
Through this Christmas-themed guerilla marketing campaign, the brand not only creatively promoted the MINI Cooper but also embodied the spirit of giving.
It’s true that getting extravagant gifts is exciting. However, what truly touches the hearts of people is the idea that someone loves and appreciates them enough to give them amazing gifts.
Imagine the thoughts running through passersby’s heads when they came across MINI’s huge cardboard boxes. Those thoughts were probably along the lines of:
“That person must have done something right to deserve a car for Christmas!”
“I wish I got a car as a Christmas present, too…”
“Whoever received this amazing gift is so lucky!”
People would think the recipient of such an extravagant gift is truly worthy of appreciation because a person wouldn’t give that kind of present to a random acquaintance.
This mindset that MINI encouraged consumers to have is what made this campaign brilliant in general and not just for the holiday season.
—
Sometimes, it’s not enough to make your audience think that your advertisement is “cool.” You also have to strike them on a personal and emotional level, pique their curiosity, and make them go:
“WOAH!”
This will help you get the attention of a broader audience and make them remember you and your brand for your unique marketing strategies.
So… what are you waiting for?
Start planning your own attention-grabbing guerrilla marketing campaigns now!
Just like MINI, think of strategies that will simultaneously embody your brand’s core value and blow your audience away.
Advance “MINI” Christmas! 🎁
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: 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 Friday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
Powered by Valens Research
www.valens-research.com
