Tired and hungry? This company showed its support to commuters through a hearty and flavorful campaign! [Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
T.G.I.F. (Thank God It’s Friday)!
What are some of the things you plan to do after work?
Binge-watch your favorite TV series?
Bond with your pets?
Cook a delicious meal so you and your family can eat heartily after a productive work week?
If you’re the type of person who loves to eat during your after-work hours to replenish your energy, this guerrilla marketing campaign might be interesting for you!
Crock-Pot is a 50-year-old American business known for selling slow cookers and providing chef-inspired slow cooker recipes that are easy to make.
[Slow Cookers: A countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer food at a lower temperature. This appliance enables unattended cooking for different dishes such as pot roast, soups, and stews.]
However, despite being in the food service industry for 5 decades, the company still needed to raise awareness about its brand and make consumers more familiar with crock pot cuisines (using slow cookers for cooking food).
So… what did Crock-Pot do to reach out to its target market?
On February 13, 2014, the company launched a one-day guerrilla marketing campaign called…
The Crock-Pot Cuisine Initiative!
Aside from raising awareness about Crock-Pot, the initiative also aimed to help busy bodies fill their stomachs with warm meals after a long day at work.
Here’s a timeline of the things that happened on the day of the campaign:
- Early Bird Crock-Pot Staff
On February 13, 2014, Crock-Pot employees woke up early so they could set up 250 slow cookers at exactly 7:00 am ET at the Chicago Union Station.
Fact: The Chicago Union Station is the size of nearly 10 city blocks and is the third busiest rail terminal in the US. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the station served around 140,000 passengers on an average weekday.
This was probably one of the reasons why the company chose to conduct its guerrilla marketing campaign at the rail terminal!
- Slow-Cooked Recipes
Once 250 slow cookers were set up at the Chicago Union Station, Crock-Pot staff started slow cooking 250 cuisines that were posted on the company’s website as recipes.
These meals included:
– Mexican Chicken and Black Bean Soup
– Mashed Potatoes
– Arizona Ranch Beans
– Asiago and Asparagus Risotto
– Bacon and Cheese Brunch Potatoes
– Baked Beans… and many more!
Crock-Pot staff prepared and slow cooked these meals throughout the day to ensure each dish is served warm to commuters.
- Satisfied Commuters
When commuters started flocking the Chicago Union Station to go back home after work, Crock-Pot employees gave slow cooked meals to passersby for FREE.
Any guesses on how many meals the company gave away?
Crock-Pot distributed over 3,000 bowls of food to tired and hungry commuters!
Yum!
Such an awesome way to create a lasting brand recall―filling empty bellies with a warm bowl of crock pot meals!
During the one-day execution of the campaign, Crock-Pot staff distributed more than 2,500 promotional fliers about the company and collected a total of 171 email addresses from commuters at the Chicago Union Station.
Aside from that, the website crock-pot.com received over 1,600 clicks on the day of the campaign. Some of those who received a free meal even talked about their experience and the food on their social media channels.
Crock-Pot was also featured on the local news for its guerrilla marketing campaign!
Who would’ve thought that slow cooking would lead to fast and desirable results for this 50-year-old business?
This campaign showed that guerrilla marketing is an effective way to promote your brand and connect with your target market.
… and this marketing strategy doesn’t only deliver good results to big businesses alone; guerrilla marketing also helps small and medium-sized businesses!
Just look at how this type of campaigns helped small and startup businesses like Pour Masters Bar Service, Burger Revolution, Bloom & Wild, Friends of Glass, and Crock-Pot increase awareness about their brand, generate sales, and connect with their target market.
You’ll see that regardless of the size of your business, creating fun and engaging campaigns will do wonders for your brand.
Unleash your creativity and think outside of the box for an awesome guerrilla marketing campaign!
With the right planning and execution, you’ll be able to create a fun and extremely memorable activity that connects your brand and target market!
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
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