By Eric Allen, News staff
When strolling past the seafood case in the grocery store, the privileges Bostonians enjoy living near the coast become evident. In the mood to have a fish filet for dinner? Just see what’s fresh. Salmon steak … too ordinary. Haddock … maybe. Dirty condom strips … say what?
In summer 2008, the Surfrider Foundation, a California-based organization that operates nationwide and is dedicated to protecting the oceans, unleashed a guerrilla ad campaign called ‘Catch of the Day’ on US farmer’s markets. Nestled among lobster tails and scallops were packages of trash taken from beaches across the country. Wrapped to look like real pieces of seafood, objects like dirty styrofoam bits, used condoms and rusty spray paint cans were meant to bring awareness to how much trash Americans put into the oceans.
‘We grow up with this blind eye,’ said Matt McClain, director of marketing for Surfrider. ‘But when you put [trash] in food packaging, it makes it real.’
For 2009, Surfrider has released images of the faux food products for a print campaign. McClain said the ads have appeared in the last two issues of Rolling Stone, the latest issue of Spin and regional magazines.
The campaign was created by Surfrider in conjunction with its advertising partners, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, with whom it has kept a close relationship, McClain said. In 2008, both companies filled a California billboard with trash found on a local beach in just one day.
Guerrilla advertising is a valuable way for Surfrider to raise awareness, McClain said, since a portion of the group’s publicity relies on people talking about their cause. He said the response to the ‘Catch of the Day’ print campaign has been positive ‘- Surfrider and Saatchi & Saatchi LA have received e-mails lauding their efforts.
‘I would think [the campaign is] disgusting. But, it’s doing the job they want it to do,’ said Dan Abrams, director of marketing and public relations for Husky Energy Action Team (H.E.A.T.). ‘I would totally look them up online.’
Abrams said H.E.A.T. has considered doing some guerrilla campaigns of its own.
‘They’re my favorite things,’ he said. ‘I think they work. Environmentalism needs to grab people’s attention.’
Abrams said H.E.A.T. will tentatively start a campaign in 2010 to alert the Northeastern community about the amount of waste produced by students. It would see Krentzman Quad filled with bags of recyclables to promote a challenge in which teams of NU students dumpster dive to find refuse that should’ve been recycled.
Guerrilla advertising has become a way for brand names ‘- not just environmental activist groups ‘- to get people talking
‘They can be tremendously successful,’ said Robert Young, associate professor of marketing. ‘The general public is carrying your message instead of the media.’
guerrilla ad campaigns can take a variety of forms, like Internet-only viral videos, Young said.
A popular YouTube video, distributed by T-Mobile, features a large group of people performing a series of choreographed dance moves to a medley of well-known songs in an English train station.
The video makes no mention of the telecommunication brand until the very end, when the screen shows:’ ‘Life’s for sharing.’ Right before, the T-Mobile logo comes on screen.
‘People don’t necessarily remember the project. It’s just for brand registration,’ Young said. ‘But when they work, they work well.’
But Young said relying on guerrilla ad campaigns can be tricky. It is difficult for an off-beat ad to get noticed without getting lost in the clutter of other campaigns, or possibly offending someone.
In 2007, two men were arrested after they placed electronic light boards showing a moon man flipping the bird around the city, causing bomb scares. It was discovered that the guerrilla ads were meant to be a promotion for ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force,’ and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., which owns the rights to the show, issued a public apology.
Some question whether or not guerrilla marketing is actually effective, Young said.
‘The campaign started out as a tactical initiative,’ Surfrider’s McClain said. ‘Whatever gets out there, we really have to rely on the generosity of others.’
