Take a look at this…

Hello again! I am always excited when I see a new, unique form of marketing. Especially when it goes as far as to incorporate the public into the advertisement. One of my favorite types of advertisements I’ve seen have to do with transforming bus stops into extreme advertisements. Some are hilarious, others make you take another look, but either way, a ton of creativity goes into creating these masterpieces and I as a consumer that enjoys humor, I get a kick out of seeing them. This unconventional approach to marketing is called Guerrilla Marketingand was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson (www.gmarketing.com). This concept of marketing by interacting with consumers in a casual environment, such as a bus stop, has proven to be much more inexpensive compared to large scale marketing campaigns and has proven to be more effective as well.  Jay Conrad has written various books on this thinking out of the box vision of marketing and has given lectures at universities such as the University of California, Berkeley. Jay’s new approach to marketing hasn’t been all smooth sailing. In Janurary 2007, Jay launched a campaign for a popular animated TV show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s new movie. The campaign included placing various LED images of one of the show’s characters around the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Police Officers interpreted the LED characters as possible home made bombs and the campaign was criticized as ‘going too far’ with their marketing approach. Many newspapers targeted Guerrilla Marketing as going too far with the advertisements and it gained negative press. Is there a line that Guerrilla Marketing is crossing when it comes to extreme and unique marketing for companies? Personally, I think that this new approach to advertise is refreshing and I enjoy seeing what Jay Conrad is going to come up with next. Marketing is about targeting your audience and captivating them. By bringing an extremely creative alternative to the table besides the common magazine and Facebook ads, Conrad has been able to reach a worldwide audience in a cost effective way. What company wouldn’t want that?   Here are a few bus stop advertisements that I just couldn’t get enough of!

Another one of Jay Conrad's Guerrilla Marketing bus stop advertisement that he created for Quicksilver. By adding a skateboard ramp to the side of a bus stop, the bus stop unit becomes more than just a covered bench, and transforms into an interactive public space. Love it!