We’re going to the zoo!
Today we’ll be talking about an ambush guerrilla marketing campaign by Jägermeister on the UBC Point Grey Campus. No, we aren’t talking about those high strung apes in the cage. We’re talking about “innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.”
UBC has become target number one for a new guerrilla marketing campaign launched by Jägermeister. The German super brand has booby trapped doors with pop up stickers depicting a woman appearing to hand you a bottle of Jägermeister when you peep through your eye hole.
The card stock cutouts were found on hundreds of doors across different housing complexes around the UBC campus on Friday morning. This came as surprise, but not a shock after numerous promotions by Jägermeister have been noticed on campus already.
You will struggle to find an event on campus without the stylish Jägermeister banner and Cold Shot machine after the brand has begun to sponsor several Fraternities and social clubs on campus. However, were the cool cut outs worth while on top of all this sponsorship?
Why UBC? Party Animals!
The stereotypical university lifestyle is an obvious fit for any liquor brand with parties heavily reliant on alcohol to spark any interactions. Students are notorious for their large alcohol consumption and distressed wallets. More so, students are not exactly brand loyal. Students care more about how much alcohol will hurt their wallet than their stomachs.
On one side, students are easily acquired since they can be persuaded given the right incentives (students love FREE). Likewise, they can leave as quickly as they joined. Like a bad girlfriend, students may love one brand one day and a whole new one the next. Few brands can sustain such substantial giveaways. How long will Jägermeister’s promotions last? Free weekly bottles of liquor can quickly add up when serving tens of thousands of patrons.
Keeping a guerrilla in its cage
UBC has fairly strict rules when it comes to promotions and advertising, especially by alcohol brands like. Is it worth Jägermeister’s efforts and cash to increase exposure? Or is Jägermeister trying to increase sales? The problem is that Jägermeister retails for $30.49 for 750 mL while student favorite Smirnoff Vodka retails for $22.49. It’s a stretch to say that a sticker on a door is going to make up or $8.00 in consumer’s wallets. Even though Jägermeister has no direct substitute, students are certainly extremely price sensitive.
You need to be seen
Surely with an out of the box campaign like this you would expect some buzz from social media. A quick search across Twitter yields no results mentioning #Jagermeister, #Jager, the word Jagermeister, or the word Jager within 25km of UBC. With no call to action and no resulting reactions its pretty clear this was an unsuccessful campaign.
Are UBC residents and students truly the best target? Jägermeister should probably look at a different way to reach consumers.
This wasn’t the first failure by Jägermeister. See below.
A pool party went horribly wrong after swimmers went unconscious after inhaling toxic fumes from the liquid nitrogen poured into the pool.
