Last month there was a live music performance - the Spiegel Concert - on the canals in Amsterdam. Events like this happen quite often. The city blocks off streets and people head to the area by bike, foot, and boat. They bring chairs, wine and beer and enjoy the show.

The folks from eBuddy saw the crowd as the perfect opportunity to mingle and build awareness of their brand. They were a sponsor of the event, set up a refreshments boat offering cold drinks and snacks... But their awareness-building weapon was their costumed mascot.

eBuddy is an Amsterdam-based company offering a free web and phone based messenger that enables you to chat with your MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, MySpace and AIM buddies. Their service requires no downloads nor registration.

eBuddy was standing behind the crowd trying to get attention. Despite shaking a few hands and spending most of his time waving his arms like a maestro conducting the orchestra (actually, he was a little annoying to watch) he wasn't getting any attention.

I'm sure it was frustrating for eBuddy and his handlers that - surprise - everyone was watching the music performance and not him!

So he went away. Failure. It seemed eBuddy gave up trying to break through the noise and clutter (music and packed crowds) and went home.

However... a few minutes later... chugging down the canal on a rented paddle boat? eBudddy!

They dashed off to rent a paddle boat that would put them in directly between the crowds (standing on the right side of the canal) and the orchestra (performing on the left side of the canal).

Brilliant.

Now you couldn't miss eBuddy. He broke through by putting himself in a non-traditional space.

Who knows if eBuddy gained additional registrations. (I'll have to ask them). Regardless, I have to give credit to the team who quickly came up with a "Plan B" that met their original goal.

Nice work.

Keep this lesson in mind during your own planning. If at first you don't succeed, try a Plan B.

(Some images from eBuddy's Flickr set)