It’s not often that a marketing story headlines the nightly newscast. But there it was on Boston stations tonight, close at the heels of American Idol and carrying a few lessons for us all. What played out as a bomb scare in various locations around the city today turned out to be a guerilla marketing campaign orchestrated by Interference Inc. in a campaign for the Adult Swim TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force….
Boson artist Peter Berdovsky, hired by Interference, was arrested last night in connection with the hoax, in which he hid 38 circuit board packages featuring little LED-lit guys (and their upright middle fingers), known as Mooninites.
Prior to that, however, Boston’s bomb squad had a busy day, detonating one of the devices and removing others from under bridges, a hospital, highway overpasses, Urban Outfitters and subway stations. Traffic was a mess; city officials were panicked.
Interference was hired by Turner Broadcasting, which produces Aqua Teen Hunger Force on its Cartoon Network. Last night, Turner spokesman Shirley Powell issued a statement,
“The ‘packages” in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.”
Two lessons here:
First, market responsibly. In a post 9-11 world, it seems near crazy to tuck blinking packages with wires protruding near major municipal hubs and landmarks. Fenway Park? Sullivan Square MBTA stop? What were they thinking? Last time I went through airport security, they confiscated my 10-year-old’s SpongeBob toothpaste. That’s how crazy the world is, and unfortunately that’s the lens through which municipal leaders view any blinking devices.
But take heart, city officials: there’s a easy fix at hand. Simply: Read blogs! Boston officials could have avoided the emergency response drill if they only read bloggers or trolled Flickr. Interactive Designer Todd Vanderlin two weeks ago was psyched to find one of the little guys up on a Boston bridge. He promptly grabbed it to sell it on eBay. He uploaded photos of the stunt here on January 15th.
It’s good to know that Boston’s emergency response system seems to be in fighting shape …. responding flawlessly and seamlessly to what became little more than a drill. Joshua Glenn on his “Brainiac” blog suggests that ordinary citizens and their wi-fi laptops, cellphones, Treos and the like would be far more effective at recognizing signs of terrorist attacks than any governmental organization. My advice is only that the Boston Bomb Squad now subscribe to Vanderlin’s blog feed …. he’s all they really need.
Update:
Two Held After Ad Campaign Triggers Boston Bomb Scare
Related posts:
Ann: where to start. Are you a football fan? I’m a Redskin fan. Many years ago, then-coach Norv Turner was asked his reaction to his then-quarterback Gus Frerotte’s decision when, after scoring a touchdown on a bootleg, he ran through the back of the end zone and headbutted the stadium wall, giving himself a concussion.
Norv replied, “I never thought to tell him not to do that.”
Marketers are creative people. Sometimes you just have to let Darwin do his job and cull guys like these from the herd for everyone’s sake.
I give props for the campaign, although definitely these items should not be around bridges!
However, public transportation areas are great because of the incredible amount of foot traffic. What’s the real danger folks? “Oh golly, what is that silly thing over there? Is it giving me the bird? How obscene!”
ann, i do remember when to support the launch of the movie
“12 monkeys” we spray on the wall along the main street in milan and rome the movie logo, the three monkeys “i don’t see, i don’t hear, i don’t speak”. it was a huge success. but it was the 1995 and we share with client a certain amount of money of fines issued by the municipality. today world has gone crazy.
Anne – Maybe I’m one of the people who would have panicked and headed for the hills over Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast, but when my sister called yesterday to ask what was going on in Boston, and I heard that there may have been a bomb found in Sullivan Square, and another on the Longfellow Bridge, I broke into a cold sweat – my 9 year old niece goes to school a mile from Sullivan Square. What if? What if? What if?
The lack of judgement on the part of the folks who put these signs – which apparently “featured” exposed wires and batteries on one side, and which (under daylight conditions) even someone “in the know” might not have been able to interpret as a cartoon character – under bridges and overpasses is profound in this day and age. Boston may have overreacted, but I’m actually delighted with the show of force by the first responders.
I don’t think criminal prosecution for the young “artistes” who were hired to place these signs as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign is warranted, but as a Boston taxpayer, I wouldn’t mind getting some money back from whoever concocted this scheme.
To me a hoax would the planting of fake bombs… Faux bombs that actually contained an advertising message. THAT would be inappropriate.
This became a fiasco.
The problems here were a) a lack of understanding of what the LED panels were and b) allowing panic.
No one jumps when – as it gets dark – the lights behind the ad in a bus shelter flicker and turn on. We are familiar with that medium… and they are in a traditional / expected place.
I agree… unfortunately, we are in a time when if you accidentally left your gym bag on the subway – they’d evacuate and send in the bomb squad.
I wonder what will happen to Peter Berdovsky for creating the LED panels?
I wonder if the marketing team supporting the show is excited about the additional exposure their show has received because of this media attention.
Mario,
In response to your question, here are the dangers:
1. Someone could have been hurt, especially emergency responders who exploded several of the devices.
2. Taxpayers were hurt, as the day’s event caused the city to spend $500,000.
3. Marketing professionals get hurt because we come off looking stupid.
My question: How hard would it have been for the marketing firm to alert the cities that this campaign was being launched?
Thanks for covering this Ann. I covered it over in my corner (great…now another city hates marketers!). Lewis has a lot of great points above. Living in an “on-alert” city (NYC) I know what it’s like to have the police shut down subway stations over a “mystery” package so I’ve no doubt NYC would have done the same thing…and we city-dwellers, like the lit signs as part of the campaign, would be flipping-off the marketers behind the scheme for the inconvenience and scare.
But here’s my BIG question: Why did it take Turner Broadcasting (producers behind the show) until 5pm to issue a statement when the first device was found at 8am? That’s the same thing CNN is asking (and they’re owned by Turner).
P.S.: Boston, we’re sorry that marketing wrecked your day. There are plenty of innovative marketers who want to delight and not frighten you.
I am all for buzz marketing and guerilla tactics but placing electronic boards like this in any American city is bizarre. Especially after the al-Qaeda has just threatened to bring the war to the US again.
They could have come up with something else to use. That is creative out of control or just being lazy. Years ago I sent an ammunition box with a proposal in it to TBS as a gimmick. I would never even think to do that after 2001. Sorry that is just the way it is now.
It wasn’t innovative. It wasn’t clever. And it sure as hell wasn’t entertaining. It was a bonehead idea. Talk about advertising being invasive!
And I don’t think you could ask city officials to read blogs to find out about this stuff before it happens. There’s too many blogs and too much information. I’m in the biz and I had no idea about it! It didn’t show up on any of my feeds until last night!
Thanks for all the comments, guys…
Stephan: Pretty funny image.
And Spike: I was suggesting tongue-in-cheek that the bomb squad subscribe to the blogger’s feed… but at the same time, pointing out that a blogger did, fundamentally, break the story and report the truth way ahead of mainstream press. Just an observation.
As so many of you suggest (Maureen, Harry, Lewis, Paul, CK), the Freak Out Threshold is set pretty low these days… understandably. Boston may look silly for overreacting, but hindsight is always 20-20.
I do see Lewis’ point about informing officials. But, I do see Ann’s point about viewing blogs. Sure there are many blogs. But, I bet a Technorati or Google search would have found out immediately what it was. I work for a government agency. It’s such a struggle to change the culture and bureaucracy. My everyday challenge is bringing in innovation through the use of available technology and creating conversations with our customers.
Well, could we at least ask city officials to be reasonable, like they were in every other city where this campaign took place? (E.g., in Seattle they said it was no big deal and there was no panic, etc.) As a Bostonian, I apologize for our officials’ incompetence.
Everyone seems to have a good grasp on why this was an irresponsible ploy that wasted resources, scared a bunch of people, and hurt our reputations (Thanks, Lewis) … I agree.
But let me look at it from a different angle… Perhaps the gesture is now looked on as a symbol of a commendable defiant attitude, but when did we get to the point that it’s okay for marketers to give the audience a message that has been previously associated with blatant and obscene disrespect?
Just wondering.
Cam, the character is often portrayed as giving the finger. (Do a google image search for “ignignokt” and you’ll see what I mean.) It was just a symbol for fans of the show to know that something was up, i.e., the release of the movie next month.
Ben – I’m sure that’s true (although I don’t know what would possess me to do a search for “ignignokt” – That’s a mouthful), and it makes sense from a tactical perspective.
My question is about our culture that accepts it (and even finds it entertaining), not CN’s tactic.
You know, Spike, I was joking about the bomb squad subscribing to blog feeds. But at the same time, it’s incredible that no one on that end would have checked the internet — always my first source of information. WOuldn’t it make sense to have someone tasked with monitoring blogs and other social media — both in this case as well as more general intelligence?
Ann – As a general rule, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that… Even encouraging workers to make a habit of spending a little time checking this sphere each day… But when crunch time comes, a city worker sees something that looks threatening, they understand that they no longer live in an age where they can afford to risk a false negative.
Marketers can be rascals without considering the consequences. Unfortunately, the people who want to protect us don’t have the same luxury to just assume everything is okay.
That’s the sad part about it Ann. I wouldn’t be surprised if many government agencies don’t have monitoring blogs or other social media, conversations, etc. The technologies and tools are available. But, the status quo is easier. Few in government (exception may be the West Coast) even know what RSS is or even use it for their personal stuff.
Lewis,
Points understood and valid, of course. I think the real question is how big a risk did this event pose for miscommunication and the reaction it provoked?
I believe environments where drivers are present, have certain visual zones where no ads/bulletins should be present. An LED display could be distracting and dangerous to drivers. Thus, I agree that permissions/notices may be needed in certain areas.
In concurrence with Ben, this is an isolated incident. Its a Lite-Brite display with a cartoon character; this has NO reasonable connection to a bomb threat. Is Osama giving us a new message? The news/hype machine without complete information has blown this up to various degrees of reason-ability. The marketers could have mitigated this risk of potentially causing vehicular accidents by informing the proper city authorities. Basta!
Guys: I said this over at Jonathan’s post, too. But it’s something I’ve learned so I’m copying it at Ann’s post.
All: Being a New Yorker that went through the mass-transit shutdown of 9/11 and the subway strike a couple years back what is VERY easy to forget is this: when mass transit shuts down or is stalled it’s not just people getting to work that are inconvenienced. People also can’t get to chemotherapy treatments and to their children at school. We just can’t imagine the ramifications until it happens.
I just find it inexcusable that Turner Broadcasting waited until 5pm to respond. They should set an example.
This wasn’t a “hoax.” A hoax would be if they claimed it was a bomb. This is done all over all the time.
For the poster who said it should be done “especially after al qeada threatened American again”, does that mean all creative use of public space should be banned forever (al qaeda or a similar group will always have similar threats against us)?
My guess is that everyone expressing outrage lives outside of urban areas. anyone familar with urban space would be suprised at this. IOndeed this exact campaign has been ongoing in quite a few cities. They are in the DC meto.
I don’t think government officials should have to go online viewing blobs. First of all ANYONE can post a blog. Suppose terrorist did put up the devices, then post a blog saying the devices were for a marketing campaign. So the city officials ignore these black boxes with wires hanging out. Then during rush hour several of the devices explode and kill hundreds.
It’s upsetting that so many people think if something “looks harmless” then it is harmless…Didn’t your mothers ever teach you to check Halloween candy? There was a reason for that…
I don’t think government officials should have to go online viewing blogs. First of all ANYONE can post a blog. Suppose terrorists did put up the devices, then posted a blog saying the devices were for a marketing campaign. So the city officials ignore these black boxes with wires hanging out. Then during rush hour several of the devices explode and kill hundreds.
It’s upsetting that so many people think if something “looks harmless” then it is harmless…Didn’t your mothers ever teach you to check Halloween candy? There was a reason for that…
Even had city officials monitored blogs and saw people talking about this promotion they should not accept that as gospel, just as we should not. Blogs are full my “opinions” and marketing messages so why not a misdirection fro terrorists. Who is to say terrorists couldn’t plant the concept that these were safe. We all know how some blog entries spread and become the truth even though they are not.
Interesting discussion concerning blogs. I agree that blogs shouldn’t be treated as the final word. They are, however, conversations. Conversations should not be ignored by anyone, especially government agencies. Also, the use of technologies for communications need to improve at all levels of government.
I agree, Harry. I’m not suggesting blogs are gospel, I’m suggesting they are a resource. In this case, for example, it would have offered a lead that might have resolved the situation more quickly and at less expense.
About the security issues at stake, I’ll bet that Homeland Security is monitoring the Internet for suspicious dialogs and clues to terrorist activity, and that includes blogs. Maybe municipal agencies don’t have the resources to do that, but cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement may have helped in this case. Maybe communication between these different levels hasn’t improved since 9-11 as it was supposed to. That’s not a marketing story – that would be criminal for the people of the U.S.
As for the creative people who dreamed up this campaign…whether right or wrong in this approach, someone representing the client signed off on the concept and the campaign. That’s where the responsibility lies.
Good discussion folks!
I wonder how all of us would have perceived this marketing stunt had it not gone sideways in Boston?
I hope we would have given it the same level of contempt that we view this with now. Unfortunately, I think a minority of marketing folks would have found this tactic to be brilliant.
VJ,
There have been studies tracking down urban myths and the Halloween candy scare is one that has been debunked. Unfortunately it was at it’s height during my youth so some good candy was taken away from me
Let me know if you can link to any stories that provide an example of people hurt from Halloween candy.
BTW, the severity/popularity of peanut allergies is also exaggerated.
Here’s an excerpt from blog on this…
This is suspicious in many ways …. Turner? …. Interference? …. Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens? It worked!!! You got buzz!!! You did your job!! But at what cost?
The whole thing was irresponsible, irreverent, slightly sinister and childish. So there’s my little slap on the hand. Was it really all in good fun? Over all I think it stinks.
Oh yeah!!! When did it become acceptable to flip people off in a very public marketing ploy?
NW Guy
The odds of anything happening w/candy are slim to none but here’s a case, http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp
Anyway, looking back on the incident, it’s easy for critics to say Boston residents overreacted to the situation because the devices turned out to be harmless. However last week when city officials found them they did not know what they could be. They decided to play it safe and use caution to remove these offensive devices. I’m just saying its better to be safe than sorry.
The 2 million dollar fine is going to change the way agencies evaluate the value of guerrilla campaigns.
The placement of the devices has more to do with them seeming like bombs instead of looking like them. Bomb makers aren’t typically going to put “this is a bomb- danger” sign on it in an urban area.
I wrote about this- in a post titled Guerrilla Marketing and the Golden Rule here: http://www.thenextwave.biz/tnw/?p=293
I’m not sure who is is more misguided – Ann or the folks at Interference. Ann – why would it be the responsibility of the city to scan blogs? It really is about foreseeability. As noted elsewhere, much of this would have been prevented had Interference alerted the Boston officials – actively taking a position, not passively foregoing their ethical obligations. The good news? Turner is writing a big check. The bad news? The pub they received for this show far exceeds any check they would have written. Interference will be using this in their presentations for years, as they successfully business from more desperate marketers who are in it for the short term.
XSpotGuy,
Really, is there a need for hype on this issue (haven’t we learned even now?)? It’s clear who was more misguided…
Anyway, yes, Interference ought to have handled things differently–but so should have the authorities. And of course, especially nowadays, law-enforcement and intelligence agencies should be monitoring public sources of information–like blogs. One assumes Boston immediately informed the Feds–at least _they_ should have had the resources to figure out what’s hoax and what’s not.
Just goes to show you how well our tax dollars are spent…
And, guess what, I bet the City of Boston will be using this in its presentations to wrangle more anti-terrorism funds from the Federal gov’t…
I’m just sayin’.
XSpotGuy: As I said above, I was suggesting tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek that the bomb squad subscribe to the blogger’s feed. (But at the same time, pointing out that a blogger did, fundamentally, break the story and report the truth way ahead of mainstream press.)
Anyway — thanks for stopping by.
Ann:
I don’t know what is more irresponsible:
This bone head PR stunt gone very bad or considering the ability of government officials to follow blogs?