Big, and we mean Big QR Code

If you want to go big, go really big, or maybe no one will notice.  In Denmark a huge QR code was set up on May 26th that measured 5377 square feet according to Carsten Herholdt, the man behind this guerrilla marketing effort for the Danish school Børkop Højskole.  2 skydivers had an awesome view of the effort held up by 441 folks on the ground, and we are glad it was documented well, otherwise only the pilot and those 2 parachutists would have actually seen it.

Invisible

This guerrilla marketing effort for Lynx Anarchy took place in Australia and allowed folks with special glasses to see "invisible ads."  As some youtube commenters have wondered though, where is this place down under where only young attractive folks move about?   Maybe all these silly "actuality - not reality shows" on TruTV have made us all suspicious of anything that appears to be staged.

Original Click

Volkswagen is very proud to us original parts and they found a clever and entertaining way on youtube to play on that theme.  As we all know youtube is filled with copy cats and imitators and VW in Brasil helped viewers find the original with "The Original Click", and helped themselves with quite a few clicks too.

QR code follow through

Guinness has an interesting new QR code effort that is featured on a pint glass. This QR code though is only visible when very dark beer is poured into the glass, and it is meant to be a guerrilla marketing social media super stunt. Apparently it tweets about your pint, updates your facebook status, checks you in via 4 square, downloads coupons and promotions, invites your friends to join, and even launches exclusive Guinness content, but now here comes the problem. When you actually scan in the code it is meant to take you to livepint.com, but someone seems to have forgotten to handle this part of the deal, as now you go straight to godaddy.com which reminds you that this domain has been parked. Nice, well, just go drink your Guinness.

Not this way or that way.

UPDATE:  We just got word that the campaign is older and just got buzz now, so no buzz when it was live?  But if that is true, why not have people land on "sorry this promotion has expired."  Either way, it is FAIL.

My Time Is Now

New spot for Nike football / soccer features an incredible array of soccer stars and looks like quite a production effort.  Surprisingly though this video is unlisted,  so you have to stumble upon a link or a cool blog like ours to see it.  But now to the important question, how many players can you identify?

1945 bicycle manufacturing

Titled simply "How a Bicycle is Made," this film from 1945 shows the manufacturing process of Raleigh bicycles in the UK.  It is amazing to see how big Raleigh was then and it is a nice example of guerrilla marketing then. :-)

Hellmann's

Do you ever look closer at your receipt when you return from the grocery store?   Folks in Brazil who studied their receipt recently noticed some interesting additional info.  A recipe that matched most of their items purchased and connected to the Hellmann's mayonnaise they also just bought.  But Hellmann's already had those customers.  Now how is this effort supposed to attract new ones?

First In Bigotry

After last night's election in North Carolina and the embarrassing approval of Amendment 1, it is time for folks here to share their pride and attitude on their tags. So we propose a change from "First In Flight" to "First in Bigotry."

Shadow QR code work

Emart in Korea did some very clever work with a QR code that is only visible around lunch time through sunlight and shadows. Emart called this effort Sunny Sale with the hope to boost sale numbers around noon, and they did that and more. Let us just hope there won't be too many rainy days.

+Giant Art Project

A big Art billboard in the West End neighborhood of Winston-Salem recently caught our eye and with a QR code below we quickly stumbled upon the Facebook page of the +Giant Art Project. The billboard is really art and not so much marketing, but to some degree it is of course a nice marketing effort for itself and of course The Variable agency associated with it, or better said - working attached to it.

COURAGE US

You need indeed courage to Face the Boogie Man. In Winston-Salem, NC a cute little guerrilla marketing effort leads folks to the Cancer Services short film "Facing the Boogie Man." But you did not have to simply remember the link, there was also a QR code for smart phones.

Below is the video:

Key games

How much fun would it be if your key could open the doors of other cars and trouble wasn't awaiting you? That is kind of the premise of a Mercedes Benz guerrilla marketing stunt that allowed folks to open the doors to a Mercedes Viano with their own car key inside the Berlin underground station Friedrichstrasse.

Super tiny IKEA store

Although IKEA stores are known for their giant footprint stores, they just recently built the world smallest store inside a 300 x 250 pixel web banner. But don't you worry, it is all in there.

More McDonald's

It is very rare that we feature the same brand only a few days apart, but it has indeed happened now with McDonald's. We are not even sure where this reflective billboard is, but it is quite unique. Plus very few brands can afford a billboard that only works during the night.

Via Tim

Happy Easter

With Easter almost upon us we should not forget the importance of the Easter bunny. The Lindt Chocolatiers clearly are aware of the bunny and they are helping us all remember too. Time to bite off the head of a Gold Bunny. Happy Easter.

Via Kurt Staud

Ask and you shall receive...

If you are advertising your products or services to a specific community, and somehow end up on their e-mail list serve, be careful how you approach getting your email address removed from that group. Below is something that what was recently sent out on a list serve (with name of sender and community replaced with XXXXX) but otherwise the post is exactly as was sent, including all caps.

"PLEASE TAKE ME OFF THIS E MAIL LISTING. I DO NOT LIVE IN XXXXX, JUST ADVERTISE IN NEWS LETTER. PLEASE CONFIRM AND THANK YOU XXXXX XXXXX"

So basically that person wants the money from the community, but not those pesky emails. Interesting indeed, but not very clever. Well, there is a different way of approaching that specific situation versus sending out a blast email to all your potential clients. So listen and learn, be careful what you say to your clients.

How many Big Macs?

Wouldn't you like to know how much time you had for a snack while waiting for the next train? At the Warsaw Central Station a billboard shows waiting time in hamburgers, cokes and fries, well, how many of those you might manage to eat at McDonald's before your train departs. Rumor has it that it even considers train delays and the opening hours of the McDonald's so conveniently located in the train station.

Peter the elephant

With the Samsung Galaxy promoted to be in size somewhere between a phone and a tablet, it makes perfectly sense that an elephant might be able to play with it. Well, Peter the elephant is especially clever and word has it that no special effects were used to get this footage. Either way, it is very adorable.



Let us all pose with Peter.

Pizza, pizza

Red Tomato Dubai offers their most valuable customers a VIP Fridge Magnet,which is basically a call button that allows their customers to order a pizza with the push of a button. Preset to a "favorite" pizza based on order history, but that can be adjusted via the internet. Now where is my button from my local pizza joint?

We are Marshall

Often brands are told to stay close to what they are known for, but there are indeed some exceptions to that rule, especially when the core values and products are not impacted or partially ignored. Marshall refrigerators on the other hand almost falls in the category of a match made in heaven, or at the very least, a somewhat clever licensing deal.




Yup, Marshall

How far?

A very cool effort in Raleigh, NC named Walk Raleigh saw 27 signs pop up throughout town on a late night in January. The crew at City Fabric had created and mounted these signs to encourage folks to walk more. Digital directions could also be easily accessed through a QR code. The signs were eventually removed but will now go back up officially.

Via Heath Dotson

Inviting trouble

Some big Converse billboards on a construction site in Ehrenfeld, Germany were recently enhanced. Those kind of underground efforts usually aren't very flattering, but in this case it is quite attractive. But some folks think that using that kind of medium for an ad actually does invite trouble.

Via Stefan Sturz

Paris underwater

"5:46 am - Paris underwater" is the title of a stunning film by Vivien Balzi and Olivier Campagne of Artefactory Lab. It is quite scary to see a big city 3 feet under water, especially when said city over 100 miles away from the ocean. Guerrilla Marketing for a greener planet and awareness of rising ocean levels? At the very least it is a great self marketing piece for Artefactory lab.



Try to have a coffee and croissant there

Speed

This summer the Utah Museum of Fine Arts will feature an exhibit called "Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile" and various antique racing cars will be featured. To drum up a bit of excitement and awareness for this exhibit, a very sexy campaign has been launched with some stunning photography.

Lost in translation

There are all kinds of options in terms of fluid replacement drinks and one of the most curious brand names in that arena is a Japanese beverage called Pocari Sweat. The slogan is along the lines of "when you sweat, you need Pocari Sweat." But would you want a drink that is called Sweat? And along those lines the brand name options for diarrhea prevention beverages are endless. But maybe something here is just lost in translation.

How not to promote your business

There are a bunch of ways of not helping your business, or actually doing long lasting damage. For starters you shouldn't be inconsiderate, but if you made a judgment error and are being called out for it, being defensive is not a good idea. Sarah Duncan from SD Knitwear in Bath, UK parked very inconsiderate and then turned completely aggressive and a bit nutty against a guy who documented the poor parking choice.

Simple does it

Good marketing doesn't always have to be super elaborate and like with many other things in life "simple" often does it. The 39th annual American Birkebeiner event is taking place in Cable, Wisconsin this weekend, and friends who are participating in this marathon skiing race noticed this very cool Leinenkugel promotional setup. Without being prompted, hey sat in the big chair, took pics, shared them on twitter and had fun - simple and effective.

Via @RochFrey

Flash mobs are dead

Flash mobs are dead, or maybe better said "done with." But hey there is always time for a stampede and Calgary is not alone with that phenomenon.

Via : Steve blick

WHY

A stunning video called WHY by Corey Rich makes you really believe that a Nikon D4 in your hands will allow you to turn into a superb videographer / photographer. Wake up, that is not the case. but the camera is very cool. But for now enjoy this beautiful film.



Beautiful and scary actually.


Via Jordan Rapp

Luke, I am your father

Is this a clever Star Wars guerrilla marketing effort or simple Star Wars weenie art fun? What ever it actually was meant to be, it is entertaining for sure.

Valentine's Day love

It is difficult not to be smitten by this very beautiful spot from Field Notes. Red Blooded is a new color they are offering and the spot below should inspire folks to do more than just buying chocolates or flowers for Valentine's Day. So get on it and be creative!



But you don't have to go all out.

Old Milwaukeee Super Bowl ad

This is another Super Bowl ad that you most likely have missed. Old Milwaukee ran this spot with comedian Will Ferrell only in North Platte, Nebraska on the NBC affiliate there. Yet this spot has been very popular on Twitter and Facebook, and this somewhat odd youtube spot captured by youtube user Daddymcc is approaching 1,000,000 views. Not bad for a spot that may have cost Old Milwaukee $1,000 to $2,000 to place and pretty much nothing to make. Now though it is time for them to get a few more fans on Facebook, surely more than 4797 folks like that beer.

The 2012 Apple iPhone Super Bowl ad

Not many folks may have noticed this ad for the Apple iPhone during the 2012 Super Bowl. Well technically speaking it isn't really an ad because Apple didn't pay a dime, and it didn't air during a commercial break. But look closely how many of the New York Giants players pull out their iPhone when the Vince Lombardi trophy comes by. Very, very impressive and truly a big suck it to Samsung.

ed: Video has been removed by user, but we still know which phone ruled/

Beautiful Joy Ride

Well, the joy ride in this film is quite exciting but the film itself, shot on the new Nikon D800, is absolutely beautiful. Director Sandro and his crew did a fantastic job here and the D800 held its own.



Here is a link to "behind the scenes of Joy Ride": http://vimeo.com/36306101

OK Go does it again

Another very clever spot from OK Go is making the rounds right now, but this one is actually clever guerrilla marketing for the Sonic from Chevrolet. At almost 2,000,000 views right now, we would expect that number to grow tenfold at least. This Too Shall Pass from about 2 years back is at over 33,000,000 as we speak. Nice work

Axe Anarchy

Who would have thought that Axe could throw the world into anarchy? Now that there is AXE Anarchy for men and women that scenario seems likely. So please stay clear of flower pots, scooters and wheel chairs, and for god's sake, please wear a nose clip.

Still loving Ferris Bueller after all these years

More than 25 years after the Ferris Bueller movie launched, Honda has just introduced a new spot to promote the 2012 CRV, featuring Matthew Broderick and a lot of cute references to the original movie. And oh yeah, Honda wants you to join the Leap List.

Endless possibilities

This image was forwarded to us unrelated to marketing topics, but this image appears to be a great one for a gym or energy drink advertisement.

Midnight Sun in London

When the word Tropicana comes up it is easy to imagine the sun, but recently in #TrafalgarSquare in London, UK, the sun actually came up in the middle of the night in a very cool guerrilla marketing stunt to promote Brighter Mornings with Tropicana. A bit of "sunshine" seems to brighten even a cold and dreary night, but a few likes on Facebook will brighten the day of the Tropicana folks apparently



Below is "the making of" that spot

Rumba Time

We understand how promoted tweets work, but maybe the company whose tweets are promoted should pay a bit more attention to the tweets they are using for that effort. Rumba Time is a watch that allows you to make transactions without cash or a card and they have recently taken on a few twitter hash tags such as #triathlon. In general that is a good marketing idea and cyber transactions like this will be more and more popular, but when the same tweet shows up every other day,over and over, then it just doesn't feel real and certainly not honest. Plus self love is most likely not the greatest selling feature.

Garmin cycling sponsorship

If you sponsor a team or a sport with a product that can actually be used in that arena, that allows you to get much more creative in your marketing eforts. The spot below was shot with Christophe Le Mével of team Garmin Cervelo and it is very well done. Now go out and ride even if not up some steep mountain covered in snow.

Striders everywhere

This video was most likely not made as a guerrilla marketing effort to sell more Striders, but of course who would not want to buy a Strider for their kids when they see this clip? This is very entertaining indeed, and absolutely no kid gets hit by a broken bat or errant baseball here. :-)

Via: Philip Casanta

The world's slimmest TV theft

Fun little guerrilla marketing effort by LG to promote the world's slimmest TV. But whatever you may think about this, don't try this at home. Crime doesn't pay. :-)

Ikea Hadron Collider

If the Hadron Collider was made by Ikea, this is what the instructions would roughly look like. We are not quite sure who at Ikea makes sure that all the parts are indeed there, and what kind of vehicle you would need to pick it up.

Via @johnsw

Smoking calendar

If this calendar by AOK Deutschland won't make you want to stop smoking, very few other things will. And of course as the official state main health insurance in Germany they have a vested interest for that silly annoying thing to stop.

We Cover Everything

Sipes paint is everywhere in the Arab World but despite that market dominance people somehow hardly notice. To make people more aware of the Sipes brand huge paint swatches were set up all over Amman for a nice in-your-face guerrilla marketing effort. It indeed appears that Sipes covers everything.

Walking Dead

When the dead folks are walking towards you it is best to start running the other way. But in Norway folks decided to come a bit closer instead to tear off some of their body parts. Well, from a poster that is. Very nice guerrilla marketing work.

Via: AdsOfTheWorld

Smoking

While at a quick glance this might look like a clever guerrilla marketing effort for a cigarette brand or the tobacco industry itself, this is actually very cool street art found in Germany. And if anything, this will most likely encourage you to stop smoking.

Get wet in Copenhagen

If you recently drove through Copenhagen and slammed on your brakes panicked you might drive into a pool, then you came across a guerrilla marketing effort for one of the few hotels with a pool there. Of course if you could read Danish then you would have realized ”HOTEL POOL. THE FIRST ON YOUR RIGHT”.

Blog spammers

It is not very clever to spam this blog with silly guerrilla marketing comments. You are lucky we are feeling a good vibe and only have deleted this crap versus reporting you as spammers. Now move along.

Going to the wolves

Wolves from the randomly appearing Dakov circus (hmmm, Dakov rearranged spells Vodka) escaped in London we were told, and they apparently caused a bit of stress. But the folks featured in the Eristoff Vodka guerrilla marketing clip all seem a bit posed / acting. And not very well.

Solving Facebook for B2B

Facebook seems so simple that many brands venture into that world without too much thought. Eloqua, JESS3 and BrandGlue just published a nice presentation on how to solve Facebook for business to business. Unless of course you are not interested in having your Facebook audience grow.


Via: ShiftComm

Landrover Defender ramp stunt

If you want to show folks that their SUV is really not worthy it might be not a bad idea to show the prowess of a real sports utility vehicle like the Landrover Defender. Of course good driving skills are greatly appreciated too in a situation like this.

Looks fast even parked

With this cool guerrilla marketing stunt in Toronto, Canada it is quite clear that the Mercedes Benz C-350 Coupe is wicked fast with is 302 HP engine and 19/28 mpg fuel consumption. After all, it looks fast even when parked. But of course so would any other car parked in that spot.



Via: paper-plane.fr

Angry Birds live

With Angry Birds being such a popular app and game it is no surprise that these cute characters will make their way into some guerrilla marketing efforts. T-Mobile brought the game into a big plaza, and we assume it was in Europe, and let pedestrians play the game "live." Very engaging indeed and fun to watch. But why do we think it was in Europe? Not too many fat folks in the audience.
:-)

Hot Pockets

The folks at Nestle must be giddy when they see fun stuff like this. But this is not a marketing effort but World's Best Flyers Making Fun of Other Flyers. That though still does not answer the question as to who stole / ate that Hot Pocket?

Via HappyPlace.com

Shoes or Apparel?

When we saw this ad for American Apparel we were not sure if it is a marketing effort for apparel. But some of you may wonder "What shoes? What apparel?" One thing is for sure, American Apparel likes to walk that fine line.

Síminn & Wonwei

Icelandic telecommunication company Síminn and media arts Wonwei collaborated on an interactive installation at the Reykjavik Art Museum during the 2011 Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. Go have a look.

A pasta love rap

Marvin da Crewstoa & EgoZ show their love for pasta with their "Ode an die Nudel" rap. The way we understand it, these two guys especially love Albgold pasta and rap about it even when no one is watching or filming.

Hello?

Is it me you are looking for? We don't think this is a street marketing effort for Lionel Richie nor do we know where this took place, but it certainly looks like an amusing concept. Time now to go to iTunes and buy that song.

Iowa Hawkeye card stunt

You can do some amazing art work / messaging when you have a whole stadium playing along as was the case in Iowa for the Iowa / Northwestern game. Go Hawks.

More crosswalk marketing

Very nice crosswalk guerrilla marketing effort in Brazil for the Emanuel Books and Stationary store. Simplicity is often the key and of course that in many cases also is great for the budget.

K-Swiss Kona activation

K-Swiss launched a bunch of new shoes in Kona during the Ironman World Championships and did quite a few marketing efforts there. They also offered athletes, family and friends to have their picture taken in front of a special K-Swiss Kona background and then gave them a number to download them from the K-Swiss Kona website.

A Specialized Container

A big red container with the Specialized logo was parked in downtown Kailua-Kona leading up the the Ford Ironman World Championships as a guerrilla marketing effort for a new bike to launched. The Specialized Shiv Tri itself was revealed to media on Monday, October 3rd in a separate location, and to the public on Tuesday, October 4th at that container with a big party. What made the week even better for the brand - Aussie Craig Alexander won the race on that bike with his fastest Kona bike split to date.

Fun with the Facebook profile pictures

Before we go back to business here we had a bit of fun with the Facebook profile of Guerrilla Comm owner Herbert Krabel. This is of course quite temporary, and as fast as Facebook changes all of this might be gone before too long.

Got Pants?

Each year just a couple days before the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii a fun annual tradition takes place in Kona Hawaii. The annual underpants run started as a way to make fun of Europeans who strutted all day through town in their swim briefs, but that does not seem to matter any more. It is a fun event for Europeans too and a good way to show off those fit physiques. The event meanwhile has become huge and raises money for Special Olympics West Hawaii and the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii. So go and support this event.


That of course has enticed folks to do a bit of guerrilla marketing stuff at this still growing event. The picture below was taken a year ago in Kona and the crew from SpiderTech looked well prepared for the task at hand.

Solutionism

A 46 foot "chalkboard" courtesy of Dow Chemicals recently greeted folks in Manhattan with a lengthy fairly complicated looking equation and the tag line "Solutionism. The new optimism." More curious people were directed to giantchalkboard.com should they desire to solve the equation. How curious are you?



The solution "7 billion" is all of us together.

Energizer bunny charged with battery

Word has it that in Buffalo, NY the Energizer bunny was arrested, charged with battery. We are not sure if this is a guerrilla marketing effort nor do we know who came up with the sign, but we tip our hat to Erin for bringing it to our attention.

Drink a glass of Sicily

It most likely doesn't take that much convincing to want to try Sicilian wine, but Sicilian winery Tasca D'Almerita suggests through beautiful images how to drink a glass of Sicily in 7 easy steps. Plus with the interactive map you can actually see where in Sicily all the images came from. Now who would not want to go there now to sample the wine and the scenery?

Secret Kona crate

We came across a nice marketing stunt / teaser by Specialized bicycles at the 2011 Interbike show in Las Vegas. A stealthy black crate was left near the Triathlon Zone at the show and with some clues such as 140.6, Kona, Aero, Fuel and Fit there seems to be no doubt that the brand will be launching at new triathlon bike at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Yeti sighting

Attendees at the 2011 Interbike trade show in Las Vegas were surprised, spooked and amused by a gigantic Yeti roaming the grounds. The beast though wasn't there accidentally, this was actually a little guerrilla marketing effort for Yeti Cycles out of Golden, CO.

Election poster manipulation

During a recent election in Denmark skate fans manipulated various election billboards to push for more skate parks. Interesting guerrilla marketing effort for sure.

Broken and out of money

Santa Rosa, California photographer John Blackwell is getting quite a bit of attention for a note he put up on facebook.

"Checking interest: $100 gets you, A photo shoot, 1 roll B&W FILM shot, processed, and scanned. 1 8x10 of your choice hand printed (in a darkroom, by me). A very limited time offer (hopefully), until I am able to work again. My shattered wrist is like an unemployed nightmare. That may be a tad dramatic, but only a tad.

You, your kids, your pets, whatever, as long as its fun. No boring headshot bullshit. Look at my website to get an idea of how I shoot."

Hey, if we were in Santa Rosa or anywhere near there we'd be seeing this man in a hurry So reach out to him and get some great photography at a steal. Well, for a limited time.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

At the 2011 Eurobike cycling trade show in Germany, Schwalbe tires found a way to make good use of the bathrooms. Other companies have utilized the urinals before but that letting someone urinate on your brand is often not a good idea. One could argue here that not everyone washes their hands, but the tire art on the mirror is hard to overlook.

First Love

To promote "First Love," a branded content website which presents Israeli teenagers' love stories, the crew at McCann Erickson turned the URL address bar into new media, using it to present short love letters which in turn led viewers to the "First Love" website simply by pressing enter.