First there was news that a driver spotted a bear along Ulu Pandan road, shot a video and put it on Stomp (Singapore’s tabloid version of YouTube). And then we heard that the AVA and the Singapore Wildlife Reserve set on a massive hunt to look for this elusive bear.
Then the news came that this was actually a marketing ploy by electronics giant Philips as part of its guerilla marketing campaign for a shaver it was about to launch. Now the police are investigating.
The brains behind this grizzly guerilla campaign, for those of you who don’t know yet, is The Secret Little Agency, an independent agency that has quite an impressive profile on its portfolio.
So what happened this time round? Was this just an ad campaign gone wrong? Or was this just bad planning on their part? Perhaps they should have taken a leaf from the other guerrilla marketing debacle – remember the SingPost ‘Vandal’ campaign? We’ll never know what truly happened.
Does it mean that Singaporeans aren’t ready for guerrilla marketing? Should agencies never mention ‘viral video’ to their clients from now on? Of course not! That’s the nature of Guerrilla marketing, it’s a Che Guevara thing! Think of it like a homemade bomb, low cost, unreliable and could potentially blow up in your face (as the aforementioned agency has found). But if done correctly, it will reap plenty of rewards!
Frankly we actually have to thank these brave pioneers for drawing the lines for future marketers in Singapore. This is a lesson in what NOT to do for guerilla marketing: a) don’t do something that will make police come after you, b) don’t make it too real.
Now we know what does not work. Now we can plan something better. Let’s all learn from this.
You can also read Mr Brown’s hilarious take on CNN.
Image from Today Online.
