Anything but classic

Phone junkies hanging on the receiver for over 40 hours - this is not a new attempt to get into the "Guinness Book of Records", but alternative advertising. The competition organized by telecoms provider T-Mobile, in which participants make phone calls until they fall off their stool with the prospect of winning 10,000 euros, is widely publicized and gains media attention thanks to PR work. Numerous blogs pick up on the contest and the lifestyle magazine "Taff" from Pro Sieben and Spiegel online also feature the telephone marathon. Advertising for T-Mobile. The Munich agency Webguerillas, which specializes in alternative forms of advertising, came up with the idea for the campaign. The Guerilleros have also had a presence in Switzerland since fall 2011 with a Zurich branch and want to surprise the target audience with unconventional ideas from here. Under the leadership of Managing Director Philippe Stuker, concepts for guerrilla, word-of-mouth and mobile marketing as well as social media activities are created at Stauffacherplatz. At Easter, the agency ran an online campaign for Migros encouraging people to virtually "egg-toss", for Mammut it called on people to climb a mountain peak and for Cardinal it launched the Cardinal Draft and Blond brands via a social media strategy with a Facebook page, the "Spin the Bottle" app and a new website.

Campaign success with the target group

The starting point for advertising projects at Webguerillas is usually media monitoring. By observing online and social media environments such as blogs, forums and communities, the agency clarifies how and where brands and products are communicated about and who the multipliers are. Using predefined keywords - for example product names or core values of a brand - the internet is scoured. Based on the results of the analysis, the team then determines the advertising strategy: which target group is addressed and how or via which channels communication takes place.

In the case of viral campaigns or referral marketing, the multipliers or seeders through which the campaign is launched are also selected via monitoring. The seeders are contacted directly by the agency and then spread the advertising message by blogging about a product, a company or a commercial, distributing a video, posting messages on Facebook or leaving comments on websites.

This is not an uncontroversial approach, after all, seeding users place advertising messages but still pretend to be normal users. Stuker sees no problem in involving the target group as an advertising medium. Seeders are not paid, nor are they told what they should communicate. They simply receive the product or service and communicate about it in return. The point is to get authentic statements about products or brands. "Alternative advertising is honest. How the target audience talks and about what is partly beyond our control." However, receiving genuine responses also means that customers have to expect negative reactions or comments. While companies benefit from individual negative feedback - for example when they are made aware of their product's weaknesses - the fear of a shitstorm is likely to give some marketing managers sleepless nights. Stuker does not have a one-size-fits-all solution, but is reassuring: the risk of negative publicity is kept to a minimum through careful selection of the seeders and a proactive crisis plan. And if something negative does emerge, you can react to it. The decisive factor is how you deal with any criticism and what you make of it, says Stuker. If seeders are well selected and the campaign concept is well thought out, alternative advertising can be effective. The Webguerillas achieved this with the viral campaign for the Mini car brand, for example. A commercial was created in which a daredevil is catapulted to extreme heights. The question at the end "Not extreme enough?" links to Mini and invites viewers to test the manufacturer's new racing version with "Try this!". The commercial, which was distributed via various video portals, reached more than 500,000 views after just a few days and over a million views after just under two months, and also secured the agency awards at Eurobest and the New York Festivals. There is no guarantee for clients that a communication avalanche like the one in this example will be triggered. However, as the multipliers are selected and the viral campaigns are also pushed through banner formats and display advertising, the probability of success is very high, says Stuker.

Unused potential

Despite such campaign successes, many companies are still reluctant to use alternative advertising. It currently accounts for just 5% of advertising budgets in Switzerland (GfK study: 2011). "Switzerland is lagging somewhat behind. In Germany, almost 15 percent is spent on alternative forms of advertising," says Stuker. He is convinced that the new forms of advertising will attract increasing attention. "I think that in a year's time we will no longer be talking about 5 percent, but at least 10 percent." Thanks to the clear target group approach and dialog with customers, alternative forms of advertising are a good complement to traditional advertising. "When you see how many people can be found on online media, it's a channel that can't be left out," says the business economist. In any case, the Webguerillas can't complain about a lack of demand. Since its launch last October, the agency has been able to increase its workforce to 23 employees, a threefold increase. Isabel Imper