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Grab Web Visitors' Attention
by Kim M. Bayne
e-Business Advisor magazine
June 2001

Print publications are a commonly used media for publicizing Web sites, but these days,
such placements are too easy to ignore. Meanwhile, users turn a deaf ear to commercials
announcing the latest domain. What's an Internet marketer to do?

TREND: E-marketing rebels are experimenting with previously untried methods and media
in an effort to improve visitor traffic and online sales. As a result, lines are being drawn
between conservative and liberal marketers on the Net. Could the days of traditional
corporate advertising and public relations be fading as e-businesses seek unique ways to
establish user awareness?

In today's economy, what once was considered absurd is now accepted as entertaining
and noteworthy. From evangelists shouting Internet slogans on metropolitan street
corners, to drag queens hawking URLs in nightclubs, Web sites are winning users with
outlandish--but memorable--promotions. Is this the right tactic for your business?

Unusual offline tactics No surface off limits

Last year, HotJobs.com embarked on a campaign to increase Web site awareness among
Seattle job seekers. Five men went to the streets to deliver pre-scripted prattle to anyone
who would listen. Posing as evangelists for HotJobs.com, each actor yelled from a
soapbox with such fervor that passersby might have thought the world was ending.
Nearby, professionally dressed members of HotJobs.com's promotional staff distributed
literature touting an online sweepstakes. To sweeten the deal, the career site's sweeps
offered a dinner for the winner and ten friends.

Where the ferry docked, passengers found sidewalks adorned with promotional graffiti.
Created by two teams, chalkings in the shape of arrows read "Onward" and "Upward".
Curious ferry passengers followed the general direction of the underfoot drawings to find
themselves walking by the Web site evangelists to hear the melodramatic pitch.

The HotJobs.com campaign didn't stop there. Between office building elevator ads, human
billboards and branded bookmarks placed in local bookstores, HotJobs garnered much
needed attention in its hometown of Seattle, thanks in part to digital marketing agency
Eisnor Interactive.

Swivel Media founder and chief promotional guru Erik Hauser, who shared in the execution
of the HotJobs.com campaign, has done similar unconventional promotions including
"dance floor branding." This involves sticking imprinted static cling vinyl shapes on the
floor while nightclub patrons dance. This impromptu placement is often done without
warning or permission. When the dance floor clears, inquisitive minds return to the exact
spot to note the odd floor decoration and the Web site address.

When CitySearch.com launched its Los Angeles site, Swivel Media located "the best places
to enjoy sunsets in the city" and hung promotional material over railings along the
boardwalk. The agency then dropped by local eateries and bars to begin a clandestine
campaign of "tabletop card dropping."

Swivel Media also placed unsolicited magnetic signs on the sides of city buses and
spray-chalked stencils with CitySearch.com in targeted sidewalk areas. From the start of
the CitySearch Los Angeles campaign in September 2000 to its wrap-up in November
2000, page views nearly quadrupled.

Hot spots

Facing a highly competitive market in the United Kingdom, gaymed4u needed to launch a
creative campaign to establish credibility and build awareness for its online brand.
Gaymed4u, an online medical consultancy, encourages its community of gay and lesbian
visitors to seek information about personal health and well being. They foster a positive,
proactive approach, rather than seeking medical advice only after contracting an illness.

Karyn Clarke, of creative agency Midnight in London, notes that medicine is a serious
topic, although she emphasizes that medical Web sites help people in a way conventional
doctors' visits don't. The Internet lets users "discuss health matters anonymously and
without feeling self-conscious," she says. Still, gaymed4u knew it needed to reach its
market in "a lighter environment."

By enlisting local gay notables dressed in medical uniforms to circulate at a local
nightclub, gaymed4u created a stir. Nightclubbers didn't expect to see a doctor or nurse
handing out mock appointment cards in public to promote a Web site. Adding to the
attention-grabbing character appearances, the promotion's finale featured a spotlight
presentation to award a weekend trip to New York to the nightclub patron with the winning
card.

Certain surroundings, like a nightclub, give marketers the leeway to promote Web sites
"in a quirky and usually unacceptable way," says Clarke. Gaymed4u's promotion
succeeded in increasing site traffic by more than 300 percent in three days, and attracted
repeat visitors as well, according to Clarke.

Should you do it?

REALITY CHECK: All isn't always rosy on the revolutionary marketing front, admits Swivel
Media's Hauser, who never really "got into traditional media." There have been some
complaints about his unconventional marketing tactics, mainly due to a lack of clearance
from business owners. But sometimes it's "better to ask for forgiveness than for
permission," says Hauser, who believes curious marketing campaigns are only the
beginning for Web properties bent on survival. Meanwhile, some marketers may wonder
whether certain unorthodox tactics could get them in legal hot water.

"The evangelists were a free speech issue," says Hauser, emphasizing that these
programs never deface any property. HotJob.com's chalk graffiti washed away with the
next rain and all signage was temporary, thus easily removed from targeted surfaces.
Hauser believes these activities are no more or less legal than hanging posters in public
places.

Nonetheless, local laws can differ greatly. For example, many municipalities publicize
graffiti abatement hotlines for local residents who, while reporting your so-called illegal
actions, might not discriminate between permanent and temporary street art. It's always
best to investigate local zoning, solitication, and "post no bills" laws before proceeding. An
innovative marketing campaign could quickly escalate beyond the budget if the need to
contend with unknown fines and court costs emerges.

Obtaining permission can still work to one's advantage. Paying for supplies used by a
local business benefits both parties. A few interactive agencies place imprinted coffee
sleeves in independently owned coffeehouses to promote Web properties. With prior
agreement, the agency pays for the coffee sleeve printing and delivers them to the coffee
shop. Marketers who plan ahead can minimize negative feedback and avoid shortening
the life span of an unauthorized ad.

"It is always less expensive to be unconventional," claims Hauser, because you're "not
bound by the regular guidelines" of television, radio, and print publications. However,
campaigns such as those cited here can be labor-intensive, making the cost per person
for delivering the message significantly higher. Sometimes increased costs are "along the
magnitude of thousands to one (compared to) mass media," cautions Mike Bawden,
president and CEO of Brand Central Station, a branding consultancy and virtual agency
network. The actual cost depends on the number of elements a client requests for a
promotion.

Swivel Media quotes a full scale, custom-made national program, with collateral and staff,
from US$300,000 to US$4,000,000, depending on the number of cities involved.
Generally, a location-specific campaign ranges from US$35,000 to US$70,000 per city.
Considering how eccentric such campaigns can be, local TV stations could report on a
bizarre e- marketing maneuver during the evening news at no additional cost.

But while Hauser believes these campaigns build "a comfort level with the consumer that
other forms of media can't," not all e-marketers are convinced of the absolute
effectiveness of unconventional offline marketing.

"Any effect where the branding happens far from immediate Internet access will
experience drop off," says Michael Gauthier, president and CEO for e-tractions Inc., an
Internet marketing campaigns company. Visibility garnered from placement in daily
papers like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times can be more practical,
because potential site visitors are often in the office when reading a business-related print
publication and they're "ready to go online."

A case for online promotions

Not all wacky Web site promotions are launched offline. For example, after detailed
market research into what editorial staff wanted and needed from public relations folks,
e-tractions created a new Web site to build better press relationships and to introduce its
Internet marketing company to journalists and reporters. But it needed a good way to get
writers there.

Web promotional goals included tapping into viral marketing to reach hidden journalists
and getting coveted ink. E-tractions conceived the idea of a tongue-in-cheek "stress
reliever" and created Whack-a-Flack, an interactive Shockwave game site.

Using an in-house-opt-in list, the agency initially sent 150 plain text e-mails to announce
the site. At WhackaFlack.com, players choose a PR agency by name and a reason for
"whacking" its account executives. Players throw paper airplanes at cartoon
representations of the PR reps. Once the visitor plays the game, the site provides an
opportunity to e-mail a friend--perhaps another journalist--to refer him to the site.

Over two months, 40,000 people visited the site to play the game, according to Kim Shah,
vice president of sales and marketing for e-tractions. As a result, e-tractions closed
business deals with two strategic partners found during the campaign. The industry
exposure resulted in numerous speaking engagements, deeper relationships with
journalists, plus extensive press coverage, not to mention positive feedback from clients
and prospects.

"Many companies we talk to have seen one of our marketing campaigns, so we get
instant recognition and confirmation," adds e-tractions' Gauthier. October 2000 coverage
in The New York Times alone drove more than 10,000 people to Whack-a-Flack who were
then exposed to e-tractions branding.

Any press isn't always good press

Launching a successful, but eccentric, Web promotional campaign won't always bring
kudos. It could even offend the very visitors you're trying to attract. For example, one
interactive marketing agency chief suggested a client imprint his URL and this slogan on
the end of a condom: "Get ahead in the dot-com game. Don't let your profits shrink."

Always consider whether your promotion might be deemed tasteless and cause visitors to
run to your competitor. Gain perspective by discussing your idea with colleagues.

Targeting and testing

Regardless of the sexiness of a potential campaign, remember to "target the audience
and test market the concept first," advises e-traction's Gauthier. But even the best
targeted campaign won't succeed if you don't have the right marketing mix. If you're
using other media and it works, keep it up, Gauthier recommends.

Bawden believes "the secret is using both (offline and online) tactics in tandem, so one
effort builds off the other." We can't ignore we live in an offline world. The mass
marketing approach has more meaning when the consumer experiences the brand
connected to conventional advertising, concludes Bawden.

"To ignore offline or real-world promotional opportunities would be a huge gamble,"
Bawden warns. Unconventional tactics get noticed when the brand has already established
a toe-hold in the mind of the consumer, he asserts.

Another failure of wacky Web promotions might be lack of a specific call to action, says
Gauthier. Marketers can become so enamored with the fun of launching a goofy campaign
that they forget the real e-marketing mission.

It's equally important to be diligent in measurement efforts so there's a way to track
campaign effectiveness.

"In the early days, street promotions were all about the buzz," says Swivel Media's
Hauser. But soon companies expected real results, such as user demographics and other
actionable statistics. Marketing pros then incorporated data capture and sweepstakes to
profile e-campaign respondents and provide measurable data to clients.

Brand Central Station's Bawden says companies must establish measurable criteria to
help decide whether its unconventional marketing efforts were a success.

"Conduct a post-mortem after every phase in the plan and adjust the plan accordingly,"
emphasizes Bawden.

Finally, Swivel Media's Hauser says to forget the buzz and demand tangible results. The
buzz will come, he promises, saying "Cancel your launch party. Everyone just wanted the
free drinks."

Article COPYRIGHT 2001 Advisor Publications, Inc. and Gale Group. Reprinted with permission.

Contact
Kim M. Bayne
wolfBayne Communications
PO Box 30208
Tucson, AZ 85751-0208

Should you use
unconventional marketing
tactics?

Yes!

Traditional media alone may
not be sufficient

Some companies do boost
business by "going out on a
limb" in marketing campaigns

But ...

You still need to integrate
unique campaigns with your
overall marketing strategy

Some customers may be
turned off

You must investigate legal
requirements and get
appropriate permissions

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