Device location was factor in reaction. A headline from the Boston Globe on its Boston.com site. A few choice comments:
In six of the nine other cities where the Turner Broadcasting System guerrilla ads were installed, they were not placed on or near major highways, bridges, or transit hubs, as they were in Boston.
"A device affixed to a support beam for a highway adjacent to a very busy subway and bus hub for the T?" asked T general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas. "And then in short order we hear about something under the Longfellow Bridge, the main arterial link between Cambridge and Boston over which the Red Line runs? Any suspicious activity around those locations would raise attention."
Turner is going to cover the costs - they will get through this with very little damage. Interference Inc. has finally fessed up and hired a PR firm. The phrase Generation Gap is back in vogue. I'm totally over this story. Stupid is as stupid does, can anyone show me some smart marketing examples?
John, Interference should get to work on a "youth meme" island in SL - as for learnings, lets see what turns up on six months. It's on my calendar.
Paul, let's talk about shoes instead.
Posted by: Lori Magno | February 03, 2007 at 08:57 AM
I'm going to continue to be contrarian on this, you guys. This dead horse is NOT dead. In six months, marketers are going to be talking SPECIFICALLY about how to create "youth memes", forgetting how outraged everyone was.
A spike in ratings for ATHF will be pointed to.
The phrase "can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" will be mentioned, and everyone will wave their hands saying "yes, some mistakes were made", etc.
Listen, everyone pays lip service about how viral/guerilla marketing is messy, and people make dumb mistakes. This is a perfect example -- I don't think we're done gathering learnings from this one yet.
Posted by: John Young | February 03, 2007 at 08:04 AM
I'm with you. This dead horse is very dead. Can't we just talk about 70's haircuts?
Posted by: Paul McEnany | February 02, 2007 at 09:34 PM