Little Lights and Blown Up Boxes
It has been about 24 hours since I (and the rest of the country based on the news) found out about the little scare here in Boston.
Some follow up thoughts and answers to questions/comments left.
- I agree that I wish we did not have to think that every single out of the ordinary thing was something bad. But, right now that’s the world we live in and it’s the mentality of a lot of people. Is it better to live in a world where our eyes are closed to the badness around us or to live in fear? It’s way to deep of a question for me to answer.
- I am upset at the police and homeland “security” because we’ve been spending so much money and they didn’t detect these things, see that they were or were not anything to worry about and take care of them? They were up for a couple of weeks
- I do think this was a horribly stupid campaign. I like the light up ideas. That’s neat and cool. Putting them under bridges over major highways is not a good idea. That’s just looking for trouble
- Did it work? Yup. The idea of stunt marketing has a place and this certainly worked from purely that angle. Everyone in the country now has heard of the television show and cartoon associated with the campaign.
All I’m asking for is that before anyone launches a campaign that they at least stop and think “what is the worse that can happen?” Then stop and think if there is a way to do the campaign, but to avoid that situation. I mean, how cool would it have been to see the entire Prudential Center light up with that guy on it suddenly at night? That would have been awesome, but instead we had a city messed up for a day.
As new marketing professionals we get to be creative, think big thoughts and try things that have never been done before. But, does it mean we get to be stupid?
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Comments(7)
Ironically, the panic came when the description ‘plastic boxes over a foot in diameter with a couple of LEDs on a circuit board’ were transmitted.
Which really seems to me that someone wanted panic. And not the marketing guys.
Why weren’t they detected? They probably were. The police on the street saw no harm in them, so ignored them. But there existence wasn’t ever legally noted… Which is the marketing dweebs’ fault.
I hope they have to pay millions of dollars.
…Not for causing a rukus. No: For graffiti. For advertising without permission. For littering. For putting things on public thoroughways without permission.
I have to say, I’m totally of the opposite opinion. The only thing we need to fear here is a mainstream news press that intentionally panicked a city for the sake of ratings. There was no threat here, other cities around the country had exactly the same LED machines and nothing happened. This was the Boston media whipping people into a frenzy because it made good copy.
This also isn’t about “stunt marketing” – there was no stunt here. A couple of dudes built little boxes at Radio Shack. You know why they put them on bridges? The same reason grafitti artists paint on bridges. Because it’s the only way you can get up high without a ladder, you just reach over the side. It was the only place two guys with probably no budget carrying small light up things in their backpacks could reach.
Their press conference was a piece of priceless genius – I realized I was watching a RL version of Office Space, two guys who clearly saw the absurdity around them and refused to play along. In that one press conference they won over the majority of the blogosphere and made the Boston authorities the anti-hero in the eyes of young people all over the world.
You know who should be fined here? The press, for causing unnecessary panic. Boston government, for overreacting, and refusing to back down.
This never would have happened before 9/11, but that doesn’t mean that it was a bad stunt, it just means the terrorists are still winning. We need to stop looking for the boogie man under every stone (and this is from a guy who was in NY that day and saw it all go down).
If these guys actually get sued over this, I predict a major fund raising campaign across every important blog in this country to pay the costs, as well as massive campaigns of support.
Crissa – you hope they have to pay millions, for grafitti? Are you serious? Let me introduce you to a gentleman named Banksy sometime.
Just my 2 cents.
During the Fourth of July in 1993, the folks over at MIT did the amazing. They turned an entire building into a giant VU meter for the Boston Pops concert, and also did things like play Tetris with the building.
http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1993/green_bldg_vu_meter/
This campaign, with just a little more effort and thought, could have been equally great or greater.
Like many of you know, I have done on-site services for the NFL in conjunction with the Super Bowl from 1997 through 2005. The security measures changed drastically after 9/11 (you should’ve seen all the security at the Super Dome, the no fly zone, etc. after 9/11) so I have some experience watching security in action in front of and behind the scenes. It doesn’t take much to freak people out when they’re already scared and nervous.
And as we have seen in the past, people who are willing to kill themselves and others based on whatever weird rationale they have for these actions, can be pretty creative and are very determined. We can make it more difficult for them to succeed with security measures, but we can’t totally prevent something from happening. Safety is largely an illusion to make us feel better and like we’re taking action.
So with this stunt, yes, I think it was probably not thought out as well as it could have been- but you have to have a security mind set often to recognize danger. Parents are constantly monitoring their kids for potential dangerous situations- holding hands, listening for those odd noises, weird pitches in a cry…. but the kids are not previewing what they are doing with the same constant vigilance. Likewise, these guys were probably not thinking they were gonna be arrested for violating homeland security acts.
We have got to find a balance between real security and illusion, between being afraid, and saying- Look, I have to live my life with a sense of Carpe Diem, because who the heck knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow? The hard part of being a grown up is discovering that there is a dark underbelly to the world, it is not always wonderful and nice, but that we are still willing to get up every morning, explore, and try new things.
And I think as Americans, we need to do some growing up, and realize that it is not an ocean that protects us. It’s not a sense of moral authority or righteous indignation, either. It’s honestly our belief that the greatest asset we have is between our ears.
Personally, I don’t think that the drama with the whole hustle should be placed with the two cats who did the grunt work. Interference, Inc. is an NYC based guerilla marketing firm responsible for the campaign, not the DJ and his partner (Peter, one of the cats responsible, is a Circle DJ). Get down with http://www.interferenceinc.com on the flavor of what they do.
They have issued an apology on the front of their site — I personally think it was an ill-informed move on the part of Boston media to label these things as ‘fake bombs’, ‘terrorist devices’, etc, etc (having no real clue what they were). They were calling them fake bombs for nearly 8 hours AND they’ve been all over Boston for a couple of weeks.
Also, there are 38 of these Mooninite displays all over Chicago? Why weren’t they trippin’?
I love the healthy conversation going on.
Did Boston over react? Yeah I think we did. Especially since it sounds like the people knew rather quickly that they were nothing to be worried about.
Should these two guys be punished? Honestly a slap on the wrist is what they are going to get and that is right since there was no intent to cause harm or panic. They were just taking part in a stunt.
As I originally said it’s the agency that I think is the one at fault more then anyone. From the sounds of it they gave instructions on locations and such. I just wish they had thought it through more.
I view this whole thing as a combination of bad situations where no one got hurt and that is the important thing and hopefully everyone involved in this has learned something no matter what side they were on.
Something from the conclusion of Batman Begins.
–
Gordon: And what about escalation?
Batman: Escalation?
Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar…they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman: And?
Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask… and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this new guy. Armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical. Like you. Leaves a calling card.
–
My worry going forward is that folks in the executive suite, who are far removed from all this, see the numbers jump and say, “Hey, we need more of this!”. They don’t care that two of the pawns in the game got arrested, and the fee for the campaign (aka the fine) was pennies compared to what a 1.0 increase in Nielsens can deliver in terms of advertising revenue.
What comes next? Do the marketers responsible for 24 start leaving fake nuclear bombs in cities prior to the next season? Does Big Brother start wiring up cameras all over the place for candid footage? As long as the results are delivered, I don’t think the CMOs will really care how ethical or proper a campaign is or isn’t.
Seth Godin also tackled this recently.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/02/cynical.html