There’s much talk, especially in the US of course, about this week’s bomb scare in Boston and the public panic following some guerilla/street marketing tactics used by Cartoon Network (part of Turner Broadcasting) to publicise their adult cartoon show Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF).
Officials shut down sections of Boston, and roads and public transport were disrupted, as residents reported sightings of the LED-lit signage (38 signs) that had appeared overnight Wednesday in a range of public locations. The signage only depicted two ATHF characters (Mooninites Ignignokt and Err, who are actually villains) from the show, without text or anything to help the public figure out the signs were advertising displays, not terrorist’s bombs.
Turner have apologised for the stunt-gone-wrong, and the City of Boston were reportedly asking for $750,000 for expenses in dealing with the outcome. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Turner have agreed to pay all security costs, and they’ve apologised in full page ads in Boston.But I reckon that’s a pretty damn cheap investment in what has become a worldwide publicity bonanza.
Just on Google news today (4th Feb), there are 1,765 news stories from around the world just relating to the apology. (Note: the number of stories in the results at this link will diminish as time goes by). And a Technorati search for Aqua Teen Hunger Force yields more than 22,000 results: not all related to Boston, but certainly a hot topic of discussion.
The “culprits” — billed the “Mooninite Two” — were arrested and then bailed — and they later gave a 3 minute doorstop media interview, in which they would only discuss hairstyles, rather than talk about the stunt.
There is, of course, a YouTube video of the interview (showing the interview being aired live on Fox News). And also of the two erecting the signs (looks very much to me like a full-on professional video production!). See the YouTube search results or a couple of relevant videos on Advertising Age.
The publicity earned by the show must run well into the tens of millions by now — I’m sure their target audience (18 to 24 year olds) aren’t the least bit affected or upset about what’s happened.
And, of course, a few of the signs have even made it onto eBay for auction, and Wikipedia already has mention of the incident.
The really expensive SuperBowl advertising (US$2.6 million for 30 seconds) might be on air this weekend, but the really cheap stunt that has already reaped 100-times the coverage has already happened this week!
I’m willing to bet that less than 1% of the news/media outlets who ran the story on the bomb hoax will write an article about the Superbowl advertising content! The superbowl might reach an expected audience of nearly 91 million… but this campaign, the follow-up reporting and discussions are good mediums to reach the ATHF audience.
So was it a stunt gone awry, or a stunt that really ends up being successful at a bargain-basement price? I think it’s more the latter.