Byline: Greg Paeth Post staff reporter
Advertising isn't always about reaching more than half the country with splashy, $2 million, 30-second Super Bowl spots.
Budweiser spent $23 million on ads for its beers during Super Bowl XXXVIII in February, but Budweiser is far from a "cool" brand.
Some years ago, Rolling Rock beer from a small brewery in Latrobe, Pa., had that cachet on college campuses, recalls Charlaine "Charlie" Martin, vice president of marketing and communications for Sound Images in Cincinnati and a member of The Post's Advertising Roundtable. Rolling Rock was hard to find, there was no national advertising, and its green bottles with the mysterious "33'' on the label made it the elusive object of every frat boy's desire.
Similar appeal has now attached itself to Pabst Blue Ribbon, a brand that was once a major player but is now no more than a distant memory for those over 40.
"Now college kids who didn't grow up with it are identifying with it because it's anti-brand," said Joe Stryker, creative director of Cincinnati's Northlich and a member of the panel. "There are these groups who are cynical about big brands. If they start advertising, they'll screw it up."
Targeting hard-to-reach consumers who often relish the fact that they're light years away from the mainstream is the goal of non-traditional advertising, sometimes called guerrilla, viral or grassroots marketing. The non-traditional methods also fly under the radar of many consumers and, in many cases, aren't immediately recognized as advertising or marketing tactics.
These buzz-stimulating strategies -- many dependent on the Internet -- and the increasingly prevalent practice of product placement in movies and TV shows were the topic of The Post's Advertising Roundtable recently.
Martin mentioned viral tactics with picture-phone campaigns in which the friendly person who offers to take a photo of you on the street is actually working for the cell phone company. The campaign is viral because it spreads the message word of mouth and, in some cases, over the Internet with a follow-up e-mail from the friendly volunteer photographer.
Stryker recalled a legendary low-budget guerrilla campaign for Bamboo lingerie, which stenciled on New York City sidewalks "from here it looks like you could use some new underwear."
"The benefit of guerrilla marketing was that for a relatively small amount of money to throw the pebble in the pool, you've got all these ripples going out," said Bruce Carlson, a copywriter for JA&G Advertising.
But guerrilla and viral campaigns aren't just for the little guys anymore.
Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based consumer products giant, has created a marketing division called Tremor that reaches teens through the Internet in an effort to create word-of-mouth buzz about P&G products.
A perfect example of a viral tactic was P&G's Scope mouthwash "kissably close" campaign in which computer users were urged to e-mail a kiss to a friend, said Tim Gibson, executive vice president and creative director of Freedman, Gibson & White.
"Part of it is people feeling like they have made a discovery on their own," Gibson said about underground strategies. "It's either a discovery or something that they think they share with people who have a like interest."
Carlson recalled his college years when Dungeons and Dragons, the role-playing game, developed a cult-like following.
"I can remember people talking about that on campus and you began to hear about it from a number of people -- There was no advertising for it that that I can recall. It was all pure word of mouth and once people started getting other people hooked on it like some bizarre drug -- you went on and on about it and bored all of your friends."
Viral and guerrilla strategies are important to non-profits such as the Cincinnati Museum Center, said Charles Howard, the center's senior director of marketing communications. "With a tight budget, it allows you to do a lot with a little," Howard said. "We have had a lot of success with a viral e-mail marketing campaign that allowed us to reach about 18,000 e-mail addresses. For virtually no money we can get the word out to literally thousands of people."
Although he makes a living planning ad campaigns, Stryker is convinced that the best advertising is organic and develops independently of "creatives" from ad agencies. He pointed to the success of Seattle's Jones Soda as a perfect example of a company that has developed a loyal following among young people who are cynical about major brands. The company deliberately avoids mainstream media channels and bonds with some of its fans by using their photos on its labels and their quotes on bottle caps.
Besides selling a soft drink, the relatively limited run of the constantly changing labels has made bottles collectible.
"This is the kind of stuff that just drives Coke and Pepsi nuts because they'll get Britney Spears -- and they're spending millions on Britney Spears - and this target (audience) just doesn't care, and actually that turns them off even more. They'll refuse to drink Coke and Pepsi even more."
Text of fax box follows:
The Post's Advertising Roundtable
Bruce Carlson - Copywriter, JA&G Advertising
Charles Howard - Senior director of marketing communications, Cincinnati Museum Center
Charlaine Martin - Vice president, marketing and communications, Sound Images
Joe Stryker - Creative director, Northlich
Tim Gibson - Executive vice president, creative director, Freedman, Gibson & White
CAPTION(S):
Photo
Getty Images
Jones Soda Co. founder Peter van Stolk. Jones Soda, an upstart beverage company, was marketed almost entirely in non-traditional ways, includng the Internet. Because of its image, it's become popular with youth.
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