Turner Broadcasting is in the news for a guerilla marketing campaign they have sponsored, aimed at increasing the visibility of their Cartoon Network show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF). The campaign was prompted by the impending release of the ATHF film this March, and involved the attachment of small packages with an electronically-lit ATHF character to public fixtures around ten major US cities.
Apparently, the city of Boston wasn’t too thrilled with the marketing campaign. According to a Reuters article, the marketing stunt was “Boston’s biggest security scare since the September 11, 2001, attacks — closing bridges, shutting major roads and putting hundreds of police on alert. ”
I’m not going to debate the ethics of the publicity stunt nor the reaction of the city of Boston. What really strikes me is the tremendous impact that has resulted.
Consider the following:
The story not only receiving traction in the social media space (it is also profiled on the front page of YouTube) but has received enormous mainstream media exposure. According to the following graph, Aqua Teen Hunger Force had 4105 hits during the week the event hit.
The story is particularly timely given the impending advertisement-fest that is superbowl sunday. I doubt Turner Broadcasting or the guerilla marketing firm behind the act would have ever anticipated the impact they would have – no one, for that matter, would ever have imagined that the most impactful ad during super bowl week would have had no affiliation with the Super Bowl at all! Furthermore, consider that ABC was reported to be selling 30-second Super Bowl spots in the price range of $2.5 – $2.6 million. Now consider that the ad equivalency for the Aqua Teen campaign is estimated at over $3 million.
Provided no one ends up in a federal prison for the stunt, I would say that the marketing department at Turner would have to be happy with their ROI on this one (even though their PR department is probably gulping down the xanax right now). I can guarantee that millions of people who have never heard about Aqua Teen Hunger Force will pay to see the film coming out this March. I know I will.
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