The Mooninite advertisements that brought Boston to a standstill last week in a city-wide bomb scare could be advertisers’ way of reaching an increasingly detached, preoccupied and skeptical audience, media analysts say.
The advertisements – small, electronic billboards outlining a character from Cartoon Network’s late-night show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” – garnered attention because some were placed under bridges, on overpasses and in subway stations throughout Boston.
Although the advertisements’ creators, Turner Broadcasting Company, agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to the city of Boston to compensate for the emergency response costs, some media analysts say the combined cost of the campaign and consequences probably cost less than the potential costs of a traditional print and broadcast advertising campaign.
Author and 1994 Boston University College of Communication graduate Peter Shankman, whose book Can We Do That? Outrageous PR Stunts That Work – And Why Your Company Needs Them discusses bold advertising methods, said Turner Broadcasting’s use of the billboards was effective but poorly executed.
“We live in an environment where it gets harder and harder to get attention with each new stunt,” he said. “These things aren’t only effective, but they’re virtually required.”
Although Shankman does not believe Turner intended to cause the scare, he said the wide-spread national media coverage may have been beneficial to the company.
“In general, a well-executed guerrilla strategy can be very effective,” he said.
“It really depends on who you ask,” Shankman continued. “If you ask an executive when there’s a microphone in his face, he will say it backfired horribly. If you ask the same executive over a beer with no cameras around, he’ll say it was the greatest freaking advertising stunt they ever could have done.”
Had Turner received the necessary permits to carry out the campaign, the city could have possibly avoided the confusion that spread throughout the city, Shankman said.
Boston University AdClub President Anand Chopra said Turner Broadcasting could have run a campaign just as effective and exciting if it had taken a few simple precautions instead of overlooking the possibility of creating a scare.
“[BU] professors recommend that students use the most creative idea possible, which often includes viral or guerrilla ideas, but they never recommend rash or irresponsible preparation like what we’ve seen this past week,” he said.
“In this case, Turner should have been more responsible,” Chopra continued. “It would not have been hard to alert authorities about the plan without losing the element of surprise.”