Throw the book at those on Madison Avenue who thought up this idea....Ted Turner and gang....CNN....and Time Warner.
If Turner gets a pass on this.....just phhoooey!
I agree. The people placing these things are basically minimum-wage flunkies. But the ad agency, Interference Inc., knew exactly what it was doing. And that's precisely why they did it. These are not fly by the seat of your pants operations--at least, not at the level Interference operates. These guerrilla marketing campaigns are mapped to a fine point. They are every bit as sophisticated as any Madison Ave. traditional operation. Just different methods.
A key element of guerrilla marketing is making the tactics themselves a media phenomenon. The brass ring on these things is always to get the media to pick it up and do the heavy lifting for you. Tens of millions of dollars worth of free advertising. And they certainly got that here.
Worse, it's not just this cartoon show getting free ad airtime. Interference Inc itself is now getting tens of millions in free advertising. Whatever legal bills or fines it incurs will be well worth it to them. A minor cost of doing business. The numbers are being crunched in the basement of every start-up guerrilla marketing firm in the country. This is going to be a nightmare.