Sharpie Guerrilla Marketing

Use a Sharp' to Make Your "Mark"

As I mentioned in my first blog post, experiential marketing is my favorite way for brands and organizations to interact and engage with customers using guerrilla marketing.  Experiential marketing is a form of guerrilla marketing that gives the customer an experience to interact with the brand rather than merely one-way communication (Web Urbanist).

It is one of the top forms of guerrilla marketing that gives the opportunity for consumer engagement, something that should be included as a goal of marketing.  Sharpie, the manufacturer of popular writing instruments, has successfully used experiential marketing with a recent campaign.

4 Steps to Engaging Guerrillas

1.  Understand the brand's Unique Selling Proposition: Sharpie is known for selling versatile writing utensils.  How many times have you asked "Do you have a Sharpie I can borrow?"  Whether that is to sign the cast of an elementary school classmate, write your initials on a piece of property, decorate a card, or much more, Sharpie is known for being the marker you can use anywhere and everywhere.  The brand needs to show this versatility by expanding their campaign focus beyond writing on casts.  In the section below, I explore more ideas for accomplishing this.

Sharpie needs to sell their USP of a versatile family of writing instruments 

2.  Incorporate the USP in nature: Placing the interactive boards near bus stops and other places on the streets.  The brand needs to make sure the boards are in places where consumers are already stopping in order to increase the likelihood of consumers interacting with them.

3.  Incorporate audience engagement into the idea:  Experiential marketing has customers interacting with the boards and brand by doodling on the cast. 

4.  Finish the idea by creating an effective call-to-action: A call-to-action to inspire purchasing is still needed in this campaign.  However, Sharpie did include brand interaction and a call-to-action by setting up experiential marketing section in Office Depot stores.  Customers could doodle with different Sharpies in the store, determine the right ones for them, and purchase them (Promo Xtra, 2009).

Marketing Campaigns to Appeal to Teenagers
In their 2012 "Back to School Campaign," Sharpie focused on capturing teens as their target market.  Since teens are a specific target market that requires engagement to capture their attention, loyalty and purchase intentions, experiential marketing was and is a perfect marketing tactic (Julig, 2013).

Here are some of my ideas that build off some  campaigns/ideas they have begun:

Mark Your Shoes!
1.  Understand the brand's Unique Selling Proposition: Writing utensils, especially markers that can be used for many functional uses and doodling on things.
2.  Incorporate the USP in nature: Sharpie has to ask "where are teenagers standing still?"  Mass amount of teenagers can be found standing outside concert venues, schools, bus stops, benches, Starbucks, juice bars, etc.
3.  Incorporate audience engagement into the idea: Place laminated shoe stickers at the above venues and place stands of Sharpie markers nearby for teenagers to draw on.  They could also use digital boards similar to the above campaign so Sharpie would not run the risk of markers going missing.  
4.  Finish the idea by creating an effective call-to-action:  The submissions have to also include a picture of the teenager holding the Sharpie markers they used to decorate the item.  As more teenagers become involved in the campaign, more markers will be used, thus more markers will be needed by teenagers, resulting in an increase in Sharpie sales.


"Make Your Mark" Social Media Contest
Sharpie is already publishing examples consumers using their Sharpie markers to decorate items on their website.  The brand could expand this interaction by running a contest through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: social mediums teenagers are actively using.  They can challenge students to "make their mark" on everyday objects with Sharpies and then post pictures of them on the social mediums.  Fellow teenagers can then "favorite", "like" and "share" the best designs.

Takeaways

• Sharpie already has a great campaign started which utilizes experiential marketing to interact and engage with consumers, specifically teenagers.  
• The brand needs to take the guerrilla marketing campaign a step further by including a call-to-action through their street campaigns and highlight the versatility of their brand.

Remember: Say "I do" to engaging the audience with guerrilla marketing--Kayleigh Green

Sources & Other Great Articles On The Campaign:

• Babitts, Gerard.  2009.  Sharpie's Uncapped Marketing.  Retrieved from http://www.gerardbabitts.com/2009/06/29/sharpie-uncapped-marketing/comment-page-1/#comment-1379
• Gardner, Courtney.  2011.  Sharpie's New Marketing Campaign.  Retrieved from http://area2oh3.com/sharpie-marketing-campaign/
• Julig, Louise.  2013.  3 Ways Sharpie is Engaging Teens With Social Media.  Social Media Examiner.  Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/connect-with-teens-on-social-media-sharpie-case-study/ 
• Levere, Jane.  2011.  A Sharpie Campaign, Aimed at Teenagers, Urges Self-Expression.  The New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/business/media/sharpie-aims-a-new-campaign-at-teenagers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
• Promo Xtra.  2009.  Sharpie Sets up Experiential Shops in Office Depot Stores.  Retrieved from http://chiefmarketer.com/eventmarketing/news/sharpie-setsup-shops-0107
• Weburbanist.com.  Guerrilla Ads & Marketing.  Retrieved from http://weburbanist.com/category/design/guerilla-marketing/