Run by: Guerrilla Marketing

When a marketing company chooses a religious theme for a new campaign, they should think it through thoroughly, research the impact and know that even after all these precautions the campaign might still end up being controversial for more than it’s humorous approach.

Guerrilla Marketing realised this again two weeks after they launched the Vespa Saves campaign on behalf of their client, Vespa, at the start of July.

The Campaign

Twenty students dressed as nuns and vicars, took to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town’s streets early in the mornings. Sporting their Vespas they weaved through the rush hour traffic.
Each Vespa had a poster mounted on the back with the messages,
Save Time,
Save Fuel,
Save Money, Vespa.

The nuns and vicars then parked their Vespas at busy crossings and handed out flyers to motorists who were stuck in traffic.

The message on the front page of the flyer was:

“You don’t have to be a member of the clergy to save.”
There was also a picture of a man dressed as a pope, blessing a Vespa.
A footnote read: Save as much as R2 000 per month on petrol doing an average commute.

The Message

The main message the campaign conveyed on the flyer was that in the saddle of a Vespa, anyone can,

-Save the planet, since a Vespa has low Euro 3 emmissions,
-Save money. When compared to a standard sedan, Vespa owners can save as much as R2000 per month on petrol, especially with the new petrol price of R10,64 per liter,
-Save time by not spending any more boring hours in the traffic.

Marketing success

Within two weeks 20 000 flyers were distributed among motorists.
Vespa had their best July winter sales since they opened in South Africa in 2003.
This shows that the campaign was creatively well positioned in the current tough economic climate.

The complaints

Although Guerrilla Marketing and Vespa always take as many precautions as possible not to offend any sector of the community in their marketing campaigns, the Vespa Saves campaign still ended up offending a small group.

Out of the 20 000 motorists who received flyers, Guerrilla Marketing and Vespa received 55 complaints.

The first complaint was received only two weeks after the launch of the marketing campaign on 2 July.

Over two days the other 54 complaints reached Guerrilla Marketing and Vespa via e-mail. The e-mails were mainly viral in nature, with one person typing the e-mail and forwarding it to Vespa while cc-ing his/her friends. Some of these friends would then reply to the e-mail which were then also counted as a complaint.

Vespa and Guerrilla Marketing react

As soon as the complaints started coming in, Vespa and Guerrilla Marketing decided to take the straight and narrow route, by retracting the campaign.

Both companies have always valued the input of the market out there and understand the power of market individuals and viral complaints. When a company loses respect for the market, their brand can easily be harmed.
Insight gained about the South African Market
South Africans communicate their feelings toward marketing campaigns well.
They do not hesitate to say what they think and feel about a campaign.
They know how to use interactive technology to spread their indignation.

Conclusion

While all efforts can be made to research a campaign before it is launched, the results are not always predictable.

That still does not mean marketers should stop innovating, as a perceived negative often has measurable results.

For more information, visit www.vespa.co.za to download the Vespa Sting newsletter – available from 6 August - containing video clips documenting the campaign.