Guerrilla Marketing and Street Teams
One of the most targeted experiential marketing approaches is guerrilla marketing or street teams. The strategy of street teams is to deploy brand ambassadors in select communities. In general the purpose is to distribute marketing materials to a specified audience. Motus Experiential has years of experience working with this strategic type of marketing and has worked with the likes of Blue Man Group, Lyric Stage, and RCN, to name a few.
Blue Man Group
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
RCN Boston College Tour
Case # 1
Blue Man Group
In 2022, Motus Experiential partnered with Blue Man Group’s marketing agency, Lonestar Marketing, to put together a street team. This team promoted Blue Man Group at the Fisherman’s Feast in the North End Boston.
Blue Man Group, located at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, has entertained over 50 million people of all ages. They were scheduled to perform on the event’s main stage and the Motus team was tasked with passing out promotional materials and swag before, during, and after the performance. As part of their marketing strategy, the Blue Man Group attends as well as performs at high-profile events. Overall, this heightens their visibility to potential customers.
The Fisherman’s Feast is an annual event that began in Boston in 1910 and attracts over 100,000 attendees each year. The Feast is based on the devotion of the fishermen from Sciacca to the Madonna del Soccorso (Our Lady of Help). When the fishermen immigrated to America in the early 1900s, they brought their traditions with them. Today’s Feast is much the same as it was over 100 years ago.
In the four hours our team was onsite, they passed out over 500+ promotional handbills, Blue Man hats, and shirts.
“We hired Motus Experiential to provide a street team for Blue Man Group’s appearance at this year’s Fisherman’s Feast and the staff they sent were great! They were prompt, excited about the project, and did excellent work. In addition to the flyers they distributed, they also helped us pass out swag to the crowd and were helpful in answering questions about our scheduled performance. I will definitely be hiring them again for our next street team event.” -Courtney Megliola, Founder, Lonestar Marketing Boston (marketing & PR for Blue Man Group Boston)
Case # 2
Lyric Stage Company of Boston: Theater Promotion
From 2018 through 2020, Lyric Stage Company of Boston commissioned Motus Experiential to mobilize a street team to help promote their top 3 largest theater productions of the year. The theater company prides itself on producing and presenting live theater in greater Boston. Their intimate approach promotes inclusivity and connection as well as theater education.
Motus Experiential worked with Lyric Stage to combine their traditional marketing plans with a street team postering program. Our team hung show posters at high-traffic businesses in targeted Boston neighborhoods. We did this two weeks before the opening day of the show.
Targeted Boston towns included Back Bay, Beacon Hill, South End, Symphony Hall, Boston Conservatory, NEC, Northeastern, Central Square, Harvard Square, Porter Square, Allston, and Brighton.
Positioning of the posters was key, and Motus Experiential negotiated with venues for prime real estate. Securing a street visible location like a window or front door was ideal. However, a high-traffic internal location like a community board was next best. The last resort was to leave the poster with the owner or manager of the business. After each placement, our team would provide a recap of each location, position, and a photo of the placement for the client.
Our team placed 1,000 posters in 12 towns for 6 shows over the duration of our contract with Lyric Stage Company Boston.
Case # 3
RCN: Boston College Tour
With 35 colleges, universities, and community colleges, Boston is one of the largest college cities in the US. Every August, 135,000 college students flood the streets of Boston for a “Fall College Rush”. This event is a great opportunity for service providers looking to make a lasting impression on incoming college students. Cellular, insurance, food, and cable service providers alike are eager to get information into these potential customers’ hands. Many city streets close for the event, as thousands of students are looking to secure new local services.
Astound Broadband, powered by RCN, worked with Motus Experiential in 2015 on an extensive street team activation. Building off the success of the previous Fall College Rush events, Motus Experiential wanted to take the standard feet on the street program and make it bigger by creating retail “take over” spots in combination with street team activities.
Execution
The master plan included two weeks of strategic street team presence in high college traffic areas. This started with move-in, textbook buying, and popular food/activity areas. The campaign consisted of 20 brand ambassadors. For five days, they were stationed at key locations around the city to educate students about RCN services.
The teams were tasked with hand-to-hand information distribution and postering high-traffic retail locations. While the street teams were in the targeted neighborhoods, we also secured a popular retail location to set up RCN tables and tents and offer free meals to potential customers. This strategy provided a deeper brand presence and allowed the RCN sales team to sign up new customers.
During the two weeks our teams were on the street, we handed out over 15,000 handbills. Wee also hung hundreds of posters helping RCN secure hundreds of new customers.
