Boston Local Uses Pokémon Go Signs in Guerrilla Marketing Scheme

By August 22, 2016General

A 23-year-old copywriter with aspirations to work for a significant advertising company in, or near Boston, recently chose to install a collection of fun “Pokémon Go” street signs as a way of making his name around his local town.

His particular guerrilla marketing effort was based on the latest smartphone craze, and aimed towards making people smile, while getting his name out there for marketing companies to pay attention to.

Though the copywriter, Trevor O’Brien Jones, commented that the signs were there to entertain people in his local town, he also admitted that they were largely a way for him to shamelessly market himself – something that turned out to be a massive success after the signs went viral.

Using the Latest Trend

Trevor commented that he enjoyed the way Pokémon Go was able to make the link between exploring the real world and enjoying the digital world at the same time.

However, he said that the only problem was that people were spending so much time with their eyes fixed on their phones – they weren’t experiencing the landmarks around them. That’s why his Guerrilla scheme was set completely in the “real world”.

Outside of a Boston fire department station, he fixed a sign to the fence saying that all firefighters were napping, and asked Pokémon trainers to catch the nearest water-type in case of an emergency.

Similarly, near a popular drinking spot, he fixed a sign to a bike rail saying that Dodrio’s should only be served one drink at a time – as each of their three heads only share one liver. On the Boston common, Trevor shared his political creativity with a sign that read “Warning: Wild Hypno have been turning normal people into Trump supporters.”

The Public Response

The local people have had a largely positive response to the presence of the signs – often stopping to take pictures. While O’Brien Jones commented that he was happy his signs had been received so well by the people in his local area, he noted that if the city asked, he would be glad to take them down, and pay any necessary fines.

In the meantime, O’Brien Jones still has a few more batches of signs in the works – but reassures his town that he’s not trying to offend anyone – simply bring a smile to some faces, and get a little career recognition at the same time.

And when it comes to creating a stir with guerrilla marketing, you can do the same. Embrace as many copywriting tips as you can, get creative and come up with a concept. Then, just as Trevor did, you can become memorable.

Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442, or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.