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Army uses guerrilla tactics to advertise in Maine

May 27, 2009
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Two-week campaign hits the community of Portland.

People in Portland, Maine, saw a lot of red for two straight weeks on chairs, coffee cups, even bathroom mirrors—all part of an edgy new marketing campaign for The Salvation Army.
The Army doesn’t have a brand problem; if you see a red kettle, you know where the money is going—but across the board, donations are down and the Army here needed to move beyond red kettles to kick-start donations.

“We have been lagging significantly behind previous years,” said Craig Evans, director of development for the Northern New England division. “The Salvation Army has not invested heavily in marketing or advertising. We pride ourselves on good stewardship…83 cents of every dollar goes back to services.”

So, The Salvation Army took a big step out of its conservative comfort zone and went to Portland-based The Via Group, a nationally recognized marketing agency with clients like American Eagle Outfitters, HBO, Hewlett Packard, Lo Jack, and The New York Times. They asked Via to help create a campaign—for free—to reach a new audience. Via said yes.

“They let us be provocative, and think outside the box…and with that chemistry we came up with a cool idea,” said Greg Smith of The Via Group.

That idea: guerrilla marketing.

For two weeks people in and around Portland were hit hard with The Salvation Army message when they ate pizza or had a cup of coffee or visited the restroom at local restaurants.

“The challenge was to create a campaign to increase visibility that cost nothing and emphasized stewardship to honor donor intent,” Evans said. “We had many sessions with the creative team at Via, with a lot of energy and fairly limitless ideas for unorthodox tactics to convey our message.

Members of The Via Group executed the campaign. Though many of the tactics, like writing on a dirty car window, appeared random, Evans said everything was strategic, controlled and orchestrated by members of the ad agency.

“They were very much involved and took this campaign personally,” Evans said of the agency’s team members. “The sense of ownership was very clear.”

The creative team wanted to increase awareness of The Salvation Army while staying true to the organization’s mission that the money should go to services, not advertising.

“We embraced the idea that we had no money—and so that’s where the idea started, let’s do a campaign that cost nothing,” said Mike Irvine, copy editor for The Via Group.

They asked local businesses to offer the space, and nearly 50 said yes.

“Watching these guys run around and do what they are doing to get the message across has been phenomenal and inspiring; if we can spread that, it’s great,” Evans said.

And while the campaign seems a little edgy for The Salvation Army, it actually takes the organization back to its roots in the late 1800s.

“I look back at our origins; we started as a street ministry and sort of a guerrilla movement, so why not use these guerrilla tactics now…it’s a good fit,” Evans said. “The buzz in Portland has been unreal—people are talking about it and the campaign has been well covered by the media in the New England region.

“We wanted to raise the visibility of The Salvation Army, which will hopefully lead to financial support of our division,” Evans said. “The ultimate goal is always about helping people.”

From a report by New England Cable News and an interview with Craig Evans.

People in Portland, Maine, saw a lot of red for two straight weeks on chairs, coffee cups, even bathroom mirrors—all part of an edgy new marketing campaign for The Salvation Army.

The Army doesn’t have a brand problem; if you see a red kettle, you know where the money is going—but across the board, donations are down and the Army here needed to move beyond red kettles to kick-start donations.

“We have been lagging significantly behind previous years,” said Craig Evans, director of development for the Northern New England division. “The Salvation Army has not invested heavily in marketing or advertising. We pride ourselves on good stewardship…83 cents of every dollar goes back to services.”

So, The Salvation Army took a big step out of its conservative comfort zone and went to Portland-based The Via Group, a nationally recognized marketing agency with clients like American Eagle Outfitters, HBO, Hewlett Packard, Lo Jack, and The New York Times. They asked Via to help create a campaign—for free—to reach a new audience. Via said yes.

“They let us be provocative, and think outside the box…and with that chemistry we came up with a cool idea,” said Greg Smith of The Via Group.

That idea: guerrilla marketing.

For two weeks people in and around Portland were hit hard with The Salvation Army message when they ate pizza or had a cup of coffee or visited the restroom at local restaurants.

“The challenge was to create a campaign to increase visibility that cost nothing and emphasized stewardship to honor donor intent,” Evans said. “We had many sessions with the creative team at Via, with a lot of energy and fairly limitless ideas for unorthodox tactics to convey our message.

Members of The Via Group executed the campaign. Though many of the tactics, like writing on a dirty car window, appeared random, Evans said everything was strategic, controlled and orchestrated by members of the ad agency.

“They were very much involved and took this campaign personally,” Evans said of the agency’s team members. “The sense of ownership was very clear.”

The creative team wanted to increase awareness of The Salvation Army while staying true to the organization’s mission that the money should go to services, not advertising.

“We embraced the idea that we had no money—and so that’s where the idea started, let’s do a campaign that cost nothing,” said Mike Irvine, copy editor for The Via Group.

They asked local businesses to offer the space, and nearly 50 said yes.

“Watching these guys run around and do what they are doing to get the message across has been phenomenal and inspiring; if we can spread that, it’s great,” Evans said.

And while the campaign seems a little edgy for The Salvation Army, it actually takes the organization back to its roots in the late 1800s.

“I look back at our origins; we started as a street ministry and sort of a guerrilla movement, so why not use these guerrilla tactics now…it’s a good fit,” Evans said. “The buzz in Portland has been unreal—people are talking about it and the campaign has been well covered by the media in the New England region.

“We wanted to raise the visibility of The Salvation Army, which will hopefully lead to financial support of our division,” Evans said. “The ultimate goal is always about helping people.”

From a report by New England Cable News and an interview with Craig Evans.

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