Experiential campaign increases brand sales

THE CLIENT:

Vespa South Africa

THE BRIEF:

Position Vespa as the ultimate lifestyle accessory in a way that would enable the target market to interact and experience Vespa in a relaxed, entertaining way.

THE IDEA:

The creative team of Guerrilla Marketing carefully considered ways to achieve this and came up with the experiential campaign called “Vesparazzi”.

HOW IT WORKED:

An average-looking guy entered various café’s in Cape Town between 9 and 17 December 2006, arriving on a Vespa and parking it in clear view of the other patrons (our target market).

Not attracting much attention, he sits down at a table, orders a cappuccino and the bill. Minutes later, a group of beautiful ladies walk past, stopping to admire the Vespa. Moving from table to table they ask customers if the “gorgeous Vespa” out front is theirs.

After a while, the average guy, who no one even noticed, gets on the Vespa, gives a cheeky hoot and drives off. The girls run after him, yelling for him to stop, all while attracting the attention of our target market.

THE LINK:

While all of this is happening, flyers are placed on cars parked around the venue. Subsequently, the link between the activities inside the café and Vespa’s marketing strike are made. The flyers encourage people to visit the Vespa showroom to get a piece of the Vesparazzi action for themselves.

THE EFFECT:

Some patrons, when asked by the Vesparazzi girls “Is that your Vespa?” claimed ownership of the scooter to gain the attention of the girls. At other café’s, patrons joined the Vesparazzi girls to try and find out who the owner of the Vespa was.

On more than one occasion, the average guy was cheered on by patrons as he drove off on the Vespa. Best of all, everyone took note of the two-wheeler that South Africans are “falling in love with”.

THE RESULTS:

According to Guerrilla Marketing, A considerable amount of word-of-mouth awareness was generated, with Vespa on everyone’s lips in Cape Town. The campaign successfully positioned Vespa as a stylish, hi-fashion lifestyle accessory that gets the average guy noticed and Vespa South Africa sold more units in the month of the campaign than ever before.