Where does the gorrilla sit?

Image from www.towerbooks.com

In third party demarketing, an outside body attempts to restrict the marketing of something, and often ends up doing the job for the brand owner at no cost to them.

An unusually frank admission about the use of this kind strategy comes from 1996, courtesy of what was then a start-up airline. easyJet was opening a new Luton to Aberdeen route, but with an established competitor in British Airways, and short of funds to finance a major promotional push, easyJet instead booked advertising spots close to the BA's checkin desk at Aberdeen Airport (Anderson 2010).  They then designed a poster in BA colours and typeface warning "Beware! Thieves operate in this airport". This provocative execution, which tied in with easyJet's wider PR message about BA's fares, predictably was vetoed by the airport authority: what followed was what easyJet's marketing director at the time called “a strategic leak” to the local Press and Journal (Anderson 2010), which obligingly gave the offending poster front page coverage.  Nowadays, of course, it would be on Facebook.

Advertising bans have become something of a staple of the now fiercely competitive airline industry, with easyJet as likely to be complained about as to make complaints (see for example Farey-Jones 2011 and 2012).  A new strategy seems to be emerging with this form of attack advertising: in making a complaint the rival travel company positions itself as the consumer's friend; however, in defending it the original company is able to generate publicity by attempting to substantiate the claims made.

Anderson called his book Gorilla Marketing from the old joke:  "Q: Where does an 800 pound gorilla sit?  A: Anywhere he wants to".  easyJet spent its early life trying to provoke the gorilla (British Airways).  Now the irony is that on most measures easyJet is the bigger airline.  But, as Stephen Brown (2001) noted, “There’s nothing like a little outrage to attract attention and turn a tiny advertising spend into a megabudget monster”. An 800 pound monster, perhaps?

References

Anderson, Tony (2010), Gorilla Marketing, London: Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd

Brown, Stephen (2001), s “Torment your customers (they'll love it)”, Harvard Business Review, October
Farey-Jones, Daniel (2011), “EasyJet business ad banned after Ryanair complaint”, Campaign, 27 April
Farey-Jones, Daniel (2012), “EasyJet complaint leads ad watchdog to ban train ad”, Campaign, 9 May