Books are one of the key pillars of human imagination, knowledge, and critical thinking.
These tomes challenge humans to see the world through a different lens and push them to answer difficult questions that are crucial in shaping the future.
Simply said, books are critical to human life and development.
Despite this, book banning is a practice that still persists in this day and age.
In 2023 alone, over 3,000 books were banned in the U.S., effectively silencing voices, stifling access to ideas, and stripping readers of the opportunity to engage with differing perspectives.
As a reaction to this, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), a nonprofit dedicated to providing the public with access to materials from libraries, archives, and museums, undertook a massive initiative to combat book bans.
How, you might ask?
Through the power of an app and GPS!
Spreading Knowledge One Book at A Time
The DPLA is a nonprofit that catalogs millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions and makes those available to the public.
Since the DPLA’s mandate is to spread knowledge and make it accessible to the American public, the practice of book bans is one of the issues it has to grapple with.
That’s why in 2023, the nonprofit responded to the growing issue of book bans in the U.S. by undertaking a guerrilla marketing initiative that not only combatted the issue at hand but also raised public awareness for it.
The name of this initiative?
The Banned Book Club!
Photo from Unsplash
… and here’s how the initiative played out:
Using its app, The Palace Project, the DPLA added a feature that provided users access to books banned by local libraries.
All a user had to do was to download the app and provide GPS access to it. Once access was provided, the person would get access to the books that were banned by his or her local library.
The DPLA was able to pull this off since it has the most up-to-date database of all banned books in the U.S. and which libraries banned them.
So, was the digital guerrilla marketing initiative a success?
YES!
Aside from providing everyone in the U.S. access to banned books, the DPLA was able to raise public awareness about the issue of book banning—a practice that is diametrically opposed to its mandate.
What else?
The DPLA and its ad agency partner, FCB Chicago, earned accolades from the 2024 D&AD Awards and The One Show Awards.
Kudos, DPLA and FCB Chicago!
These results not only show the effectiveness of the initiative but also the creativity of it!
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Addressing and raising awareness for an issue is one of the most challenging tasks an organization has to face.
After all, it’s a difficult thing to do, especially in this day and age where attention spans are short and relevance fades in the blink of an eye.
By leveraging the tools it had at its disposal and using them creatively to put forward its cause, the DPLA was able to genuinely and meaningfully raise awareness about book banning.
This goes to show that guerrilla marketing can be leveraged not only to promote something but also to raise awareness for an issue that has the potential to affect everyone.
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you find this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!”
Cheers,
Dyane Diasanta
Senior Content Writer
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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