Paris, France houses roughly 130 museums within its city limits, making it a major cultural destination.
While this is definitely a good thing for the people residing in Paris and those who visit it, the abundance of iconic museums like the Louvre, Orsay, and the Versailles makes it hard for other museums to stand out.
Chief among those is the Musée de l’Armée, home to many of history’s most iconic cultural artifacts like the sword of Francis I and Napoleon I’s flintlock pistols.
With the likes of the Louvre attracting all the attention, it was clear that the museum had to do something if it wanted to attract visitors.
However, instead of outspending its peers, the Musée de l’Armée and BUZZMAN, its creative partner, came up with a clever and unconventional solution.
Photo from Unsplash
For context: The Musée de l’Armée was established in 1905 through the merger of the Musée d’Artillerie and the Musée Historique de l’Armée. Since these museums housed artifacts related to artilleries and weapons, most of the collections contained items related to warfare.
Despite housing a rich collection, the museum doesn’t have access to the enormous media budgets that its other rivals had.
So instead of promoting itself through conventional means, the Musée de l’Armée and BUZZMAN built awareness by turning the masterpieces of the museum’s competitors to serve as an invitation to visit the museum.
How?
It turns out that some of the paintings housed in museums like the Louvre feature artifacts worn by historical figures, some of which is actually housed in the Musée de l’Armée. A notable example of this is Louis XIII’s armor, which is prominently featured in his famous portrait at the Louvre.
Photo from Musée de l’Armée
BUZZMAN’s creative team developed a bold awareness campaign that playfully featured artifacts from rival museums—then revealed that some of these treasures are actually housed in the Musée de l’Armée.
Snippet from Campaign Unpacked
These cleverly-crafted promotional materials came with a call-to-action inviting whoever saw them to visit the museum.
The awareness campaign was executed in high-traffic places such as subway stations (with some of them located near museums) and giftshops.
Postcards, which contained QR codes that had instructions for museumgoers, were also distributed.
The result?
Engagement for the Musée de l’Armée skyrocketed, as Google searches for the museum went as high as 876%. This delivered a 19% year-on-year increase in traffic and a record 126,000 visitors in a single month.
Aside from these results, the campaign garnered enthusiastic reactions from social media users and even gained accolades from D&AD and The One Club.
There’s no denying that the campaign was a success!
What’s more?
The campaign proves that brands don’t always need conventional tactics to raise awareness and generate buzz.
Sometimes, a dash of creativity and wit is all it takes to cut through the noise and grab attention in a saturated market.
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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