Guerrilla Marketing Competition at The Sixth Form College Farnborough
Source Academy went on the road last week to collaborate with the fledgling geniuses at Farnborough 6th.
The Brief
Under the guidance of their supportive course leader, Anja Harwood, 30 students shunned the opportunity to take advantage of a day off (it was Open Day) and instead applied their creative minds to the Source Academy Guerrilla Marketing project.
Introducing the brief to most of the students on the Monday, they only had until Wednesday evening to submit their ideas and workflow evidence.
Here are the extra-curricular bunch in action;
The students were under a lot of scrutiny but explained their ideas brilliantly.
I loved the simplicity of this. Using a window display of a high footfall pathway, this simple installation of a man on the toilet would have made people talk about it on social media. It would be easy to add subtle branding by having him read a newspaper with a headline linked to Source, for example. A great example of Guerilla marketing.
This is part of an video advert centred around the waddle one takes from the bathroom to the store of toilet rolls. Instead of using a plain pair of underwear, they used them as an opportunity to sneak in the Source logo.
Whilst some ideas were not strictly ‘guerilla’, fresh and clever ideas were aplenty.
Judging
To judge the projects, Anja called in a few favours with colleagues and one of her former students, James Corlett, who now plies his trade for brand agency extraordinaire Ogilvy & Mather.
After a long day for the students, the judges convened at 6pm to hear each group’s presentation and talk through their ideas and thought processes.
The students had to answer questioning on their vision for their project, respond to critique and offer examples of how they kept the brief and definition of guerrilla marketing in mind.
Some of the ideas were very clever and funny!
The execution of this idea was fantastic.
It was a project that I would happily roll out at a Source for a novelty month and they fully deserved their Runners Up award.
A big thank you to our friends at Katrin for sponsoring the Runners-Up prize with £100 of vouchers.
Winning Team
The winning team went down to a vote within the judging panel. Fortunately there were five of us on the panel as it could have come down to my deciding vote but in the end it was academic.
The winning team had a perhaps the most outlandish brainstorming ideas from the start. I said I’d much sooner have to reign a group’s ideas than encourage them to think outside the box more.
One reason why this got our vote is that each judge independently took a picture of this whilst laughing. Humour is a huge element of guerrilla marketing and the fact we were compelled to give it the modern day seal of approval – a picture on our smart phone – spoke volumes.
Installation
There were two ways in which the group explained the installation of their idea;
- Text on a two-roll dispenser in a washroom within an adult environment; pub, nightclub etc
- Use an advertising screen in a high traffic area (see below example) and have a vending machine style tray at the bottom with free toilet rolls
Winners and Runners-Up
What did the College think?
Anja Harwood, course leader at the college, was delighted with the results;
This competition worked – it really worked – on so many levels.
It brought students from across a range of subjects together. It brought them into contact with a real business. It helped them understand the competitive environment. It enabled them to create something tangible in a day. It made them appreciate the concept of ‘team’.
Ollie’s involvement and hands-on approach gave each participant a taste of what’s out there in the world of work – what the possibilities are – and what they can aspire to. They were listened to, guided and encouraged to pursue ideas and be creative.
And the outcomes? Apart from creating and presenting their concepts and ideas, one student is applying to university who wasn’t going to go, two students are being offered work experience at one of the most prestigious advertising agencies in the country, one student is using the prize money to help fund a summer community project in Bali and they all have something tangible to put in the University applications and CVs.
They got so much out of it. Beyond the competition itself, the materials created that day in lessons to inspire and enthuse others – now they want more…
What did the students think?
The competition gave me the opportunity to put my creative skills into action. Although my team were unable to win the title we learned by taking part. We realised that the mistake we made was losing focus from the main topic. The experience will be my driving force to win the challenges I’ll be facing in future.
Julina Shrestha
I really enjoyed the day, I thought the challenge was excellent and I liked the fact Ollie let us get on with it as our groups and only came around to give hints and help us progress our ideas. I learnt a lot about marketing and working in a group and how well we can develop ideas given very minimal prompt.
Jake Wish
It was a fantastic day and really gave me some valuable experience for something I would love to do in the future!
Jack Jones
Source Academy is sponsored by
Katrin, Source Academy sponsors said;
Metsa Tissue is very pleased to be helping to support the Source Academy – an excellent initiative to inspire young people to become excited by the business world.
We are especially hopeful that Ollie’s enthusiasm may inspire young people to come into our industry – and bring youth, innovation and fresh eyes on what we do.
Regardless, a practical insight and some competitive spirit is a fantastic way to energise the next generation of business leaders. Well done Source Supplies.
Mark Dewick
Sales Director
Metsa Tissue
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