Agency Vandalizes Own Billboards For Client St. Louis Cardinals
Like stunt marketing run amok but not really, since, hey, everyone's doing it, St. Louis ageny Schupp Co. - which sounds more like a beer company than an agency - purchased a bunch of billboards for its client, the St. Louis Cardinals, then proceeded to steal the cardinal cut-out portion of the billboard. The agency, following stunt marketing protocol, created a fake MySpace (is there no other?) profile under the name of Bird Napper whose favorite activity is...wait for it...stealing birds from billboards. The profile contained other witticisms such as listing "Celebration" and "The Heat is On" as favorite songs - former pep songs for the Cardinals and for favorite movie, "anything but the last 20 minutes of Fever Pitch" - a nod to the Cardinals losss to the Red Sox in the 2004 World Series.
Of course, baseball fans and the media being what they/we are, the whole thing turned into a media circus with mentions on radio shows, TV news, local papers, an ESPN fan forum and the cardsclubhouse.com. In standard stunt fashion, Schupp Co. agency president Mark Schupp first denied any knowledge of the stunt then relented confessing to the stunt Monday afternoon, telling the St. Louis Dispatch, "Our goal was to create an advertising campaign outside the norm for our client. We did not approach the media with this story and frankly wanted to avoid the media until the campaign had unfolded." Apparently, there's some last chapter to the stunt that is supposed to occur today.
Is this good? Is this bad? Is this where marketing is headed? Please discuss on comments.
UPDATE: A commenter informs us we've all got it wrong: "Well, all of you, including all of St. Louis spoke a little too soon. This turned out not to be promoting the Cardinals but the radio station that just became the flagship station for the Cards. The missing birds actually ended up being slapped on the radio station's billboard immediately following the Cardinal board. You have been double punked. Do you think the media (particularly the broadcast media) would have touched this with a 10 foot pole?"
Comments
lame. How does this promote the Cardinals? What the fuck is this?
Done in just about any other city, I don't think this would have worked. But taking into account that Cardinals fans are insane fanatics for their team, I think that's the biggest reason this caused such a huge scene.
just another example of creative folks getting worked up about what they can do with a medium rather than how to make a medium work.
hmmmm...i wonder if the birds flew south for the winter...and will return when Spring Training ends?
people that get excited about this shyt keep me employeed.
The first poster hit the nail on the head...this does nothing to promote the cardinals nor does it sell more tickets.
If the cards are some popular then why try and build awareness with a board?
my bad..there is a phone number on the board..well call me the moron
Well, all of you, including all of St. Louis spoke a little too soon. This turned out not to be promoting the Cardinals but the radio station that just became the flagship station for the Cards. The missing birds actually ended up being slapped on the radio station's billboard immediately following the Cardinal board. You have been double punked. Do you think the media (particularly the broadcast media) would have touched this with a 10 foot pole?
If the objective of the station was to create awareness of the fact that they are now carrying the Cardinals, then it was a brilliant strategy. Plus, a charity is benefiting.
As a STL-er (by transplant) I'm now going to have to go look for these boards.
"just another example of creative folks getting worked up about what they can do with a medium rather than how to make a medium work."
How is that a bad thing? Better than most 'boards around here that spout basement waterproofing and mortgage companies. Also better than trying to cram more than 6 words on it. The billboard medium (in my opinion) Needs things like this. It seems pretty effective to me.
Def got the buzz up here. They do love their Cards.
Like it or not, the campaign's highly successful. And I bet you haven't seen the last of 550 KTRS using some non-traditional tactics to raise awareness that they are the new home of the Cardinals. Let's keep in mind that KTRS hired Schupp to execute a campaign. This has only been going on for a little over a week. Frankly, I'm interested to see what happens next.
The station is owned by the Cardinals- and the cheap stunt for publicity runs right along with the ownership of teh team. CHEAP! No respect for the traditions of the team- just respect for money- and how they can get more for less.
The station is owned by the Cardinals- and the cheap stunt for publicity runs right along with the ownership of teh team. CHEAP! No respect for the traditions of the team- just respect for money- and how they can get more for less.