Scooter Head: Guerilla Marketing Gone Horribly Right?
Looking at Vespa's new scooter head ads, which popped up at the intersection of Richmond St. W and Peter St., I can't help but laugh. It's the symbolism that gets me.
The posters are human sized cutouts with an image of your average downtown hipster. One exception, which you see above, is that their heads share a remarkable resemblance to the new Vespa S.
The symbolism that deserves a few chuckles is fairly simple. The idea that we can exchange our faces and minds with a product is pretty indicative of our culture. We are defined by the products we wear, ride/drive and live in. Our days are occupied with earning the funds to buy more products (maybe earning wasn't the right word). Our goals revolve around getting that next product and upping our neighbour or fitting into the community of people who happen to own the same thing.
This isn't to say that each person's contribution to the overall society is lessened or ignored, but let's face it, we're consumers. That's what our lives and jobs revolve around.
In the end, I think Vespa is just being honest about it. They want you to buy their product to further your personal identity. By buying one of their scooters, you become a scooter rider, even better to some, a Vespa rider. Now you're hip and cool and can wear clothes like the poster. Of course, you have to buy more products to complete your new image.
So what do you think about this ad? The trend toward guerilla marketing in general? Does advertising masquerading as street art work for you?
Photo by Jon Currie
Some more photos courtesy of Flickr pooler sjgardiner.
Comments (39)
Guerilla marketing can be done well. It can be effective, clever and thought provoking at the same time.
The Vespa ads, however, are not. I've seen countless Vespa-headed hipster posters all over the city and connotations of over-consumption aside, they just look dumb.
I've always wanted a Vespa and although my desire for one hasn't changed after seeing this advertisement, I'm slightly disappointed at the blatant proof that, I am only seen as a consumer...its disheartening
Huh. When I saw these around town, I just assumed they were another Fauxreel stunt... something making fun of hipsters. So props to Vespa for a campaign that actually made me think, "Yeah, hipsters and scooters ARE stupid." Guess that's the wrong message, eh?
The street art/advert mix is interesting for sure. According to Strategymag, the design is by Toronto street artist/billboard hijacker Dan Bergeron (aka Fauxreel).
It'd be interesting to see what he has to say about making the shift from covering billboard adverts with his art, to selling his art to advertisers.
" We are defined by the products we wear, ride/drive and live in."
While I see where your coming from here, you might want to back up this claim a little more. It's a broad generalization. I don't feel that my entire identity is made up of the products I buy.
"Our goals revolve around getting that next product and upping our neighbor or fitting into the community of people who happen to own the same thing."
This may apply to some, but definitely not all people.
I don't like how corporations can get away with postering like this, but independent artist get in trouble with the law when they are doing their art or they are promoting their local events
@ Ben
I actually didn't know that it was a Vespa ad until you commented to that effect in the Morning Brew post. It was your comment in the MB that spurred this here post... so... thanks for the tip, I suppose.
No greater conspiracy here :)
Guerilla marketing is fucking disgusting, in so far as it's all about taking away people's choice in terms of what they put in their brain. It's the psychic equivalent of grabbing people by the ears and jamming your dick in their gobs. No doubt brain fucking is an apt analogy, one which very much captures the mind-set of the self-absorbed (almost always male) Gen x "culture industry" whores behind this stuff, who delude themselves into thinking that they're Tyler Durden-ing the machine from the belly of the beast, all the way to the fucking bank and over-priced plastic Queen West Drake-Condo. Fucktards.
A tangential point. From the replies to this post and assorted other ephemera floating like greasy pond scum in the local zeitgeist, it looks to be open season on "Hipsters". Before everyone in Toronto lowers their pants to take a collective holier-than-thou shit on hipsters, I'd like to remind y'all that it was only about 6 months ago this entire town looked like some weird alien civilization that got its hand on a back issue of Vice Magazine and took it as the Bible. But now, NO ONE was EVER a hipster - it was all those OTHER kids who slavishly followed ridiculous trends and who I'm free to sneer at, as I myself am too cool to EVER bother being well, erm...cool. Doublefucktard.
How are these points related?
We need to recognize that EVERYONE is affected by trends and advertising - That's why it's ever-so important that we recognize and fight for psychic autonomy and liberty of conciousness.
I thought they were Posterchild's at first, then heard it was Fauxreel. I kind of thought they were a little too clean to be genuine though, added to which there's on on the display window of a store on Queen West (unlikely!).
I didn't even realize these were ads. Just assumed it was another art kid with a bucket of wheat paste.
I think the ad's are good, i like the fact that everything is intermingled.
Trendy queen west guy, vespa, street art cutouts.
Guerilla marketing is only hip if it's not a small indie-style company doing it. Or so many like to think, it seems.
Speaking of holier than thou, hi Mr Black Sabbath.
I saw some guys putting these up on the windows of the abandoned car dealership at King and Shaw last week, whilst some guy in a balcony across the street took pictures and yelled at them for not having a license to do so.
My first thought, was cool, guerilla art styles, because I do indeed enjoy seeing this kind of thing around. But it quickly dawned on me that this was probably illegal advertising, which, not so cool. This was confirmed when I saw the same image in real ads and the Vespa showroom on colllege.
Since I saw them putting it up I've wanted to talk about it, but restrained myself... because isn't that the whole point of ads, even (especially) unorthodox methods like this?
It's just vandalism without any of the debatable artistic merit. They should be charged with defacing private property, especially considering that these are often stuck to the windows of empty store fronts.
I'm guessing here... the fines Vespa would be given are less than the cost the advertising would actually cost if they were placed in legitimately approved locations.
Good point, Jerrold. People shouldn't get away with breaking the law though, so it should be done.
By the way, from now on, will complaints about ads in the morning brew result in more exposure for the ads by means of a full post later in the day? :P
@Ben
Not likely :)
This is an unique occurrence today. It involves a Toronto-based artist, the street art/advertising fusion, etc. Make it worth discussing, I think.
Guerrilla marketing is only cool when you're the one doing it. Otherwise you're tricking people.
It's hardly hypocritical to like something like this when you think it's genuine, but change your mind when you find out it was calculated to make you think it's genuine while selling you a scooter. Imagine seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time, then your eye catches the Colgate logo in the corner and the feeling is gone.
Does anyone know how I can remove any of these safely? The one on the Sam the Record Man store really bothers me. It is stuck on the (marble, stone, slate?) surface quite firmly, and I was unable to remove it with my fingernails (surprise, surprise).
The ads are pretty cool and somewhat original. Definitely going to give credit to vespa on this one.
I'm 110% pro-graffiti and to me this is just more corporate vandalism of my city.
I liked Vespa more before this. Now they feel dirty to me, like Pepsi or something.
teardrops!
Why has nobody commented on the fact that this post is poorly written and uses the same level of analysis that a 15 year old would use after reading three late-90s editions of Adbusters?
It would be true guerrilla marketing if potential customers - the aforementioned hipsters - were picked up and given rides by people (presumably "hip hotties") on these new Vespas. As for corporations trying to be hip themselves by employing wheatpasters and faux ironic postmodern posters? Give me a brake... err... break!
@ die-enormous
Because you're the first anonymous troll to feel compelled to make such a lame, insulting remark? Just a guess.
A few of these popped up down the street from me in Ottawa on the side of a building. A friend from work noticed them and told me, he knows I have an old vespa scooter. I think the only missing part of the advertising is the total lack of the vespa brand. I think to the scooter unfamiliar person, its just some weird street art and doesn't do much...
I run a small Vintage Vespa shop from my home and there is an ad for this around the corner from me. I bet that was thought out well.
I have to admit the first time I saw it I just thought it was cool graffiti because it is on a building with other graffiti.
Then I realized the headset was the same as the new Vespa S.
It kind of freaks me out a bit.
If Guerrilla Marketing is sooo 2006, then knee-jerk anti-corporate reactions are sooooo 2001.
Odd that this gets derrided so quickly, yet Apple seems to keep all it's "street cred" no matter how big they get, and how much their ads try to sell the brand = identity message.
Get over it. Whether you like these ads or not, it shouldn't have any impact on how you view Vespas (the product, not the company).
Also +1 for die-enormous's and Ry Tron's comments.
Nice. A cool new way to reach the target. They aren't always interested in "ads", so this sneaks up on them.
Personally, I think this is an example of guerrilla marketing doing exactly what it is designed to do and doing it well. It's stirring up "controversy" and making people talk. The saying ?there?s no such thing as bad press? springs to mind. The campaign is getting tongues wagging and getting the brand noticed. The actual images being used and the way they are positioned and located, are well thought out and aesthetically pleasing. Of course it?s illegal, that's the whole point. I salute Vespa for trying an alternative campaign method.
C'MON PEOPLE,WHAT DO YOU THINK HARLEY'S BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST 80 YEARS OR SO?BRAINWASHING YOU INTO THE "ELITE"AND PAY RIDICULOUS PRICES FOR SOMETHING GRACED WITH A HARLEY LOGO.AT LEAST THE VESPA HAS A HISTORY OF ECONOMICAL,RELIABLE TRANSPORTATION.
"we recognize and fight for psychic autonomy and liberty of conciousness."
That crap is better than the LOLCATS!
I disagree that the vespa ads are a form of guerilla marketing. Vespa has spent alot of money for this huge campaign which would more likely be classified as *gorilla* marketing. But guerilla marketing is about being frugal. I do think the campaign is creative though, and it is most certainly effective in getting attention.
I think everyone's reading too much into this Vespa head thing. Its a fun, cute concept and its not meant to classify or objectify us. Definition of gorilla marketing: "Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources." ....and it has certainly acheived that otherwise it wouldnt be the topic of discussion here.
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