How to Take Over an Event with Guerrilla Marketing

Scrunchie, tech #startup OneScreen.ai 's monster mascot, was seemingly at every turn at HubSpot 's?INBOUND 2022, one of the largest marketing conferences in the world. The lovable marketing monster was on a mission to deliver a wake-up call to INBOUND attendees with a battle cry of “Marketing beyond the internet.” The multi-format campaign generated lots of looks from some of the best #marketers in the world, as well as impressive and measurable results.

Back in-person in #Boston for the first time since the pandemic began, INBOUND was held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) from September 6-9, 2022. The beloved #conference drew a crowd of more than 11,000 attendees, many of whom are tired of burning their marketing budget on underperforming #PPC, #paidsocial, and #SEO tactics.

Earlier this year, our?research report?with Kickstand revealed that while 98% of marketers invest in digital advertising, 97% are looking to alternative channels and 67% say digital returns have diminished even after scaling up programs.

For INBOUND attendees in search of new ideas to boost #leads, social media engagement, website traffic, and brand recognition, Scrunchie was there to show the way. There are more options than ever before to integrate brands with the real world while giving marketers the power to highly target #prospects and measure impact. Scrunchie proved that there's no better time than now to get out in front of audiences and #guerillamarketing is his preferred method.?

Campaign elements ?? ??

OOH #advertising is so much more than #billboards; in reality, the options are endless. Even in a major city like Boston and during a huge and celebrity-headlined conference, we were able to deploy multiple #marketing formats to amplify Scrunchie’s battle cry:

A Swarm of Wrapped Cars

A swarm of wrapped cars took over Summer St. and Seaport Blvd. throughout the duration of the conference. Done in partnership with mobilads , which connects brands with millions of consumers through wrapped #rideshare vehicles.

A Static Billboard Truck

Now, this is what we call a monster truck! ?? Parked out front of #INBOUND22, this message on wheels was executed in partnership with do it outdoors media , the country's largest mobile billboard company.

Human Projectors

Yes, human projectors. Floating around the afterparties and restaurants once INBOUND doors closed, these "ProjectionMen" were made possible by National Experiential .

Live Billboards

One of the biggest hits at INBOUND were our crew of live billboards who met conference attendees in front of the convention center and along walking routes to the BCEC. This activation was also executed by our friends over at National Experiential .

Mobile Ad Delivery

On the off chance that someone missed our immersive activations in real life, we used Blue Bite for #geofencing and mobile ad #retargeting to deliver our campaign message on the mobile devices of those in and around the conference center.

How did the OOH-driven INBOUND takeover perform? ??

We knew it would take unconventional marketing to get the attention of seasoned marketers. For that, #OOHadvertising is the perfect medium. But even more than getting attention and generating buzz, OOH produces measurable results. To measure the impact of the campaign, we assessed performance across our website, mobile ads, and social media accounts.

WEBSITE LIFT ???

The #OOH campaign assets prominently featured the URL “SaveTheMarketers.com” on all creative. Traffic driven to this unique destination is one of many (and simplest) methods to measure the impact of OOH.

During INBOUND,?landing page traffic skyrocketed by 374%?over the previous week (all landing pages). The campaign landing page garnered 1,010 entrances and a whopping?average time per page view of 4.2 minutes. On top of new visitors, 67 existing contacts were influenced by the campaign during the conference and the week after.

SOCIAL MEDIA PERFORMANCE ??

In a recent research report,?67% of out-of-home advertisers?reported increased social media engagement as an ROI metric for OOH campaigns, and in this area, Scrunchie knocked it out of the park. During the week of INBOUND, OneScreen.ai posted campaign content across LinkedIn , Twitter , and Instagram .

OneScreen.ai, Sam Mallikarjunan and our OOH vendor partner names made it on Trust Insights ' “Most Talked About at INBOUND" map.

LINKEDIN DAZZLES ACROSS THE BOARD ??

OneScreen.ai’s LinkedIn page?received?9,294 impressions, 5,849 (63%) of which were unique.?Reactions increased by 138%, and comments rose by 200%, as did shares. During this same timeframe, the?average engagement rate was 21.3%, up by 6.8% over the 30 days prior.

OneScreen.ai’s?top-performing campaign post on LinkedIn?generated 3,387 impressions and 1,052 engagements with an?engagement rate of 32.3%, and a 29.38% click-through rate.

The?second highest performing LinkedIn post,?a “sneak peek” posted the day before the conference started, grabbed 2,329 impressions and 216 engagements with an engagement rate of 9.8% and a click-through rate of 9.32%.

In total, over the course of the campaign, LinkedIn received 1,344 clicks, 1,550 engagements, and 63 new followers. For context, LinkedIn has an average engagement rate of just?3.16%. The average click-through rate based on the hundreds of thousands of posts from all around the world on LinkedIn in August was just?7.54%?.

TWITTER CAPITALIZES ON EVENT HASHTAG #INBOUND22 ??

During industry conferences, unique event hashtags offer many opportunities for social engagement with attendees. OneScreen.ai’s?top “marketing beyond the internet” tweet?earned 691 impressions, while?another?grabbed 555 impressions. In total, the?OneScreen.ai Twitter account?generated?4,481 impressions and 312 engagements, while gaining a 3.5% increase in new followers. Several OneScreen.ai-related terms even made it on?Trust Insight's interactive map of the most talked about at INBOUND.??

GEO-TARGETED MOBILE ADS ??

Using?Blue Bite geofencing, we supplemented OOH marketing efforts by serving Scrunchie-themed ads directly to conference attendees’ #mobile devices.

This mobile campaign targeting people inside the BCEC delivered?899,154 impressions and 672 direct clicks.?The click-through rate was +7% higher than the Advertising and Marketing industry average.

OOH gives the engagement boost marketers are looking for ??

OOH is giving the engagement boost that marketers are looking for to offset the steady decline in #digitaladvertising results. In this unconventional conference takeover, OOH delivered on quality #leadgeneration, social media performance that far surpassed industry benchmarks, and a 5x lift in website traffic.

OOH can be so much more than a vanity play. When done well, it can deliver high-impact executions for a target market and create a unique experience that engages, excites, and educates a specific demographic. OneScreen.ai was able to reach its core audience with unique, eye-catching, dynamic media influencing their actions – all while introducing OneScreen.ai to a brand new audience and driving interest for the OneScreen.ai #brand and OOH advertising at large.?

Scrunchie's chalking this one up as a win.???

Are you ready to try marketing beyond the Internet? We can help!

Many thanks to our OOH industry friends and vendors who helped bring this incredible campaign to life, and a special thank you to Melody Roberts at Out of Home Creative for designing the creative for this campaign.

This article was originally published on the OneScreen.ai blog on Sep 20, 2022