Metaboston

Video Jogging Tour of Somerville

This video by Mayor Joe Curtatone uses the conceit of a jog around Somerville to frame his introduction to the virtues of the city. 

"In the video, the mayor, an avid runner who plans to run his second Boston marathon Monday, takes viewers on a jogging tour of Somerville, explaining the city’s history, diverse population, vibrant arts and entertainment scene, and sustainable, smart-growth plans for the future."

Some of the production values like the transitions are a little hokey and distracting but give credit to the mayor for uploading the video to YouTube.  That said they should allow embedding so that sharing of the video would be encouraged.

90 Ways of Looking at Massachusetts: A New Ad Campaign

Mass Travel & Tourism's new ad campaign features 90 ads of different places of interest from Naumkeag to Newbury Street as a way to showcase the variety of Massachusetts attractions.

Ad Rants likes the 90 ads ideas but thinks something's missing:

"You know what would really have spiced this whole thing up? A Mooninite or two, Where's Waldo?-style."

Travel & Tourism should also allow embedding so the spots will get more viewings.

Weather delays Ron Paul Blimp

Weather delays Ron Paul Blimp so it won't be in Boston for the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party although supporters will still be rallying in Faneuil Hall on Dec. 16th.

Mooninite Charges Fade Away

Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens will no longer face charges related to the Mooninite promotion security scare that paralyzed the city of Boston.  The pair apologized and performed community service in recompense but prosecutors acknowledged the difficulty  in proving any intent to convince anyone that the lighted advertisements were dangerous.  Berdovsky and Stevens were hired by a guerilla marketing firm to place lighted images of characters from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force show and movie around the city but police found them threatening leading to a high-profile fiasco.

Guerilla Marketing Gone Awry (Again) or Prank on a Company

The 18-year old Quincy founder of teen social networking site B4Class denies that the backpacks left near Newton North High School were another attempt at guerilla marketing that went wrong.  Police investigated the backpacks as potential bombs before suggesting they might be part of a marketing effort.  The bags had the B4Class insignia on them and were filled with shredded newspaper and contained a few dollars.  Apparently 2000 of the bags were given away in an earlier promotion.

Guerilla Marketers to be Licensed in Boston

This marketer understands the Boston City Council's overreaction to the Mooninite and Granary Burying Ground episodes that would require licenses for corporate marketing but doesn't think it will have an effect on the rule-ignoring guerilla marketers who engage in the most "outrageous" activity.

Street Attack and Guerrilla Marketing in Boston

With Boston becoming a charged spot for guerrilla marketing Media Life consults Boston-based guerrilla marketing company Street Attack to find out how keep media stunts and alternative media promotions from spiraling out of control.

A number of the marketing services provided by Street Attack seem to have good potential for negative attention particularly "Blog/Forum Infiltration" or " Influencer Programs."  Blog infiltration seems especially likely to cause problems given the hostility many bloggers have toward it and the number of cases where poseurs have been exposed.

Granary Burying Ground and Guerilla Marketing

Another guerilla marketing campaign gone awry but this time one that actually threatened some harm to a historic Boston cemetery.  Unlike the Mooninite fiasco in which police mistook ad lights for bombs, "Dr. Pepper held a 23-city hunt for coins that would ultimately lead to a $1 million prize. Contestants would find codes under bottle caps, enter those codes into a special website and be given additional clues to physical locations throughout the 23 cities where they would find the coins."  One of the final coins was hidden in the Granary Burying Ground but Dr. Pepper "canceled the campaign after hearing Boston officials had closed the 347 year old Granary Burying Ground (originally closed due to icy paths, not the contest), the location of one of the final coins. The cemetery stayed closed once officials realized all the people trying to get in were in search of the coin, not to tour grave sites."