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Leave it to Bieber

1/16/2016

9 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, Founder of Mindful Marketing
Individuals and organizations often have messages they want to share with large groups of people.  So, they post, tweet, and email, and if they have the means, they may pay for mass media, e.g., magazines, television, billboards.  What people don’t do is scrawl their promotions on public property, unless they’re Justin Bieber.
 
As many know, the Canadian-born mega-popstar is no stranger to scandalous headlines, including ones involving vandalism:  In July of 2014 he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor for egging a neighbor’s house.  Now, however, Team Bieber’s activities have ascended to another level of illegality: defacing public property.
 
Residents of San Francisco have been among those most directly affected.  Bieber’s record company is reportedly responsible for scrawling on sidewalks around the city messages aimed at promoting “Purpose,” the singer’s latest album and corresponding concert tour.  The choice of graffiti to advertise Purpose was very purposeful as “all of the track titles were released via photos of elaborate graffiti artwork on the star's Instagram page.”
 
However, the cleverness of the album/graffiti tie-in was lost on San Francisco residents who found their city littered with pavement promos like “Justin Bieber Purpose #Nov13.”  Also, because the perpetrators used paint instead of chalk, the words wouldn’t simply wash away, which forced the city’s attorney Dennis Herrera to take legal action.  He demanded that Bieber’s record label (Def Jam) and the distributor (Universal) help clean up the writing or face $2,500 in fines per graffiti site.
 
Actually, what Bieber’s promoters propagated in San Francisco and other select U.S. cities is not unprecedented.  Certain other marketers also have resorted to similar tactics of placing unusual promotional messages in public places.  These unconventional approaches are more broadly known as guerilla marketing and include tactics such as the following:
 
  • For its annual “Shark Week,” the Discovery Channel placed on certain beaches surf boards that had large shark bites taken out of them.
 
  • Bounty Paper Towels placed gigantic spilled coffee cups and huge melting popsicles on city streets along with the message “Makes small work of BIG spills.”
 
  • Beau Rivage Resort Casino made airport baggage carousels look like streams of water with people swimming in them.
 
  • To promote its new grip bottle, Coca-Cola created bus stop ad panels that grabbed people’s clothing when they stood near the signs.
 
  • The Copenhagen Zoo used bus art that looked like a giant boa constrictor was wrapped around the bus.
 
So, if some large and well-respected companies use guerilla marketing tactics, what’s wrong with Justin Bieber’s crew painting promotions on sidewalks?  Here are some possible reasons:
 
  • No one sought permission:  Even if an action isn’t inherently wrong, you need to ask first, especially when dealing with things like city ordinances and outdoor advertising.
 
  • Eyesores:  Even aesthetically appealing advertising can be off-putting if there’s too much of it or if its placements detracts from other environmental elements.
 
  • One-sided benefits:  Advertisers typically pay media to have their messages placed in public view.  In this case, Bieber got all the benefits while the cities received none.
 
  • Hazard:  The Bieber promos didn’t appear to be shocking or pose any psychological harm to viewers; however, depending on exactly where they were placed, some of the messages may have created distractions that could have caused people to do things such as stumble, collide with other pedestrians, or inadvertently step into traffic.
 
Has this guerilla marketing been effective for Bieber?  Unfortunately, it probably has.  Of course, there are other factors, but Purpose has seen 17 of its tracks make it into Billboard’s Hot 100 in a single week, which eclipsed a 51-year-old record previously set by the Beatles.  Likewise, Biebers song “Sorry” recently unseated Adele’s “Hello” atop the same list.  In addition, the graffiti tie-in has likely bolstered Bieber’s brand, including his bad-boy image, which many “Beliebers” seem to embrace.
 
Bieber’s graffiti promos have not, however, upheld societal values.  Instead, the unauthorized guerilla tactics have demonstrated disrespect for public property and the taxpayers who finance it.  Meanwhile, other graffiti producers are probably emboldened by Bieber’s example.
 
Ironically, the title track from Purpose includes the following lyrics:
I don't know if this is wrong
Because someone else is telling me that it's wrong
But I feel this so let me just like, try my best not to let this happen again
We weren't necessarily put in the best position to make the best decisions.

  
Those decisions represent a clear case of “Single-Minded Marketing.”

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9 Comments
Josiah
1/22/2016 04:14:16 pm

Yes, what Justin Bieber is doing here can be classified as single-minded marketing. However, I argue that this is only short-term. In the long term, it will end up being mindless marketing. Bieber is alienating himself from anyone who has any semblance of self-respect. Those albums would have sold regardless of his graffiti vandalism. He's a very talented artist, so he doesn't need to be doing illegal advertising to get noticed. As Bieber's fans get older, they will appreciate his shenanigans less and less. If Bieber doesn't clean up his act, he will lose his market to age.

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Megan Wetzel
1/25/2016 05:16:23 pm

While the stunt that Justin Bieber recently pulled off was an act of vandalism and was morally wrong, I do believe it could open up a new way of marketing entertainment. Although there is a large of amount of foul graffiti in the world today, I am always amazed at the beauty and detail of it all. Painting portraits of artists' albums where they are easily visible to the public not only helps advertise the upcoming album, but it also helps build on the culture of the city. Looking through the eyes of the consumer, I know I would be motivated to travel to San Francisco to see the amazing artwork of the town, and may even encourage me to buy a CD. Looking in the future, it could be a huge attraction to the young adults who are interested in the history of the music industry and the many famous artists who molded it into the the industry it has become. Of course, there would have to be some regulations made in order to remain ethical such as a price to advertise the artwork on public property that has been approved by the state or city. When looking at the short-term affect of this event, it is going to create a lot of controversy, but I believe in the long-run, it could be a unique way of marketing that type of culture and bring in many tourists from around the country to see and be inspired by such beauty.

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Grace Demmer
1/26/2016 05:24:22 am

I definitely agree that Bieber's advertising tactic was single-minded. I'm sure that the graffiti created quite a buzz and effectively drew attention to his music, but this marketing did not uphold societal values. I think that Bieber's record company was able to get away with it easier than an unknown artist would have been able to. While it was very clever, I believe that had the record company sought out permission, there would have been several places in the city that they could pay fairly inexpensively to create Bieber's graffiti advertisements. If this was the standard that all marketers lived by there would be no rules and advertisers could therefore advertise anywhere, like other people's properties, and however they wanted which is certainly not morally acceptable.

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Drew Betz
1/26/2016 10:05:25 pm

Justin Bieber has done many questionable things in his lifetime, and despite creating quite a buzz for himself, he has disregard society on more than one occasion. You may recall him getting in trouble for drugs, and arrested for drag racing, and suspicion of a DUI. His advertising campaign here definitely attracted attention to his album, but certainly lies in the realm of single minded.

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Anne Squire
2/18/2016 08:17:40 pm

When I see examples such as this I cannot help but get a little angry. Our society holds celebrities on such a high pedestal. Yes I would agree that graffiti can be a beautiful form of art but since Justin did not have permission and graffiti in places where graffiti is not allowed, he broke the law. Yes he did get fined but if I think if a "normal" person would have gotten caught doing what Justin did their consequences would be significantly more severe. However, since Justin is a well known celebrity that is popular with the younger generation he gets off the hook. He has been caught doing many other illegal things and has not felt real consequences. This graffiti incident is just another example of Justin being handed "the easy life" of no consequences.

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Brandon Rafferty
2/18/2016 09:59:45 pm

I personally love seeing marketing techniques that involve the consumer. Guerilla Marketing is fascinating, hilarious and, for the most part, has great effects on the public's interest in the company. If a bus sign literally grabbed me, it would have my attention. That said, I think the destruction of property like what Justin Bieber did is wrong on an ethical level and does not usually have great results unless your target market is the kind of people who enjoy trashiness and inappropriate shenanigans such as graffiti. Justin and his marketing team were clearly not thinking of the negative repercussions that come with this kind of childish behavior. On another note, I believe that this "marketing technique" was much less marketing that it was a shout for attention. Justin Bieber did not need to do this to gain attraction to his album. The album was already a hit for a reason I cannot explain because I personally do not resonate with that musical selection, but one of the biggest things in the entertainment world these days is attention. Whether that be negative attention or positive, attention is what most singers, actors, famous people are seeking and that is what Bieber got with his graffiti.

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Anneke Ball
3/1/2016 06:16:06 pm




While I do think that Bieber's advertising was single-minded, I would almost argue that it is more mindless. Putting graffiti in public spaces definitely disregards societal values and laws. I would say it’s mindless because I also think that this action did nothing to increase Justin Bieber’s value. I think the whole point of the Purpose album was to show how he has matured as an artist and as a person. The way he chose to advertise tells me that he has not changed and that he is still making childish mistakes. I also don’t think that the graffiti itself was really beneficial. I heard about his upcoming album in a lot of different ways but I didn’t even know he did this graffiti marketing until it was reported in the news. If he was trying to capture the attention of fans who appreciate his “bad-boy side” this may have been effective. However, I think people who were happy to see a more mature side of Justin might have lost some respect for him after this.

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