Guerillas in the Ad Space

A few years ago, I was invited on a trip by the National Millennial and Gen Z Community (NMGZ) where I was accompanied by its founder Bill Imada. During the trip, we were able to visit many institutions, many of which I had no idea could even pertain to my field of study. However, an advertising company named BVK invited us into their office to take part in a conversation with their Senior Vice President of Education, Mr. Vince Kalt.

BVK produces advertising, PR, and marketing campaigns within higher education, healthcare, charity, and travel. Interestingly, I learned that BVK has worked for my alma mater, the College of Charleston, in the development of an online web banner. Mr. Kalt brought up the philosophy of “why”. Why do we do what we do? On a very surface level, we do what we do because it aligns with our values, our emotions, and how we think and feel. This is what guides us and allows us to make decisions about how we create our values. This goes as far as how we develop our brands and cultures. We reviewed various case studies to help develop not only our sense of personal brand but also the brand of a company through in-house advertising.

About halfway through our conversation, the Executive Director of Serve Marketing, an in-house nonprofit marketing agency that creates integrated campaigns, spoke to us. Serve Marketing's philosophy is all about being provocative with a personal story. Their main mode of communication is through guerilla ad campaigns. For example, their 2006 teen pregnancy campaign for Milwaukee was so effective that it made 100 million impressions over 30 individual campaigns between teenagers, tweens, and parents. They did this by wonderfully crafted advertisements detailing why their target demographic should care. Their hard work and campaigns led to a 65% decrease in teenage pregnancy in Milwaukee. So? How do I play a role in this? As a member of Generation Z, I have noticed that many companies and firms take two different approaches to advertising: one takes a more refined, simple, and static approach; whereas, in the case of Serve Marketing, they take a guerilla approach that stands out and makes the viewer think.

I believe that the marketing design language nowadays has become too relaxed and simple. There is room for disruption. My personal philosophy of designing something is that it should pop out at you, making you think and engage with the message. I believe that more companies should take this guerilla approach to marketing and advertising because it has proven results. This isn't to say that every ad campaign should be made in this style but rather in the cases where it is very clear it must be applied.

Another topic that was brought up by the wonderful team at BVK was the use of clickbait. As a young man in his twenties, I am no stranger to clickbait and the effects that it has had on the social media space. There is no doubt that similar to guerilla advertising, clickbait accomplishes the same goal of getting consumers to think, look, and act upon whatever they are being delivered. However, much like guerilla advertising, there is a time and a place. It takes a keen communications professional to understand when and how to use those methods of communication.

Overall of the seven companies that we were in contact with, BVK has had the most impact on how I will proceed with my future marketing, advertising, and communication endeavors.