I just want to hear some of the most crazy, creative, offbeat or innovative marketing ideas you have heard of or even done yourself.

Thanks.

As an old university marketing professor and management consultant, I want to hear about these too.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Well, once a friend and I decided, fresh out of art school, that we needed to get creative to get interviews for positions in design firms and art depts. So we realized it was not happening.

What we ended up doing was ordering pizzas around lunch time and, on the inside lid, we placed our ad and resume with the headline that read: "A way to a man's heart is through his stomach.... But I just want an interview!"

Then, we sent them to the art and creative directors of the places we each wanted to interview at. Man, did the phone ever ring off the hook hehe. Got the interviews, that is for sure.

Kyle

http://blog.guerrillacomm.com/

Well, the craziest thing I ever did was run for public office last fall...not quite sure how well that specific promotion panned out yet...

--Jack

My most unusual method was auctioning off 1 hour of services in a PBS TV auction (back in my kidshow days).
I got three hours of face time on TV during one of their most watched times. By the time I was done, every phone volunteer was wearing a balloon hat. I was auctioned off for over $2000 to a company for their picnic, and I made at least 10 times that in bookings.
And the PBS station threw in a stack of DVDs and movie tickets to me for participating.
Not too bad...
Gwyd

One of my most successful and creative ideas was mailing all of my marketing materials and a bag of microwave popcorn in a movie theatre popcorn box to my county fair clients! It got their attention, and I booked several of them last summer!

I recently had a friend tell me that he has t-shirts made up with various controversial sayings on them, and he gets great media attention from it. He owns a retail clothing shop. Not sure if it would work for magicians.

How about...

Fake $100 notes with an ad and "THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM WITH MILLSTE."
Or an eyeball lying on the ground and a sign: "THE HAND IS QUICKER THAN THE EYE."
Or a t-shirt with NOW YOU SEE ME on the front and NOW YOU DON'T on the back.

I think those are clever; although, I am not sure I get the eye thing.

Someone has pulled the eye with their hand.

I wanted to impress a particular prospect once and decided to resort to an unusual tactic (which actually resulted in me getting the gig, by the way.)

I created a very realistic fake newspaper article, complete with my prospect's picture and news story about how successful they had became after hiring me and how they had been named "Entertainment Director Of The Year" and received many pats on the back by all in attendance at the show, etc.

I put it in a nice frame and packed it into a box with a a couple helium balloons that floated out of the box when it was opened. I attached to the balloons a ribbon and, on the end of the ribbon, a congratulations card from me on them being named "Entertainment Director Of The Year" and a note that said something to the effect of, "You've worked hard to achieve your new title, take a little time off and enjoy a night out with your family!" (I also had enclosed four movie theater tickets.)

On the exterior of the box, to create excitement & curiosity before they even opened it, I created a bunch of different shaped and different colored stickers that said stuff like, "Way to Go, Mr. Smith!" and "Congratulations on your new found fame, Mr. Smith!" etc., etc.

Yeah, it was a bribe... But hey, it got me the gig...



Lyndel

I like these. I've actually seen a local magic shop use fake, folded $20 bills with a similar message inside.

As for the eyeball, an attached note could read, "You caught me. See, the hand is quicker than the eye. Find out more at http://www.website.com"

I've used the Million Dollar bill giveaway, and my experience has been that people enjoy getting them, but they HATE finding them. Regardless of the denomination or the format of the bill- full print or half print with a message on the opposite side- the feelings are the same.

If you see a realistic looking bill on the ground, and then pick it up only to find it's an advertising piece, my feeling is that your first response is NOT going to be, "Hey, this fooled me! I want to hire this guy!" I think you are more likely to feel cheated out of a sudden windfall, and will feel a little irritated at the source of that feeling. As an experiment, I left a few on the ground at a baseball game and sat close enough to hear the reaction. If you think people enjoy finding these, you'd be very surprised.

To be honest, a few times, I've reached into my wallet and fooled myself. Thinking you're finding money, and then realizing what the bill is, can be a very annoying situation, and I think not conducive to the feelings we want our potential clients to have.

Again, as a giveaway, excellent. To leave lying around to be found, not so good.

I, too, have wondered if this sort of thing "brands" you in any sort of positive way.

I have never tested the theory, but it has always been my thought that it is a tough leap from something like this to "wow, let's hire the magician."

My marketing efforts have always been centered on trying to brand myself as someone they want specifically, not someone they run across on accident.

It is not to say anyone is wrong for their ideas, only that I agree with your position is all.

I recently had a friend who was trying to break into a lucrative contract and the decision maker knew who he was but wouldn't return his calls or emails, so he mailed an EMPTY sealed envelope with a stamp and everything to the prospect on purpose and the prospect called to tell him that he got a letter with nothing in it and my friend finally got a chance to schedule a meeting and got the contract. Clever idea, I think.

100% agree. I use the million dollar bills and have found them to be very effective. But I would never just leave them lying on tables. Seems too similar to those annoying fliers people leave under your windshield wiper.

I haven't tried this yet, but I just learned about it a few days ago and plan to.

You can put your marketing message, picture, etc. on a soda bottle. The cost is about $30 for a 12 pack, which if you're targeting a limited sized group of prospects with a decent-priced program, doesn't seem too outrageous.

It's from Jones Soda company, which is local to the Seattle area. They're known for crazy flavors like Turkey Soda, etc.

Check it out: http://www.myjones.com

--Jack

Jack,

Interesting idea, but I said something similar to the guy who mentioned fake tattoos - I don't see any point in putting marketing info on something disposable. I want to give something they will keep, so that when the time comes for them to need my number, they know where to find it.

Best,
James

I agree James. However, I think Jack might be referring to a way in which you can really make an impact as a way of changing a suspect into a prospect easily. This is a method that could be used and sent to them to get them to call and contatc you immediately for which you then can take other avneues to market and get that gig. I could see this as an efective way to really grab their attention and get them to take that first step in building a relationship with the person. Just a thought if nothing more. certainly is interesting and a cool concept that would certainly get attention.

Kyle