Aqua Teen Hunger Force bombed in Boston yesterday, shutting down a city and bringing out emergency responders to the tune of an estimated $500,000.
Marketing genius or marketing stupidity. A little of both actually.
For those of you living in a cave (sorry cavemen), the marketing company that placed the signs, 
Interference Inc., devised a a guerrilla marketing plan to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The LEDs displayed characters from the show giving the finger to Boston.
Boston didn't see the humor in the campaign, which seemed dangerous enough to the city to call out emergency responders in full force, resulting in closing down I-93, slowing traffic to a crawl in downtown, and even shutting down the Charles River.
This campaign could have worked, if the marketers had taken people into consideration. Guerrilla marketing of this sort impacts everyone it touches, not just fans, which made the entire city of Boston unwilling participants.
Those of us marketers who believe that it is always about people, not the products or services, would have created a people-first campaign. Here's one way this campaign could have been launched, without shutting down a city, costing Boston $500,000:
1. Get a permit.
2. Get traditional and alternative media involved by announcing that sometime between abc date and xyz date, these light boards would be placed around the city.
3. Get a radio station to be part of the campaign.
4. And then offer a substantial prize for everyone who find one of the circuit boards and return it to the radio station to be briefly interviewed and given their prize.
5. Make the campaign fun, get it noticed and make it interactive for anyone who wants to play.
Finally, for anyone wanting more, here's the video of the LEDs being installed:
