What's the ROI of creating a bomb scare?

Turner Broadcasting's publicity stunt on behalf of a late-night cartoon backfired big time in Boston yesterday, showing us once again the extent of our post-9/11 paranoia. The kefufle was interesting from several perspectives.  Officials in Boston were rightly outraged given that quelling public panic cost the city more than half a million dollars in tax payer funds. But in this day and age where "Return on Marketing Investment" is all the rage, it's even more interesting to analyze the ROI of this idiotic campaign.

Figure that Turner must have paid Interference, a guerrilla marketing company,  at least $500,000 to place the spooky looking electronic devices in  ten cities and that it will be forced to cough up at least another $500,000 in damages to Boston officials. Most of the main stream media didn't even print the name of the cartoon show, (although "Cartoon Network" did get some exposure)  so the opportunism to see brand messages were pretty minimal.  I'd say the cost per message communicated was about $10,000.  Then take into account the cost of reputation damage from thousands of irate Bostonians and you have a truly dismal ROMI. 

Comments

[Katie Paine]

Scott and Bill, I think this whole debate brings up two important research points. First of all, it illustrates the silliness of measuring ad value or ink. Ultimately the ROMI will be determined by ticket sales and stock price. Secondly, it illustrates the importance of generational and cultural differences. In my conversations, men have invariably seen it as a huge win for Aqua Teens, while women have had a more nuanced response. And of course, teenagers are the audience, so they're really the only ones who count.

[Scott]

Hey Katie! I was going to write and tell you how much I disagree with the "dismal ROMI" you attest Turner/CN is getting on the Aqua Teen Hunger Farce. Then I read Bill's comment above and realized he sorta stole my thunder. But read my posting and LMK what you think!

[Susan Getgood]

But what price fame? Or notoriety as the case may be. I agree that the show is getting just the sort of attention it wanted....

However, I think it unfair to characterize the reaction in Boston as "freaking out." No law enforcement officer wants to be the one who ignores a potential threat. Putting flashing light things on bridges and overpasses? Common sense says that even if you did recognize the character, you should still investigate. Innocent things can harbor danger. Bombs in balls and dolls. Happens all the time.

As I've written on my own blog today, I truly think this was a long-term mis-step for the agency involved, regardless of any uplift in awareness on the show. Either they were stupid, and it never occured to them that maybe some people WOULDN'T recognize the critters and perhaps get a little nervous about them being on bridges and overpasses. Therefore making it a good idea to let the authorities know what they were planning. Or it did occur to them that they ought to inform the authorities, and they chose not to. Draw your own conclusions from that. Was it that they thought they might be denied? Not allowed to put flashing light thingys on roadways and bridges because some people might view them suspiciously?

I doubt we'll ever know which, if either, of these scenarios is true, but worth thinking about.

[Bill Paarlberg]

Katie, I think you are way off. The Cartoon Network and Aqua Teen Hunger Force is getting priceless coverage out of this. Millions of people got to see that cartoon character in the news and are wondering what it is about. Don't forget that there are lots of teens and twenty-somethings who are already familiar with that TV show. They now remember it better and/or think of it in a new way. Here in New England, every TV news show lead with that story last night and this morning. That's millions of impressions.
And, from what I've seen of the person-on-the-street comments, the younger people, (many of whom are already familiar with the cartoon character), immediately recognized those "devices" as electronic grafitti. The officials in Boston are waxing indignant in an effort to save face over majorly freaking out. I'll bet many people now think of Bostonians as too easily spooked. And they'll remember the face of that cartoon character, too.