MMOB Classic -Cartoon Supervillans Attempt to Destroy City; Marketers Outraged

Yesterday we saw what happens when guerrilla marketing goes a bit awry. As you may already know, several "mysterious devices" panicked the city of Boston on Wednesday to promote the company's Adult Swim programming. Several streets were shut down for hours and the devices were exploded by bomb squads. Fortunately, the devices were harmless. Unfortunately, Cartoon Network's fingerprints were on the "weapons" as they were part of a marketing campaign for their programming.

This is a fascinating case in that, without Boston's perhaps overzealous reaction, this ad campaign might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Boston's finest very likely increased the ROI of this campaign exponentially. While Cartoon Network has already either removed all or nearly all of these advertising devices posted in other locations throughout the country, they no longer need them for their marketing campaign to be effective. This may turn out to be the latest case of "any publicity is good publicity."

Minding My Own Business is a blog written by Augustine Iacopelli. This blog consists of a mix of general business observations and contrarian positions on relevant topics as well my own forays in the world of business and networking.