Monkey Bulb

My hat goes off to this small franchise sandwich brand. I applaud them for being courageous. I applaud them for trusting their ad agency,  Colle + McVoy, Minneapolis. (Christine Fruechte, president of Colle + McVoy, is running a great shop over there in Minneapolis. After visiting their website, I found some great work–good job people. I like your website a lot too.) Erbert & Gerbert’s is a relatively unknown brand, with 46 locations in mid-America compared to over 15,000 Subway franchises. This “hidden” guerilla/print campaign is so simple and smart. This idea would be a hard sell to the client focusing on brand awareness. Or is it? A camouflaged print piece attached to a phone booth and one to a telephone pole. Completely. Hidden. Who would notice it? Well, people did. And those that did found a coupon to for a free sub. The ending line, “subs worth discovering” is great. Besides this great guerilla effort, I stumbled upon a great website these guys got some press for back in October.

“Human Flipbook, is a first-of-its kind spot airing on TV and streaming online. With 150 t-shirts, an iron, a little luck, and a lot of patience (especially from the intern whose body appears in the spot), the idea came to life. The result is a one-of-a-kind TV spot that embodies Erbert & Gerbert’s quirky brand personality. We’ve search high and low all over the web and have yet to see anything quite like it.” (Oct 2007) This is a great example of an agency taking a small brand, working with them, establishing a trusting partnership and the client taking a risk. This is all very unpredictable work for a sandwich place. And the biggest benefit is they are making press for it. People are noticing. Will this help their franchising effort? Their consumer relations? Sell sandwiches?

Ultimately, Yes. With good creative and attention, people will be more willing to invest in franchising, besides does the world really need more Subway? It’s a bland brand for bland people. People enjoy good creative ideas. One of the best responses you can get for a brand is, “Wow, that’s clever.” It doesn’t matter if that one person doesn’t go buy a delicious turkey club right then or not, the fact is he now knows that brand exists, had a personal reaction, and when the option comes up later when he can make a right and go into Subway or a left into Erbert & Gerbert’s he says, “I like my food to be funny. Erbert’s sounds delicious.” I guarantee he tells ten people about finding this little jewel of a coupon. There’s some measurables for ya. ;-)