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Guerrilla Advertising

Learning from the successes and failures of others can often be easy (Brown 2010). We observe, scratch our chins, and say, ‘Well that’s not how I would have done it.’ Learning from your own work can be a lot more tricky. Your own biased expectations, insecurities, and emotions can be so deeply rooted in your creations that you can’t untangle the whole picture and make meaningful insights. But the key to success, particularly in long-term campaigning is the ability to accurately make those meaningful insights; to learn to adapt, change course, and pursue opportunities when they present (Indeed 2023).

In December, 2014, Colombian advertising executive Jose Miguel Sokoloff presented a Ted talk about his company’s effort to help the Colombian government demobilise guerrillas within the region between 2006 and 2014. Sokoloff’s group started by talking to 60 demobilised guerrillas in order to determine what kind of strategies were already working.

“Guerrillas are as much prisoners of their organisation as the ones they hold hostage.” – Jose Miguel Sokoloff

Starting from the above insight, Sokoloff’s used the voices of demobilised guerrillas to speak directly to others, however there were a number of complications that were not ideal and the group decided to pivot their communication plan while still maintaining the core idea.

The second key insight from the group was simply noticing a trend in peaks and troughs. Demobilisation mostly took place during Christmas. That lead to the Christmas Tree communication plan. By decorating nine prominent trees within guerrilla-operated forests with Christmas lights and a message of possibility, the next major communication operation was in place. A third insight was obtained by demobilised guerrillas within the new group. Forest paths were becoming less traversed as guerrillas were opting to use rivers within the jungle instead. This lead to further developments and new forms of communicating a human message to the people on the other side of the conflict in Colombia.

By following this pattern of “insight, course-correction, insight, course-correction” Sokoloff and his company were able to maximise their effectiveness with the tools available to them. They never became so focused on one medium of communication that they became unwilling to accept that there was a better way to do things, either due to new information or a changing communication climate.

Of course this was within the realm of a nearly decade-long campaign with the backing of government, military, community, and ex-guerrillas. Sometimes a communication is one-and-done. Sometimes you’re expected to deliver results in a single article, or one 30-second ad spot. There’s still something to learn from Sokoloff.

Each communication is pavement for our development as communicators. Even if one day we’re advertising toothpaste to zookeepers and the next day we’re in charge of developing a company’s social media presence on a new platform after the fall of X (formerly Twitter). Each time we make insights we grow as communicators. Each time a project succeeds or fails (or something in between) it informs us of how to proceed with the next.

Ask questions, look through the information you have access to, evaluate and re-evaluate, and most importantly never stop paving your path.

Resources:
  Brown M (13 October 2010) 'Study shows we learn more from others’ mistakes', Wired website, accessed 27 October 2023. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/learn-from-mistakes

  Indeed (4 February 2023) 'How To Learn From Your Mistakes and Achieve Better Results', Indeed website, accessed 27 October 2023. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/learn-from-the-mistakes