Written by: LEUNG Nok Huen Christie

Lack of budget has always been a significant pain point for most Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Therefore, in view of not being able to afford costly traditional marketing like placing advertisements on television, the idea of guerrilla marketing introduced by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1984 has become a budget-friendly alternative for many NGOs.

The guerrilla strategy purely focuses on taking the target audience by surprise and/or unconventional interaction to create a greater impression on the campaign message (Levinson, 2007). In the Summer of 2016, Greenpeace Hong Kong successfully adopted experiential marketing, a type of guerrilla marketing that engaged people using memorable experiences, in their Zero Plastic Ocean campaign.

Similar to other NGOs, Greenpeace only relies on individual donations instead of funding from the government, commercial or political groups. Hence when it came to a low-budget campaign planning, Greenpeace decided to provide a one-off and immersive experience for public in order to raise their awareness towards the impacts of microplastics on the ecosystem and human health. The team set up a pop-up sushi bar at the pedestrian precinct in Causeway Bay on a Saturday afternoon during summertime. The appropriate choice of location and time contributes to the success of utilising guerrilla marketing, as it not only helped Greenpeace to reach a large number of people in a short period of time, it also wowed the public with the unexpected appearance of a sushi bar on the street. In addition, targeting Hong Kong people’s interests in free goods and refreshing sushi in hot summer days, Greenpeace claimed to offer free “sushi” so as to catch passers-by’s eyes and tempt them into getting in line. Eventually, the sushi bar became a foot traffic-stopper in the busy street.

However, when participants finally entered the sushi bar after a long wait, the sushi chef would serve them a plate of  “sushi” made of microplastics in place of the fresh and mouth-watering sushi that they longed for. By means of the huge deviation from what people anticipated, Greenpeace aimed at generating remarkable experiences for every participant and arousing their profound reflections on the corresponding environmental issue. At the same time, to minimize any dissatisfaction and irritation towards the guerrilla event, the team prepared some kusa mochi in advance to compensate for participants’ efforts and explain the significance of the campaign to them in detail. This shows Greenpeace also took the potential risks of implementing this campaign into consideration.

All in all, the Zero Plastic Ocean campaign launched by Greenpeace Hong Kong in 2016 has effectively demonstrated how guerrilla marketing, especially experiential marketing, can excite audiences greatly and leave lasting impressions using a low budget. Yet, a fly in the ointment was that Greenpeace should have kept the momentum going and amplified the amazing results across different online channels to continue creating buzz for the campaign. If Greenpeace had paid attention to this point, it would have achieved an even bigger success!

References

Alexakis, I. (2019, October 22). Guerilla Marketing Ideas: 7 Real Examples To Shut Down Your Competition. Retrieved from https://moosend.com/blog/guerilla-marketing-ideas/

Greenpeace Hong Kong. (n.d.). Mission. Retrieved March 15, 2020 from https://www.greenpeace.org/hongkong/about/mission/

Greenpeace Hong Kong [Facebook Page]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2020 from https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10157219832950501

Levinson, J. C. (2007). Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Torres, A. (2019, March 27). Experiential Marketing, Defined — and Examples to Inspire You. Retrieved from https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/experiential-marketing-definition-ds00/

很多城市都有專屬的吉祥物，它們主要作為城市代言人，負責推廣本地旅遊和商品，從而幫助提升城市形象和知名度。香港政府也斥巨資，為不同政府部門設計吉祥物，但與其他大部分城市吉祥物一樣，市民反應效果不佳，存在感低。

或許你不熟悉香港的「匿獅Lion」和「度天隊長」，但你一定見過來自日本熊本縣的「熊本熊」！他圓滾滾的身形、臉上呆呆的表情、可愛的腮紅，已經俘獲了大批粉絲的芳心，甚至在世界各地留下足跡，也為日本帶來龐大的經濟收益。

  為什麼熊本熊這麼有人氣？以下本文將分析熊本熊爆紅的三大原因，並將熊本熊和香港吉祥物作比較。

熊本熊成功三大原因：

1. 個性鮮明
2. 獨一無二
3. 與市民互動頻繁

1. 個性鮮明

熊本熊的成功背後，很大原因是其細膩的人物塑造，他鮮明的個性受到大家的喜愛。熊本熊的人物設定是個調皮、有好奇心又有點笨拙的男生，常常做出無厘頭的行為。在很多電視節目上有他各種搞笑有趣的畫面，例如從

樓梯上摔下來、惡搞主持人、熊本熊製作年糕時把手套打進去、偷看女生裙底等。觀眾看到他在惡作劇得逞後暗自竊喜的樣子，在犯錯的時候瞬間發呆，不知所措的呆樣，都忍不住大笑，直呼「好得意！」。

被逗笑之餘，人們也會開始期待，「熊本熊今天又會做出什麼舉動呢？」他獨特的性格給人留下深刻印象，一提起熊本熊，就能想起他調皮搗蛋又有點蠢的樣子，如同鄰家小男孩。這隻城市代言人賦予了熊本縣獨特的性格、特色，讓遊客對熊本縣產生良好的第一印象和遊玩的興趣，同時改變了市民對政府的刻板印象，政府形象更為親民，成功拉近市民與熊本縣政府的距離。

相比之下，香港政府大部分吉祥物的性格不夠明顯，未能在大眾心中留下深刻印象，例如食品安全中心的「食安小隊」並無清晰的性格設定，彷彿只是宣傳品上的一部分設計，人物塑造不夠立體。雖然香港政府也有部分吉祥物有一定的性格設定，例如大嘥鬼的性格是肆意浪費、囂張自大，但沒有足夠機會出現在公眾眼前，不能像熊本熊般在各種平台中充分展現個性。

2. 獨一無二
熊本熊另一個成個秘訣在於他是熊本縣政府以「推廣熊本縣」作為目標而創作出來唯一的吉祥物。整個熊本縣上下所有政府部門都會以熊本熊為其吉祥物。由政府鐵路，體育盛事，到外交事務，統統都會有熊本熊的身影。此宣傳策略成功增加熊本熊的曝光率，國民以及外國遊客一提起熊本縣便很容易聯想得到熊本縣。因此，宣傳力度集中於同一隻吉祥物，更容易提升吉祥物的人氣。

反觀香港政府吉祥物，每個政府部門各有各做，每個部門都會設計一個吉祥物，結果整個政府上上下下有不下於十隻吉祥物，每隻吉祥物的出場機會到只限於其部門的宣傳活動。曝光率極低而且分散，難以在區內樹立知名度，最終只能令大部分吉祥物形同虛設，造成吉祥物泡沫化的現象。

3. 與市民互動頻繁
熊本熊職銜為營業部長兼幸福部長，彷如一個活生生的公務員，負責拉近政府與市民之間的距離，使政府不再「離地」。聰明的策劃團隊不僅賦予了熊本熊海量角色設定，還不斷製造機會向市民展現他的魅力，例如於熊本市鶴屋百貨店設立辦公室，讓市民與他見面拍照、觀賞他的搞笑跳舞表現。熊本縣政府亦不惜投放大量推廣資源，為熊本熊設立不同社交媒體帳號，每天以熊本熊第一人稱視角分享生活點滴，譬如到了甚麼景點遊玩、吃了甚麼點心、感嘆自己的美貌，當中不得不提的人氣帖子便是熊本熊因減肥失敗而一度遭到降職，非常親民。

至於香港政府的吉祥物，它們只在特定官方活動出現於大眾面前，只有一部分的吉祥物有社交媒體，而其社交媒體帳號所上傳的內容亦大多為繪製卡通圖片，用作宣揚政府訊息，跟市民欠缺互動，沒有生命力。不過，雖然政府吉祥物在社交媒體上不及熊本熊活躍，但偶爾也跟得上「惡搞」、「抽水」潮流，比較著名的例子有任何仁邊唱歌邊示範急救的短片，以及清潔龍阿德模仿陳偉霆的鐘錶廣告，引起不少網民關注。

吉祥物的成功不能單靠可愛的外型，還有背後精密的設計和宣傳策劃。香港政府已在吉祥物宣傳方面不斷進步，但也應借鑑熊本熊的成功之道，讓吉祥物在社交媒體和現實活動中與市民更多互動，提供更多展現特色的平台；在設計吉祥物時，應著重質量而不是數量，過多的吉祥物反而讓人難以記住，集中宣傳一個更有效；細膩的人物塑造也是成功重要因素，鮮明突出的性格特徵，才能贏得市民的注意和喜愛。

吉祥物是活生生的人物，有個性、特徵、個人生活，而不是冷冰冰的宣傳品，熊本熊就完美演繹了這點，熊本熊的成功值得各大城市和商家參考。

參考資料
Soltani, A., Pieters, J., Young, J., & Sun, Z. (2017). Exploring city branding strategies and their impacts on local tourism success, the case study of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 23(2), 158–169. doi: 10.1080/10941665.2017.1410195