Wembley Stadium not impressed at being projected on

By on August 31, 2007 in News

Link: Wembley kicks off over text ad | Advertising | MediaGuardian.co.uk

Wembley Stadium has issued a legal warning and a £500 bill to a mobile company that kicked off a guerrilla marketing campaign by projecting its logo on to the sports venue.

Texperts, a question-and-answer text service, projected its logo on to the side of the new Wembley two weeks ago as part of a £1m rebranding campaign that included projections on the MI6 headquarters and Battersea Power Station.

Aside from having the balls to issue as legal warning that comes with a bill attached (“Would you mind paying this legal bill?”), I have to wonder why Wembley Stadium didn’t also bill Texperts for water rates, cookie costs, electricity and a few drinks for the lads. Is it now standard practice to write a legal letter to someone and attach a bill to it? Heh.

I picked this Guardian story up thanks to quite a few people who emailed me it. Have a read down and see if you can spot the SMS Text News role? ;-)

About Ewan

Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • Anon

    Well, what were they thinking? As a stunt it’s pretty old-hat. Back in 1999 when it was Gail Porter it was a good idea. But in 2007 … with a logo …

    Having said that, this seems to be the only publicity (apart from Ewan’s blog) Texperts has got for the project, so I bet the PR agency is thanking its lucky stars right now.

  • njar

    love it. It seems money can buy this sort of coverage after all

    What next? ‘Texperts at my Hamster’?

  • Anon

    Genius. What on earth was the PR agency thinking. And Texperts won’t be too pleased, I wouldn’t have thought…..I wonder if MI5 etc will follow suit?

  • http://www.ninetyten.com Justin Davies

    If Texperts thought there would be no repercussions with projecting their advertising on buildings without permision, then they are pretty naive. I wouldn’t be surprised if Westminster council slapped them with a massive fine for an unlicensed light show if they find out too.

    If the images taken are also used in print/online advertising, then I can imagine a lot more “issues” arising as I doubt Wembley or MI6 like being used as an advertising campaign.

    Guerrilla advertising works when you have a pretty good chance of getting away with it, it’s just unfortunate they picked Wembley, which has been going through its own PR since the re-open and the head of British Military Intelligence. I am expecting Ewan to “go dark” in the next few days after he is bundled in a car and sent on holiday to Cuba….

    In response to Anon’s post, I would have to agree, I haven’t seen anything else apart from what Ewan wrote about.

    I have on the other hand seen a lot of PR on the tube for AQA which has passed the “wife test” as she asked me about them after reading the text heavy ad (something that works well on the tube when you are bored out of your brain)

  • Anon

    Anon obviously doesn’t read the Sunday Times, Daily Express, Daily Star, London Paper or any of many other mobile blogs or websites on which the news appeared.

  • njar

    who is this Anon?

  • Anon

    And why are they using my name?

  • http://www.itagg.com Steve Procter

    £1M re-branding campaign hey! So obviously the light show cost £35.23 plus petrol and coffee plus an allowance of a few thous for “legal issues”; where will the rest go? AQA tube adverts I bet are driving a hell of a lot more actual paying business into the coffers. Which is what its all about isn’t it!? It might have all been a bit of a laugh and gave us all a few cool pictures to smile at for a few days. But when the dust settles, will the £1M be turned into £2m revenues? Or will they be sat wondering where it all went wrong whilst yet another PR agency lords it up on Copacabana beach surrounded by hot beauties and texts into AQA to find out where tonights ‘must be seen at’ party is? Cynical about PR? Me? No never ;-)

    As for MI6, somehow I doubt they do the “Dear Sir, I am the 2-bit solicitor writing on behalf of Her Majesty’s spooks” letter routine; more the 3am calls type of thing…oooh it’s soooo exciting…do keep us informed Ewan – and don’t forget to get a sim card embedded in your arm so we can track you if you do one day “go dark”.

  • http://www.fluxpr.com Rax Lakhani

    What?! I think that the guerrilla activity was a stroke of genius – after all – you’re all talking about it now, aren’t you? Publicity like the Guardian piece generates even more noise about the new Texpert brand. To get that much exposure via an ad-campaign would cost a fortune!

    Also – I’m not sure what media you guys read, but I saw lots of publicity on the back of this news all over the London papers and national news. Even Ewan linked to the LondonPaper piece – http://www.smstextnews.com/2007/08/texpertscom_coverage_in_the_papers.html

    I went to a wedding two weeks ago and people were talking about the MI6 stunt… Now that’s what I call viral…

    I’d love to be able to offer my clients similar exposure!

  • njar

    I believe a wave of direct Texperts marketing is hitting the ground over the coming days.. Will be much more visible.

  • Anon

    Oooh, Mr Rax Lakhani, you did a wonderful job of getting your clients similar exposure before. Remember us internet elephants have a long memory… http://theworldsleading.blogspot.com/2006/12/rax-way-to-do-it-or-not-one-fella-that.html

  • http://www.fluxpr.com Rax Lakhani

    Anon – if you want to fight, bring it on… stop hiding behind “Anon”.

    Texperts are no longer my clients. And haven’t been for a while. FACT.

    I had absolutely NOTHING to do with their relaunch including the projection activity, which – if you read this blog, you would know – as Ewan did a great job on reporting the activity, how it happened, who was there, etc.

    http://www.smstextnews.com/2007/08/on_the_road_til_5am_with_the_texperts_team.html

    The only reason that I commented on the launch – was because it was genuinely inspired and creative. It created buzz. People like you are talking about it. In fact… people everywhere are talking about it.

    Drop me an email if you want to carry on this discussion – but I guess that’ll mean sharing your id…

    ;)

    rax@fluxpr.com

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