Guerilla Marketing

Guerilla Marketing

In 1984 Jay Conrad Levinson coined the phrase “Guerilla Marketing” in his popular book of the same title.  In it he outlined the unconventional system of promotions and how it was better to rely on time, energy and imagination instead of huge marketing budgets. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically.  What better way then to introduce New York-based Guerilla FX partner/director/creative director/senior VFX artist, Thor Raxlen.

An independent design, effects and post finishing company, the firm is the natural outgrowth of the relationship created when Zero 2 Sixty (0:2:60) president/executive producer Doug Robbins signed Raxlen for exclusive commercial representation in October 2005. Two months later, during the Christmas holiday lull, Raxlen and Robbins set up shop on Manhattan’s West Side and Guerilla FX was born. Hitting the ground running with eight employees working on a half dozen commercial projects including V8 Juice, V-Fusion, MTV, Crayola, Hamburger Helper and Champs, among others, it would be only a short time, under Raxlen’s direction, that Guerilla FX, which is focused primarily on new media, had produced and directed and/or created effects and completed the post for Internet spots for companies including Nike, Cingular, Coke Zero, FedEx/Kinkos, Volkswagen, Subway, MTV, Old Spice, TRESemmé, Nexxus, Target’s Archer Farms, among many others.

It is therefore an understatement to say that his job titles are numerous, if not downright impressive. But it is Raxlen himself who is quick to downplay his many skills. “I don’t think it's too much experience. I feel there are a lot of great directors that are capable of many things.  What’s important is the process – and I find it invaluable to know everything about what you do.”  Exploration into the components has always been crucial to the director – in fact so key that Raxlen could easily man a project from beginning to end.  “Today with timelines and budgets being so tight, my experience has proven to be advantageous as it helps me understand what needs to be done in order to meet deadlines.  I know what to ask of people and what it takes for them to accomplish the tasks at hand.”

Although his creative knowledge is vast, he knows better not to let them outweigh what the project asks for.  “I try to approach each endeavor by evaluating what I can bring to the table - how I can enhance it and yet avoid imposing my ego on it. My goal is not to imprint my own personal style, but to achieve a successful end result.” That said, and as Internet advertising evolves further into mainstream consciousness, Raxlen and Guerilla are on the forefront, helping to set the standard of ‘what’s to come.’  Approaching the new medium in much the same manner of any other commercial project, the team has learned the intricacies of making their work translate well on the web.  “It’s no longer a bandwidth problem per se, but knowing how to take a complex piece and compress it well.” As undefined 'a deliverable' the Internet may be at the moment, Raxlen knows that in a lot of ways, the medium dictates a certain rhythm, a definite tempo.

Case in point is their Adidas Footlocker ad End to End.  A time-lapsed piece, Guerilla keyed it out so that it only focused on the graffiti artist spraying the artwork.  The beauty of the end result is that the piece could then be easily ‘tagged’ to other websites.  “This was definitely an ‘outside the box’ application,” says Raxlen.  “Not only could you have the graffiti artist appear on your website spray painting something unique, but we digitally projected him onto buildings in New York and LA doing the same thing.” 

With all that is currently happening at Guerilla, Raxlen is constantly on the lookout for the next great thing.  “We’ve just embarked on a terrific idea to vertically integrate A to Z projects.”  While working on client’s Internet projects, the company found themselves continually running into issues with web development – the ‘post-post production’ of Internet advertising. “We were asked so many times,” says Raxlen, “to assist our clients with their banners and website issues that we thought we could further improve these areas for our clients.  We’ve taken the idea and are offering ‘rich media banners’ that utilize multimedia and interactivity and incorporated it all into the deliverables.”  Capitalizing on this integration, the Guerilla team is hard at work on :06-second photo-realistic banners that incorporate a high level of 3D work and sound design.  Ultimately, the idea is to push the concept of banners into the realm of the commercial.  “The banners are so amazing that it makes sense to make them into spots,” states Raxlen.  “This is an excellent example of just where the business of advertising is headed.” 

Busy doesn’t even come close to describing the hubbub that is taking place over at Guerilla.  With the many modalities available, and Raxlen and his team’s unique approach to disseminating information, it is understandable that their non-linear storytelling is eagerly sought after. “We’ve been inundated of late,” exclaims Raxlen.  “The great thing about our business is that our clients come back to us because we’re not only dedicated to the task at hand, but we deliver the goods with a high level of craft.  I enjoy the feeling of our clients appreciating what we do.”  Like Raxlen himself, the rest of the Guerilla group is focused on upping the bar on projects that come in the door.  “It’s important to set the bar high and do as much stuff as possible.  It is also imperative that even our interns get their feet wet in a multiple disciplines.  We have specialists in numerous areas – but in reality, we are all masters of many things.” 

So what could possibly be next for Raxlen?  “We’re looking for more like-minded creative people to expand the team.  People who like to tell stories with pictures and sound and who are into asymmetrical filmmaking.”  Ah, okay… anything else? 

“Well, apart from that, I’m thinking about taking a vacation next year…”