Geek Squad Goes Guerilla, Frees Men from Chick Flick Hell

This pitch from Chris at Ketchum is sexist.

But it's also funny, short and timely. It’s for a smart guerilla marketing idea from Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

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Not even the Geneva Convention can save us from the torture about to hit screens tomorrow. Sure “Sex and the City” will be adored by fanatic females that sip cosmos, adorn Manolos and look for their Mr. Big to get them out of credit card debt, but what about the unfortunate men that get dragged to this film? Don’t worry; Geek Squad has their back.

Geek Squad is heading to movie theaters in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles with quarters—lots of quarters. The mission is simple. Agents will be on site handing out packets with quarters for arcade games. But that’s not all. The packet will also contain a list of highly-accurate “Sex and the City” themed excuses to help the unfortunate male break free his unfortunate babe-flick bondage.

We even sent some Agents on the Sex and the City tour in NYC to become experts on the show. This helped them come up with accurate excuses. Check out the tour here.

Pictures of the life-saving packet can be found here.

May we all make it through this weekend of torture in one piece (may I suggest Ironman to start with a little Indy on the side).
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While many media relations folks will lay low due to the "Sex and the City" eclipse we'll see in the news, Geek Squad hitched their brand to this guaranteed story.

If only the Geek Squad were doing this when "The English Patient" was in theaters (way) back in the day. My butt literally fell asleep during that marathon chick flick. I’m not kidding.

geek_sex_city_handout_FINAL-1 uploaded by cmkrestivo23
media relations | good pitch | guerilla marketing

Comments

[Richie Escovedo]

This is great. You brought up some bad memories with "The English Patient" reference though. Sexist, but pretty funny. I wonder what kind of feedback they get on this one.

[Andrew Fowler]

One of the most insufferable moments in Sex in the City was when Carrie Bradshaw typed some lame one-sentence analysis of male behavior into her computer. I can still hear her nails clicking on the keyboard. Bradshaw's response to Geek Squad: (begin sound effect: click-click)"Why is it that men fail to understand that the chick flick is like a coupon for sex..." (end sound effect: click-click)

[Anna]

I don't find this that sexist- since Sex & The City is by definition retro/backlash sexist, but more importantly, I didn't find this pitch that *funny*.

Humorless? Feminist? Hello!

[Kevin Dugan]

Thanks for the comments folks. Anne - It's the risk of putting humor into a pitch. It's very subjective.

[entertainment pr dude]

Every female I know is now watching it on HBO or Showtime - its like the nightmare all over again, and on top of it - I see "Carrie" outside my building last week in an even more ridiculous outfit than she wears on the show. (Yes I know what she wears Ive had MULTIPLE girlfriends who have forced me to watch it.... the things we do for....