This letter by Tom Simons was published in today's Boston Globe regarding the coverage of the recent Turner Broadcasting guerilla marketing snafu in Boston. The campaign received nationwide coverage by the news media when local police, homeland security and other agencies descended on the Boston area thinking that, what Turner considered a guerilla marketing campaign, was in actuality some sort of terrorist activity. Turner and their marketing agency have since agreed to pay a $2 million fine for their actions.

WHILE THERE may be a lot of folks in the attorney general's office congratulating themselves, there is certainly no shortage of high-fiving going on somewhere inside Turner Broadcasting. For while the settlement in the guerrilla marketing episode may be adequate compensation to cover the response expenses and associated anxiety, it will not deter similar guerrilla tactics in the future. Quite the contrary.

The extraordinary media coverage generated by the campaign -- to say nothing of the late-night talk show airtime -- is "worth" tens of millions of dollars. Legitimate and honorable public relations firms regularly calculate the "value" of the press they "earn" for their clients, and I am certain that someone at Turner Broadcasting or marketing firm Interference has run those numbers for this campaign and updates them daily. (The name of that cartoon show was on the front page of today's Globe again -- above the fold, no less.)

The $2 million settlement is a small price for Turner to pay (on top of whatever Interference charged) for all the publicity this (obviously successful) campaign stimulated. But if this kind of unfortunate stunt is to be successfully discouraged, the penalty will have to be equal to, or greater than, the value of the resulting media coverage.

TOM SIMONS

Boston

The writer is president and creative director of Partners and Simons, a marketing service firm.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.