Apple Store Customers Targeted In Back Market's Guerrilla Marketing Campaign

Apple Inc. AAPL Store customers in Paris, Berlin and London were recently hit with an interesting guerrilla marketing campaign that displayed advertising on the phones in the store. The strategy revolved around automatizing a trend that is popular among Gen Z but largely unknown to older generations and allows for sending messages locally without using the internet.

What Happened: Refurbished devices vendor Back Market developed a bot that sends a purpose-built advertising website to all the Apple devices in the vicinity that allow an airdrop from everyone and not just contacts, according to a Monday MacRumors report. This bot, running on an iPhone, was then placed near Apple stores in Paris, Berlin and London showing advertisements on the screen of both Apple's displayed devices and its customers.

The website to which the link was shared via Airdrop read: "Quick! Security isn't looking... It's time to go refurbished with a cheaper and greener model. [...] Did you know this ‌iPhone‌ is available in white, black, blue, and greener?"

See Also: Why Apple Stock May Catch Bounce Into Q2 Earnings Print

Apple also sells refurbished devices, but its prices and range of available devices are believed to be inconvenient by many. Back Market, on the other hand, sells a wide range of devices with prices varying based on the model and its condition. The brand highlights its lower environmental impact noting that a "refurbished phone represents 176 lbs off of our collective carbon footprint. Manufacturing a new smartphone produces about 191 lbs of CO2e. Refurbishing? Just 15 lbs. Lose the weight: no extra effort, just extra savings."

Photo: Apple store in London, Marc Fanelli-Isla via Unsplash