Offsetters, a Vancouver organization used an interesting guerrilla marketing tactic to make people rethink what global warming will include.

Including: a live ‘lifeguard on duty’ and lifejackets under benches on the street.

Guerrilla marketing doesn’t only depend on controversy and surprise to be effective.

Jay Conrad Levinson (who wrote the books on Guerrilla Marketing) talks of commitment and patience, among other factors. Offsetters does have a few tools to help people calculate their carbon footprint, but how many organizations will add those tools to the mix? Even the ‘Climate Friendly’ link on its site with the option to book a climate friendly flight via Air France and WestJet, has a dubious explanation of why it makes the flight so good for the planet:

“…when the customer books their flight, the contribution made to Offsetters from participating airlines makes their flight “climate friendly”.

Meaning just contributing to Offsetters makes it a good thing in and of itself?  For all the drama created by the life saving metaphor, this is pretty lame. Levinson might be shocked!