It’s the night of the 18th of November. I check the weather forecast. Clear skies. I take two melatonin and sleep like a log.

On the morning of the 19th, I meet the Harmonic team at our offices. They’re an American AI startup arriving in Helsinki for Slush. For the past two months, we’ve been working with them on a guerrilla marketing stunt to grab the attention of investors attending an exclusive networking event at the Cable Factory.

Our production partners at Replica Studios shoot some behind-the-scenes footage and record interviews. We hand the Harmonic team their branded puffer jackets and head out.

We arrive outside of the Cable Factory venue two hours before the event begins. I check the weather forecast again. Still clear skies. Suddenly, a road-worn Toyota pulls up with a trailer attached.

It’s Tarja, the owner of a local stables, and Knab-star Af Nollund, a fifteen-year-old stallion with a prosthetic unicorn horn attached to his head. “Great weather”, she says, as we dress her in a custom-built suit of armour we ordered from Germany. I don’t want to jinx it.

We position Tarja and our unicorn in front of a collapsible banner that reads: “Find your unicorn on Harmonic.ai”. Then, we wait. Anxiously awaiting our reception.

The anxiety is unfounded. As the first waves of investors arrive, the response is unlike anything I’ve seen before. By the hundredth selfie, I turn to the team and we exchange a knowing smile. It’s working.

Two hours in, someone sends me a screenshot. We have organic visibility on social media. Another hour after that, the country’s largest newspaper shows up.

“Great weather”, I say.

As the event comes to a close, we estimate over a thousand photographs have been taken of our unicorn. The Harmonic team thank us, and we go our separate ways.

The next day, the worst storm in a decade hits the Finnish coast. On my walk to work, I battle torrential sleet and high winds with a smile, knowing just how narrowly we avoided catastrophe.

By the time I finally arrive at the office, we’re in the papers: our stunt is the only unaffiliated event covered by Helsingin Sanomat in their reporting on the Slush Investor Day.

With few concrete ways to measure the success of most guerilla activations, visibility in a major news media with zero traditional ad spend is as good a signal as any.

I’ll take it.

Guerrilla marketing is the definition of “high risk, high reward” but it’s our job as creatives to tip the scales in our client’s favour. Barring a storm of the century, we have to do everything in our power to ensure maximum impact and success.

How?

The first step is empathy. We ensure that our concept resonates with our target demographic. The unicorn symbol was an obvious way to communicate value to our investors, but what we couldn’t have accounted for was just how many wanted to take a picture for their children. Suddenly, we were connecting with them on an emotional level.

Step two is “wow-factor”. Why did we order a custom-built suit of armour from Germany? Why did we go through five potential horses before we landed on Knab-star Af Nollund? Because the quality of your creative output is everything when it comes to optics. There’s nothing worse or more easily made-fun-of than shoddy production.

Step three is trust. None of this would have happened if our partners at Harmonic hadn’t trusted in our idea and execution.

So, here’s to them.