Games company Electronic Arts used a fantastic promotional stunt to help launch its new game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game has petrol as a currency and using that theme it offered £20,000 worth of free petrol (£40 for each motorist) at a petrol station in North London.

Complaints flew as the queue caused inconvenience and possibly some extra hazard in road conditions.  The promotion was called a halt to by police when £12,000 worth of petrol had been distributed.

The protest from local residents, the wildfire nature of eager motorists learning about the offer, the theatrics of the petrol stations being decked in miltia outfits and the recent debate on fuel costs all helped attract media attention – certainly more than the £20,000 plus it took to stage the event.

Coverage hit the BBC, nationals and even got as far as Canada.

I imagine when the analysis of the event is complete the initial expenditure will make the whole project seem like a steal.  It all gives me an idea….

You might have heard or seen the work of Banksy, the satirical and very sharp Bristol graffiti icon.  It is worth having a look at more of Banksy’s creative work.

As I was flicking through the above link I came across this image.  So my idea discussed below is sort of original, a dog and a cow are not exactly the same and anyway dogs hit a better demographic and are more mobile.

NW Business Insider had a wonderful piece on the dog advertising concept in their current feature on guerrilla marketing.

I originally came up with this concept after selling in the story of a certain dog called Dante in to the South Manchester Reporter. The story of the curry loving pooch spread to the Metro, Manchester Evening News and even The Guardian.

It seemed obvious that there was original and possibly effective advertising mileage to be had and so I teamed up with Mick Greer and Phil Howells, well- seasoned advertising pros.

The lucky recipient was a family lawyers called Greens & Co.

It is some fun but also when there is so much competition to grab our attention it is a little different and attention grabbing.

A quick note: Has no-one done it before? I don’t know. Churchill said an original idea is just a good one everyone has forgotten.