Louisville’s guerrilla marketing

Louisville is probably getting a lot more mileage out of Indianapolis’ turning down its plan to flash promotional images on buildings than it would have had the media never latched onto the story.

That how Ron Gifford sees it from his perch leading Indy Partnership, the not-for-profit that promotes the Indianapolis area to businesses.

Gifford admits he has guerrilla marketing tricks up his own sleeve, but isn’t talking about them for fear of tipping off the competition.

Gifford has several other reactions:

–Louisville gets a high grade for creativity.

–The idea of going to a competing city to flash images on downtown buildings is “somewhat brazen.”

–Using Indianapolis as a staging ground for the light show suggests Louisville wants to mimic Indianapolis’ success.

–Indianapolis did the right thing by nipping the plan in the bud. Not only did the city stand by its ordinances, but the decision sent a message that truly off-the-wall tactics won’t be tolerated.

–After decades of slumber, Louisville is showing life. It now has a unigov system like the one that gave Indianapolis a lift in the 1960s, and civic leaders are trying to take advantage of transportation assets that include the Ohio River and a UPS hub.

What do you think?