In recent years we often hear about companies engaged in guerrilla marketing campaigns to advertise their products. It’s a particular marketing strategy that aims to hit the imagination of consumers, provoking reactions of amazement and surprise, through the use of unusual promotional techniques. In this guide, I will discuss what guerrilla marketing is and how it’s used in the advertising market.
History, characteristics, and techniques of guerrilla marketing
In 1984, the merchant Jay Conrad Levinson introduced the formal term in his book called: “Guerrilla Marketing”.
Levinson was senior vice president of J. Walter Thompson and creative director and board member at Leo Burnett Advertising.
In Levinson’s book, we see unique ways to approach and combat traditional forms of advertising.
The objective of this new form of marketing – guerrilla marketing – was to use some “out of the box” tactics to advertise on a low budget.
During this time, TV, radio and the press were growing organically, but consumers were exhausted from all this, so Levinson suggests that the campaigns have to be shocking, unique, scandalous and intelligent.
Therefore, small businesses began to change their ways of common thinking and approached marketing in a totally new way.
Here is a summary of the main features of guerrilla marketing, according to its founder:
Low cost – it’s an advertising tool that requires the use of limited financial resources and for this reason, it can also be used by small businesses;
Time and imagination – to get its effectiveness, guerrilla marketing doesn’t aim at economic investment but on the use of time, energy and imagination;
Relationships – the guerrilla marketing judgment to determine the success of the business is not based on the sales itself but on its ability to generate new relationships and links with the public;
Specific focus – unlike other marketing strategies, it aims to advertise specific products, doesn’t diversify the offer by proposing additional services;
Consolidation of customers – even in this case guerrilla marketing differs from other forms of promotion because it focuses on existing customers, rather than on the acquisition of new consumers;
Cooperation – competition is rejected to give space for cooperation between different types of business;
Combination of existing technologies – it’s a strategy that combines different methodologies, exploiting existing technologies in an unconventional way, with the aim of enhancing their product.
Techniques used in guerrilla marketing
Environmental marketing – place the ads in places where you would not normally find them and make use of the elements of the environment.
Ambush marketing – this technique allows a company to benefit from another, usually from an important event, to advertise without paying sponsorship costs. Examples:
– during the celebration of the World Cup in South Africa, which had Adidas as its official sponsor, Nike managed to place a giant interactive installation in the Life Center, one of the most emblematic buildings in Johannesburg.
– in October 2011, and with the intention of stealing all the fame of the Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung set up a portable store a few meters from the Apple Store in Sydney and began selling units of the Samsung Galaxy II for only $ 2, when the true market price of this device was nothing less than 850 dollars.
– during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the American sprinter Michael Johnson excelled by breaking two world records by winning the 200m and 400m races.
The strategy stood in the fact that he wore the flashy Nike sneakers, and the official sponsor of the sporting event was Reebok.
To further increase the visibility of the Nike and lower that of competitors, Johnson was the cover of Times magazine with his sneakers hanging from his neck along with his two gold medals.
Undercover marketing – it’s usually presented as an unusually attractive news or page, without clear reference to sharing it. This system makes the user think that the discovery is casual and spontaneous, which generates an additional motivation to share it and discover it with the rest of his friends. It’s the most complicated to distinguish, due to its own conception.
Wild postings – it consists of the placement of numerous posters, stickers, and other printed materials in the same area to attract attention.
Experiential marketing – interactive campaign that consists of connecting the public with the brand through a shared experience. Therefore, what is the objective of experiential marketing? It’s not simply a matter of exposing the client to a brand, but of allowing them to experiment with it.
It’s scientifically proven that the relationships that are established with users with this type of strategy are stronger than those that a brand can achieve through direct and invasive advertising.
The secret of experiential marketing is undoubtedly in emotions. A customer will choose a product or service because of the emotional experience that this product transmits to you moments before your purchase and when you have already purchased it.
Alternative marketing – promotion of events that seem to have nothing to do with the brand. It’s when an event outside the brand becomes news relating to the brand, so it must be ready to take the opportunity to promote.
Flash mobs – this strategy consists of gathering a large group of people in a specific place to carry out a concrete action. The action is usually brief and after its completion, the people disperse. The participants meet via internet or mobile phone.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla Marketing Advantages
– authenticity as it moves away from conventional advertising
– the actions usually achieve a high impact and notoriety in a short time
– creating an image of innovation and creativity for the company
– a different way of communicating with your target, generating great feedback especially in social networks.
– help to position the brand in front of its competition with little cost for the company
– positive effect on your audience
Guerrilla Marketing Disadvantages
– not only do you need creativity, you also need a broad sense of reality to adapt these great ideas to a popular environment.
– guerrilla marketing can be very impressive for the sector to which it’s addressed, but may not be so attractive to others.
More Guerrilla Marketing examples
In Belgium, at the beginning of 2012, the television channel TNT implemented an ambient marketing strategy that caused a sensation. In it, the unsuspecting pedestrians had the power to carry out an action that would unleash a spectacle in broad daylight in the middle of the pedestrian zone. With just pressing a sinister red button, these would unleash a series of events whose drama and action would be difficult to overcome. The result: the crowd is stunned as the scene passes quickly before their eyes. The video of this action has had more than 54 million views on YouTube.
Coca-Cola carried out the guerrilla marketing campaign “Papertweetos” on Twitter. In 2011, during the Copa América, the company invited Argentine fans to congratulate their national team on a tweet. This action brought together more than two million tweets.
UNICEF managed to scandalize and educate the public of Manhattan by installing a vending machine that dispenses water of 8 flavors: each flavor represented one of the common diseases that affect the poorest countries of the world (malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, dengue, hepatitis, dysentery, salmonellosis and yellow fever).
Below you can find 100+ guerrilla marketing examples from where you can inspire for your next “out of the box” marketing campaign.
100+ Guerrilla Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Brand
1. Coop’s Paint
2. Death Proof movie DVD
3. Ikea subway ad
4. Tyskie Beer Advertisement
5. Dr. Scholl’s Guerrilla Marketing
6. Save BHS
7. Bristol Zoo’s
8. IT movie ad
9. Lipton Clear Green Tea
10.Folgers coffee
11. Prison Break
12. Kleenex
13. 2012 Movie Ad
14. Formula toothpaste
15. The Sopranos
16. Mini Cooper
17. Nikon Guerilla Marketing Campaign
18. Stop Global Warming
19. Discovery Channel’s Shark Week
20. Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara
21. Colgate
22. Alan Wake “Dark is Deadly”
23. Superman Elevator Ad
24. Becel
25. Dulcolax
26. Sprite
27. Greenpeace
28. IWC’s Big Pilot’s Watch
29. Burn 60 weight-loss products
30. Denver water
31. Canada skiing ad
32. FedEx: Kinko
33. Air Canada
34. Caribou Coffee
35. McDonald’s: Shamrock Shake
36. Durex
37. Port Aventura Park
38. Street Marketing for SNCF
39. M&M
40. Alice in Wonderland movie
41. Nespresso billboard
42. Midea fan
43. Ingenious plastic surgeon advertisement
44. LG giant refrigerator
45. Vampire Diaries TV show
46. Meister Camera
47. Amnesty International
48. American Airlines
49. Yuzo sushi
50. Duracell
51. Lipton peach ice tea
52. Dusseldorf Airport
53. Amnesty International
54. WWF save paper campaign
55. Golf GTI
56. Lynx schedule
57. Anti-war poster
58. The Economist
59. Glide
60. Knorr
61. ACAT campaign against torture
62. IKEA “human coupons”
63. Anti-smoking ad
64. Tylenol
65. Australian childhood foundation
66. DHL billboard
67. Stop global warming ad
68. Kit Kat ad campaign
69. BMW airport ad
70. PETA “Time to go vegan”
71. Canon
72. Vogue magazine photo boot
73. Adidas pop up store
74. Tibits vegetarian restaurant
75. Wisconsin Department of Tourism
76. Airport ad
77. Fisch Franke
78. Bergmann & Sohn funeral services
79. Toysdirect.com
80. Rimmel nail polish
81. Education for street children
82. KitKat bench
83. LAY’S
84. Grown Farmers Market Gorge
85. MTV global warming awareness
86. Mr. Clean
87. Science World
88. Kagatani Knife
89. Divorce lawyer
90. Pepperidge Farm Soft Bread
91. Volkswagen
92. Canadian Red Cross campaign
93. Pantene
94. Spiderman 2 movie
95. National Geographic
96. 3M security glass
97. Pringles truck
98. Child labor awareness campaign
99. Audi
100. Go back to Pompeii lava flow at Wellington Airport
101. McDonald’s free coffee
102. Jupiler beer
103. Scotch whiskey
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