What “guerrilla” conjures up images of jungle warfare, rebellion, and conflict, there’s another form of “guerrilla” which is less combative yet equally shocking — guerrilla marketing.
Borrowing its name and style from guerrilla warfare, which heavily hinges on the element of surprise, guerrilla marketing shows a less traditional side to marketing, using shock and curiosity to skyrocket brand engagement, traffic, and publicity.
Guerrilla marketing isn’t your conventional marketing strategy. It’s raw, it’s audacious, and it’s startlingly effective.
This blog post delves into the very interesting world of smart moves, throwing light on some astounding guerrilla marketing examples that left the world in awe.
Table of Contents
Dissecting Guerrilla Marketing: Key Sub-Categories
Guerrilla marketing is an umbrella term, enveloping four unique types, each with its own special impact and modus operandi.
- Indoor and Outdoor Guerrilla Marketing: This strategy revolves around placing marketing collateral throughout diverse settings. While indoor guerilla marketing involves businesses and schools as the venue, outdoor guerrilla marketing ventures out into public spaces like benches and sidewalks.
- Ambush Guerrilla Marketing: This method involves sneaking into someone else’s event, like a concert, and marketing your own brand, usually without permission. It’s often as surprising for the host as it is for the event attendees, hence the term ambush.
- Experiential Guerrilla Marketing: This strategy can be an amalgamation of any of the previous types— with one primary distinction — audience engagement. It’s not just about grabbing the attention but also prodding the audience to engage in a certain way.
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Guerrilla Marketing Examples That Shook The World
Historically, Guerrilla marketing has been a game-changer for numerous brands – both big and small. Here are seven astounding examples that demonstrate the potential of this genre of marketing.
- Sony Erickson’s Undercover Campaign: Sony used actors posing as tourists in tourist hotspots such as the Empire State Building, who would request other tourists to take their picture with Sony Ericsson’s mobile phone that doubled as a digital camera.
- Bounty’s Giant Popsicle: To signify their capacity for cleaning up messes, Bounty placed life-sized ‘messes’ on New York streets, showcasing how they can help solve problems.
- 3M Security Glass: 3M set up an intriguing event where they enclosed $3 million in what was supposedly bulletproof glass. The catch – if you can break the glass, you could keep the cash.
- IKEA’s Free Snowman: IKEA beautifully satirized its self-assembly feature by offering free snowmen, which came with a catch – assembly required!
- Nike’s Seatless Benches: Nike promoted their fitness message with branded outdoor benches— without any seats — to encourage people to get up and move.
- Dirty Water Vending Machines by UNICEF: To highlight the global water crisis, UNICEF set up a vending machine in Manhattan, dispensing bottles of dirty water labeled with names of deadly diseases like Typhoid, Dengue, etc.
- Deadpool’s Tinder Profile: A unique joint marketing campaign where users who matched with the character Deadpool on Tinder received a link to buy movie tickets.
From these examples, it’s clear that guerrilla marketing, although initiated by big brands, is not restricted to them. Guerrilla marketing can also be a cost-effective, high-impact approach for small businesses.
A prime example is IKEA’s snowman campaign, which used nothing but snow – freely available material.
Read also: Discover the Top 26 Small Business Ideas
Conclusion: Embrace Unconventionality
Guerrilla marketing, being unconventional, helps brands stand out in today’s saturated market. It’s about surprising your audience and encouraging engagement.
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