THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GUERRILLA MARKETING, INCLUDING A COMPREHENSIVE DEFINITION, BRIEF HISTORY, FAMOUS EXAMPLES, AND HELPFUL TIPS
Marketers have been ditching the monopoly of traditional marketing for decades. The rigid, saturated, and high-cost environment has forced brands to use guerrilla marketing strategies instead. Where conventional marketing platforms like television, billboards, and print falter, guerrilla marketing soars.
Although affordable, legal, and accessible, guerrilla marketing is still largely misunderstood, leaving more room for opportunity and innovation for newcomers. Rebellious in nature, this marketing method allows brands of all sizes creative flexibility and mass exposure. Regardless of category or brand voice, guerrilla marketing creates the perfect space for businesses to challenge the unconventional.
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Unlike traditional or digital marketing, guerrilla marketing is a strategy that leverages out-of-the-box thinking to build impactful, budget-friendly campaigns that promote products or services. To generate maximum brand exposure, guerrilla marketing campaigns usually occur in high-traffic public spaces like streets, buildings, parks, large events, and shopping centers. More recently, guerrilla marketing campaigns have taken place online via social media — the quickest way to reach millions.
The term comes from “guerrilla,” which means “a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces,” according to Oxford Languages. In guerrilla marketing, the marketer is the small group, and traditional marketing is the larger force — guerrilla marketing is the avenue to gain a competitive advantage.
Legal Considerations
Although some methods require outside approval or contracts, guerrilla marketing itself is entirely legal. Brands must ensure that all parties approve their campaigns before launching to avoid negative publicity.
Many people look down on guerrilla marketing thanks to preconceived notions and past faux pas surrounding the practice. When Smirnoff spray-painted their campaign across Leeds without permission, the United Kingdom government issued thousands of dollars in fines for vandalism. In San Francisco, IBM encountered a similar situation where the city government fined $100,000 for spray painting its logo on public property without permission.
Guerrilla Marketing’s Unconventional History
Although guerrilla marketing is popular among corporate brands today, it is off-putting to some because of the misconception that it is rebellious and illegal. This view has much to do with the revolutionary nature of guerrilla marketing’s origins. Some tactics like wheat pasting arose from activism during the 1970s and 1980s when protesters and organized groups would attach posters on buildings or vandalize buildings to reach larger audiences.
In the 1980s, marketing consultant Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term in his book “Guerrilla Marketing.” Levinson believed that guerrilla marketing was a strategic move for small businesses — the low-budget formula made it more accessible than billboards, television commercials, or magazine ads. In his book, Levinson claimed that guerrilla marketing campaigns can be more effective than mass media’s high-budget approaches.
As traditional marketing channels became more saturated throughout the 1980s, businesses desperately sought new ways to reach larger audiences. This environment served as the perfect incubation period for guerrilla marketing, making it wildly popular.
One technique arose in the club scene of the late ‘80s and is still prevalent today. The “buy me a drink” tactic used by many liquor companies involved alcohol brand representatives asking people at the bar to buy them a drink. If they agreed, the representative would praise the brand and explain why it is their drink of choice. This subversive tactic, or stealth marketing, leaves people more knowledgeable about a brand and influences them to try it without detection.
The Most Popular Types of Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is unruly, making it more effective. Campaigns can take place indoors or outdoors, through any medium, with participants or without. Some campaigns even piggyback off large-scale events like the NFL Super Bowl or the Olympics. Running campaigns on social media for virality has also become commonplace for guerrilla marketers.
Ambush Marketing
One of the more risky types of guerrilla marketing, ambush marketing, involves using the audience and hype of a public event to further marketing efforts without the organizer’s permission.
For the 2017 pre-premier of the horror film “It,” Burger King poked its rival McDonald’s. At the movie’s end, a projection of the words, “The moral is… Never trust a clown,” signed with the Burger King logo, appeared on-screen. The fast-food company took the campaign even further by launching their #ScaryClownNight. On Halloween, anyone who went to Burger King dressed like a clown received a free Whopper. The campaign’s tagline read, “Come as a clown, eat like a King.”
Photo credit: Bruno Rizzy – Youtube
Viral or Buzz Marketing
Word-of-mouth distribution is the pillar of viral marketing, also called buzz marketing. This guerrilla strategy relies on consumers sharing the campaign with friends and families or online communities. Viral marketing campaigns do not explicitly tell consumers to share the content — they are so compelling that they share organically.
Grassroots Marketing
Grassroots marketing differs from other styles of guerrilla marketing because it focuses on one-on-one relationships between brands and customers. The goal is to build valuable and everlasting relationships with niche groups of people, not generate mass exposure.
Stealth Marketing
People are more dismissive of marketing tactics when they know companies are targeting them. With stealth marketing, brands aim to communicate their messages to consumers without the customer realizing it. Stealth marketing allows brands to sneak past assumptions and judgment.
Ambient Marketing
Ambient marketing encompasses any guerrilla marketing tactic that involves placing advertisements in locations where consumers would not expect to see them. Larger-scale ambient marketing usually involves crafting an interactive public display or installing an extensive exhibition on a building.
In New York City, the coffee company Folgers placed decals of the top view of a coffee mug on manhole covers. The steam from the manhole rose like the steam from a hot cup of coffee. Along the side of the manhole, a decal read, “Hey, City That Never Sleeps. Wake up.”
The subtle yet memorable element of surprise in ambient ads or campaigns can build positive connections with consumers and put smiles on their faces.
Photo credit: MGTDesign.com
Street Marketing
Any tactics performed in streets or public spaces are considered street marketing. Street marketing includes promoters handing out flyers, street art, and even dance mobs. When marketers employ street marketing tactics, they usually base their campaigns on the street or city culture.
Guerrilla Marketing Done Right
Levinson’s book inspired brands large and small to conceptualize some of the most popular guerrilla marketing campaigns of all time. Thinking outside the box can generate invaluable brand recognition and positive brand perception without spending nearly as much money as traditional marketing campaigns require.
Red Bull
In the early 1990s, Red Bull was just entering the energy drink market. At the time, other companies like Lucozade Energy and Gatorade were the big contenders, so Red Bull had to get inventive. To create popularity bias, the brand filled trash bins outside London bars, pubs, college campuses, and nightclubs with empty Red Bull cans. This stealth guerrilla marketing campaign made the illusion that Red Bull was the most popular energy drink a reality.
Oreo
Oreo launched one of its most viral campaigns on Twitter without spending any of its marketing budget. During the NFL Super Bowl in 2013, when the power went out, Oreo tweeted, “You can still dunk in the dark.” Unplanned and strategic, this ambush guerrilla marketing tactic gained immense attention that would have cost millions through a commercial television spot.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola took happiness to the next level with its guerrilla marketing campaign involving a vending machine and hidden cameras. The company placed the Happiness Machine, a Coca-Cola vending machine with a person inside, on St. John’s University’s Queens, New York campus. When prompted, a person would exit the vending machine and offer the user a pizza, flowers, or a sandwich and an endless supply of Coca-Cola. The Happiness Machine went on to win the Gold Interactive Award at the CLIO Awards in 2010.
Photo credit: Wendy’s on Twitter
Wendy’s
Posting comical tweets has been the fast-food company Wendy’s guerrilla marketing strategy for years. In 2017, the company started a tweet rap battle with the restaurant Wingstop, generating free exposure to over a hundred thousand Twitter users. Within one hour, both companies participated in the tactic seemingly on the spot. Its virality proves the effectiveness of viral marketing and out-of-the-box thinking.
Call in a Guerilla Marketing Agency
POLA Marketing’s out-of-the-box methods can relieve business owners’ marketing woes while sticking to a budget. Our team creates individualized approaches that increase brand awareness and help companies build a solid public persona. For more information, contact us at (www.polamarketing.com/contact/).
