Guerrilla Marketing 101
Chances are you’ve seen examples of guerrilla marketing on the Internet, but you may not have known that this type of marketing had its own name. Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional form of marketing that ties together energy and imagination to grab the public’s attention in unexpected ways. It is typically cheaper than traditional forms of marketing and is great for generating word-of-mouth. The term was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book “Guerrilla Advertising.” The name stems from guerrilla warfare, in which soldiers use unconventional tactics to meet objectives.
There are a lot of different types of guerrilla marketing and we have included a list of some of the most interesting.
Ambient Marketing
This is probably the most popular and most recognized type of guerrilla marketing. This is when companies advertise in unconventional places. Some examples include escalators, park benches, cross walks, door handles, etc. The possibilities really are endless.
Undercover/Stealth Marketing
In this method, consumers are introduced to and informed about a product or service in a way that does not seem like advertising. Agents act as everyday people who show products to other people who have no idea they are being advertised to. Sony used this technique back in 2002 to help push one of their cellphones, which was among the first to have a camera. They placed actors in ten major cities who then acted as tourists and asked strangers to take pictures of them. The actors handed the strangers their cellphones rather than cameras, and talked all about the new features of the phones. While this may have been a little devious, this campaign helped this phone become one of the best-selling phones that year. We’ve included a short clip below of this campaign in action.
Grassroots Marketing
The advertiser targets a small, specific group of people in hopes that they will then share the message to a larger group. A successful campaign relies on the personal connection rather than broadcasting a message hoping the target audience is paying attention. It helps to think of grassroots marketing as a ripple effect.
Guerrilla marketing can be a great way to increase brand recall because the techniques used are so different. If you want to check out some more examples, click here.
