What is Guerrilla Marketing? Top effective examples and tactics

Introduction to Guerrilla Marketing 

Many of you might not have heard about the word Guerrilla marketing but it is well known in the marketing world. So in this article, I’ll explain to you what Guerrilla marketing is and why it is different and helpful in creating brand/product awareness among consumers.

After reading this article I’m pretty much sure that you will add one more creative marketing strategy in your list that can help you in advertising your brand. So, let’s start from the basics and we will go deep into guerrilla marketing strategies.

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About Guerrilla Marketing or Little Known Facts

Guerrilla Marketing is a creative marketing strategies used by most of the brands and small businesses around the globe to advertise its product unconventionally.  It was introduced or popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson’s in the 1980’s. He wrote several articles and books on guerrilla marketing tactics that helped many brands to create awareness. 

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Nowadays most of the companies prefer to use guerrilla marketing tactics as it requires more creativity and little budget to spend. It is cheaper than traditional marketing. As it is cost-effective and focuses more on the reach than frequency, most of the small as well as big brands try to indulge and get customer attention. 

Generally, Guerrilla was derived from the word guerrilla warfare. 

Why Guerrilla Marketing is an effective strategy?

Now you may wonder if there are lots of creative marketing strategies to get user attention. So, why many brands focus on guerrilla marketing??

In guerrilla marketing, marketer focuses on creating a buzz among the consumer that can help a brand to gain more profit. The main aim of this type of marketing tactic is to obtain the maximum number of customer attention with a limited amount of resources. Most of the marketers around try to create surprising and memorable business strategies that can help the consumer to remember the product/brand for a long time.

Various Types of Guerrilla marketing Strategies 

Street Marketing strategy

The main motive behind street marketing is to advertise the product or brand on the streets and in public places to grab the user’s attention. Big brands like Mcdonald’s, dominos, Nike, Puma, etc find street marketing to be the most convenient way to connect to users and spread awareness of the brand. Mcdonald’s created zebra crossing called “Mcfries Pedestrian Crossing”, Nike started displaying its logo in roadside benches. Creative marketing strategies have always helped big brands to create awareness among their consumers. Small companies also prefer to advertise on the streets. There are various business strategies adopted by many brands to advertise on Street like distribution of flyers, pamphlets, human animation, Holograms, product demonstrations on the streets as well as on traffic signals. 

Ambient Marketing strategy

Ambient marketing is about placing your ads in an unusual place that may surprise people who are seeing those ads. These types of marketing tactics are mostly created to make products/brands/organizations memorable. This type of advertising has a lasting impact on the mind of the consumer. Marketers often tend to prepare billboards that are unusual in size like making it extra-large or sometimes small. As we all know that abnormal things grab people’s attention. Ambient advertising can be found anywhere around like on the streets, on buses, billboards, bus stops, cars, etc. Well, the marketer analyzes whether these types of ads have a wow factor or not. Mostly, unusual location plays an important role in making ambient ads successful. 

Promotional Stickers strategy

An attractive promotional custom sticker can help a brand in getting good business and spread awareness among customers. Many companies around display their brand logo in the form of stickers on the windshield of a car as it grabs public attention. Public transport like Buses and trains has always been the best source to advertise a product. Many brands stick flyers inside and outside the buses and trains. Since 1800 the Sticker is the most convenient way to market any product or brand logo. Nowadays there are animated online stickers available which are becoming more popular among youngsters. 

Ambush marketing strategy

Ambush marketing is one of the unique marketing techniques in which companies/brands tend to advertise their product on the place where the same product is already being advertised by another company or by their competitors. Let me explain with you an example suppose there is a company A who is the sponsor of a football game and trying to advertise their product men shoes but in the same football game company B who has the same product and they are not the sponsor of the game trying to advertise their product indirectly by making a banner or by shouting out the company name in a group or by getting camera attention. This type of advertising is called ambush advertising. Generally, ambush means “An attack from a hidden position”. 

Ambush Marketing Example – In 2010, ambush marketing took place in the FIFA world cup between Adidas and Nike. Nike created different types of business strategies to promote its product in the FIFA world cup.  Adidas was the official sponsor of the game and Nike was running TV commercials and advertising its product through football stars like RONALDO, Rooney. Nike successfully created a lot of buzz for its products around the globe in 2010.  Like this, there are a lot of examples of ambush marketing in day to day life.  

Reverse Graffiti strategy

A marketer has found many creative marketing strategies to advertise their product and Reverse Graffiti is among one of them. Reverse graffiti is a very common process that is used by the marketer to create a temporary image or animation on the wall by removing the dirt from the surface. The first large scale reverse graffiti was made by Alexandre Orion in 2006. After that, it came into the limelight. Now, it is used by many brands and businesses to bring attention to their products and services.  There are brands like Nike, Puma, JD sports, British gas, Dominos Pizza, Biba, etc who have used reverse graffiti to promote their brand. Marketers identify their target audience and act accordingly. Well, there are some restrictions to be aware of if you are using reverse graffiti as your brand promotion medium like surface suitability ( it must be a dirty paved area), private property (one should keep in mind that they don’t use reverse graffiti for promotion in any private property) Ads can only be placed on public property. 

Stealth Marketing strategy

It is one of the most commonly used creative marketing strategies which requires a lot of creativity to market a product. Stealth marketing is nothing but an unintended way of producing creative marketing strategies where marketer tries to advertise a product to people without them knowing they are being marketed to. It is a low-cost strategy but requires a lot of creativity. This type of creative marketing strategy happens mostly in new channels, movies, tv-series, etc. Well, the main aim of these marketing tactics is not to generate immediate sells but to create business opportunities and brand awareness among people. Now let me give you an example to make it more clear if you are watching a movie and in a scene, you notice a dell laptop or any other brand laptop in the background. Then that is called indirect marketing strategies/buzz marketing/ Stealth marketing.

Top 5 Advantage and Disadvantage of Guerrilla Marketing

Advantage 

  • A campaign can have great reach (street marketing, graffiti, stickers)
  • It requires low- investment and more creativity.
  • Successful campaign can create a memorable brand experience.
  • Attractive and creative campaigns can create a lot of buzz around the town/city.
  • Guerrilla marketing helps in getting connected with your customers and other business around. 

Disadvantage 

  • This type of marketing strategy requires time to grab people’s attention.
  • If a brand fails to grab user attention then the same campaign can become annoying.
  • There is no guarantee whether the campaign will go viral or not.
  • Sometimes this campaign can lead a brand into legal trouble (depends where the graffiti and stickers are placed)
  • If a campaign fails to attract an audience then there are chances that people may start backlashing and boycotting your brand.

Is Guerrilla marketing good for your business??

#Low on Cost

Guerrilla marketing is good for small as well as big brands to create adequate business strategies because it requires less investment and there are chances that the campaign you are trying to create can go viral and people may start talking. At the beginning of the article, I have mentioned it requires good marketing strategies and out of the box thinking to create a successful campaign. 

#Attract New Customer 

Guerrilla marketing focuses on attracting new customers and encourages an old customer to buy and create awareness. There are chances that you can get many collaboration offers to expand your business. 

#Create Memorable Experience 

 if your campaign is good enough to impress your audience and grab their attention then it will surely help you in creating a memorable and long-lasting campaign that people can remember. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Guerrilla Marketing

What is Guerrilla Marketing strategy? 

At the beginning of the article I have mentioned, Guerrilla marketing is a marketing/advertising strategy used by most of the brands and small businesses around the globe to advertise its product unconventionally. The main aim of using this marketing technique is to create awareness and grab user attention by creating a campaign that can last in consumer memory for a long time.

Why is it called Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing was introduced by Jay Conrad Levinson in the 1980s. The term was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson’s 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing. The main aim of this type of marketing was to create a campaign that can get people around to remember the brand for a long period.

What is the objective of Guerrilla Marketing?

Earlier I have mentioned the Main objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a buzz about the product or brand by creating a memorable campaign. Generally, marketer tries to opt for some unusual creative marketing strategies that can grab user attention. Like creating an extra-large billboards that can be more eye-catchy. 

What are the tactics used for Guerrilla Marketing?

If you go through this article you will find many tactics and types that are involved in guerrilla marketing.

  • Ambient marketing
  • Street marketing
  • Ambush marketing
  • Stickers
  • Reverse Graffiti
  • Stealth Marketing

What is ambush guerrilla marketing?

Above, I have explained in detail about ambush guerrilla marketing with a good example that can clear your concept on ambush guerrilla marketing. Ambush marketing is one of the unique marketing techniques in which companies/brands tend to advertise their product on the place where the same product is already being advertised by another company or by their competitors

Is Guerilla Marketing Illegal?

If you choose the private properties to advertise your product then surely it is illegal. The owner can file a case against the brand or organization. So, it’s better to advertise your product or brand in public areas or if you are planning to advertise your product on private properties then don’t forget to take legal permission from the owner of the property. 

How much Does guerrilla marketing cost?

Well, guerrilla marketing strategies require a low cost to run a product campaign and that’s why it is used by many small as well as big brands or organizations. Guerrilla marketing depends on your creativity how you are thinking of advertising your product. The analysis says that a minimum amount of $350 is required to run a successful and memorable campaign.    

What is an example of guerilla marketing?

In this article, I have mentioned more than 50 examples of guerrilla marketing that can help you in understanding how different brands like KitKat, snap chat, UNICEF, Coca-cola, Mcdonalds and many more used their creativity to create brand awareness.

Is guerrilla marketing effective?

Well, yes guerrilla marketing is effective only when it is creative, legal, eye-catchy and grab people’s attention.

Is guerrilla marketing expensive?

guerrilla marketing requires low investment and more creativity.

Examples Of Guerrilla Marketing

UNICEF (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

Almost 9 years ago UNICEF used started selling dirty water on the streets of New York City by setting up a vending machine. It was a part of their Guerrilla Marketing. They were trying to create awareness about the issue of water quality around the city. Interestingly, people were paying 1$ to see what came out of the vending machine (later that money was donated for good cause). Later, UNICEF’s campaign was successful in creating awareness regarding polluted water. UNICEF has used many creative marketing strategies to create awareness on polluted water.  

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Many top brands like Mcdonald’s, Kitkat, Samsung Tesla, Coca Cola, SnapChat, etc. below I will mention creative marketing strategies used by many brands grab user attention. 

SnapChat Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas

Many might wonder when Facebook, Instagram, twitter was taking over the market how did Sanpchat come into the market and grabbed the user’s attention. Even you might wonder how it happened?? 

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With their eccentric ghost logo, SnapChat grabbed user attention. 

 

They used billboards and digital boards to advertise their brand. Those boards were filled with nothing but their ghost logo with a yellow background. Their brilliant eye-catching marketing tactics were so effective, people started searching/asking/talking about the brand. lastly, SnapChat created a buzz and ended up having 210 million downloads. 

                                                                                            McDonald’s (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

Mcdonalds used zebra crossing and gave it the term “Mcfries Pedestrian Crossing” as a medium to advertise its product. From the image, you can figure it out they used zebra crossing to indicate their french fries coming out of the box. Yellow lines indicate french fries. This type of unique guerrilla marketing strategy grabs user attention and spread awareness among people.sfwpexperts.com-guerrilla-marketing-McDonald's

Coca Cola (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

Coca Cola Displayed their ads on the bus stops, buses for brand promotion.

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Discovery Channel (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Swiss Skydive (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Wii (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

FedEx (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Fitness Center (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Kitkat (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Arkaden (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Audi (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Israel Cancer Association (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Parkinson’s Victoria (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Dulcolax (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Duracell (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Dove (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Tyskie Beer Advertisement (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Vodafone Phone Insurance (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Rexona (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Divine Body Piercing (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Weight Watchers (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Rentokil (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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A creative marketing strategises of Folger to turn sewer into a steaming cup of coffee

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Superman Movie promotion (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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A Truck sized Candy Bar (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Adidas (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Sprite Shower on the beach (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Ariel White (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Imodium (Guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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XXL Condom Promotion (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Ikea couch placed on the right (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Axe (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas

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Coca Cola (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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IBM (Guerilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas

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Nike (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Ikea (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Golf GTI (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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DHL (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Prison Break (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Colgate (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Patricia Cornwell (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Ford F-150 (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Meralco (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Breast Cancer Asia (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Forma Total Gym (creative marketing ideas)

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Cez Viamo Stop Aids (creative marketing ideas)

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Copenhagen Zoo creative marketing tactics (creative marketing ideas)

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Twilight: Outdoor Vampire Victims (creative marketing ideas)

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Apple Calendar (creative marketing ideas)

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Alfa Romeo (creative marketing ideas)

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Land Rover (creative marketing ideas)

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Mortine (creative marketing ideas)

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WWF (creative marketing ideas)

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Keskin Rims (creative marketing ideas)

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UNICEF (creative marketing ideas)

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HUNG (creative marketing ideas)

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Fitness World (creative marketing ideas)

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Nivea (creative marketing ideas)

Swiss Cancer Foundation (creative marketing ideas)

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Its Ur Call (creative marketing ideas)

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Ariel (creative marketing ideas)

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Flying Car (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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King Kong 3D (creative marketing ideas)

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Ford Mustang  examples, creative marketing ideas

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Lipton clear green (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

Skoda (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

Alan Wake (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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Dinosaurs Alive (guerrilla marketing examples, creative marketing ideas)

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In case you want a creative edge for your business and looking for a creative agency, you can reach out to us to make your online business stand out from the crowd.