For those who are wondering what Guerilla marketing is, they probably got worried about the term ‘Guerilla’ because it does sound quite intense. Theoretically, it conjures images of rebellion and conflict.

Adding the word marketing next to guerilla will make a lot of people start guessing. It is not as worrisome as it seems because frankly speaking, Guerilla marketing is not a combative form of communication. It is an unconventional marketing tactic for raising awareness among large audiences without interfering in their lives.

In all honesty, what is guerilla marketing?

Guerilla marketing is a kind of marketing where companies utilize surprising, unconventional, and unusual methods of interaction to promote their products/services. An unusual marketing promotion is one such tactic, which can be seen on either a road, a wall, or anywhere unusual.

Jay Conrad Levinson made the concept popular in his book ‘Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business’ in 1984. He explained it as a popular solution for small enterprises looking to take the bold marketing path. Yet with time, large-sized companies and brands have been utilizing Guerilla Marketing with a large degree of success.

Yet there is an important thing each brand must take into consideration when trying to utilize guerrilla marketing; it is a risk-laden move. The safest marketing methods that receive a worthwhile response from customers are content marketing, POP displays, and event marketing.

However, a guerrilla marketing campaign that flopped can have a really adverse impact on the brand and its image.

Features of Guerrilla marketing

Here are some interesting characteristics of Guerrilla marketing:

• A creative, smart, and spontaneous tactic, since Guerrilla marketing requires an element of surprise.
• It is quite affordable.
• It is a tactic that wasn’t utilized earlier.
• No new technology is needed for using it.
• Can create buzz and has virality potential.
• Creates word-of-mouth marketing that accounts for almost 55% of all buying decisions.
• Brands prone to risk must avoid it.
• It hardly relies on traditional media channels.
• It is not a tactic for using only an individual channel. It relies more on a unique combination of channels for delivering the right message or making a guerrilla campaign.

Now let us have a look at the kinds of Guerrilla Marketing deployed by numerous businesses, brands and corporations alike.

Different kinds of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing comes in various shapes which has helped businesses, brands and companies alike make the most of minimal resources. They are as under:

• Outdoor: This helps add something to urban environments that already exist. Putting removable things on statues, and temporary artwork on walls, sidewalks, alleys, and streets are a part of it.
• Indoor: It is similar to the outdoor one but only happens indoors in places like train stations, shops, and university campus holdings.
• Event Ambush Kind: This basically means leveraging the audience of any event in progress (usually a sporting event, a theater show, or a concert). It involves the promotion of products/services in a noticeable manner but often without permission from the event’s sponsors.
• Experiential Guerrilla Marketing: This involves all the above-mentioned kinds of Guerrilla marketing but with a difference. It needs the public to interact with the brand.

Guerrilla Marketing Examples

If any business, brand, or company desires to conduct guerrilla marketing in Dubai to make the most of such efforts, then they are in luck. We will now have a look at some of the best examples of Guerrilla Marketing which has been practiced by companies in numerous parts of the world. Most of them are indeed entertaining and amazing and never cease to be viral.

Giant Popsicle of Bounty’s

The paper towel brand ‘Bounty’ installed life-sized messes, especially a huge knocked-over coffee mug, and a gigantic melting popsicle. It found a unique way to advertise and promote its product, and solution, in just a few words.

Wouldn’t a billboard achieve that? Well, we don’t think so. The company opted for each possible way to ensure they went for an ad-free option. This is something people love on streaming devices like YouTube and Hulu. Moreover, Bounty’s campaign was never easy to ignore, as everyone stopped and looked at what was going on.

Where did Bounty hit the mark? It identified the biggest issue its product solves and then found an unconventional way to promote that to the public.

Interactive Floor Ad by Frontline

A lot of people would certainly fall for it and ask for the dog to be kept safe from those flies. But on a closer look, neither is real. The dog is a gigantic picture on the floor with people walking on it.

Frontline makes flea and tick prevention products for dogs. The company was able to fill this gigantic public space with the image. With the brand knowing that people walk across it daily and would see it from the upper levels, it successfully made an illusion of fleas around a dog.

Obviously, it is different from traditional marketing because it didn’t plaster multiple posters around town. The big thing to learn from here is that the company determined how people might involuntarily interact with the marketing messages. There are ways to make people part of such interactive campaigns for insect removal from pet dogs.

Contextual ads courtesy of Duracell

Utilizing resources that have already been provided is something companies can do if done right. This is where the brand Duracell stood out. Their guerrilla marketing campaign was a big hit. The brand placed posters and flashlight stickers next to illuminated areas in a way that made it look like they were powered by their batteries. This exhibited the power of Duracell batteries in a simple and powerful way.

KitKat’s Bench – truly witty and well thought out

KitKat once had a slogan ‘Have a break, Have a KitKat’ and that slogan still works today. Think about it, the brand used benches resembling the shape of its chocolate bars and thus caught the attention of customers in an unusual yet witty way. It also used its famous red-colored packaging paper’s theme.

The action is an ideal example of utilizing guerrilla marketing tactics in public spaces to help bring products closer in proximity to the targeted audiences. Those who pass by can always have a good look at the bench. Subliminally, they’d buy a KitKat whether or not they’re on a break.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, all examples observed so far about Guerrilla marketing have been great, and all of them have worked flawlessly. These campaigns have illustrated how businesses, brands, and companies alike can make so much heard with so few resources, but with the right amount of intellect, wit, and humor with strategy.

Guerrilla marketing needs to be conducted at places that have a lot of people passing by on foot. That’s why they work well in public spaces. This helps them notice the brand and even make a purchase.