Guerrilla marketing is easy to get excited about. It’s large-scale, surprising and subversive. Guerrilla marketing is constantly keeping you guessing. When it’s done well, the results are undeniable. You can expect to generate a lot of buzz which equals valuable word-of-mouth and bigger initiatives even garner attention from the media. Guerrilla marketing is advertising that people want to talk about.
In my opinion, the best examples of guerrilla marketing are those that use traditional spaces in an unexpected way. This is the best way to get people’s attention. Once it has the public's attention, guerrilla marketing only has a small window of opportunity within which it needs to get the point across. Therefore the message cannot be too complicated. It needs to cut through the clutter of everyday life and deliver the driving idea behind the campaign.
In my life, I find it hard to believe that I cannot recall many examples of guerrilla marketing that I have personally witnessed. It’s not that I have lived in Ottawa my whole life and Ottawa, being a fairly conservative government town, is not the most likely place for large-scale, think-outside-the-box advertising (perhaps that's precisely the reason why this market is ripe for some innovative guerrilla?). I have lived for a period of time in all four of Canada’s major cities but for some reason, I still can't recall many examples of guerrilla marketing that I have witnessed first-hand. However, my mind keeps drifting back to a campaign that I saw when I was living in Montreal. There was a truck driving around downtown promoting a fitness club of some sort. The entire back of the truck was made of glass and inside, it contained a staged beach scene with real models sporting their "bikini-bodies." It was certainly eye-catching and very different from the type of advertising that you usually see in major Canadian cities.
Nevertheless, here are some examples of guerrilla marketing that I think were nicely executed:
For this Halloween-themed campaign, American grocer Meijer had a van drive through the streets of Chicago, projecting a moving image of the headless horseman onto the walls of buildings. Upon spotting the projection, people were urged to text to a specified number, which entered them into a draw for a $1000 prize. They were also given a promo code that they could enter on Meijer’s website to receive a $10 coupon off of their next $75 purchase. This is a great example of guerrilla marketing done well. It is unexpected and it infiltrates the public space in an exciting and engaging way. No doubt this had Chicagoans talking. Additionally, the coupon gave people an incentive to make a purchase at Meijer and it also succeeded in driving traffic to their website. Nicely integrated and well executed.
In my opinion, the best examples of guerrilla marketing are those that use traditional spaces in an unexpected way. This is the best way to get people’s attention. Once it has the public's attention, guerrilla marketing only has a small window of opportunity within which it needs to get the point across. Therefore the message cannot be too complicated. It needs to cut through the clutter of everyday life and deliver the driving idea behind the campaign.
In my life, I find it hard to believe that I cannot recall many examples of guerrilla marketing that I have personally witnessed. It’s not that I have lived in Ottawa my whole life and Ottawa, being a fairly conservative government town, is not the most likely place for large-scale, think-outside-the-box advertising (perhaps that's precisely the reason why this market is ripe for some innovative guerrilla?). I have lived for a period of time in all four of Canada’s major cities but for some reason, I still can't recall many examples of guerrilla marketing that I have witnessed first-hand. However, my mind keeps drifting back to a campaign that I saw when I was living in Montreal. There was a truck driving around downtown promoting a fitness club of some sort. The entire back of the truck was made of glass and inside, it contained a staged beach scene with real models sporting their "bikini-bodies." It was certainly eye-catching and very different from the type of advertising that you usually see in major Canadian cities.
Nevertheless, here are some examples of guerrilla marketing that I think were nicely executed:
For this Halloween-themed campaign, American grocer Meijer had a van drive through the streets of Chicago, projecting a moving image of the headless horseman onto the walls of buildings. Upon spotting the projection, people were urged to text to a specified number, which entered them into a draw for a $1000 prize. They were also given a promo code that they could enter on Meijer’s website to receive a $10 coupon off of their next $75 purchase. This is a great example of guerrilla marketing done well. It is unexpected and it infiltrates the public space in an exciting and engaging way. No doubt this had Chicagoans talking. Additionally, the coupon gave people an incentive to make a purchase at Meijer and it also succeeded in driving traffic to their website. Nicely integrated and well executed.
This is a video of a publicity stunt held to promote a new movie set to be released next month called Chronicle. Quite appropriately, the movie follows the story of three high school students who discover that they have the power of flight. As seen in the video, the guerrilla marketing ploy features kite-like contraptions shaped like people flying above New York City. This idea is extremely ambitious and unexpected. It’s the kind of stunt that makes passersby do a double-take. It certainly succeeded in generating a lot of word-of-mouth and it also spawned this viral video. As well, the idea was perfectly on-point given the story line of the movie it’s promoting.
And finally, a great example of guerrilla marketing from Vancouver that I hadn’t seen but wish I had:
This example of guerrilla marketing gets the point across immediately. It’s in-your-face and very hard to ignore. The message that it carries is real and quite scathing. Once it grasps your attention, which it’s sure to do, it drives you to visit the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s website. I can also see how this idea could be translated to fit statues in cities all over the world.
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