15 Successful Guerilla Marketing Examples

Guerilla marketing is a popular marketing strategy that was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book, “Guerilla Marketing”. Guerilla marketing is an effective tactic as it saves 90% on advertising costs, is typically low cost and the desired result is typically high.

Guerrilla Marketing is an effective marketing strategy of getting your product, service or message in front of a targeted audience in a memorable manner. The key qualities needed to make it work are; imagination, resourcefulness, and buzz.

What Is Guerilla Marketing?

Guerilla marketing is a creative and unconventional way of advertising your product or service. It involves using low-cost or free tactics to get your message out there, such as street stunts, guerilla ads, and social media campaigns.

Why You Should Invest in Guerilla Marketing?

Guerilla marketing can be beneficial to small businesses in the following ways:

It is cost-effective:

Guerilla marketing is cost-effective because you don’t need deep pockets to create campaigns. All you need are some creativity, time, and people with a passion for the brand.

It’s flexible:

You can develop your innovative ways to promote your product or service through guerilla marketing strategies. Some businesses hire professional guerrilla marketers.

It’s creative and unconventional, so it stands out from the crowd:

Guerrilla marketing campaigns will surely leave a mark in people’s minds and stick to their memories.

When executed properly, guerilla marketing can bring out the best results for small businesses. It helps build brand awareness and drive sales conversions.

It’s very effective in reaching a target audience:

Getting the attention of your target audience, especially for small businesses, is not easy, but guerilla marketing can help you break through and get noticed.

It can be used to generate publicity for your business:

Aside from advertising your product or service, guerilla marketing can also be used to generate publicity for small businesses.

Guerilla marketing will help you engage with customers and build a strong relationship with them. You’ll get more people talking about your brand, which in turn boosts the number of leads for your business.

It helps build brand awareness and create a positive image for your company:

When done right, guerilla marketing can help establish your company as a credible and innovative player in your industry.

How do you create guerilla marketing?

Now that you know the benefits of guerilla marketing, how can you start your campaign?

• Use your creativity and passion for the business to develop campaigns that will attract everyone’s attention. It has to be relevant, clever, and interesting.
• Have a plan before launching any campaign because it needs to be organized and aligned with your overall marketing objectives.

You should also consider the following when creating a guerilla marketing strategy:

• Think about your primary goal, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads for sales conversions, or gaining publicity. Then create a plan on how to go about achieving these goals.
• Who is your target audience?
• How can you get noticed?
• Knowing your target market is essential for any successful marketing campaign.
• You need to come up with a strategy that will help you stand out from the competition. This could involve using a striking visual or location to get your message across.
• When designing your strategy, you should also consider the media used to promote it.
• What is your budget?
• Guerilla marketing may be low-cost, but you still have to factor in some costs when creating an effective campaign for your business.
• Determine how much you’re willing to spend on marketing and allocate a budget for each campaign.

Are you prepared to take risks?

• Guerilla marketing is not without risks, but the rewards can be great if planned and executed correctly. Be prepared to face some challenges along the way, but don’t let that stop you from achieving your goals.
• Be prepared to roll with the punches and think on your feet.
• Make sure you have a team of people who are excited about the campaign and are willing to put in the extra effort to make it a success.
• Keep in mind that guerilla marketing is not a one-time event; it should be an ongoing process that is constantly evolving.
• You need to test and measure your campaigns constantly. Don’t just throw all of them together without any research, thinking they’ll work automatically. Guerilla marketing is a gradual process that requires patience and consistency for it to be effective.

15 Real-world examples of guerilla marketing

Here are 15 examples of guerilla marketing that have been successful in getting people’s attention:

1. Oreo – Dunk in the Dark

When the lights went out at the Super Bowl in 2013, Oreo took advantage of the situation by tweeting a picture of an Oreo with the caption “You can still dunk in the dark.”

The tweet was retweeted 10,000 times within minutes and generated a lot of buzz for the brand. It stands as the best real-time marketing example to date.

Main takeaway: Oreo used a significant event to their advantage and made it work for them in this case.

2. Red Bull – Stratos Jump

Red Bull is no stranger to guerilla marketing stunts. In 2012, they pulled off a major coup by sponsoring the first successful Stratos jump from space.

The jump generated a lot of publicity for the brand and was watched by millions of people worldwide.

Main takeaway: You can get people’s attention by doing something never done before.

3. Chipotle – Scarecrow

Chipotle is a well-known brand that has successfully used guerilla marketing techniques for its campaigns.

In 2013, the company released a three-minute award-winning animated short film called “The Scarecrow.” The video was designed to promote the brand’s sustainable farming practices.

Main takeaway: Do not be afraid to use creative and unconventional methods to get their message across.

4. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

In 2014, the “Ice Bucket Challenge” went viral on social media. This particular challenge required people to dump a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads and challenge others to do the same within 24 hours or donate money to an ALS foundation.

The campaign successfully raised a lot of money for charity and got a lot of attention for ALS.

Main takeaway: If you want to stand out, try something new and different even though it can be a bit scary that people would take part in it.

5. Dove – Real Beauty Sketches

In 2013, Dove released an advert called “Real Beauty Sketches” as part of its campaign against unrealistic and overly-perfumed beauty images. The video showed women describing themselves to a forensic sketch artist and then having another person describe them based on someone else’s description.

The campaign was a success; Dove increased its sales from $2.5 billion to $4 billion that campaign year.

Main takeaway: Dove used a heart-warming story to get their message across.

6. Pepsi Max – Unbelievable Bus Shelter

In 2014, Pepsi Max launched an outdoor campaign designed to create buzz and get people talking about their product. They used augmented reality experience to change a bus shelter in New Oxford Street into surreal CG videos.

People were amazed and amused by the videos, with the campaign garnering 8 million views on YouTube. The campaign also earned Pepsi max 95% impressions and media coverage.

Main takeaway: Pepsi Max used cutting-edge technology to create a unique and attention-grabbing campaign.

7. Domino’s Football-Themed Pizza

In 2018, Domino’s launched a special edition pizza dubbed ‘Meatfielder’ to coincide with the 2010 world cup.

The pizza was available in over 1,000 stores in the UK. Also, Domino’s launched a Pizza-nini sticker album with Domino’s popular pizza type’s football-inspired names such as Romaldo, Mighty Messi, Vegi Volkaneo, and Pepereina Passion.

The campaign was a success, with Domino’s reporting 8.2M in pizza sales in the UK.

Main takeaway: Domino’s created a fun and festive campaign that was relevant to the world cup.

8. Sony Ericsson’s 2002 use of Actors to Promote Camera-Phone

Sony Ericsson released a camera phone in 2002, and the company used several guerilla marketing techniques to promote the product.

In one particular campaign, they used actors in public spaces to ask people to take photos of them. The aim was to get people to try out the camera phone.

Then they would go telling the people how great the phone was.

Main takeaway: Celebs are a great way to generate interest in your product.

9. GoldToe dresses Statues Underwear and Undershirts

In 2010 GoldToe dressed famous statues in New York City statues in its newly launched undershirts and underwear. The campaign coincided with the New York Fashion Week, with the most notable Wall Street Bull was draped in oversized white underwear that created a lot of buzz for GoldToe.

Main takeaway: Funny and creative events can really get people talking about your brand.

10. Kelleth Cuthbert aka #FijiGirl at the Golden Globes Awards

In 2019, model Kelleth Cuthbert made headlines when she photo bombed several celebrities with her tray of Fiji water bottles at the Golden Globes awards.

The stunt was a massive success, with Kelleth Cuthbert being interviewed by major media outlets and becoming an overnight sensation.

Main takeaway: If you want to get attention, find a unique way for your brand to stand out.

11. The Nun’s YouTube Scary Spot

In 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures released an unavoidable 90-second horror movie teaser ad titled on YouTube. The objective was to build anticipation for the launch of “The Nun” horror movie.

Although YouTube removed the ad after public outcry, the ad had already achieved its goal of getting people talking. The film earned $380 million at the U.S. box office.

Main takeaway: If you want to create a buzz, think outside the box and do something shocking or outrageous.

12. Sam Conniff Allende’s Window Adverts

In 2017, Sam Conniff Allende, a London-based entrepreneur, used an unorthodox strategy to promote his new book “Be More Pirate.”

He used the first-floor windows of Penguin Random House’s London offices as advertising space to promote his book.

The publisher had not approved the adverts Sam Conniff Allende had sneaked in the workers as contractors.

Main takeaway: If you’re creative, you can find ways to get your brand’s message out there without spending a lot of money.

13. WePay Takes War to PayPal Conference

In 2010, WePay, a payment processing company, crashed the PayPal conference by dumping 600 Pounds of Ice In front of the PayPal Conference with several dollars underneath the Ice block.

The stunt was a creative way to tell people that PayPal freezes payments.

Main takeaway: If you want to get people’s attention, think outside the box and do something unexpected.

14. Red Sparrow’s Toronto Mystery

In 2018, Twentieth Century Fox Canada set up an exciting marketing campaign in Toronto to promote Red Sparrow, a spy thriller movie.

In the campaign, 20 models were dressed identically, wearing the same outfits Lawrence wore in the film as they walked Toronto streets. They gathered a crowd and attracted pedestrians’ attention.

Although the movie received mixed reviews, the marketing campaign was successful in generating buzz. It made $151.6 million at the Box office with a modest budget of $69 million.

Main takeaway: You can use models and actors to attract attention to your marketing campaign.

15. Anytime Fitness’s Purple Bikes

In 2017, Warner’s Bay residents were surprised when purple bikes started appearing on the streets mysteriously. The eye-catching purple bikes piqued the interest of the public, who wondered what was behind the mysterious bikes. They were prominently parked in the streets where they couldn’t be missed.

The stunt had been organized by Anytime Fitness, a fitness chain operating in over 50 countries. They intended to create awareness about getting into an active lifestyle during spring.

Main takeaway: Creating a sense of mysteriously is the perfect way to create attention to your marketing campaign.

Measuring Campaign Performance in Digital Marketing

Data driven approaches to lead the marketing, sales and business processes have brought a tremendous increase in return. Now it’s a digital marketing era, in which advertisement is tangible. Advertisers can keep track easily when, where and at what time of day on which device the advertisement was shown. Did the user click on ad or not? After reaching on landing page, did the user click on the desire buttons and much more.

Google Ads are the pioneer in PPC. You are only charged when user click on your advertisement. You can’t just rely on your conventional way of reporting. You need to go extra mile if you want to compete in today’s competition. You need to use smart and intelligent tools which can create multiple combinations of your data and give you results which you could have never expected before. Even with manual analysis they are impossible to achieve. Only with the help of AI and machine learning you can go to this level of reporting.

PPC Signal is such a gem in this regard. This tool gives you signals or you can call them alerts as you can be timely informed of anything bad or even good if anything is happening in your campaign unusual.

As you can see in the above image, there are multiple signals available on the dashboard. You can click on explore button to see the details of that signal.

PPC Signal tool is specially designed for small and large business holders. Although you have few campaigns or you have hundreds of campaigns, this tool handles them easily and simultaneously. You only need to connect your account and automatically the health of your account will appear on dashboard in the form of signals.

FAQs:

What companies use guerilla marketing?

Different companies use guerilla marketing tactics. Big companies such as Red Bull, Sony, Coca-Cola, Domino’s, Oreo, and Pepsi continue to use guerilla marketing to market their products and services as they are impactful, cost less, and effective.

How effective is Guerilla Marketing?

Guerilla marketing is very effective. A majority of marketers have seen a 90% reduction of their advertising spend using guerilla marketing tactics. Also, it is impactful and costs less to pull guerrilla marketing than you could with other types of marketing.

Wrap Up:

Guerilla Marketing is the opposite of mainstream marketing solutions. It creates a sense of mystery and wonder, hence engaging audiences, making them want to know more about your product or service.

It is also cost-effective and impactful as it strikes people’s minds and memory, spending leaving behind an impression that will influence their thoughts and perception regarding your brand.

If you are looking for a creative marketing solution that will help your brand stand out in this very competitive market, then Guerilla Marketing is the best option for you.

Same goes with the measuring and monitoring of your digital marketing campaign. If you want to stand on then you have to use AI and machine learning enabled tools which can help you to analyze your campaign data in a novel way.