Guerrilla Marketing Formats

Guerrilla Marketing Formats…

Ambient marketing

Ambient communication is a complex form of corporate communication that uses elements of the environment, including nearly every available physical surface, to convey messages that elicit customer engagement. It is a compile of intelligence, flexibility and effective use of the atmosphere.

 

Ambush marketing

Ambush marketing is a form of associative marketing, utilized by an organization to capitalize upon the awareness, attention, goodwill, and other benefits, generated by having an association with an event or property, without that organization having an official or direct connection to that event or property. Essentially, a company or a product seeks to ride on the publicity value of a major event without having contributed to the financing of the event through sponsorship.

It is typically seen at major events where rivals of official sponsors use creative and sometimes covert tactics to build an association with the event and increase awareness for their brands. For example, Nike during the 2012 London Olympics, Nike created ‘find your Greatness’ spots where they featured athletes from several locations called London (but without showing the real London or referring to the Olympic games) which helped in building a strong association between London Olympics and Nike.

 

Stealth marketing

Stealth marketing is a deliberate act of entering, operating in, or exiting a market in a furtive, secretive or imperceptible manner, or an attempt to do so. People get involved with the product without them actually knowing that they are the part of advertisement campaign. This needs to be implemented with uttermost covertness because if the participants become aware of the campaign, it will have a negative effect on the brand resulting in ethical doubts about its use.

 

Viral marketing

Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions. Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as “word-of-mouth,” “creating a buzz,” “leveraging the media,” “network marketing.” But on the Internet, for better or worse, it’s called “viral marketing.”

 

Street marketing

According to Marcel Saucet and Bernard Cova, street marketing can be used as a general term encompassing six principal types of activities:

 

Distribution of flyers or products

This activity is more traditional and the most common form of street marketing employed by brands.

 

Product animations

This form of operation consists of personalizing a high-traffic space using brand imagery. The idea is to create a micro-universe in order to promote a new product or service.

 

Human animations

The goal of such actions is to create a space in which the brand’s message is communicated through human activity.

 

Road shows

This form of mobile presentation is based on the development of means of transport: Taxi, bike, Segway, etc.

 

Event actions

These activities take the form of spectacles, such as flash mobs or contests. The idea is to promote a product, service or brand value through organization of a public event.

 

Presence marketing

This is a guerrilla marketing type that goes along the same lines as ambient marketing. Products are to maintain a constant presence through product placements, street ads, stalls at local festivals and markets.

 

Grassroots marketing

Grassroots campaigns focus on gaining customers one-by-one rather than a large portion of consumers, Building relationships, and enhancing a firm’s reputation and popularity.

 

Graffiti:

Graffiti marketing uses city streets and alleyways as a giant canvas. While smaller, more covert operations will make their mark wherever they want, for most businesses it’s recommended to get permission from a property owner before going Monet on the walls of their establishment.

 

Stencil Graffiti:

Stencil graffiti uses stencils to create repeated works of street art. The advantage of stencils is that you can create multiple instances of your art across many different spaces in a short period of time. Stencils tend to be small in size (as opposed to a full-wall mural) and consist of simple designs.

 

Reverse Graffiti:

Reverse graffiti is when, instead of adding to a surface, marketers remove dirt and grime from a street or wall to create an all-natural marking message. Just put a stencil on a sidewalk and then wash the uncovered spaces!

 

Stickers:

Creative use of stickers is another great guerrilla marketing tactic that can be very successful when implemented well.

 

Undercover Marketing:

Also known as “stealth marketing,” marketers disguise themselves as peers amongst their target audience. One example is Sony’s campaign in 2002, in which actors were hired to wander about cities, asking strangers to take a photo of them. During the interaction, actors would rave of their cool new phone, boasting of its features and capabilities.

 

Flash Mobs:

Flash mobs involve organizing a group of individuals to perform a specific action or task at a pre-determined location and time. In some cases participants are hired actors, other times they are simply members of the community who enjoy the randomness of flash mobs!

 

 

 

Publicity Stunts:

Publicity stunts involve specific feats of awe and amazement, usually sponsored or in partner with a brand. Red Bull is very adept at this practice, exemplified by their 2012 skydiving record as part of their Stratos project. Red Bull sent Austrian extreme-sports athlete Felix Baumgartner above the stratosphere, dominating the world record for highest skydive, launching himself from over 128,000 feet above earth. Arguably much more than a mere stunt, the Red Bull Stratos project set numerous world records and was viewed live on YouTube by over 9.5 million users (setting yet another record).

 

Treasure Hunts:

Creating custom, high-quality treasure hunts is another cool guerrilla marketing tactic that can energize audiences. Guerrilla marketing treasure hunts often involve posting online clues to hidden items scattered across a single or several cities. Winners are rewarded with digital codes, prizes, or a hint for the next level of the treasure hunt.

 

Urban Environment:

The most successful guerrilla marketing strategies make great use of the spaces around them. Urban environments allow for many opportunities to implement clever marketing strategies.While today we’re mostly showing physical, visual examples of guerrilla marketing, there are plenty of online examples. Online guerrilla marketing campaigns often appear in the form of:

• Viral videos
• User generated content competitions

Creative landing pages