At a time when consumers are growing more skeptical to big budget advertising, small-scale stunts are the way to go to interrupt people in their tracks and make them aware of your brand or product.
Guerrilla marketing is a widely discussed topic, which was first introduced by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same name and adopted by small businesses that didn’t have big advertising budgets. It became mainstream a few years ago when big brands decided to embrace this approach to attract lots of buzz and get their advertising campaigns to go viral.
According to the man who coined the phrase, ‘guerrilla marketing works because it is simple to understand, easy to implement and outrageously inexpensive’. We couldn’t agree more! Guerrilla marketing is not only cost-effective, but it is also considered one of the best ways to get consumers talking about you.
Usually guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and designed to ‘wow’ consumers in unforeseen places. However, no matter what type of company is doing the advertising, the success of a campaign depends on a very precise mix of method, timing, message and uniqueness.
Coca-Cola was one of the first big brands that started reaping the rewards of their guerrilla initiatives by making videos of their campaigns and spreading it virally. Who hasn’t been inspired by the Coke Happiness Machines? We certainly were! In an interview with Mashable, Coca-Cola’s Global Senior Brand Manager A.J Brustein said that the main goal of Coke’s happiness machine was to create an organic experience and that the true moments were what gave the video life. And they surely succeeded as the series of Coca-Cola’s happiness campaigns can be taken as one of the best examples of guerrilla marketing advertising.
We all know the power of social media. When brands manage to pull off a campaign that is widely spread across social networks, they are guaranteed free publicity and great exposure. Think about the TNT Push the Button, or the Domino’s Talking Scooter, or even the first T-Mobile Flash Mob at Liverpool Street Station. Events like this look like overnight sensations, but the truth is, as with most marketing, guerrilla campaigns require careful planning. To make it go viral involves an integrated game plan that leverages PR and social media channels to get people talking and sharing.
Since guerrilla marketing entered the mainstream, we are constantly seeing many brands trying to apply these tactics to their advertising campaigns hoping to attract attention in an unconventional manner. However, because guerrilla tactics can become ineffective once the method is well-known, brands have to keep evolving and changing. It all depends on the element of surprise with an abundance of creativity. After all, one of the main objectives of guerrilla marketing is to create a memorable brand experience – that ‘wow’ moment that translates into a feeling of genuine surprise and leaves a smile on people’s faces. In the end, this is the key to get people talking about you online and in real life.
Hotcow have been voted one of the top 5 Guerrilla Marketing agencies. We can show you how to create memorable campaigns that stick in consumer’s minds and ensure your brand will be talked about.
