‘Guerrilla marketing is a strategically thought-out ad heist that generates sympathy and an unforgettable ‘wow’ effect for a brand, opinion, service, or product at an unpredictable moment, in an original relevant way, and at the right time among the right target group.
Guerrilla Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Brand
The criteria of guerrilla marketing:
- The message must be original and unconventional in content and form
- Unexpected and unpredictable. A guerrilla message has to be some kind of “robbery”
- A guerrilla campaign must have sufficient reach and it must be possible to increase that reach through word of mouth or editorial attention
- A guerrilla has to connect substantively to the core values of a product, service, or brand and translate those core values to a target group
- The right time and the right place. A guerrilla has to respond to current events, a product launch, or an event
- A guerrilla has to provide a wow effect
- Outdoor Guerrilla Marketing
- Indoor Guerilla Marketing
- Event Ambush Guerilla Marketing
- Experiential Guerilla Marketing
A good example of such a playful action is of course the Bavaria Babes of the 2010 World Cup. Thanks to Bavaria, guerrilla marketing is in the spotlight more than ever. The Bavaria Babes have attracted worldwide attention for this, especially after they were arrested and imprisoned by FIFA. Fortunately for the babes, it has fizzled out, but other advertisers saw how you can get the world press with such a guerrilla action and how you can become top of mind on the internet as a brand. Because in addition to television, newspapers, and magazines, the online world, in particular, chattered about orange beer girls.
influencers
What a difference from the era before social media. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Youtube, and others, some guerrilla actions have a much wider (global) reach. Because social media are the coffee machines, clubhouses, and living rooms of today. Even when it comes to an action that starts on the street, but moves on the internet and via social media.
It lands in a community via influencers. Like any form of marketing, a guerrilla must also be aimed at a well-defined target group – after which that target group and early adopters spread the action from Twitter and other social media further across the net. And that can go very quickly. Within 48 hours the buzz can be gone again because that’s how quickly hot news on the internet dissipates.
So if you want to set up a playful guerrilla action, first think of a good strategy of how, with what means, where, when and what you want to achieve with this action. The fact that you are suddenly in the limelight can of course has a major effect on your business.
