Guerrilla Marketing: Advertising on the Sly : Industry Market Trends

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March 31, 2009

Guerrilla Marketing: Advertising on the Sly

By Jorina Fontelera

Hoping to stand out from the daily barrage of advertising, marketers turn to guerrilla marketing to position their product as unique. Are these unorthodox tactics right for your business?

On average, companies in the United States spend approximately $250 billion annually on marketing and advertising, according to Mental Floss Magazine at CNN. Unfortunately for advertising agencies, many consumers avoid advertising and now have the option to skip TV ads with devices like TiVo. Plus, people are bombarded with so many thousands of product messages each day that it is a difficult task to make one stand out from the pack.

So what's a marketing agency or small business to do?

One tactic is guerrilla marketing — unconventional or unusual promotional activities that are usually low-budget affairs. These can range from competitions to graffiti — anything that attracts attention, Marketing Minefield says.

Low on cash but high on creativity, types of guerrilla marketing include:

Ambient advertising — Out-of-home advertising on unusual mediums such as fruit, sandwich bags and pizza boxes, among others;
Experiential marketing — providing an opportunity for consumers to interact with the product;
Graffiti marketing — temporary graffiti on walls or pavement containing a company logo or message;
Stealth marketing — not making consumers aware they are being marketed to; and
Viral marketing — the message is spread via the consumers in social networking sites, blogs, etc.

Like traditional advertising, there's good and bad execution of guerrilla marketing. There's also the additional challenge of understanding of when a campaign can cross certain social boundaries. The following are examples of considered-successful unconventional marketing.

Emergency Deodorant
Right Guard took advantage of society's ingrained responses by placing its deodorant in red emergency boxes (see images, right). Meant to target people who viewed perspiration as an emergency, Right Guard placed the emergency boxes in buses and trains where people are crammed together. The emergency deodorant was there to save everyone from unpleasant body odor. There was also an emergency helpline on the boxes where people could call to receive free samples.

Why it worked: This campaign appealed to people's emotions and also managed to get the product into thousands of commuters' faces daily. The campaign generated about 800,000 contacts during the two-week period and more than 6,500 product samples were ordered.
(Source and image: Ads of the World)

Acclaim's Money Offers
Videogame maker Acclaim Entertainment began as a one-room outfit that bloomed into a multinational juggernaut thanks to its guerrilla marketing tactics. One such campaign bordered on reckless endangerment when the company offered to pay all speeding tickets incurred in the United Kingdom on the day its racing game "Burnout 2" was released. "Naturally, the bobbies balked, feeling that removing the consequences for speeding might encourage people to speed," Mental Floss notes. Acclaim rescinded the offer, but not before the newly released game was "burned into public consciousness."

Why it worked: Favoring an "all publicity is good publicity" mentality, Acclaim ingrained its games into public consciousness by capturing headlines with its outrageous marketing ploys. "Acclaim actually counts on law enforcement and city officials to shut down their antics — preferably as publicly as possible," Mental Floss adds.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets a cheeky laugh from guerrilla marketing efforts. Some end up angering the target audience or causing undue panic. Cases in point: Nvidia's fake fans and Boston's bomb scare (below).

Fake Fans Plague Forums
Graphics-processor technology manufacturer Nvidia has been accused of seeding online forums with fake-fan support for the company's products. Although never proven, research gaming Web sites fingered a few suspects thought to have been hired to create personas in gaming communities and spout positive reviews of Nvidia's products. The Consumerist tried to get a response from Nvidia but was given dodgy answers and eventually blown off. Apparently, Nvidia doesn't hire actors but instead gives "free Nvidia hardware in exchange for PR duties." Forum users have no way to tell which people have been given free products and which haven't.

Why this doesn't work: Astroturfing is when marketers create an artificial buzz about a product or company by posting in online forums or even in fake blogs. It is "widely considered to be the slimiest of all guerrilla marketing practices," WebUrbanist says. When the truth does come out, the public is often displeased with the deception.

Boston Bomb Scare
Designed to promote the Cartoon Network's animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, two young marketers in 2007 set up several dozen battery-powered light-emitting diode (LED) placards (see image, right) in high-visibility locations throughout Boston, Mass. These included bridge supports and transportation hubs. The police force and the Department of Homeland Security (who were not alerted about the stunt) did not find the bomb-like devices amusing and reacted on a massive scale. Though none of the ad installers were jailed, Turner Broadcasting Systems and Interference Inc. (the agency responsible for the ad campaign) paid $2 million in fines to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office to resolve the matter, and the head of the Cartoon Network resigned following the incident.

Why this didn't work: The marketers failed to notify the authorities and didn't quite think through the kind of potentially misinterpreted attention their campaign could garner, nor the sensitivities of the location they were targeting. "The campaign was especially reckless given Boston's sensitivity to terrorism threats, after planes that left Logan Airport on Sept. 11, 2001, were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino told the Boston Globe. "Instead of producing positive publicity, the network received major backlash from the community and nationwide," Associated Content adds.

As illustrated by the examples above, guerrilla marketing tactics can go extremely awry and cause distrust among the people you want to impress most. Before launching a guerrilla marketing campaign, ask if this type of promotion is right for you and your business.

"If you aren't prepared to put some work into it, then guerrilla marketing is definitely not for you," WebUrbanist advises. "This level of research, pitching and pavement-pounding requires no small measure of dedication."

It also cautions that any claim you make must be substantiated. "If you are discovered to be all sizzle and no steak, word will get around very quickly," WebUrbanist adds. "[A] flop of a guerrilla marketing campaign might get you remembered for all the wrong reasons."

Here, marketing firm Attack!Marketing shares some tips for launching a successful guerrilla promotion.

Understand your audience — know where they like to be, their buying habits and what they like to do so you can tailor the campaign to fit their needs. Think about what your audience likes and make contact with them through something they hold in high regard;
Call to action — can be done through contests, games, etc.;
Creative packaging — deliver your message in way that will "shake your target from the rigors of their daily pattern," be it marketers in leotards or base jumping from buildings;
Have a great team — the street team must be selected carefully and consist of people who can attract your chosen consumers;
Diversify — interact with your target audience in as many different and compelling ways as possible;
Timing — not to be overlooked, figuring out when to deliver your message is crucial (e.g., you don't want to do a coffee promotion at night or a night club promotion during morning rush hour); and
Twist the norm — be unexpected and maybe even shocking.

Pulled off correctly, guerrilla marketing can bring lots of rewards for little cash. The investment comes from the amount of creativity, time, energy and initiative used to launch the campaign.

Resources

Six Great Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns
by Chris Connolly
Mental Floss Magazine (via CNN), Nov. 13, 2007

5 Great Examples of Guerilla Marketing Gone Wrong: Olympic Belly-Flops to the Boston Bomb Scare
WebUrbanist, May 6, 2008

15 Dramatic Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns
WebUrbanist, Aug. 27th, 2008

Is Guerilla Marketing Right for You?
WebUrbanist, June 24, 2008

10 Different Types of Guerrilla Marketing: Part Six in an Eight-Part WebUrbanist GMarketing Series
WebUrbanist, June 19, 2008

Guerrilla Marketing
Marketing Minefield

Stealth Marketing
Marketing Minefield

Right Guard: Perspiration Emergency
Ads of the World, August 2007

Did Nvidia Hire Online Actors to Promote Their Products?
The Consumerist, Feb. 6, 2006

Nvidia's Derek Perez Responds
The Consumerist, Feb. 6, 2006

Nvidia's Perez: "They Act as Our 'Voice'"
The Consumerist, Feb. 6, 2006