Guerrilla Marketing – Pack a Wallop with your Brand

Jay Conrad Levinson first introduced the term Guerrilla Marketing within his highly acclaimed 1984 book, called Guerilla Marketing, and it has since become widely used in popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.

The notion is based around the idea of using low-cost and unconventional methods to convey a product or concept. Guerrilla marketing, when used correctly, can be a super-effective tool that doesn’t require a big budget. Hundreds of companies, large and small, have used Guerrilla marketing in many innovative ways to promote their brand over the years.

Here are a few of our favourites:

Tropicana – Energie Naturelle

The phrase ‘Energie Naturelle’ is showcased in this environmentally friendly ad that is powered entirely by oranges impaled onto copper and zinc spikes. The ad has been created to show how Tropicana can provide natural energy and maintain and eco-friendly manufacturing process.

Bounty – Big Spills

In what seems like a strange section of a King Kong movie where he drops his morning coffee all over New York and LA, Bounty created this Guerrilla Marketing stunt in correspondence with their tagline “Makes small work of BIG spills.” The coffee itself actually steams and exudes a strong aroma so it definitely caught the publics attention.

Loctite Super Glue 3 – Coin

A simple, yet effective, little trick introduced by Super Glue 3. They put their product on the streets by gluing a coin to the floor and watching people attempt to pick it up.

SIXT  – WIFI

The German car rental company, SIXT, hijacked Hamberg Airport’s local WIFI. In an attempt to stand out from the hundreds of marketing campaigns that are littering the area, they installed portable wireless networks in the airport and named them after their current special offers!

Mini Cooper – Cardboard Boxes

Mini Amsterdam began a promotional 99€ per month finance deal and decided that the best way to catch the attention of the public during the busy Christmas period was place huge ‘Mini Boxes’ around the country. The boxes received a lot of attention and videos of the boxes became viral across the Internet.

Volkswagen – Fast Lane

Volkswagen crafted these ideas as a bit of fun to mix up the daily commute. In one scenario they installed a long slide in the busy public transport hub of Alexanderplatz, Germany and suggested passer-by’s to speed life up a little bit by taking the ‘Fast Lane’.

7UP – Melting Machine

BBDO and 7UP teamed up to create this refreshing ‘Melting Machine’ in which pedestrians were able to collect free 7UP bottles from a giant ice cube in exchange for social media attention.

Green Works – Reverse Graffiti

This 140 feet mural was produced to promote Green Works’ new environmentally friendly and plant-based cleaning products. The mural was created by, simply, cleaning away the dirt and grime that is accumulated in the city through a stencil. Not only does this technique showcase the effectiveness of their products, it also cheers up some of the dreary sceneries that are further damped by affects of pollution.

UNICEF – Dirty Water

Whilst not a particularly pleasant marketing strategy, UNICEF’s dirty water campaign got our attention. Their vending machines dispense dirty, disease-infested water to the general public for a small donation. Whilst no one drank any of the dirty water, many people donated and the message clearly got across.

Vivienne Westwood – Abused Mannequins

Known for being bold and taking risks, Vivienne Westwood took her already highly recognisable brand and used it to raise awareness to a growing problem. Viv created brand new mannequins that were displayed in the window of her Milan store. The mannequins were battered and bruised, drawing attention to domestic abuse.