The current advertising saturation makes it increasingly difficult for any company to attract attention and differentiate itself from the rest through advertising. In addition, finding an advertising space in which the investment is not too great and achieves a good impact on the target audience is a challenge.

What is the solution to this problem? Guerrilla marketing is a good alternative that may not require much investment but gets great results.

Surely you have heard about this marketing technique more than once and wondered what it is and what it is for. Well, today, we are going to solve those doubts! Shall we start?

What is Guerilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that uses unconventional techniques, creativity, ingenuity, and innovation to achieve certain objectives without the need for high investment in advertising space.

In addition, it allows us to reach our buyer persona in a different way than conventional advertising, carrying out surprising actions that can go viral and leave the memory of our brand in their minds. Guerrilla marketing requires minimal investment but a lot of ingenuity, making it ideal for small businesses that need a small budget but a lot of desire to promote their products and services.

However, it is increasingly common to see large companies resorting to guerrilla marketing, as the benefits are obvious and the results are surprising. Surely you have in mind some great guerrilla marketing campaign that you have come across on the street, right? Keep reading because below we’ll present some examples.

Is Guerilla Marketing Still Significant in 2023?

Remember, Guerrilla Marketing is a way to get your brand out without paying for traditional media. It involves creative and unconventional ways to promote your product or service. In 2010, Volkswagen created the "Accelerate Your Life" campaign to turn the most mundane activities into fun activities.

This included turning subway stairs into slides, elevators into rockets, and carts into skateboards. The success of this campaign was largely due to the use of interactive marketing and the use of social media.

To use guerrilla marketing effectively in 2022, you have to choose the right time and place to target the right audience. Consider running a “sneak attack” or “event ambush” and determine if there are people who will respond to this type of marketing strategy.

The more unexpected a brand is, the more likely it is to be remembered by consumers. In other words, guerrilla marketing works well for both indoor and outdoor campaigns. Although guerrilla marketing is a popular option for small and medium-sized businesses, it can also be effective for large companies. When used effectively, guerrilla marketing can be a complementary strategy to expensive media campaigns.

Guerrilla marketing aims to surprise customers with unexpected and unusual ways to promote your brand. The key to success is creating an experience that is memorable for your target consumers.

By integrating this type of marketing into your everyday life, guerrilla marketing can boost sales for your brand. Therefore, it is important to use innovative methods that stand out from the crowd. You can use social networks and some eCommerce tools to create a stir by incorporating your brand into the environment of the target audience.

In addition to traditional forms of advertising, guerrilla marketing also uses unconventional methods to surprise customers in familiar settings.

11 Guerilla Marketing Examples for eCommerce

There are many different types of guerrilla marketing, including creative guerrilla campaigns and covert operations. Guerrilla marketing aims to surprise customers in places they don't expect.

You'll need to know your audience, as well as your competitors, so you can design a campaign that suits your audience. Then run your campaign accordingly. Here are some examples to help you plan your next guerrilla marketing project.

1. Guinness Billiard Cues

Guinness Co. wrapped pool cues in bars with small custom wraps as guerrilla marketing, reminding pool players to grab a pint.

Despite not knowing the brand, the campaign was highly successful due to the fact that it reached its target audience directly. This helped create a positive image of the brand among those who did not know it.

2. Axe Body Spray

As part of a 2006 guerilla marketing campaign, Axe Body Spray attached custom stickers to "exit man" signs. Axe's logo and the tagline "The smarter way out" were featured on the stickers.

The campaign aimed to attract young men who might be interested in using Axe body spray. With the clever use of the exit man sign, the product was able to grab attention and create a sense of exclusivity. Axe body spray was able to increase brand awareness with the campaign.

3. Colgate Cavity Campaign

In its Cavity Campaign, Colgate used Popsicle sticks resembling toothbrushes on top of chocolate and cake as a means of appealing to people. In order for people to brush their teeth after having enjoyed a sweet treat such as cake, the message was placed below the cake.

It was intended that the campaign would eliminate the manifestation of cavities. As a result of placing these sticks inside cakes of unsuspecting people, these cakes were posted on social media by the people posting pictures of their strange cakes. It was a successful campaign that went viral and raised awareness of the importance of dental health among the public.

4. Netflix’s Stranger Things

Netflix cleverly created a DIY doorbell to promote the popular TV series Stranger Things during Halloween. Homeowners can continue to watch a scary movie while trick-or-treaters collect candy outside while they "treat" themselves. On both sides of the door, it is a win-win situation. As all the necessary files can be found at makeit.netflix.com, it is quite amusing to be able to build your own version of this project. Additionally, to continue the spookfest, the project files include soundtracks from both Black Mirror and American Horror Story and scream sounds from Stranger Things

5. Have a Break with KitKat

With the help of street benches, KitKat was able to advertise the brand's chocolate bar at the very point where people are likely to rest, echoing the tagline, “Have a break...Have a Kit Kat!” This is a simple, cost-effective, impactful way to advertise your brand while staying true to your product.

6. Your wrist is lacking something, IWC notifies you

A perfect example of guerrilla marketing can be found in the watchmaker IWC's use of ambient marketing. This is another type of guerrilla marketing that uses the environment for advertising its products. The timekeepers at IWC were pushed by bus handle straps that were attached to shuttle buses at airports. This is a clever and effective way to make a statement, even if not everyone will be inclined to hold the strap in this way.

7. For a bus stop prank, Pepsi adopts augmented reality

Similarly, Pepsi's ad campaign was based around actual bus stops for its media campaign within the same realm. A cleverly designed bus stop was designed with what appeared to be a normal glass pane with a view of the street that was partly augmented, in its most literal form, by virtual reality. In reality, however, cameras attached to the screen were used to project incredibly detailed animations onto the nearby city block, such as running tigers, the descent of UFOs, and the invasion of giant robots

8. Copenhagen Zoo gives you a tight squeeze

The essence of Guerrilla Marketing is to make the maximum impact on your viewer without having to actually tell them what you are trying to say. There should be a minimum number of words needed to easily convey the message. As a result, it doesn't take much to "wrap your head" around the following example, as it is not difficult to explain. It is both effective and telling that the Copenhagen Zoo's bus advertisement depicting the crushing of a bus by a giant snake is both effective and telling. No additional explanation is needed to convey the message.

9. They’re not clowning around

Would you like to make a lasting impression on your audience? Wouldn't it be great if you could scare an unsuspecting customer into purchasing your product? There is no doubt that this is a very risky method, but in my experience, the most successful campaigns end up bringing laughter, not tears.

It was just a matter of time before select locations throughout Sydney, Australia found themselves the victims of a creepy and clever marketing campaign centered around its sewer drains. This is as it gears up for the 2017 remake of the clown horror film It. It didn't take long for most onlookers familiar with the "Georgie and the sailboat" scene or who had seen the trailer to be sent running in the other direction when they saw the red balloon tied to one of the drains, which was filled with helium.

10. King Kong footprints in the sand

On Santa Monica beach, colossal footprints were left in the sand in conjunction with the wrecked SUV of a local lifeguard as part of promotional efforts for the King Kong 360 3D movie. It was indeed the onlookers who made the gesture go viral on social media, even though it was a hardly insignificant gesture

11. New York City's "Carrie" Cafe

Would you like to know if you have coulrophobia? Alternatively, if clowns aren't on your radar, perhaps the prank advertisement for 2013's remake of Carrie might be more up your alley. Located inside a coffee shop, a set up was created using a telekinetic girl's computer and several actors to play the various patrons to get a sense of what happens when someone spills coffee on her computer which causes her to go berserk. Whether at work or home, you're sure to have a good laugh.

Conclusion

So, what is guerilla marketing? A guerrilla marketing campaign can take place either online or offline. You will see in these 11 examples how other companies have succeeded in reaching out to new customers and boosting their sales using guerrilla marketing techniques. These concepts can be used as a starting point for developing your own creative marketing strategies based on these concepts. Your eCommerce store should grow as soon as you combine traditional techniques with guerrilla marketing techniques correctly
 

Author’s Bio

Miguel Davao, Removal.AI Miguel Davao is a graduate of literature and linguistics and has been writing content for about 5 years now. He particularly writes content on eCommerce, design, photo-editing tools, and content writing tips.   Currently, he works as a full-time writer at Removal.AI – a fast-growing start-up that offers image processing and AI background remover, web, and app development, and marketing automation.