The 5 Best Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns Ever Made
In recent years, consumers have been more immune to general marketing tactics, forcing marketers to become more creative with how they reach their audiences. Plus, many marketing companies have had to work on a low budget. So, using guerrilla marketing to get free publicity is a great way to expand the campaign with a little spending.
Thus, guerilla marketing was born.
What Is Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is a creative promotion strategy using unconventional tactics to generate buzz about a company or product. The idea behind guerrilla marketing is to generate tons of exposure without tons of advertising spending. A guerilla marketing campaign is so creative that it generates free publicity and exposure without the company paying loads to promote it.
5 Examples of Guerrilla Marketing
Big brands like Coca-Cola, Tesla, and Nike have successfully launched guerrilla marketing campaigns for publicity, but even smaller companies can pull it off. Here are five examples of guerrilla marketing done well.
Tesla: “$0 Budget”
Tesla is one of the most famous examples of guerrilla marketing with its “$0 budget” marketing mantra. They often get loads of coverage with little to no spending. How do they do it? Tesla has tried various tactics, from giving away patents for free, posting humorous videos of drivers using autopilot, and more. The humorous videos went viral, without Tesla having to spend a thing, which is one of the things we aim to achieve as public relations specialists.
IKEA
IKEA’s creative marketing team has pulled off numerous guerrilla marketing campaigns over the years, including installing furniture on public transport, displaying drawers on a staircase to promote creative storage, and even putting empty IKEA boxes on airport baggage claim belts. What all of these campaigns have in common is that it catches a consumer’s attention in an unexpected way, but still in ways that will help people connect with the brand. Plus, it generated free publicity for IKEA because the ideas were so outside of the box and the stories were newsworthy. The media loved it.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola’s share a coke campaign is a great example of guerrilla marketing. The idea was to personalize coke bottles with names on them, encouraging people to buy them and share them with others. It got the company a lot of free publicity because people were talking about which names they could find and who they could give them to. The campaign led to a 5% increase in Coca-Cola consumption in Australia alone.
Coke has done other creative campaigns, including installing supersized vending machines and filming people’s reactions. Coke then posts those videos online, and they go viral, generating free coverage. Furthermore, that grabbed the media’s attention and created a lot of publicity.
Nike
In line with their tagline ‘Just Do It’, Nike set up benches in New York next to regular benches with one crucial design difference; nowhere to sit. The benches had a backrest with the Nike logo, but no seating panel. The idea is simple; you can’t run if you’re sitting down. That sent a clear message to keep running and was way more memorable than buying a billboard in Times Square!
Volkswagen
Volkswagen created a popular campaign in 2010 called “Speed up your life.” They turned everyday activities into a fun, speedy experience and called it a ‘fast lane’. For example, they installed a slide on a staircase at a subway station. Volkswagen wanted to remind consumers to have fun when they travel, with the slogan “what are you driven by” to remind them that Volkswagen drivers have fun. The eye-catching idea was hard to ignore, giving Volkswagen free publicity and buzz about their brand.
Apply Guerilla Marketing to Your Company
If you’re planning to run a guerrilla marketing campaign for your company, we can help. We help businesses in the Netherlands get started with free publicity to generate traction no matter your marketing budget. Contact us to talk about possible ways to boost your marketing with free publicity.