What is Guerrilla Marketing? 14 Real Examples to Inspire you.

Guerrilla marketing is a technique through which you can do publicity and, as a result, brand awareness by encouraging unconventional methods intended to excite surprise, wonder, or shock. Therefore, to understand it precisely today, we will learn what guerrilla marketing is and the 14 best guerrilla marketing examples in this post.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing is a marketing approach in which a company leverages unconventional methods and interactions to support a product or service. Guerrilla marketing heavily relies upon surprise or provocativeness for creating buzz.

So, if you ever see a product at an unusual place or a brand generating controversies with their crazy advertisements, then it’s all part of their guerrilla marketing technique.

Some of the features of guerrilla marketing are:

• They are very interactive and include consumers’ participation.
• They always have a surprise element that strives to make a lasting experience.
• It’s super cost-effective because it requires very small capital compared to the result you get.
• They are always suggestive in their approach and never sound too pushy.

Now that you are accustomed to what guerrilla marketing includes, let’s look at its benefits and a list of guerrilla marketing examples from which you can take inspiration and get your brand regarded in the most unique way ever!

Benefits of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing has some benefits.

• Cheap to execute. Whether using a simple stencil or a large sticker, guerrilla marketing tends to be much more affordable than classic advertising.
• Permits creative thinking. In guerrilla marketing, creativity is more powerful than budget.
• Expands with word-of-mouth. Guerrilla marketing depends heavily on word-of-mouth marketing,viewed by many as one of the most powerful weapons in a marketer’s arsenal. There’s nothing more satisfying than getting people to speak about your campaign on their own accord.
• Publicity can snowball. Some very noteworthy or unique guerrilla marketing campaigns will get pulled up by local (and even national) news sources, leading to the publicity powerhouse effect that marketers drool over.

14 Guerrilla Marketing Examples

Now that you have understood what guerrilla marketing includes, Let’s start looking into some of the best guerrilla marketing examples for an organization to raise their creative bar to make their brands memorable. Let’s have a look at them one by one.

1. Caribou Coffee

Commuters warmed up to Caribou Coffee in Minneapolis, MN, with this genius bus stop ad. Created to look like an oven, the installation gave irresistible heat in winter (yes, the heating part works!) meanwhile supporting Caribou’s new breakfast sandwiches. It’s a prime example of using mundane things and converting them into surprisingly comforting and compelling mediums for promotion. 

When it comes to creativity and plain old fun, guerrilla marketing is best. Guerrilla tactics develop our perspectives, make us smile and throw monkey wrenches into tedious commutes and errand running. As marketers, they also change our preconceived notions of what marketing is and evolve out of the box creative processes. All in all, guerrilla marketing is a highly influential tactic that makes your product or service unforgettable. 

2. King Kong 3D

This ingenious ad for the King Kong 3D experience at Universal Studios needs no description when it comes to impact! With massive footprints and a squashed lifeguard truck on a Santa Monica, CA beach, it brings the monster to life. One can practically imagine the giant ape wandering the streets of Los Angeles after accompanying this outdoor guerrilla marketing installation. 

3. Colgate

Supporting both their brand and good oral hygiene, Colgate devised this cunning tactic in Thailand to remind ice cream loving kids—and adults—to clean after eating sweets. Interactive, entertaining, unusual and playful, this guerrilla advertising technique has it all. And as you know that Colgate is a great brand to use, of course!

4. Public Split on Burger King’s Instagram

Breaking up is tough to do in person, let alone when it’s openly played out online. That’s what appeared — allegedly — when one Instagram user dropped a comment on one of Burger King’s Instagram posts sharing a tale of his “girl” getting food from Burger King. There was just one problem. This guy does have a girlfriend, but she was nowhere near a Burger King. So, who was he pointing to? The drama happened via Instagram comments.

After the comments started to make headlines, many thought Burger King might have staged the whole exchange. And if it was, we can’t help but congratulate them — what a way to get your brand noticed

Burger King has about one million followers on Instagram. And while we’re not sure how many followers earlier had before this famous breakup, it makes sense to believe that this at least drew more attention to its social media presence, at least on this distinct platform. Of course, people may have already been following the brand on Instagram, but before now, were they actively addressing it?

5. Dollar Shave Club

Who can overlook this viral video that Dollar Shave Club put out in 2012 with more than 27 million views and 9,000 comments? Who thought that razors could be so pleasant, exciting and entertaining? Well, by being off the surface, down to earth and daring, Dollar Shave Club turned a video created with $4,500 into $65 million in annual revenue! In addition, they disrupted the entire razor industry by being affordable and not taking themselves too seriously. 

Guerrilla Marketing does include some risk, however. For example, while being disruptive and socially informed, Gillette’s toxic manliness had left parent company P&G with an $8 billion loss following backlash from customers. So despite your stance on the issue, a prime example of the risk guerrilla marketing can carry.

6. Sprite

Sprite nailed it with this large soda machine shower on a steamy beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This outdoor guerrilla marketing foundation is fun, refreshing and creative. And no, beach-goers were not showering with soda; it’s only water. Nonetheless, it’s difficult not to associate Sprite with refreshment after seeing this video and seeing the atmosphere it built.

7. Bounty’s Giant Popsicle

By introducing life-sized “messes” throughout the roads of New York — a large, knocked-over coffee cup and a massive melting popsicle –, Bounty got a unique way to promote its product and the solution it gives, with minimum words.

You might question, “Wouldn’t a compact billboard ad perform the same thing?” Well, not really. Culturally, we’re beginning to opt for every possible way to eradicate ads from our lives. Therefore, we love things like DVR and ad-free options on streaming services like Hulu and YouTube. This campaign, unlike an advertisement, isn’t as obvious to ignore. After all, if you pitched upon a melting popsicle the size of your bed on your way to work, would you stand and look? We would.

8. Deadpool’s Tinder Profile

Some Tinder users were astonished to see none other than comic anti-hero and legend Deadpool conferring upon their Tinder. With “cheeky” pics and funny profile copy, Deadpool demolished the fourth wall and met potential movie-goers ahead of the movie’s Valentine’s Day release.

If the Tinder user “swiped right” and matched the character, they got a link to purchase tickets.

While Tinder isn’t the best place to create buzz — it’s confined in its reach to a small subset of users, and you’re technically not permitted to use the platform for promotion — screenshots of this gag quickly made it to social media, earning a ton of attention.

9. UNICEF’s Dirty Water Vending Machines

It is one of the best guerrilla marketing examples. UNICEF’s campaign, a relief organization, posed the question, “What if those bottles of water you waste money on were packed with dirty water?” It suggested to the privileged masses that whole populations have no access to clean drinking water in so many parts of the world.

So instead of frivolously using that money on bottled water, UNICEF recommended putting it toward efforts to carry clean drinking water to these areas. Instead, it led to makeshift vending machines that sold bottled dirty water, with every button labelled as a disease caused by a lack of clean drinking water.

10. Childish Gambino’s Ice Cream Pop-Up

Have you ever noticed how powerful a motivator free meals can be? Make it a sweet treat, and you have yourself a dazzling combination. Childish Gambino likely had this in mind for his “Summertime Starts Here” pop-up events where they gave free ice creams away. Gambino’s two singles played on a loudspeaker as people queued up in the heat for some delightful ice cream.

11. Greene King’s Candid Videos

When bar and brewing company Greene King feared that small, neighbourhood businesses — notably, the pub — would begin to be overtaken by large corporate retail, it started a campaign to demonstrate just how important these local businesses are. Even great, the content was almost wholly created by those who understand this predicament best: Pub owners, bartenders, and patrons.

These individuals were provided cameras to capture video of the most important moments and gatherings they’ve encountered inside these local pubs — from weddings to cremation receptions to birthdays. 

These videos were shared on Greene King’s YouTube profile and posed the question, “Without these community meeting places, where would we share these moments?”

12. GoldToe’s Giant Briefs

Are you advertising your underwear brand in an unconventional way to market your product? Why just try putting an enormous pair of briefs on an iconic charging bull statue.

It’s so easy, in theory, that it sounds like fantasy. But when the GoldToe brand wanted a way to tease and encourage the launch of its new undergarments, that’s exactly what it took — casually putting these new items of clothing on statues throughout New York. And while we can’t be sure that it’s the way GoldToe took, we sincerely hope that those bull-sized briefs were made with remaining manufacturing fabric, helping to make this campaign further budget-friendlier.

13. BBC’s Dracula Billboard

 BBC wanted to capitalize on its feeling by promoting its show, Dracula.

Their billboard was minimalistic, with red text on a white background with a few bloody stakes by day. But, like its subject, the billboard changed absolutely every time night fell.

The stakes were strategically placed — to cast a shadow of Dracula himself.

The establishment featured in Adweek and had some viral success for its creativity and accomplished implementation.

14. Fiji Water’s #FijiGirl

Strategic product placement is one guerrilla marketing technique to get attention in subtle ways. One such example involves Fiji Water’s presence at the 2019 Golden Globes, where models dressed in blue carried water trays for thirsty attendees.

It didn’t stop there, though. One model — Kelleth Cuthbert — placed herself in the background during photoshoots, dramatically photo-bombing high-profile celebrities.

People saw Cuthbert as a common denominator when the photos surfaced on social media, dubbing her #FijiGirl. Ultimately, she became one of the highlights of the evening, getting over fans and drawing attention to Fiji Water’s brand.

Wrap Up

After reading this post, you may have understood a lot about guerrilla marketing and how it is so powerful. We agree that there are some risks involved in this marketing, but as you have seen guerrilla marketing examples, you can predict a massive impact if done rightly.