
How did guerrilla marketing get started?
From the moment the first papyrus poster was slapped up on the wall of an ancient Egyptian marketplace around 4,000BC, advertising has always been about stealing the customer?s attention. In the 18th century, the first advertisements started showing up in newspapers.?It was one century later, however, when Thomas J. Barratt, who?worked for the Pears Soap company, pioneered the use of slogans, images and catch-phrases to associate a product with a desired perception.?Barratt pulled off one of the first and best guerrilla marketing stunts of all time when he imported half a million French coins, imprinted them with Pears? name and released them into circulation.Along came the guerrilla
In the early 80s, small businesses were desperate to find ways to compete with juggernauts who could easily out-buy them in the media. In 1983, the term ‘guerrilla marketing’ was popularised by author Jay Conrad Levinson, who ?proposed that instead of playing by the marketing rules of paying for exposure in traditional ad channels, he proposed that marketers could do something clever, funny, outrageous or unique to get customer attention – but most of all, it had to be surprising. So what does guerrilla marketing look like out in the wild?Ambient marketing
Ambient marketing focuses on getting advertisements in unusual places where they wouldn?t normally be found. Check out this video:Undercover/buzz marketing
Undercover marketing attempts to sell a consumer on a product or idea without them ever knowing they?re being hit with a sales pitch. Sales agents pose as average Joes and create scenarios that put the product front and center in a way that just seems natural.?Omnicom Group Inc. pulled off one of the most memorable undercover marketing campaigns for Sony Ericsson when they launched their T68i, the first cell phone with a digital camera. 60 different actors across ten major cities posed as couples looking to get their picture taken. They?d ask strangers to snap a shot ? then hand them the cell phone and talk excitedly about all of the phone?s features. The effort propelled the T68i to become one of the best selling phones of the year.Experiential marketing
This is a highly active and engaged form of marketing that connects people with your brand through a shared experience and capitalises on the immediate emotional responses that come out of that interaction. I A great example from a lesser-known brand: Granata Pet food delighted dog owners when they created a series of billboards where dog walkers could check in on Foursquare. Upon check-in the billboard would dispense dog food for their furry friends. And what about this Skyfall launch campaign? This article was written?by digital printing services?Pixartprinting, with the help of?Sam Ewen, founder of Interference Inc., author?Jonathan Margolis and?Steven Severn, who is the founder of GuerrillaCheeseMarketing.com.?Follow the link above to read more. Image sourceShare this story