The term guerrilla marketing was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing as an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget, by relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare is probably the most famous example. On 31 January 2007, several guerrilla-marketing magnetic light displays in and around the city of Boston, Massachusetts, were mistaken for possible explosive devices. Several subway stations, bridges, and a portion of Interstate 93 were closed as police examined, removed, and in some cases, destroyed the devices. The suspicious objects were revealed to be ads depicting the Mooninites, Ignignokt and Err, characters from the Cartoon Network's latenight Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
W6M: I hesitated to include the Aqua Teen example because bomb scares are typically frowned upon, but thought I would include it as a warning to be careful when you try something. This promotion obviously did a great job of Market Disruption, but you really have to be careful. My personal definition of guerrilla marketing is doing something that is not the standard print, radio and TV and cuts through the clutter. And when I present guerrilla concepts I ask myself:
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare is probably the most famous example. On 31 January 2007, several guerrilla-marketing magnetic light displays in and around the city of Boston, Massachusetts, were mistaken for possible explosive devices. Several subway stations, bridges, and a portion of Interstate 93 were closed as police examined, removed, and in some cases, destroyed the devices. The suspicious objects were revealed to be ads depicting the Mooninites, Ignignokt and Err, characters from the Cartoon Network's latenight Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
W6M: I hesitated to include the Aqua Teen example because bomb scares are typically frowned upon, but thought I would include it as a warning to be careful when you try something. This promotion obviously did a great job of Market Disruption, but you really have to be careful. My personal definition of guerrilla marketing is doing something that is not the standard print, radio and TV and cuts through the clutter. And when I present guerrilla concepts I ask myself:
- Can I track results? How?
If you are only concerended with branding, results can be quantified by keeping track of video views, media impressions, blogs you appear on and traffic to your site. When you are promoting a specific product and you appear in print, radio and TV at the same time, tracking gets a little trickier. For one promotion that we did, we gave people extra incentive to bring in flyers from the guerilla campaign when signing up for our offer. - Is the concept legal?
I am sure the Aqua Teen marketers had no clue people would think the toys were bombs, but try to consider any negative repercussions that might result from your promotion. - Can I physically pull it off? Do I have enough time and money?
If you pitch an idea and the cleint likes it, are you going to be able to deliver. Also, guerrilla ideas are suppose to be cheaper ideas that get big bang for your buck. You don't always have to spend big to get results, but you do have to be creative. - Does the promotion reach my targeted audience?
A good campaign will reach a highly target audience. Spill over into mass audience is a bonus. - Will it disrupt the market?
Again, the point is to get attention and have people tell their friends about your product. Disrupting the market can also have negative backlash that you may not want your brand associated with.
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