Creative Guerilla Marketing Campaigns

With the downturn in the economy and marketing budgets smaller than the Dow Jones average, it’s a perfect opportunity for small business owners to compete in the branding wars. But to do so you have to be creative. Using “guerilla” marketing can be one avenue to make a big, and fun, impression on a small budget. Keep it simple, but make an impression. Try to find ideas that people will respond to, something to lighten their day, such as music, food, children, and art.

We are so overwhelmed with advertising everywhere that it becomes hard for creative agencies to make ads that stand out. Guerilla advertising is a great way to make unusual, surrealistic visuals and situations that passers by will remember. Here is a selection.

1. Superette – Short shorts

The bench that turns you into a walking advertisement if you are wearing short shorts. 

2. Folgers Coffee

Seen in New York, how would you not go grab a coffee there?

Here's something Gothamist has never seen in New York before - advertising on manhole covers. Via coloribus, it seems like Saatchi & Saatchi is doing some guerilla advertising for Folgers coffee. We must say that it's a brilliant use of manholes who, before this, were best used for tattoos. And while it's original, Gothamist doesn't think "mmm...coffee" when we smell some of the steam coming out of manholes. Next up for marketers, printing a vinyl cover with lots of dog poo on it. "Take a whiff, New York. A steaming pile of poo."

3. Submerged Gotham

Cool idea to promote the movie “The day after tomorrow”, it gives the illusion that NYC has been submerged by the waters

To promote the 2004 global-warming disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow to Indian audiences more likely to buy tickets for the latest Bollywood extravaganza, Indian ad agency Contract created a dramatic outdoor campaign for the Mumbai theater Fame Adlabs. They planted a billboard in the sea not far from Mumbai, so that it appeared submerged under water. In addition, the firm placed what looked like the tip of the Empire State Building further out to sea. The idea was to mimic the effect of Manhattan being overwhelmed by a giant wave in the movie—albeit off the Indian coast.

At Rio carnival, beer cans recycled in exchange for train rides

        A lot of social problems don’t have easy answers, let alone ones that truly engage consumers and alter their behavior. It’s probably rare that a promotional campaign for an alcoholic beverage can provide both solutions and benefits for its targeted audience. However, with its Beer Turnstile campaign, Brazil’s AmBev – in collaboration with advertising agency AlmapBBDO – did just this. Offering partygoers at the annual Rio carnival a free train ride home in exchange for handing in an empty can of its Antarctica beer, the company simultaneously avoided rubbish on the street, ensured the cans were recycled, reduced instances of drink driving by 43 percent, provided attendees with free transport and promoted the brand, the carnival and the train operators as socially responsible businesses.

Corona Billboard Transforms The Moon Into A Lime

Beer brand Corona Extra, in partnership with ad agency Cramer-Krasselt, incorporated the moon into their billboard in a unique ad campaign called Luna Corona.The brand worked with top universities and planetariums to gauge the precise moment and calculate the angle when the moon moves at the right place to appear like the slice of lime on top of the illustrated bottle on the billboard.

Luna Corona happened on June 14th and 15th at 15th Street and 19th Avenue in downtown New York.