Taking consumers by surprise
Jane McDaid explains the merits of using guerrilla marketing to create a buzz for brands

For guardians of youth brands, the aim is to devise ideas that get talked about and create a buzz. To communicate brand messages in an interesting, unconventional and surprising way is the big ask. To do so cost effectively is the dream. Guerrilla marketing, when done right, should achieve that. But does it really work?

Guerrilla campaigns are meant to cause a stir, to get people talking and interested about the marketing itself. Some of the best ideas are the simplest and churn out some real ‘brand fans’. Take Saatchi & Saatchi’s ambient campaign in New York for Folgers.

A number of the city’s manholes were covered and branded Folgers. Billboards and magazine ads can be skipped over by your brain but a large steaming hot cup of coffee in the middle of the street is bound to get your attention. The images whipped their way around marketers’ in-boxes and gained international kudos for the Folgers brand.

If the aim is to impress your brand’s presence on the competition, guerrilla marketing can happily do that. Along the way, you amuse, create debate and build curiosity about your brand with the rival’s customers. Guerrilla marketing works best for new market entrants wishing to be seen as aggressive players with wit, confidence and ambition.

Making its mark in Ireland, mobile phone network 3 ‘ambushed’ the Ireland v England Six Nations game sponsored by 02. By branding the streets with ‘clean graffiti’ (essentially cleaning pavements with high pressure hoses through logo stencils); conducting a ‘building size’ 3-branded laser light show; branding 45,000 fans with 3 fan hats and flying a branded single-engine plane over Croke Park, 3 stole the limelight and earned brand mentions in national newspapers, on radio and blogs.

YouTube had a link with a guerrilla viral ‘re-enacting’ the Financial Regulator’s TV commercial created by Cawley Nea\TBWA. Whether it was genius on the part of the marketers, or simply a couple of kids having a laugh on a bus, it got stand-out. It is the ‘amateur’ vibe that tickles us and makes us more likely to forward the link to others.

It sparks instant recall of the TV campaign and re-enforces the message. One week the clip had over 400 hits and it soon clocked up 33,000 views. The clip even hit the national airwaves, with radio stations encouraging people to do their version on a bus.

But one can take surprise too far. Turner Broadcasting ran a stunt which cost reputation loss and $2 million in penalties. Illuminated boards, stuck on the side of bridges and buildings promoting a show on Cartoon Network, were thought to be bombs. It led to road closures, traffic jams, huge delays and the deployment of public safety personnel.

Since guerrilla marketing is aimed at taking us by surprise and intrude on our lives when we least expect it, there is an onus on those who use it. As well as forecasting what could go wrong, marketers need to show respect for public venues and for consumers’ private space. It is common sense, something those at Turner’s appeared to lack.

Celebrity endorsement has its place, but today’s refreshing marketing direction of ‘Joe Bloggs’ endorsement is prevalent. Consumers are marketing savvy and, some might argue, connect more with the unknown than the celebrated pop star, footballer or model. The trend is apparent in Powerade’s Never Give Up series, created by McCann Erickson, documenting Will Cullen’s training for the Dublin City Triathlon.

To communicate the plight of debt with British students, London-based agency, Cunning recruited 500 college students to display temporary company logos on their foreheads as part of a campaign called ‘ForeheADS’. Participants were paid