7 creative Business Marketing Campaigns that took the audience by surprise…
Boo!
Did I catch you by surprise?
No? Hmm.
I’ll have to try harder next time…
Guerrilla Marketing has been surprising and even startling innocent passers-by for quite some time now, as small and big businesses dream up new ways to get their message across to a largely unsuspecting public.
It’s a concept which has grown in popularity over the last few years;
The unconventional marketing stunt designed to capture attention from out of the blue and generate a big buzz.
The marketing campaigns tend to be controversial, funny, jaw-dropping, scary, annoying, downright silly, and sometimes even a little bit naughty.
But the very best of the bunch always grab your interest and raise awareness of the business or product on a big scale.
I’ve been experimenting with the idea here at Martin Print H.Q, with the help and hindrance of our resident caretaker, Old Bert.
Following a slight misunderstanding, Old Bert spent most of last week walking up and down the street in a gorilla costume and handing out some of our luxury Business Cards.
I eventually took him to one side, and explained again that Guerrilla Marketing is all about taking the general public by surprise and getting them to absorb your marketing messages without even consciously realising it.
I won’t go into too much detail on his second disastrous surprise strategy, but you could hear the screams and gasps of innocent passers-by for miles and miles and miles.
I’m not letting Old Bert out of the building without supervision ever again.
In future, I think Martin Print will stick to more traditional marketing methods when we’re trying to tell business owners about our beautiful printing and results-driven design services.
But in the meantime, here are seven of my own favourite examples of Guerrilla Marketing from around the world.
Genius or just plain potty?
You decide.
Expect the unexpected!
Sliding Doors
To get things sliding in the right direction, let’s kick off with an interesting way to spread a very frank message on behalf of a popular Deodorant brand.
These sliding doors in a shopping centre featured life-size stickers of people attached to the front. They naturally appear to ‘move’ out of your way as you approach the sliding doors.
As you walk through the doors and enter the shopping centre, the next thing you see is a large banner announcing that ‘People Move Away When You Have Body Odour!’
Message received loud and clear. Time to stock up on the smelly stuff…
Mirror Marketing
Mirror, Mirror on the wall…hey, I like the look of that!
These giant mirrors captured the attention of casual shoppers who could instantly see how they would look wearing a selection of Indivi clothes.
Take a Seat
Here’s one of my all-time favourite examples of Guerrilla Marketing which I recently shared on the Martin Print Facebook page.
This bench turned the innocent short-wearing public into a walking advertisement for…shorts!
I’m sure not everyone appreciated the marketing stunt, but the fun effect was only temporary, and you have to admire the strategy of targeting the perfect audience to help spread the word…
At Your Convenience
Surely you’re safe from marketing when you’re paying a visit to a public toilet?
Hmm, maybe not.
My spidey-sense is tingling…
This ‘special’ installation was a witty promo for the latest Spider Man movie, and was clearly designed for the exclusive use of the superhero.
The $3 Million Dollar Temptation
Here’s another one recently shared on our Facebook page, but I can now reveal the full story here on the Martin Print Blog.
The compelling Bus Stop advertisement appears to show just how much confidence this Security Glass company has in its own product.
It was alleged that the poster case contained $3 million dollars, and passers-by were openly invited to try and ‘win’ the money by breaking through the tough security glass.
Alas, it wasn’t quite what it seemed.
The vast majority of the money was fake, the glass itself had a special strengthening film applied to it (boo! cheat!) and the Ad was permanently manned by Security Staff who intervened if things turned messy.
Despite these flaws, the Ad still managed to generate front-page headlines and it successfully communicated the strength of the product, even if they cheated just a little bit.
Pearl in the Shell
This fun marketing campaign attracted genuine curiosity from the public by placing giant seashells on the beach.
When opened, the shells revealed the surprise marketing treasure – an enchanting little promotional piece for a local Seafood Festival.
Test Your Marketing Strength
Finally, here’s a slice of marketing that actually makes you look good!
Heavy weights were attached to these subway safety bars, delivering the illusion that the passenger was effortlessly holding up the huge weights whilst casually reading a newspaper!
Naturally, everyone’s attention was also driven to the Ad for the Fitness Company behind this unusual campaign.
So, have you ever considered cooking up something out of the ordinary to take your own potential business customers by surprise?
Or have you ever come across a particularly clever or cunning marketing campaign which captured your attention when you were least suspecting it?
I’d be interested to hear your own examples of good, bad, or downright crazy Guerrilla Marketing below…
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