Guerrilla Marketing

Executive SummaRY

My topic contains the various issues in Guerrilla marketing related to various key players of advertising . It includes the introduction of Guerrilla marketing. It as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. It is intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. People get borred with the traditional promotions tool so pay less attention to them.

In 1965, one could reach 80% of a mainstream target audience with three TV advertisement spots. By 2002, 127 spots were required to achieve the same reach (Bianco, 2004) and in 2009. 262 spots were required to achieve the same reach. It is useful for small business as it required low budget but now big business houses are also using it.

It is has proven its versatility as a social medium and money-making advertising tool.

Guerrilla Marketing

Table of Contents

S.No. Particulars

1 Background

2 Introduction of Guerrilla marketing

3 Principles of Guerrilla marketing

4 Advantages of Guerrilla marketing

5 Disadvantages of Guerrilla marketing

6 The History of Guerrilla marketing

7 Different types of Guerrilla marketing

8 Phenomena of Guerrilla marketing

9 Major corporations go for Guerrilla marketing

10 Conclusion

Guerrilla Marketing

Background

When you are walking to school or driving for work you meet numerous of different posters and billboards along the way. Marketing and advertising is all around us and one is under constant influence by different kind of messages. In 1965, one could reach 80% of a mainstream target audience with three TV advertisement spots. By 2002, 127 spots were required to achieve the same reach (Bianco, 2004) and in 2009. 262 spots were required to achieve the same reach. Although, the interesting part is how much attention do commercials and advertisements receive from the potential consumer? The mainstream marketing approaches, such as TV commercials and print advertisements are getting old and these traditional methods are inefficient without support from more unconventional methods. Griffin (2002) argues that people are getting tired of the same old messages and there is a need for innovation in order to reach new grounds. The customer is easily bored with unadventurous way of marketing (Griffin, 2002).

From a company’s point of view, marketing and especially advertising is important for sales, though a company is paying for media space and want to reach as many potential buyers as possible. Hence by using mass marketing the waste is often big, organizations send countless of messages out to the erroneous group (Twitchell, 1996). Therefore, the need for more of an efficient method is current, to reach the right customer through the marketing campaign without getting lost in the clutter. Furthermore, according to Levinson (1998) there is a call for more efficient methods, more innovating and effective, not as costly and have a higher focus on smaller demographic areas and targeted segments.

The Swedish Institute for Commercials and Media Statistics (IRM-media) presents statistics that investment in daily newspapers has decreased 7% during the latest years. Compare this to the investment that Swedish organizations endow in the advertisement place on the internet, which has increased 23% (IRM-media). The authors believe that the internet could be a more cost-effective method in comparison to ads in daily newspapers, also knowing that through internet one could reach the target group in a more direct way. Marketing is also a question about financial means, since one has to invest money in order to use the traditional marketing approaches.

The customer often block the established channels used; people tend to put out signs on their postboxes declining mass advertisement through

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mail, when purchasing a new DVD player it may be able to cut out commercial breaks. With the aim of getting through the clutter in the market, one has to choose a different kind of route and focus more innovation and creativity. Therefore, one shall find new ways and channels to reach the market. An interesting form of marketing is when exposing customers to messages in an unconventional way, for example hire actors to visualize a need for a product in a store.

The use of the unconventional marketing approaches was something that previously associated with small business firms due to their limited budget; they had to find new ways. Nowadays, when the competition is harsh, the trend goes towards that large advertisers also have adopted the approach. Since the positive aspects are more visible and the need for finding new ways of reaching the customer has increased (Belch & Belch, 2004). One of these approaches is known as Guerrilla marketing, as one could heed from the name the marketing approach could be experienced as controversial, since the name could be associated with warfare tactics, thus one should not associate it with a bloody battleground, more of a strategy that one uses in order to conquer a market through a well planned approach in a smaller scale. Companies use warfare to fight on the battleground of today, the consumer’s mind – where words and pictures are the weapons used and where the CEO of every company acts as a general (Garsombke, 1987).Guerrilla marketing, a marketing approach that stimulates to usemore alternative methods in order to win the war of the consumers’ minds (Levinson,1998)

Guerrilla Marketing

INTRODUCTION OF GUERRILLA MARKETING

The concept of Guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, Guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places.

The objective of Guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street give a ways of products, PR stunts, any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to Guerrilla marketing now utilize cutting edge mobile digital technologies to really engage the consumer and create a memorable brand experience.

Levinson's books include hundreds of "Guerrilla marketing weapons", but they also encourage Guerrilla marketers to be creative and devise their own unconventional methods of promotion. Guerrilla marketers use all of their contacts, both professional and personal, and examine their company and its products, looking for sources of publicity. Many forms of publicity can be very inexpensive, while others are free.

Levinson says that when implementing Guerrilla marketing tactics, small size is actually an advantage instead of a disadvantage. Small organizations and entrepreneurs are able to obtain publicity more easily than large companies as they are closer to their customers and considerably more agile.

Yet ultimately, according to Levinson, the Guerrilla marketer must "deliver the goods". In The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, he states: "In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customer's needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits."

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Principles of Guerrilla marketing

Levinson identifies the following principles as the foundation of Guerrilla marketing:

• Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for the small business and entrepreneur.

• It should be based on human psychology rather than experience, judgment, and guesswork.

• Instead of money, the primary investments of marketing should be time, energy, and imagination.

• The primary statistic to measure your business is the amount of profits, not sales.

• The marketer should also concentrate on how many new relationships are made each month.

• Create a standard of excellence with an acute focus instead of trying to diversify by offering too many diverse products and services.

• Instead of concentrating on getting new customers, aim for more referrals, more transactions with existing customers, and larger transactions.

• Forget about the competition and concentrate more on cooperating with other businesses.

• Guerrilla Marketers should use a combination of marketing methods for a campaign.

• Use current technology as a tool to build your business.

• Messages are aimed at individuals or small groups, the smaller the better.

• Focuses on gaining the consent of the individual to send them more information rather than trying to make the sale.

Guerrilla Marketing

Advantages of Guerrilla marketing

• Guerrilla marketing is cheap. At the high end, you may end up investing a few hundred dollars in promotional items or a major, centralized piece that you can build a number of different campaigns around. At the low end, it’s free — and you can’t beat free!

• In addition to growing your business, Guerrilla marketing involves networking, both with your customers and with other businesses. In the process of executing and maintaining your campaign, you will make a lot of new friends and allies.

• Guerrilla marketing is specifically tailored to meet the needs of small businesses, whereas traditional advertising venues are complicated and expensive to the point of exclusion (bordering on snobbishness).

• Many aspects of creative Guerrilla marketing campaigns are just plain fun! You get to perform wacky stunts and engage in unusual activities, all in the name of working for a living.

• Guerrilla marketing works. If you do your research, plan your campaign, and stick with it, you will more than likely end up with a better and more profitable business.

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Disadvantages of Guerrilla marketing

• Guerrilla marketing works — but it is not completely failsafe. It is, after all, advertising; which is far from an exact science. The number of variables involved in advertising guarantees that nothing is 100 percent effective.

• As with any advertising campaign, you will not be able to pinpoint exactly what works and what doesn’t. Obtaining measurable results is difficult (but not impossible, unlike other marketing techniques).

• Guerrilla marketing requires a greater level of dedication and energy than traditional advertising venues, which often consist of throwing large amounts of money at other people to do the work for you.

• If you’re looking for a quick fix, Guerrilla marketing is not your solution. You will not see instant or overnight results stemming from your efforts. An investment of time is required in order to achieve your business sales goals.

• Guerrilla marketing is not for the thin-skinned or faint of heart. At the very least, you will have a few detractors who find fault in your methods. At worst, you may be threatened with legal action (which is why it’s so important to check your local laws before engaging in a Guerrilla marketing campaign).

Guerrilla Marketing

The History of Guerrilla Marketing

Everyone loves a story about the little guy who takes on the bigger, more heavily armed opponent and wins. When the little guy uses unconventional tactics and surprises the opponent, it’s called Guerrilla warfare. When some starry-eyed startup shocks the world with an underground marketing campaign that costs nothing but causes shockwaves for months, it’s called Guerrilla marketing.

We hear the term “Guerrilla marketing” everywhere these days. It’s used to describe all sorts of marketing campaigns, from some scantily clad bottoms bearing the name of a business to the ill-fated Cartoon Network Lite-Brite stunt in Boston.

This iconic and often controversial form of advertising didn’t come into popular existence until the late 1970s. Before that time, advertising was mostly about big budgets, big exposure, and catchy jingles. Advertisers were all about the profits and bringing in new customers by the truckload. Just like Darren on Bewitched, the ad men of the first half of the 20th century

Guerrilla Marketing

gave themselves ulcers worrying about how to make that Thompson’s Toothpaste or Smith’s Socks campaign one that they could retire on.

They were able to garner as much attention as the big players. By being quirky, personal, or just completely unexpected, the new generation of advertisements was taking the country – and the world – by storm.

Be sure to stayed tuned for the next installment in our series on the history of Guerrilla marketing. Which of your favorite brands have used Guerrilla tactics to sell you something?

. It’s 1987. The scene at the club is hectic. The lights are flashing, the music is thumping, and the hair is big and teased. The dance floor is a sea of acid wash jeans and Adidas mingling with huge plastic earrings and punky lace layers. From the beginning of the 20th century until the 1940s or 50s, the main goal of advertisements seemed to be to educate the target audience rather than entertain or engage them. Ads centered on telling the consumer something that they didn’t know before. From posters on public fences to newspaper ads to radio and, later, television spots, advertisers assumed that the consumer needed to be taught. This resulted in hilarious (and dangerous) campaigns like the “smoking will make you thin” one, or the infamous Lysol douche ads.

Over time, though, advertisers noticed that their advertising techniques were getting less effective. Consumers could spot a pitch and were too jaded to fall for advertising the way they had a generation before. By the 1970s, the advertising world was ready for a revolution.

That revolution came in 1984 when Jay Conrad Levinson’s ideas for big advertising results with little investment hit the book stores. Guerrilla Marketing laid out the secrets of subtle marketing that professional ad men had already known for years. When the book was published, not even Levinson could have predicted how small businesses would take the concepts and run with them.

The attraction of Guerrilla marketing is that it’s not educational or preachy. It makes the viewer think that they’re in on a secret. The more creative and jarring a campaign is, the more attention it gets. Some of the most memorable Guerrilla marketing events have made bystanders feel lucky to be there to witness them.

The goals of Guerrilla marketing are relatively simple: use unconventional tactics to advertise on a small budget. Forget about TV and radio ads – think outside of those boxes. Create a trapezoid instead of a box. Make your campaign so shocking, funny, unique, outrageous, clever, or creative that people can’t stop talking about it. Back up your claims and make sure that whatever you’re advertising is worth all of that buzz.

Guerrilla Marketing

Levinson’s ideas had been used for years to help underdog businesses vanquish their larger competitors. The Marlboro Man, Pillsbury Dough Boy, and Jolly Green Giant can all be credited to teams including that rebel marketer who took their respective companies from relative obscurity to advertisement immortality.The ideas that small business owners got from this book completely changed the way the advertising game was played. For the first time, small businesses Suddenly a gorgeous woman sidles up to the bar next to you and purrs “Buy me a drink?” Since it’s the 80s and you’re up for anything, you happily agree. It’s a little weird when the woman insists on a very specific brand of vodka…and then goes on and on about why she loves that particular brand of vodka. Before you know it, she slips back into the crowd and you’re left alone at the bar, unfulfilled and a little confused but with a strange yen for the lady’s brand of vodka.Dude, you’ve been Guerrilla-d.

The “buy me a drink” club girls of the 1980s were one of the earliest examples of Guerrilla marketing in action. The tactic proved to be so effective that it’s still in use today. If you’re lucky enough to be in a targeted hotspot when a new liquor or energy drink comes out, you’re likely to see these Guerrillas in the wild.

Around the same time as the “buy me a drink” girls, a struggling shoe company was desperate for an image overhaul. At one time, Adidas was on top of the world. They were popular with Olympic athletes who were all too happy to sing their praises. But after a series of management changes and a whole lot of upheaval, the company was in trouble.

In the mid 1980s, a French businessman named Bernard Tapie took over the company. He knew he had to do something drastic to get the shoe brand back on top. His answer? Give pairs of Adidas away to up-and-coming rappers in New York.Tapie was no doubt called insane (and worse) for making that move. What did rappers have to do with shoes, anyway?

As it turned out, one rap group brought Adidas back from the brink of extinction. In 1986, Run DMC put out a single called “My Adidas.” Practically overnight, Adidas shoes were on the feet of every hip young thing and wannabe from NYC to LA.

By today’s Guerrilla marketing standards, the Adidas method probably wouldn’t work. With the tons of free products being sent to celebrities every day, the shoes would likely be lost in the shuffle and the business-saving phenomenon would never happen.Because Guerrilla marketing tactics become ineffective once the method is well-known, marketers have to keep moving and changing, bobbing and

Guerrilla Marketing

weaving, avoiding detection and blazing new trails. Their business depends on stealth and the element of surprise.

Since these early examples of Guerrilla marketing, the personal approach to g-marketing tactics has spread to almost every industry. The most effective sales pitches aren’t made by an actor playing a role in a TV commercial. They’re made by the cute young couple who ask you to take their picture and hand you their brand new camera phone to do it…the spend 10 minutes telling you how much they love it and why. They’re made by the hot guy walking around the bar with the bright green drink and happily explaining what’s in it to anyone who looks interested.

This type of personal, one-on-one marketing has done wonders for a lot of small and struggling businesses. But what happens when an already-successful large business takes on a Guerrilla approach? Does throwing money into a g-marketing campaign make it more or less effective? Be sure to tune in for the next installment in this six-part series on Guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla Marketing

Different Types of Guerrilla Marketing

One of the main advantages of Guerrilla marketing is that it’s unexpected. It catches us off guard and causes an emotional response: laughter, shock or sadness are great sellers. It’s easy to see why marketers would rather you didn’t know just how they’re using Guerrilla marketing to their advantage. If you know their secrets, you may just stop responding.

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that marketers are a clever bunch. They are well versed in the principles of human psychology that make us want to buy what they’re selling. Anyone who has ever taken a marketing class will probably the psychological principles used to sell us things: reciprocity, authority, consistency/commitment, social proof/acceptance, and scarcity/urgency. And in the methods we’ll explain below, you can find each and every one of those principles. In this installment of our Guerrilla marketing series we will take a closer look at some unusually interesting types including ambient marketing, presence marketing, grassroots marketing, wild posting, undercover marketing and astroturfing. (a) viral marketing : This is a highly visible form of Guerrilla marketing these days. A viral campaign can’t be planned or predicted, but it is dearly hoped for by marketers. A successful viral campaign uses existing communication networks (you tell two friends, they each tell two friends, and so on), doesn’t require much in terms of resources, and has the potential to be unstoppable. If you’re giving something away, even better. Remember Gmail invites? They were somewhat difficult to get at first, so everyone wanted one. (b) Ambient marketing:It allows a business to create brand recognition without necessarily pushing their products. One excellent example is the Dancing Grass Vans of London. Owned by renegade smoothie makers (and brilliant marketers) Innocent, the vans are covered in real, growing grass and can often be seen around the city making deliveries and drawing stares. Because they serve a real purpose (delivering smoothies), the vans don’t look like advertisements. But do you forget the name of a company with grass-covered vans? Never. Leading up to the release of the Simpsons Movie, 7-11 transformed some of their stores to look just like Kwik-E-Marts, complete with weird Springfield-type products. This ambient marketing campaign was ridiculously effective.

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© Presence marketing:It is along the same lines as ambient marketing. It’s about making the business name recognizable and familiar and always there. You know that saying, “out of sight, out of mind?” It goes double for products that don’t maintain a constant presence. This can be achieved through product placements in movies and TV shows, stalls at local festivals and markets, regular Twitter updates, or whatever else makes that product name visible daily. Small businesses and entrepreneurs with modest marketing budgets often find that presence marketing delivers an excellent return for their investment. All they really have to do is be visible.(d) Grassroots marketing : It is gaining popularity like – well, like a grass fire. A grassroots campaign can take on many forms, but for the most part it is about winning customers one-by-one rather than on a very large scale. Some grassroots campaigns have elements of presence marketing (like posting on message boards relevant to your business) or viral marketing (like the above user-generated Sony ad). A successful grassroots campaign is all about building relationships and emphasizing the personal connection, not about broadcasting your message and hoping potential customers are listening.(e) Wild postingsIt may seem old-fashioned, but they are still wildly popular with indie bands and products that want to portray that indie image. Have you ever walked down a city street and seen a wall plastered with multiple copies of a poster for a movie, concert, or alcoholic beverage? Those would be wild postings, and part of their effectiveness lies in the way that they can make us believe we’re witnessing something momentous. Most of us would love to have a poster from the wild posting days of the Beatles, right? So you’d better grab that Smirnoff Ice poster now while you can, right?(f) Tissue-pack advertising : It was made popular in Japan, but today it’s spreading to infiltrate the rest of the world. Knowing that advertising fliers were almost never accepted, much less read, Japanese businesses began to hand out pocket packs of tissues with ads on them. This simple but ingenious marketing method works because, well, who would turn down free stuff? Because the giveaway is a useful item, it stays close to the target consumer until it’s been used up. These days, you’d be hard pressed to find pocket packs of tissues in Japanese shops because they are so readily available for free.(g) Undercover marketing:It is also known as buzz marketing, is said to be one of the more devious ways of marketing to the masses. Remember the “buy me a drink” girls from

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part two of this series? These lovely young vixens were being paid to create a buzz around a certain beverage without ever letting you in on their dirty little secret: they were being paid to be so friendly. Undercover marketing/buzz marketing is all about selling something to someone who has no idea they’ve just witnessed a sales pitch.

(h) AstroturfingIt is widely considered to be the slimiest of all Guerrilla marketing practices. It involves creating an artificial buzz about a product or company, and it’s mighty risky in the information age. Postings are created in online forums, singing the praises of a certain product or service – but they aren’t made by the public. They’re made by shills, or people associated with the company who are paid to express a positive opinion. Astroturfing is rampant online in forums and blogs (actually “flogs,” or fake blogs), but you can still see the odd IRL astroturfer wandering department stores, lobbying Congress, and writing letters to newspaper editors.

(i)Alternative marketing:It is referenced consistently by marketers, but it is by nature challenging to define. It may be best defined as publicity that looks like it is completely removed from the company itself. For example, when Paris Hilton’s Sidekick was hacked, sales of Sidekicks jumped overnight. While T-Mobile probably (maybe?) had nothing to do with that publicity, it was excellent marketing for them. In fact, it has been suggested more than once that the whole event was an orchestrated publicity stunt. Alternative marketing takes a good deal of imagination and a healthy dose of luck to pull off. If the public finds out that they’ve been duped, it will spell disaster for the campaign.

(j) Experiential marketing:It is increasingly embraced by all types of companies and brands today. It’s becoming easier for us to tune out and ignore advertisements today, so experiential marketing aims to give you an experience rather than send you a one-way message. Experiential marketing lets you interact with the product and associate your immediate emotional responses with that brand. The Charmin Pottypalooza bathrooms at state fairs and the semi-permanent ones (now gone) in New York City are an unprecedented example of effective experiential marketing.

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How many of these methods have you seen just this week? With new concepts being rolled out all the time, it’s not always easy to spot when you’ve been targeted.

Phenomenon of Guerrilla marketing1.Communication - the route to win the war?Marketing is about sending a message through different channels, according to the empirical findings there is an importance with the communication process. Hence, the message is transmitted through new and different channels within Guerrilla marketing compared to traditional marketing, although the communication process looks almost the same. The channels used in the marketing. approaches are of high importance in accordance with several of the respondents. Accordingly, the theory mentions two types of channels personal or non- personal, where Guerrilla marketing is more of a personal channel. The channel is used to reach a targeted market or a segment. In light of what FO communicates, traditional marketers use given channels, like TV or radio, while Guerrilla marketers use new and invented channels, hence giving Guerrilla marketers a competitive advantage since the competitors all use the given channels. Although for the channel to be effective it needs to reach the targeted segment, the end customer needs to receive the message that the Guerrilla marketers are sending.This compared and analyzed in the light of warfare, the market leaders defend the roads, using a Guerrilla tactic you have to take another route to win the war. Consequently, walking along the road the enemy will shot you down and you will not survive, therefore you have to take another way, behind the enemy lines in order to become competitive and successful in the war. The source of the message tries to send it towards the receiver and encodes it with symbols or other tools. In Guerrilla campaigns they use symbols, words, pictures and activities for help in encoding the message for the sources. These symbols could be seen as weapons, in the war over the customers’ minds. An example of using symbols is when Miami used a blue Santa Clause during Christmas time in their Guerrilla marketing campaign for Moderaterna. This was connected to both Christmas time and the color blue, since the color symbolizes Moderaterna. One could argue that this is a good way to the reach the target. Another example is when LK uses purple as her symbol on business cards, letters and even clothes have a touch of purple, she is even known as the purple lady in the streets of Chicago. For that reason, this way the receiver can relate purple with LK and it will help

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them to remember her and her services in an easier way. Hence, she reduces the possibility for the receiver to not understand her message. When the sender has encoded the message it is delivered through the channels, accordingly several of the respondents in the empirical research realize the importance that the delivered message is well planned and with relevance otherwise the receiver will not acknowledge it.Hence, next in the process is the decoding phase, where the critical decision is made; whether the receiver will understand the message or if it has been lost through noise or clutter. Hence, noise often occur when the sender and the receiver do not have a common ground, for instance the Santa Claus campaign were effective since the receivers could relate to it. It can also be affected by other companies using the same channel and your message will be lost. Therefore, the Guerrilla campaign could easily backfire if these kinds of common grounds are not found or if someone else is sending out a stronger message, since then the receiver would have difficulties decoding your message. In order to enhance the message, both HR and AL points out the importance of connecting the message to a current event or to some kind of activity in order for the customers to remember it.Further, when the receiver has decoded the message, the response phase appears in the communication process. Most of the time, the response that is wanted is action, several of the respondents in our empirical research mentions that. Although according to the theory, there are different kinds of action, instant action or actions that will come over time at a later occasion. For example, ALE understands that the purchase of a vehicle is a long process; hence her goal with the Guerrilla campaigns is to create awareness. Accordingly when it is time for the receiver to buy the car they will think of Mitsubishi. If not response, at least some feedback is wanted for the sender according to the theory. This is done in different ways, for instance Mitsubishi uses a call center to “seize” the contacts that has been made, and this is a good way to find out how the message has gone through the process and how they react upon it.Consequently, the communication between the sender and the receiver has started and will continue. Though, the feedback session is of most importance when discussing Guerrilla marketing, as AL talks about it, it is a way to save money. If one constantly ask new customers from where they have heard about the company and takes notes, one could save tons of money. Since you do not have to hire any marketing research firms to track down your customers and how they find you. Also LK adds to this method of tracking down the customers and getting feedback in a cheap and efficient way. Though, one could argue that the feedback might not be accurate, but

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at least you will get some figures and it is a cheap way of finding out if your marketing works. Consequently AL uses a similar approach in gaining feedback, although he also uses a marketing calendar, hence he can see if the choice he makes in marketing gives any effect to his revenues.

2. Marketing CommunicationKnowing that Guerrilla marketing is delivering a message through some kind oFcommunication, though a one should add a more innovativeapproach to it. Guerrillamarketing could help get a higher awareness than other approaches. It is not just one thingone can do and then you can call it a Guerrilla attack. One could argue and say it is a formof thinking and acting in the market. As FO explains, it needs to have a clear purpose andbe backed up in the right way within the organization. LK insists thatGuerrillmarketingmust be an entire package of marketing tools. One could therefore compare the Guerrillacampaign with IMC, integrated marketing communication, whereas several promotionaltools are a part of the entire communication process. It is important for the organizationusing this approach to try to create a synergy between the tools. The secret with Guerrillamarketing is that one communicates a message to a specific target group, trying to beunique and creative not in every single case, but unique to the receiver of the message. Inorder to enhance the picture and to bust through the clutter different kind of combinationof the promotional tools are important.Hence, there are some of the promotional tools that are less useful for a Guerrilla attack, in this case mainly advertising. Even though, advertising as it exists today will not die in the future. Especially, there are so many newspapers, TV-channels, magazines that are dependent on companies buying media space. Though, in order for it to work it needs to be more fun and entertaining according to PC, further the authors argue that for it tobecome more efficient the customer must go out and seek for the advertisementsthemselves, instead of the other way around. Meaning that, for example some kind of website could be created, where customers could create accounts. Once a member, one could specify what products and services one is interested in and then go and look for deals for these products. Moreover, as LK presents, when watching a TV-show, one should be able to know exactly what clothes, apparel, furniture that was used in the show, and where one can buy it. This would mean differentiation and hopefully publicity and could easily grow fast in the market today.

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3. Promotional mix – weapons to win the warThrough the empirical findings, one tool used for a great success is direct mail. AL continues that his most successful campaigns have involved direct mail to some extent. LK also adds that she is using direct mail for some of her campaigns. Hence, she adds that it is of most importance to further follow up the campaign with something else, for example direct selling in order to finalize the deal and getting the consumers to buy.Another interesting approach also a tool in the promotional mix is the direct marketing. Here one should really break down the market into segments and really focus upon a specific target market. Direct marketing is one tool that goes hand in hand with Guerrilla marketing approaches, meaning that it is more of a direct way of marketing where one in a straight way influence the target customers. Direct marketing is maybe the best traditional promotional tool that can be compared to Guerrilla marketing approaches. Since it is a direct marketing tool that is interactive and it do use more than one media to affect the response.Personal selling is also an important part of being a Guerrilla marketer. Since, often after the first contact is made with the customer, one needs to sell the idea or product in a good way. As LK means that Guerrilla marketing has to be a package, where after direct mail for example has been sent out, one need to call or contact the persons reached, to follow up to process, could be compared to the latter stages of the AIDA ladder. FO explains that during the start up of their firm, personal selling was a big deal and important for survival of the firm.Though, the need for personal selling is high and since the trends in the market tend to become more personal, sales is and will always be an important part of a company. If Guerrilla marketing is a part of the future, sales will also be of most concern. Sales promotion is also strongly connected to the personal selling and it is also an important tool for the Guerrilla marketer.The promotions that are handed out in different kind of campaigns are often innovative and they can therefore create awareness around someone or something. For example did LK send out packages of pistachios to her potential customers during the stressful Christmas Season saying, “do not go nuts”, and associated her company by saying they could help to find the right people to assist during these times of the year. Promotions are often an important tool for Guerrilla marketers and could be from the point of warfare being seen as missiles that are sent out in order to win the war, focusing on the exact right target. In other words, the Guerrilla campaign do use promotions, but they should be targeted exactly right in the war in order to be effective.

Guerrilla Marketing

Maybe the most important tool in the Guerrilla marketing way of thinking is publicity and public relations. Firstly, if an extra ordinary campaign is launched magazines, newspapers or other media players will treat the campaign as high news value and tons of media space will be created for the ones behind the campaign for free. HR means that before every of their campaigns a press release are sent out, because it creates possibilities for some media coverage, which is free and of appreciated for most companies. HR further argues that it is within the media that the game, in his case voters, is won. Therefore, PR is an important tool to use in order to gain advantages in the war of the customers’ mind. Since, success stories in the media will encourage the people and hopefully the organizations involved will have followers supporting in the war.The discussion whether all publicity is good publicity is also an intense discussion without any final answer. Of course is it of most concern, to if you are not seen, you do not exist.Hence, one’s company would not like to be mention in a bad way in the media. Though, there are tactics even here to win the battle, even if the publicity is bad. When remembering, a couple of years ago, when Ladbrokes sponsored the controversial TVshow Big Brother in Sweden. The TV-show got a lot of media space and several scandals in the show was a fact, since Ladbrokes did not want to be associated with it, they canceled their sponsorship and got a lot of goodwill in the media. This could be one way to turn bad publicity into something better. Several of the respondents mean that your company does not want to be associated with bad things. MM does not think that all publicity is good publicity, especially not within the consultant business. LK continues in the same way, she would not want to be linked to something that was done poorly or wrong, every company has to be careful when it comes to publicity. In the war for the customers, one has to be careful in what kind of information that reaches the supporters and also the customers that one is fighting for, and especially the competitors in the market, since a lot of information could turn into bad publicity. Knowing that publicity is an important channel to reach the customers, especially since it could add trustworthiness to one’s company and brand aswell. ALE means that all publicity to her is good publicity, as long as one is well prepared with good answers to all conversional things that might appear, through this she proclaims the importance of being well prepared in a Guerrilla marketing campaign.

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4. More ammunition(i)Word of mouthWord of mouth is about personal communication between two persons discussing a brand, product or a service according to Marsden and Kirby (2006) and discussing something they have experienced or seen. This is where Guerrilla marketing comes in; according to HR Guerrilla marketing campaigns uses more senses and will therefore stay with the people, getting in contact with it, for a longer time. Hence, resulting in that these people more likely will talk about the Guerrilla campaign instead of others. Consequently, FO means that Guerrilla marketing should surprise people and when people have experienced something fun and surprisingly they have a tendency to talk to others about it, according to Marsden and Kirby (2006). Further, the chance that Guerrilla marketing campaigns will be spread through the word of mouth is high. Since, one of the goals with Guerrilla marketing is to create publicity, in newspapers and magazines, enhance that statement. Although, FO believes that the campaign must be relevant in order to be successful and to start a positive word of mouth.

(ii)Live Buzz marketingFurthermore one kind of word of mouth is live buzz marketing; this technique uses an event or a performance to create a buzz around town (Marsden & Kirby, 2006). FO gives an example when they created the blue “Santa Claus” campaign for Moderaterna around Christmas time. This campaign created a very fast and positive buzz through the city of Gothenburg, and even got publicity in the newspaper which helped the buzz continue to live for a longer time. Live buzz marketing can according to Marsden and Kirby (2006) be used as a complement to an ordinary commercial or advertisement. Furthermore, PC agrees with that idea that Guerrilla marketing should be used as an extra tool to create a buzz around a campaign, basically to attack the end customers from several directions.Accordingly, the use of professional actors is something that have been used many times within Guerrilla marketing, although the once been affected by it are not aware of it (Marsden & Kirby, 2006). Hence the idea of live buzz marketing is basically to start a rumor or gossip around a brand, product or service and therefore it is a good tool for Guerrilla marketing, as LK says it is about creating awareness and attention.

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(iii)Viral marketingViral marketing is another form of word of mouth; it could be called virtual marketing since it is mostly about spreading the word in digital domains. All discusses a lot about marketing on the internet, since there are manydifferent ways of reaching end customers through the internet. Accordingly theAmerican prospective talks more about the potential of the internet, it seems as if they have come a longer way in the development of using the digital media. Since today there are blogs, forums and chat rooms that are spreading the word of mouth throughout the globe, which creates great potentials, according to AL, for Guerrilla marketing. Miami and their clients do not talk about or use these channels to the same extent, and it could be because they want to keep it to a smaller target segment.Consequently, today’s consumer have a high level of awareness and searches the internet for there product or service information, hence the usage of viral marketing could prove to be very successful, as All discusses.

4. In what way could AIDA support winning the battle?The authors of this thesis argue that Guerrilla marketing as a phenomenon is essential to have in mind when talking about the traditional response hierarchy model. Though, one has to be aware of how the process of AIDA works, in order to market yourself in the best way one has to know what stages your customer relates to. Also, the use of Guerrilla marketing is known to be targeting a smaller crowd or niche of the market, therefore the AIDA should be used in order to make the marketing as efficient as possible. Since, the phenomenon of Guerrilla marketing, both according to previous research and through our empirical findings, shows that it needs to be as cost effective as possible. Therefore, a message should not be transmitted if it is lacking a clear purpose. The AIDA model helps the marketer to identify the steps a salesperson must take a customer through in a selling process. Firstly, the salesperson or in this case the marketer get the attention of the customer, and since the advertising environment today is so intense, one has to find good ways to get through the noise and reach the customer and get its attention. This could be done through, for example, a huge advertising campaign. Although if the potential capital requirements do not exist one has to find other ways to get the attention of the customer and therefore Guerrilla marketing is interesting. Since, just by using a more innovative approach any budget could get the right attention necessary,

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therefore one should try to focus the marketing directly towards the right target market.According to FO, Guerrilla marketing is about to find new channels or other ways tha t your competitors, this is in order to get through the noise and get the attention needed in order to advance on the purchasing ladder. ALE further supports this stand point by saying that “to do unexpected things that creates big attention with a small budget”, it could be compared to go behind enemy lines and destroy a bridge, you will get a lot of attention andhopefully your followers will celebrate it, which would lead to an interest in your work. Once the interest is found, one has to keep the customer interested in order to create a desire for the product or service. Here AL contributes, to send one message to the end customer is not enough to think that he/she would be interested in your services. On the contrary, it requires that the message is sent out around six to eight times before one can start talking about an effect, according to AL. Then one should add in a piece of creativity and the effects of the campaign can be successful. Hence, the phenomenon of Guerrilla marketing should be consistent through out the entire process of the AIDA model. This is in order to create advantages against your competitors, it can be done by using the methods within Guerrilla marketing and it does not have to be expensive.If one is consistent with the approach, customers will eventually create a desire, though one should have in mind when using more innovative approaches the need for a specific target market is high. Though, one can with Guerrilla marketing only focus on one target market at the time and focus the resources towards the potential buyers in that segment. As LK means by saying that you need to do your homework before going into the market, could be analyzed towards if one does research for one segment does not mean that the same approach will work for the next segment in order to create desire. Once having the right military intelligence from the market, one shall start the attack, this could be compared to the Guerrilla marketing approach also, and in order for it to be efficient one should not attack before the right research is complete. Furthermore, LK also contributes with that one has to be prepared once the attack is made, so that the sales personnel are ready for the outcomes of the attack. It could be compared to the warfare also here; after an attack is made the nurses must be ready to take care of the wounded soldiers. Taking the customers through the AIDA ladder is a complex method and Guerrilla marketing will definitely help taking one up the ladder in a smooth way. Getting to the action stage is though a long process and the methods used is different for different kind of people, LK means that in order for the approach to work in

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a good way one should find the uniqueness within it, meaning that every approach does not have to be unique, but it has be unique for the one you are trying to target, this is to encourage the customer to take action and start buying from you. It is often the last part that is hard to get the customer to reach.

5. Choosing the right channelA. Channel ManagementConsequently the channels one choose is of big importance for the success of themarketing campaigns, hence according to our empirical findings the general belief were that many of today’s channels are blocked or over exploited. Hence, the need to find other channels are of great importance, according to AL the process he uses is to first figure out who the message is supposed to be sent to, hence the target, furthermore one has to decide what kind of vehicle will transport the message and conclusively on what frequency, so the responder could easily understand the message in the end. Accordingly the theory state the similar process, hence it is important that the receiver understands the message that is being sent to them. There are two kinds of channels, direct and indirect, the direct channels is when the contact with the customer is taken directly through face to face communication, phone conversations, mail or even in an electronic way. Consequently, the indirect approach often goes through a second part before reaching the end target. When AL discuss Guerrilla marketing he describe it as a direct channel to the end customer, his beliefs is that it is more effective than indirect channels. According to the theoretical framework direct channels are mostly used when there is a need for a lot of information or if the quality needs to be measured.Furthermore, even LK points out the preferable usage of direct channels, since it has proven to be an effective way to reach the end customers. Furthermore, both FO and HR agree to the importance with the new and different channels but it does not work aseffective as it could do if there is not enough relevance in the message. Then the receiverswill not understand and receive the message and the campaign and the message is lost.According to the theory this is an applicable discussion, since it is very important that themessage is both relevant and on the right frequency for the specific channel for it to beunderstood and successful transmitted to the receiver. Furthermore the choice of messageaffects the choice of channel and vice versa, hence a balance between these two must befound. Consequently the channel is suppose to communicate the message to the receiver,the message the marketers want the end customer to

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get. Therefore the choice of whatchannels should be used is a key question within marketing and specially in Guerrillamarketing whereas the idea is to find such a unique and effective channel as possibly, here lays the need for creativity.Further as FO explained that many of their clients comes to them because they want to do something new and different and in the same time something that is fun and excites people. Furthermore, the channels does not reach the customers in the same way as before since they are so fed up with the commercials of today. Therefore the believe is between the respondents that new and different channels must be found for it to be possible to breach through the customers defensive lines and present them with the marketers messages and information, and especially if one wants it to stay in their minds. B. The internet channel – getting around the defensive line?In the beginning of the phenomenon, Guerrilla marketing, internet was seen as Guerrilla marketing, hence today almost every company has their own webpage. Thus, internet is still seen as a great tool to use in Guerrilla marketing. According to AL, he bases almost all his Guerrilla marketing on the internet, since internet is so much more then just a home page and e-mails, today it is also about blogs, forums and pod cast, new means to reach the potential end customer. As both the theoretical state and the empirical findings say that using the internet is also positive because it is not so expensive. Hence, the internet channel is perfect for the companies that want to cut down on marketing costs and reach a big market according to FO, hence the internet is often good to use for those who wants to measure their sales and homepages visits.One has to have in mind that internet is huge, the competition is fierce and it can cost a lot of money to protect you from hackers etc. Even though, internet is genius since just by posting something online makes it available for an entire world. LK means that her company now spends the major part of their budget online. Why is that? Well, since the growth potential is still quite strong and the simple way of finding the right information is important. If you are not on the internet, you do not exist, might be a cliché, even though to a high extent it is true. One could track the growth back several of years, even though knowing that in the end of the 90’s the internet had big drawbacks. Today the channel is growing bigger than ever, and people tend to trust to higher extent things stated online.MM explains that his most efficient Guerrilla marketing campaign did involve web-based promotion, and it did consist of speaking and writing as a way to generate interest among prospective.

Guerrilla Marketing

Today one sends out e-mails frequently, and the innovation known as auto-responders could be something, if not already, that will be used even more in the future. These autoresponders are simply answering emails automatically with a prewritten message, a cheap and easy way to show the customers that you care. AL means that internet is a big part of the Guerrilla tactics in the future. Further, even so that MM believes that internet based advertising is gaining ground in the war for the customers and also believes that Guerrilla marketing will be more web-based and more targeted to customers through the use of the internet.Though, the internet has several positive aspects such as it is quite easy to track all the activity in one’s specific webpage. From this, one could gather information about the customers and make the future marketing more efficient. Also, the usage of certainkeywords is of most interest. Since a part of internet marketing today is definitely searchengines. If a company can get a lot of traffic to their webpage, a lot of attention comes forfree. It is not too hard to develop, but the company must have a well built webpage thatencourage the customers to action. 6. Marketing WarfareAlmost every company in the market could identify itself with some of the military approaches presented by Ries and Trout (1986); the defensive strategy, the offensive warfare, the flaking warfare and the Guerrilla warfare. Having this in mind, Guerrilla marketing should only be suitable for smaller companies. FO adds to this discussion by confirming that not all companies should use Guerrilla marketing, hence it is not because of the size of the company. It is depends on their position in the market. If being the marketing leader, advantages such as financial muscle power could be the deciding factor.Though, when one does not possess the large budget, one could use smaller more efficient methods instead. It is just a matter of thinking in the right way in order to win the war. As a market leader one does not have to use the small dirty roads in order to gain advantages in the war winning customers, they can afford driving down the main road in a tank, taking the competition easy. As a challenger it is different, some times all out attack must be used in order to win market share, or even so as being smaller, one has to take some shortcuts in order to find the right target market. Further, all companies might not internally be ready for using more of a Guerrilla tactic in order to gain market share, hence it is of most concern to be internally prepared before an attack. The organization has to be well prepared, and have the right intelligence of the battlefield so that the

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approach is successful. LK strongly adds that one should know the market and then attack it with a relevant tactic. Though, by doing so one is able to stand out in the clutter and will be visible in the market.Marketing is warfare, though again in this fight no direct blood spills. One does not fight the war with the customers; it is a competition against the other companies in the market. One is fighting for the same things, just being apart of the customer’s lives. The ones reaching through the clutter is gaining advantages in the war.

7. Guerrilla MarketingThe authors of this thesis understands that the view on Guerrilla marketing that came from the empirical findings is very similar to the theoretical frameworks view on the phenomenon, in terms of definitions. Hence, Levinson (2003), states that Guerrillamarketing is in a shorter time frame then traditional marketing, as PC said, he believes that Guerrilla marketing campaigns are often taking place during a shorter period of time.Accordingly, Ives (2004) believes that more and more marketers will start to use Guerrillamethods since the end customers have proven to be harder and harder to reach.Consequently the empirical findings in this thesis implies the same thing, there is a problem today with advertising and marketing, the public is fed up, basically tired of it.Furthermore, the consumers block out marketing today in several different ways, therefore they must find new channels, and this is the belief from all the interviews made in this thesis. According to Levinson (1998), a good way to reach the end customer without being blocked is to target the segment, using target marketing. This is also a belief from FO that Guerrilla marketing is a more targeted approach then traditional marketing, which also implies that it, is in a smaller scale.One must reach the target market with relevance in order for the marketing to work properly; a lot of the empirical findings imply the importance of keeping the relevance in the marketing approaches. Levinson and Lautenslager (2005) also explain that it is essential to have a relevant message and a well planned campaign; otherwise the campaign will be seen as an expensive instead of an investment. This is something that HR also emphasizes when discussing the preparations, that the campaigns may look simple, but a company invests, a lot of time in planning so that it will be a successful campaign.

Guerrilla Marketing

The Future of Guerrilla MarketingIt happens to the best of them eventually. They get old, worn out, past

their useful lives. At some point you have to grab the shotgun and head out to the pasture to put them out of their misery.We’re talking, of course, about advertising methodologies.Guerrilla marketing has been hailed as the renegade king of advertising methods for many years now. But, like all advertising models, this one will eventually lose its effectiveness and be replaced by the next big thing.Since we are so inundated with advertising these days, most of us have learned to simply ignore it. We can walk right past billboards bearing the name and image of some fantastic product and never know they’re there. We can skip commercials altogether in our own homes.When Guerrilla marketing was introduced, it was a way to get past our defenses. A great Guerrilla campaign can convince us, if even for a split second, that we aren’t looking at an advertisement and that it’s acceptable to pay attention. Guerrilla marketing tactics can help businesses to stay a step or two ahead of the competition by using methods that were previously unknown.Guerrilla marketing is still as valuable today as it was back in the 1980s. It’s a way for small businesses to level the playing field. For a small investment, the smaller businesses can compete with the big names. This has lead to an unprecedented commercial environment where the relatively unknown company can garner as much attention as – and often more than – the well-established national brand.But are we over-saturated with new and innovative marketing? We’ve learned to become suspicious of people we see on the street or in the think that Guerrilla marketing will only grow more covert and stealthy as supermarket. If a stranger asks for an opinion to help them choose between two products, we wonder which choice they’re trying to sell.Some Guerrilla efforts have become increasingly outlandish and questionable. The efforts of Golden Palace Casino are known to be particularly on the edge of acceptability. Some of their Guerrilla marketing ploys have been harmless, amusing, and even beneficial (they’ve raised over $1 million for various charities, after all), but some are simply outrageous.The online casino has paid two people, Karolyne Smith and Brent Moffatt, to permanently tattoo the site’s URL on their foreheads. Notwithstanding the fact that both individuals placed their forehead space for auction on eBay, the publicity stunt didn’t sit well with much of the general public.Marketing ploys such as these have made some of us question where Guerrilla marketing is headed. Will marketers employ increasingly shocking

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and horrific methods to get our attention? In the future, will we see brands on everything from hot dog buns to girls’ big plastic fingernails to the backs of Cub Scouts?In a perfect world, it would be nice to think that Guerrilla marketing will take a different (less shocking, more personal) turn. We’re seeing already that brands – especially small businesses – are taking it to the streets, so to speak, by joining forum discussions, obsessively updating their Twitter accounts, and writing articles for newspapers, magazines, and blogs.Building personal relationships with customers may be the best marketing move of the future. A handshake and the assurance that even a big, important business owner is never too important to wait on a customer is just what we jaded masses need to help us reconnect to our buying habits.Although that’s what we’d like to think, our actual predictions are not so rosy. Given the recent trend of aggressive undercover marketing coupled with the fact that we are increasingly hard to reach (thanks to TiVO, MP3 players, and a hearty desire to avoid being corporate America’s pawns), we time goes on.The days of outrageous advertising scenes may be nearing their end. But you can bet that in the future it will become increasingly difficult to tell what is an advertisement and what is a simple conversation. These Guerrilla ambushes may move further into the online realm as the 21st century versions of the “buy me a drink” girls shamelessly flirt online only to entice you to visit a certain virtual casino with them.

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Major Corporations Go For Guerrilla Marketing

The heart and soul of Guerrilla marketing, according to J.C. Levinson, is its sparseness of budget and abundance of creativity. Since Guerrilla marketing has entered the mainstream, however, the term has been applied to just about any type of advertising that attracts attention in an unconventional manner.

When a small business uses a Guerrilla marketing campaign to create a buzz, it’s on a shoestring budget and it has to make a huge visual impact. But what about when a well-established company decides to embark on a campaign using Guerrilla tactics? Their budgets are massive, their names are already well-known, and there’s no requirement to make a good first impression.

In a way, big-budget Guerrilla marketing isn’t really Guerrilla marketing at all.In fact, Guerrilla advertising can be extremely risky for a well-known business. If the message isn’t clever enough to catch our interest and hold it, the attempt can look pitiful. In the worst case scenario, an established business trying to tap in to the modern method of Guerrilla marketing can come off looking like a retiree wearing a mohawk and Chuck Taylors: it just isn’t right.

Is it possible for a large business to launch an edgy and modern campaign using Guerrilla tactics to attract attention without alienating its established customer base?

That depends on a lot of factors, as it turns out. Despite billions of dollars spent on research every year, advertising isn’t an exact science. When Microsoft unleashed thousands of butterfly stickers on Manhattan in 2002, they no doubt thought that the message delivery was edgy and modern. The campaign was mostly met with disgusted groans from New Yorkers…and city officials were most definitely not amused. Microsoft was ordered to clean up the butterflies and issued with a $50 fine (although under city graffiti laws they could have been charged $50 for each sticker).

The street cred Microsoft had tried to generate turned into an embarrassing show of public apologies and red faces. But since the point of the campaign was to draw attention to the launch of a new product, the

Guerrilla Marketing

coverage of the decal disaster in 168 news stories does seem like it did the trick.

San Francisco, Sony’s 2005 Guerrilla campaign for the PSP was met with undisguised hostility. The electronics giant commissioned street artists to (legally) spray paint images of young gamers having fun with the PSP. Residents responded by painting over the ads and adding their own witty commentary, such as “Advertising Directed at Your Counter Culture.” Other cities were slightly more receptive to the ads, but by the end of the campaign it seemed that most of the paintings had been defaced However, some large companies have had huge success with their Guerrilla m arketing campaigns. HP unveiled an amazing campaign in Malaysia in May of 2008 that had people literally stopping in their tracks. Life-size cardboard cutouts were placed in public areas with bits of paper protruding from them, making it look like the background was nothing more than a life-like picture printed on HP’s paper – paper through which someone had just walked.

The more subtle the Guerrilla campaign is for a larger company, the better. Consumers seem more impressed with a low-key campaign that doesn’t relentlessly pound the senses than a high-profile or high-concept attempt. Nissan unleashed a relatively quiet but effective campaign to promote the cars’ new keyless push-button ignition system in which 20,000 sets of keys were “lost” in targeted cities. The keys came attached to a tag that directed finders to keep the keys since the push-button ignition made them useless. The message was simple, but effective. It created a buzz that has lasted well past the expiration of the promotion.

Overall, it seems that the arena of Guerrilla advertising can be shared by the big guys and the start-ups. The success of a campaign depends on a very precise blend of timing, method, message, and a healthy dose of luck, no matter what type of company is doing the advertising. The campaign is likely to be well-received if it doesn’t immediately look like an advertisement (especially an advertisement in disguise) or if it’s so clever or inventive that we can forgive the company for trying to commit that cardinal sin of selling us something.

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Big Bazaar’s Guerrilla Marketing !!

Apparently its part of Big Bazaar’s (owned by Biyani’s Future Group) new Guerrilla Marketing Strategy according to agencyfaqs.com Surely one must have heard about the guerrilla warfare strategies during one of those boring history sessions in school (generally its boring!!), wherein guerrilla force is divided into small groups that selectively attacks the target at its weak points. Wah lah, enter the future and in the world of cut throat competition, corporates use extension of the same strategy in marketing…hmmmm never imagined this while we were in our shorts !! Corporates like coke, pepsi, etc have been using the same for quite some time now and the latest entrant is our very own ‘Future Group’- Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Future Bazaar, eZone are all part of this group and they are taking on the biggies like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Tata’s Westside.

With retail market in India especially in metros where standard of living and disposable income is at an all time high, competitors will vie for the market share and can stoop to any levels while marketing their products. Guerilla marketing is just one of the strategies and surely one can learn a lot from the ongoing battle, especially people interested in marketing/marketing techniques.

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Things have already started to boil coz of this ad campaign and both Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop are analyzing the effect of the strategy used by Mr Biyani and Future Group. Lifestyle are even planning to take Future Group and their ad campaign to Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). I just feel, Future Group have done a very creative job and surely time will tell the effect of this strategy – by this I refer to both Future Group and their competitors.

We’ve only uncovered the tip of the iceberg so far. Print ads, billboards, and living billboards areof a flashmob-type marketing event to show to your friends later? Told a co-worker about a store specifically redesigned for the release of an upcoming movie or music event? You’ve probably participated in this innovative (and some say deceitful) form of marketing.

Almost everyone remembers Lonelygirl15, the pouty but compelling YouTube star. The supposed teenager later turned out to be an actress building buzz for a trio of budding filmmakers. Then there was the amazingly entertaining video featuring a whole office lip-synching to “Flagpole Sitta.” That video was later revealed to be a great publicity-builder for Connected Ventures, home of Busted Tees, College Humor, and Vimeo. Seriously, didn’t you want to work there after seeing that video? That’s apparently what they were going for.

Neither of those campaigns seemed like they were trying to get you to do or buy anything. In fact, it wasn’t even immediately clear what the company in the office video was. But by creating something that was entertaining, didn’t look like an advertisement, and begged to be passed around, both companies created enormous publicity for themselves. (And, may we add, with pretty much no investment.)

Arguably the most effective Guerrilla marketing campaign to date was for the movie The Blair Witch Project. The buzz around the film was unlike anything the world had ever seen. The low-budget movie was built up with an unprecedented viral campaign that focused mainly on spreading the myth of the Blair Witch as if it were a real local legend. By the time the film came out in the summer of 1999, many people refused to believe that the legend and the events in the film were completelyen better. Remember Gmail invites? They were somewhat difficult to get at first, so everyone wanted one.

Guerrilla Marketing

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Conclusion

Guerrilla marketing is a state of mind, a way of thinking, a mindset for marketers and business people. The ones who use Guerrilla marketing have a more open mind then the ones not using it, the people that believe in the phenomenon of Guerrilla marketing is open to new and creative ideas.

When one plans Guerrilla marketing well, it often proves to be very effective, though the hard part of it is do the right research, preparations and find the right information. Guerrilla marketing is not working if you do not focus on the right target and send out a relevant message using the right vehicle on the right frequency. If not, this is what one can call the negative side of Guerrilla marketing, then the campaigns relation to it is just seen as a bad attempt to create attention and awareness. The aspect of Guerrilla marketing is focusing on uniqueness to the target, which in several cases leads to publicity, which could result in attention in the media, an economical way of getting the message to the target market.

Person who using g-marketing they are enlightened to new ideas, to original ways of reaching the end customer and aware that marketing does not necessarily needs to be expensive advertisements in the media. Instead, a Guerrilla campaign creates free publicity in the media world. Guerrilla marketing is a good compliment for organizations using a more traditional approach, it is a way to spice up the consisting marketing and a way to get attention which will make it easier to come through the clutter and reach the target market. Furthermore, if one was to pitch an idea for a new marketing campaign and the idea are unconventional and do not look like any campaign ever made before, instead more bold and daring. Guerrilla marketer would be much more enthusiastic and open to the new idea then a traditional marketer would be.

Although it is vital to have in mind that the idea sent out, as a message, needs to be relevant to the target market. Meaning that, the planning and the preparation phase of the campaign is of most importance, in order for it to become successful. This includes a big part of internal communication, everybody inside the company or the organization must be aware of what is going on. Here lies some complications, it is shown that Guerrilla marketing can be met with conservatism inside some organizations; here the level of conservatism in the culture of the

Guerrilla Marketing

organizations plays an important role. To continue, it is realized with this study that Guerrilla marketing campaigns are often met by a positive public response, much to the fact that in many occasions Guerrilla marketing is personal communication. Furthermore, if the campaign and message is well motivated and relevant it can always be turned into something positive, at least for the target market.

One can wonder why we have chosen to call this phenomenon for Guerrilla marketing when it could have the meaning of numerous things, such as: creative marketing, innovative marketing, undercover marketing, stealth marketing, entrepreneurial marketing or marketing under the radar. Although, they do all represent the same state of mind, openness for change and to find new channels in marketing to reach to the end customers and at the same time always seek the market for opportunities.

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Webliography and Bibliography

Websites:-

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.webeerbanist.com

www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

Books, Magazines & Newspapers:-

Marketing Management: - Ramaswami, kotler, Azhar

Kazmi

Newspapers: - Business Standard

Magazines: - Business world