Embrace your company’s inner animal with nontraditional marketing

The best advertising campaigns are no longer reserved for 30 or 60 seconds during the Super Bowl. Smart companies are taking to the streets (sometimes literally) with their nontraditional marketing tactics.

More and more companies are turning to guerrilla marketing as a way to connect with their target audiences. Smaller companies initially used guerrilla marketing as a cost-effective way to promote an idea, product or feeling. Their unconventional, interactive and creative campaigns appeared on street corners, in bus depots and in crowded public spaces with two goals in mind:
1. Generate buzz about the brand or product
2. Gain viral presence to live on after the campaign has appeared

However, in recent years larger companies have turned to nontraditional marketing, not just for its cost savings, but because it offers opportunities for creativity that cannot happen on TV or in a print advertisement. From flash mobs to chalk art to YouTube commercials, lets take a look at some of the best guerrilla marketing campaigns:

T-Mobile Dance at Liverpool Street Station

Goal: Break through the clutter to engage with potential customers who spend $50-75 per month with another mobile phone provider

Results: Increased foot traffic into T-Mobile stores by 5%; received more than 38 million YouTube views and $1.8 million worth of free advertising

Old Spice The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Goal: Launch Old Spice’s Red Zone After Hours body wash; reach the female consumer who makes most of the purchasing decisions for hygiene products.

Results: Increased sales by 107%; received more than 45 million YouTube views to date.

The Blair Witch Project

Goal: Create a low-budget horror film to spread rumors about an urban legend.

Results: Grossed $250 million worldwide; sparked multiple sequels, spinoffs and video games.

Sharpie Make Your Mark

Goal: Create an opportunity for consumers to interact and try out the company’s pens and markers.

Result: Increase in overall sales, especially amongst teenagers.

World Wildlife Foundation Parisian Pandas

Image: WWF

Goal: Increase awareness for the 1,600 endangered pandas living in the wild.

Result: Uncovered more than 1,100 wild pandas in other regions of the world.

So what are you waiting for? Take the leap, learn the dance moves, unleash your creativity…you never know where it will take you.