I can’t help it, I love guerrilla marketing! You may not agree with me and that’s OK, but if it’s done well, it can be clever, fun, entertaining, and most importantly memorable. These inexpensive, small-scale exploits can create big impact on consumers overloaded with advertising messages. Mashable recently released their list of 10 excellent examples of guerrilla marketing campaigns, which I highly recommend checking out.
Absolute Vodka is known for their super cool print campaigns, so naturally their attempt at guerrilla marketing was as original and clever as they come. This stunt probably cost them all of $200 bucks and it was so simple in its design. Basically, they beat up some empty cardboard boxes and printed them with the tagline “ABSOLUT TEMPTATION” and released them on airline baggage carousels, giving waiting passengers the impression that the boxes had been robbed of their content.
In New York City, UNICEF endeavored to raise awareness about disease-infested water in underdeveloped countries by placing vending machines throughout the city that sold dirty bottles of water for $1. The major theme behind the campaign was that $1 buys a child clean drinking water for 40 days. The vending machines offered passersby options like malaria, cholera, and typhoid-flavored beverages. It was a clever way to expose the issue, and as a result, they saw a significant rise in donations to the cause.
The point of my story is that whether you’re trying to sell more vodka or raise awareness about a social issue, guerrilla marketing has the capacity to create exposure for your brand. It’s cheap and easily implemented. Don’t make the mistake of relying solely on guerrilla marketing to spread your brand, but rather it should complement your existing marketing strategies.
Modern Media 
Guerrilla marketing is cool and fun but I fear that a.) the reach is limited and b.) it relies on the media and word of mouth to relay the message. If it becomes too common place, I see the novelty wearing off and senders growing weary with it.
MC
Mark,
I do agree with you on both points. It truly takes a unique campaign to get people’s attention now and unless your video goes viral on Youtube, you likely won’t get much response to your message. That’s why its important that guerrilla marketing only be used as complimentary to an already established marketing campaign and done in an inexpensive way. It seems the risks outweigh the rewards for this medium.
Loved the Absolute video but in today’s world, find it hard to believe that was not staged? Guerilla marketing is great – it is in your face marketing and you never know what is going to happen. And better yet, they are never the same.
The UNICEF campaign is very unique! I would be interested to see how much money was raised during this campaign. It really does show an inventive new way to raise money through guerilla techniques.