Study on Guerrilla

Marketing:
Unconventional Ad
Strategy

NTCC MINOR PROJECT

DEEPANJAN SARKAR MAMM (2018-2020)

Enrollment no: A2000418007

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INDEX

DECLARATION…………………………………………………………… 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………. 4

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… 5

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………... 6-7

OBJECTIVES………………………………………...……………………….. 8

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK……………………………………………... 8

REVIEW OF LITURATURE ………………………………………………… 9-10

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………………………… 11

DATA ANALYSIS: CASE STUDY…………………………………………… 12-16

CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………... 17

BILIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….. 18

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DECLARATION
I, Deepanjan Sarkar, a student of MA (A & M), with enrollment number A2000418007 batches 2018-
2020, at Amity School of communication, Amity University, Noida, have undertaken research.

I reaffirm that the minor project submitted by me is an original piece of writing and expression, and
nothing has been lifted or copied from anywhere. The project has not been produced elsewhere to the
best of my knowledge and belief.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to my Mentor Manish Shivahare specially for guiding me to take up this research project.
I would also like to mention a special thanks to my faculty Pooja Chatterjee for explaining well the
process of doing a proper research work as in how to approach and the process of doing it and finally
gaining the knowledge by evaluating it completely.

I would thank amity university to grant me the opportunity do this research work to understand and gain
knowledge about Guerrilla Marketing: Unconventional Ad Strategy.

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ABSTRACT
This research work would comprise of an analysis of Guerrilla marketing. The bird-eye view perceptive
of Advertising world how it revolves round us every moment. At the peak of globalization where there
are thousands of brands international and national, fighting the virtual war of advertising to stand out the
best we shall analyze how marketers have come up with exceptionally brilliant strategies to position the
products in the minds of the Target groups. This research would focus how guerrilla marketing has
become one of the most unconventional strategy to stand out in the market.

To acknowledge its impact on the advertising campaigns and how this unconventional strategy has made
remarkable campaigns over the time, will be analyzed through various case studies. The research would
also showcase various illustration of the campaigns to understand how creatively the products or services
have being placed to grab maximum attention of the audience. The research would take on a journey
where it explains the market is a jungle and every brand is a competitor and it’s the survival of the fittest.
The Brands which have come up with guerrilla tactics for marketing their products, the risk of taking
unconventional road, will be showcased. The research will draw a conclusion to understand various
aspects of innovative strategies used for marketing a product in the times where it has become one of the
important tools under the umbrella of marketing.

KEYWORDS

• Marketing
• Strategies
• Brand
• Guerrilla

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INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the bigger umbrella which comprises of various tools like Advertising, public relations,
Events and many more. The sole purpose of marketing is to sell the products to its target customers and
increase the urge of the consumer to consume more. To achieve desired objective of the brand the
marketers come up with various strategies and guerilla marketing is one of those strategies which taps
the target audience at the right time and right place to deliver the desired message in more interactive
way with a personal touch where the audience is simply amazed. It’s like an abstract art which visually
attracts the audience and then engages with them to position the message in minds where the recall factor
increases due to the exceptional approach.

We are all surrounded with advertisement twenty-four seven, we wake up to see a jacket ad on the front
page of the newspaper, then tv commercial on tv while having your breakfast, a hoarding in the traffic
jam on the way to the office, the Nescafe ad on the cup of coffee during the meeting in the office, the
cinema hall advertisement before the film you went after office and thousands of advertisement moving
down to home. Most of them would be lost in the dreams but what if you come across something like

I am sure you would pause and have a look to understand what it is and the 1st part of it is already done
it has your attention, the rest is done as you attentively read the message. Thus, the retention towards

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this message increases automatically. This is the magic of the unconventional strategy to convey the
message of guerrilla marketing.

There are different types of guerrilla marketing. This Ad strategy which is be implemented mostly on
ground thus, it uses various tactics to connect with consumer physically which are the variants of
guerrilla marketing which are listed below.

The strategy is about the theory and action, the theories can be the references and options how the product
or service can be marketed in the market and the actions will be the ones a marketers decides take the
traditional road or take the un discovered road to and market its product or service in the most innovative
way. In today’s time with so many options for the guerrilla marketers to present the product to its
audience in a way that they will be amazed making them create a different space for the product in their
mindset, that what is called positioning. To create something that is so powerful that create the best
impression of the key message, the marketers have to invest the bigger part in research to understand the
consumers at initial level, then analyzing the market its opportunities and threats once done the soul part
comes into making the creating of big idea what how and where in which form the message has to be
delivered. Performing guerrilla marketing needs creativity more than money, thus to create the perfect
blend of creativity with art of persuasion can make a product sell in a way that has never being sold
before.

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OBJECTIVES
• To understand how guerrilla marketing has the unconventional approach to market a product,
service or the big idea of a campaign

• To analyze the creative aspect of guerilla marketing and its evolving trends

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The main concept of this research is to understand how the guerilla marketing works is a unique way
with investment on creativity and time after analyzing the market trends and other option with using
money as the minimum resource.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The Guerilla Marketing is like a never-ending cycle, which
has a starting, a middle but no ending. It is important to
understand that it takes days, months, even years to
maintain customer base, because with too many brands to
choose a consumer can easily switch to other brands. To
retain them and have brand loyalty one has to create a strong
perception in the minds of the consumers, to do so guerilla
marketing tactics creates the strong impression on the
mindset of the consumers. It also needs to be considered that
marketing is not like an event but a series of it which
together creates the trail of perception to build the brand
image the correct perception which helps on a longer run to sustain the brand.
“Marketing is the art of getting people to change their minds—or to maintain their mindsets if they're
already inclined to do business with you” *(Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie
Levinson, and Amy Levinson)

In the world of business, the marketers have realized the importance of customer and how difficult it is
to sustain a customer or say earn the brand loyalty from them and even more difficult to create new
customer to increase the customer base. It is said it takes fives the money to gain a new customer than
retain the old customer. Thus, guerrilla marketing is a tool which bring the consumer’s attention to the
communication message by the markers that also at low budget, big brands like coca cola have
extensively used guerrilla marketing tactics to retain the consumers for decades now and also connect
with them in a way where the feel more close to the brand and that’s where the brand and customer
relationship becomes stronger and it positions perfectly in the minds of the customer such that it becomes
the part of their day to day life. Over the period of time big giants like coca cola have survived because
of their unique promotion strategies.
*(Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review-The Impacts of Guerrilla Marketing on
Consumers Buying Behavior by Saira Iqbal* and Samreen Lohdi)

As the marketers sees marketing from the guerilla point of view it clearly realizes that it has many
opportunities where it can convince the consumer that their product are the best solutions for their
problems. We as a marketer also need to realize that we are marketing to help the consumers get that
they exactly want they want it’s like making their day to day journey of life at ease, thus it can be said
that we need to comprehend their need their desire and even their psychology towards a product or
service and in the process of doing we help the consumer to succeed which in return shall make the brand
or product succeed in the market.
“Marketing is also the truth made fascinating.” *(Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie
Levinson, and Amy Levinson)

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Marketing is the perfect mixture of Science and Art. The science comes from the part to observe day to
day changes in the market, to analyze how trends have being changing over time. To measure the kind
of profits a specific market is providing and how what is the demand of target audience and even their
potential to buy the particular product, its like evolving every day learning from the mistakes and taking
the risk of innovation, as the market keeps evolving.
“Marketing is more of a science every day as we learn new ways to measure and predict behavior,
influence people, and test and quantify marketing” *(Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson,
Jeannie Levinson, and Amy Levinson)
For the part of art its comes into action when we start creating the communication through copy when
the copywriters writes the communication, then through visuals and illustrations in a print Ad to
showcase the product and the needed details, or while making a TVC it is no less than a piece of art
where within few seconds it has to talk about the product and its attributes creatively so that it remains
in the minds of the consumer. It can be like even the colors that are to be used for the particular product
are very creatively chosen by the designers make its communication strong. The basic thing about
products is its packaging which is also a piece of art as it helps the marketers gain attention or even
attract the customers towards the product to buy them, thus when you put them together the makes the
Marketing strong.
“Marketing is also unquestionably an art form because writing is an art, drawing is an art, photography
is an art, dancing is an art, music is an art, editing is an art, and acting is an art.” *(Guerrilla Marketing
by Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie Levinson, and Amy Levinson)

Guerrilla Marketing differentiates itself from the other traditional marketing ways in many aspects like
majorly it requires time to create the most creative stunt, & energy to execute it, unlike traditional
marketing where it requires majorly investment of money. As mentioned, guerrilla marketing is cost
effective and thus it gives more emphasis on the reach of the message than its frequency. Another point
where it contrasts with tradition marketing technique is how it approaches the customer makes them
amazed, excited and most importantly its notable in the minds of the consumer. The guerilla marketers
have one more thing that sets them apart from the rest traditional marketers that is they do not follow
any set parameters of marketing they innovate and try to reach the target audience with more exclusive
experience. As mentioned, that guerilla marketing tactics needs more of freedom to create something
unique due to which it lacks proper structure which can defined or facts to measure its effectiveness and
it also needs to be kept in mind that all guerrilla campaigns are successful. Ultimately, it’s the marketers
call what he actually wants is he willing to take the risk of going unconventional and create something
unique or he wants to avoid risk and try to present the old school traditional marketing tactics to promote
its brand/product or a service.
*(Guerrilla Marketing for dummies by Jonathan Margolis and Patrick Garrigan)

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
Preparing the research, I have taken various books on guerilla marketing to understand its various aspects
and structure the literature review.
Further to analyze it completely case studies of various campaigns both national and International is
taken to showcase how guerilla marketing stands out than other marketing tactics

RESEARCH DATA TYPE

Qualitative data has been taken through case study analysis to majorly understand through practical
examples of campaigns to study guerilla marketing and its impact on customers

RESEARCH TOOL
Case study analysis

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DATA ANALYSIS: CASE STUDY
BRAND: BlueJade
Year: June 2019

BlueJade is a luxury men lifestyle brand

which have being continuously
contributing for fourteen years to nature’s
cause to create awareness each year they
come up to unique style of conveying their
natures message to the audience.
The campaigns were specifically targeted
to be done on 5th June on the world
environment day. It was a one of the best
collaborations of creative work with Lime
soda creative Agency from Ahmedabad.
The big idea was to make the audience think twice on the natural issue and as they would do so they
would associate the brand along with it on the top of their mind.
The campaign had to parts to it one was the outdoor innovation and second was in store promotions. In
the city of Ahmedabad, they installed 40-foot-tall cut out of Blue whale with the communication “One
day very soon I will swim here. Unless you stop global warming”.
The message was very clear, simple and strong along with the creative cut out of whale the total
communication was the perfect ammunition for the guerilla marketers. Second part of it was to place the
communication, and what could be better than placing it on streets. Taking it forward the placed small
cutouts across 20 stores in the city and also tree samplings and
message communication on shopping bags were distributed to
create more awareness and make the message strong.
Global warming is now one of the biggest natural threat from man-
kind which has worse repercussions which can bring natural disaster
in form of tsunami which would wipe off human civilization. This
campaign was done to acknowledge the serious threat to the global
warming. The brand mostly did this world environment day
campaign in Ahmedabad, Surat, & Hyderabad every year but this
year they did it only in Ahmedabad as it was bit off beat, but
response was great and thus they decided to push their budget to do
it across other cities also.
It was one of a kind campaigns which used the proper guerilla tactics
to present the communication with subtle approach, which placed
the brand at the top of the mind for its audience.

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BRAND: Jeep
Product: Compass
Year: 2019

Jeep is an automobile brand

which caters the customers
SUV segment cars. To
advertise out of the box for
its product COMPASS,
Jeep came up with
something really
innovative which became
the talk of the town. The
idea was to create
something larger than life
and thus they came up with
a Big idea which got the
campaign registered in Asia book of records.
The decided to create India’s largest outdoor installation, when I say the largest yes seemed humongous.
It is estimated to be 25000 square foot installation. The huge structure was made up of 80,000 kgs of
metal with seventy craftsmen working on it for almost forty-five days to complete it. The huge structure
comprised of a majorly segment showcasing the JEEP logo which itself was 164. 6 feet long & 65.8 feet
tall, along with its vehicle compass all together the huge structure was 253 feet wide with height of 100
feet tall. The outcome was fantastic, and now the very important part of guerilla marketing is to analyze
and place the message in the perfect location which was Mumbai Pune expressway. The location made
the message more impactful as the whole structure said it aloud Jeep’s motto which is “Go anywhere
and do anything” the ambience it self is covered with lush green forest which gave the essence of
adventure. As we know that Out of the home media provides you that time and space which creates the
long-term impact, that was the advantage the markets took to place the message aloud in the middle of
the jungle like a guerilla. It might look easy on a photograph or on a piece of paper but to erect this huge
structure it was real challenge when it came to on ground where the accessibility was very limited due
to the location being on the hill top.
It is well said that hard work pays off with time that what happened with this outdoor campaign which
used the guerilla tactics, and got them a place in Asia record of books
Laqshaya media was the agency behind to bring out this master piece which was awarded as the India’s
largest outdoor installation. The campaign is one of the classic case studies to understand how guerrilla
tactics can position your brand close to the audience and this case they got mentioned for something
which no campaign could achieve. For Jeep which is a premium segment brand the out of the box
approach gave them one of the best brand positioning of being adventurous and capable.

BRAND: Hindustan Unilever

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Product: Lifebuoy
Event: Kumb Mela
Year: 2019

Kumb mela as we all know is one of the

largest humans gathering in the world. Thus,
how can brands not be around it to cater the
audience. Its like millions of eyeballs at one
place the level of reach increases for any
brands thus, as its again a competition to get
a maximum attention of the of audiences as
there are multiple brands to associate with
audience in the most innovative way.
Lifebuoy has always been hitting the hygiene
issue hard in India and has tried to bring in the change in the mindset of people. This time lifebuoy came
put with brilliant idea of making the hygiene communication so subtle that it would connect with the
audience on first impression. Lifebuoy branded the steel plates with communication “Before you sit
down to eat wash your hands with soup”. Thus, anyone who is going to use the plate to have the food
shall wait to read it out and gives the recall to use the lifebuoy soup before having the meal.
The next part of the campaign was the stamp
of hygiene, which was brilliantly crafted on
ground activation where the people who were
visiting the public toilet installed by lifebuoy.
Each person before entering the toilet where
marked with a hygiene stamp on their wrist,
with the representation of lifebuoy logo. The
final step was the most magical part of the
campaign where after using the toilet, as the
people washed their hands the logo started
lather turning into the form of handwash and also providing the perfect message of hygiene to after using
the toilet.

The campaign was a great success as message was sound and clear to its audience. Lifebuoy using the
guerrilla tactics positioned itself in the minds of the consumers with a high retention, recall and with a
innovative approach towards its audience and create a relation with them in a way that they will never
forget. Lifebuoy also addressed the national call of cleanliness which was initiated by the prime minster
of India Narendra Modi the SWACH BHARAT ABHIYAN by creating the awareness along with
promoting itself in the MAHA KUMB MELA 2019.

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BRAND: Hindustan Unilever
Product: Wheel
Campaign: Wash-o-Cycle
Event: Kumb Mela
Year: 2019

The Maha Kumb mela is a

human gathering for a
period of 30 days and the
most of the devotees, tend
to stay till the last thus
washing clothes as always
being a challenge specially
when one has to use ice
chilly river water to wash
them. Addressing this issue
WHEEL, a detergent
product from the house of
Hindustan Unilever came
up with a most innovative technique of washing clothes without any such challenges for the devotees. It
came up with a unique concept WASH O WHEEL, where they customized a cycle with a drum which
is attached to its back, where devotees have to put their clothes inside the drum along with water and
wheel detergent, once it is done the devotees needed to peddle the cycle for 10-15 mins depending upon
the amount of clothes to wash them clean. This innovative tactic of wheel which came as a boon to the
devotees, as it provided hustle free washing experience thus it had a unique approach to connect with
the audience which would provide them with a long-lasting brand recall.
This innovation not only made the washing easy but also saved water, minimum usage of water and less
water pollution and the majorly the cycle did not need any electricity to wash it was all manual. The
competition raised the bar of innovation and creativity to reach their audience. The master stroke to this
campaign came when all the Wash o Cycle were donated to the nearby villages to ease their life for
washing their clothes. It also clearly positioned their key message “Pheno fresh Socho Fresh” Which
means wear fresh to think fresh.

The out of the box idea to approach its audience showcases how marketers have understood the real
matra of marketing where the customer satisfaction is the ultimate key to success. This case study
completely justifies the theory in marketing the its always about the customers than any brands because
it’s the brands customers that makes the brand what it is.

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BRAND: Greenpeace Philippines NGO
Campaign: Dead Whale

Greenpeace
Philippines is an
NGO which
actively
participates
towards the moto
of saving mother
earth from
pollution. To mark
a very important
issue of plastic
pollution in oceans
are killing the
marine life they
came up with an
idea of creating something ironical with a very sarcastic message, representing how plastics can endanger
blue whales thus it’s high time to stop using plastic which are causing long term pollution in water
bodies.

A huge structure of dead blue whale was placed along the side ways Philippines beach. The structure
was completely made out of waste plastics representing how consuming plastic by the whales could
endanger their life resulting in death. The structure itself said the message allowed to take action towards
the usage of plastic and its disposal in the oceans. The structure was strategically planned to be installed
during the night so that when the people in the morning come to visit the beach could realize the surprise
message of a great reminder that plastics are harmful for the environment and it could imbalance the
ecosystem. The reaction to this was remarkable as slowly it became to be an iconic structure which was
saying it aloud the message of boycott plastic soon enough the media started to cover it and became talk
of the town. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations finally realizing the grave importance of the
message filled a petition to act against the usage of plastic.
The campaign had a massive reach where it could connect so strongly with the audience that it made
them actually work towards it, there are hundreds of campaigns across which try to address social issues
but very few are such campaigns where the action has been finally taken. This is the classic example of
how guerilla marketing can penetrate inside the minds of the audience that can bring change in the
society.

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CONCLUSION
Guerilla Marketing has its approach in unique way where it connects with audience so closely that it
leaves a long-lasting impact. In this fast-moving world where advertising has become an essential part
of every small and big brands and so the competition is like the jungle where you need to have some
special tactics to survive. It’s all about reaching out the audience in a way that they have an experience
that they would love to share and talk about. This research work tries to analyze guerilla marketing
strategy and its different aspects to understand how effective and powerful it can be. One thing that this
Ad strategy has no fixed parameters to create the most effective communications. To do so one has to
also have a sound knowledge of its target audience and selection of the location along with the key
message that has to be delivered needs to be worked up before doing it on ground. This is the strategy
which needs good creative resource investment of time and energy rather than just money which the
traditional ad strategy needs thus, along with its unique approach towards the audience it is also cost
effective. This strategy is one of the best for startup firms as the investment in terms of money goes less
with a better impact on the audience.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
I would like to thank to all of them for providing me the knowledge to understand the subject through
which I could frame this research project.

• Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie Levinson, and Amy Levinson

• Guerrilla Marketing for dummies by Jonathan Margolis and Patrick Garrigan)

• Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review-The Impacts of Guerrilla Marketing on

Consumers Buying Behavior by Saira Iqbal* and Samreen Lohdi

• Afaqs.com

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