TERM PAPER REPORT SUMBITTED TOWARDS THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF UNDER GRADUATE DEGREE IN

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

GUERRILLA MARKETING

SUBMITTED BY:ANUJ GUPTA

BBA (2014-2017)ROLL NO. : E-65

Faculty Guide: Ms. Abhilasha Singh Student Name: Anuj GuptaDesignation: Assistant Professor Enrollment No.: A3906414554

Course & Batch: BBA (G)/2014-17

Amity School of Business, Noida

Amity University, Uttar Pradesh

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

This is to certify that I, Mr. Anuj Gupta, a student of under graduate degree in BBA (2014-2017), Amity School of Business, Noida has worked under the able guidance and supervision of Ms. Abhilasha Singh, Assistant professor.

This Term Paper report has the requisite standard for the partial fulfilment the Under Graduate Degree in Business Administration. To the best of our knowledge no part of this report has been reproduced from any other report and the contents are based on original research.

I am aware that in case of non-compliance, Amity School of Business is entitled to cancel the report.

Signature

Name of Student: Anuj Gupta

Enrollment No.: A3906414554

Signature of Project Coordinator Signature of Faculty Guide

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Acknowledgment

I express my sincere gratitude to my faculty guide, Ms. Abhilasha Singh, Assistant Professor, for her able guidance, continuous support and cooperation throughout my project, without which the present work would not have been possible.

Signature

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Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to study the basic concepts of Guerrilla Marketing, its advantages and disadvantages, methods and relevance in the modern world. The method of research is strictly non-personal, with the source of information being largely secondary in nature.

The report begins with a brief introduction towards the world of guerrilla marketing. Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional form of marketing that employs non-traditional methods at minimum cost to produce maximum results. The main point of guerrilla marketing is that the activities are done exclusively on the streets or other public places, such as shopping centres, parks or beaches with maximum people access so as to attract much audience. I begin with the history of the term, which can be traced back to 1984 through a book called Guerrilla Advertising by Jay Conrad Levinson. The term itself owes its origin to guerrilla warfare, a military tactic used by both armed forces and militants where unconventional methods of warfare, such as seek and kill, ambushing etc. are used. This book became a pioneer towards further research on guerrilla marketing and has been used as a reference for this research paper.

The research then moves towards the pillars on which the concepts of guerrilla marketing have been established, namely the principles of guerrilla marketing. These six principles – unexpectedness, drasticity, humour, low cost, one-shot game and goodwill – are all on which the entire bridge of guerrilla marketing has been formed. The paper then highlights the various pros and cons of guerrilla marketing. Numerous in both aspects, in my research I have observed that even after its said disadvantages, many companies continue to use guerrilla campaigns due to the perceived advantages.

The research then proceeds towards the different types of guerrilla campaigns that can be used by companies for the promotion of their products and services. These different types of campaigns are explained as simply as possible along with due examples. The examples used to explain these types of campaigns are as relevant as can be considered and show how a simple and non-expensive strategy can be used to best the strategies used in traditional marketing. The paper then showcases the various and numerous differences between traditional marketing and guerrilla marketing, thus showing the pros and cons of each method of marketing alongside the other. The differences also show why companies opt for any of the method for the promotion of any campaign.

I then provide with a few more examples of the different strategies used by various companies to show the success of such campaigns. The paper then arrives at the case study, for which I have taken the case of how a film with non-existent budget and unknown actors managed to make a profit in a time where films had to have a well-known actor to make a profit.

My research paper finally concludes with my observation that even though guerrilla marketing has merits and can help a company, it is still best suited for only small enterprises. Where large enterprises do occasionally use guerrilla campaigns, they are still happy with using traditional campaigns for the promotion of their products and services.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Number Subject Page Number

1. Executive Summary 5

2. Research Methodology 7

3. Introduction 8

4. History and Origin 9

5. Principles of Guerrilla 10-12Marketing

6. Pros & Cons 13-17i. Pros 14-15ii. Cons 16-17

7. Types of Guerrilla Marketing 18-23

8. Traditional Marketing vs. 24-25Guerrilla Marketing

9. Guerrilla marketing for 26-27social causes

10. Case study 28-30

11. Research Findings 31

12. Conclusion 32

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Research Methodology

1. Research objectivesThe research has the following objectives:i. To understand the basics of guerrilla marketingii. To know how guerrilla marketing is different from traditional marketingiii. To understand whether guerrilla marketing is a good way of marketing

2. Research designThe design of my research is exploratory. Exploratory research is research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. It is used generally based on secondary data which is readily available.

3. Research limitationsThough I’ve tried to research on the said objectives as much as possible, it suffers from certain limitations. The primary limitation is the time frame, which due to being short, the research could not have been thorough enough. The other is that due to the sources being secondary in nature, the information is more or less based on assumptions.

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Introduction

Guerrilla Marketing is a form of advertising and promotion strategy that is employed by companies. It involves usage of unconventional and uncommon tactics by companies that require minimum budget but produce maximum results. This involves high energy and imagination focusing on grasping the attention of the public in more personal and memorable level. The main point of guerrilla marketing is that the activities are done exclusively on the streets or other public places, such as shopping centres, parks or beaches with maximum people access so as to attract much audience.

Although originally used solely by small enterprises which could not compete with the budget sizes and marketing campaigns of the big companies, in recent times even large companies have begun to use guerrilla strategies.

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History and Origin

The iconic and often controversial form of guerrilla 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. 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. Promotions 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.

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.

The goals of guerrilla marketing, as stated in the book, “are relatively simple: use unconventional tactics to advertise on a small budget”. 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 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 world by storm.

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Principles of

Guerrilla Marketing

While guerrilla marketing is relatively new against traditional marketing, it has developed its own set of principles on which based on which the world of guerrilla campaigns operates.

1. Completely unexpected

The most important principle of guerrilla marketing, unexpectedness is the heart of any guerrilla campaign.

Every guerrilla campaign must include surprise situation. That surprise situation, created using methods such as taking usual products in unusual places and vice-versa or by staging an event people are not prepared to take part in, piques the customer’s attention. Thus, they are more attentive to the campaign and its message.

2. Drastic

“Drastic” means of extreme nature. Guerrilla campaigns are radical in nature. They have to reach out to as much people as it can on a small budget. This cannot be achieved if the campaigners restrict themselves to a small target or to a small campaign model.

Drasticity or extremeness intensifies the surprise and is helpful when trying to reach a large audience without spending a lot (by creating word-of-mouth effect). This word of mouth then

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helps to spread the news about the campaign and thus helps the campaigners. However, alongside the potential of achieving a high degree of interest and exposure, drastic behaviour can also lead to rejection and outrage.

3. Humorous

Humour is a great way of conveying something unexpected to people and also piques their interest more than normal campaigns. Using humour is crucial to the success of guerrilla campaigns, especially if they involve online activity.

Humour can help break barriers between company and consumer, just as it does in human interaction. Mixing surprise with humour is a key strategy to a successful guerrilla campaign. Humour is best used in online campaigns, where it can be used in forms of photos or videos. Sometimes, companies hire specially trained or acquainted people who can use humour easily, such as stand-up

4. One-shot game

As said above, unexpectedness and surprise play an important role in guerrilla campaigns. Thus, they are often reduced to one-shot games.

What this means is that such campaigns are performed in a strictly short time period. Such campaigns do not have the luxury of extended time or the ability to stay in front of customers. As such, guerrilla campaigns cannot use the same strategy and method on the same set of customers, as it foregoes the element of surprise.

5. Cheap

This is the most basic of principles of guerrilla campaigns. Guerrilla marketing has been found on this principle that guerrilla campaigns need to be cheap.

One of the biggest benefits of guerrilla marketing, especially for SMEs, is that it requires a small budget in comparison to other marketing methods. Sticking to a minimal budget is just as important as creativity and innovation to the design of the campaign. With that said, the budget should realistically match the size of the target market.

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6. Goodwill and customer benefit

Guerrilla marketing campaign should always include an act of goodwill on the part of the company in order to make consumers feel satisfied and valued. The benefit can be tangible—for example, giving away something for free as part of the campaign—or intangible, such as something that makes customers laugh, feel smarter, or feel more valued.

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of Guerrilla

Pros/Advantages

As it is slowly gaining prominence as a method of promotion, it is safe to assume that it does have certain advantages.

1. Cost effective The annual costs of traditional marketing are increasing on a regular basis, even for well-

established companies. This is due to the increasing changing tastes and preferences of consumers, changing times etc.

The cost of promotion in guerrilla marketing is very low. This is because of the unconventional and non-traditional tactics used. As these tactics do not require too much money to carry out, the cost of promotion is reduced.

Some examples of low cost methods used are interactive fliers, actors etc.

2. Great Reach Guerrilla marketing has a greater reach than traditional marketing. Where traditional

marketing is constricted by things such as literacy, area etc., and guerrilla marketing is

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of Guerrilla

not hindered by such factors. It has an ability to reach even the most remote places due to the nature of the tactics used.

3. Tailored Promotion Guerrilla marketing tactics can be easily tailored to meet the needs of the company

according to the type of method being used, the kind of product being promoted etc.

4. Word of mouth The unusual tactics used compel people to talk about the method, product and its features,

in that order. This makes the brand visible and also the word of mouth enables the information about both the brand and the product to reach wide range of people.

5. Advantage over competitors The creative and unexpected nature of guerrilla marketing gives companies that use this

form of promotion an advantage over its competitors. As the competition does not know how or when a company plans to carry its plan, it

gives them no choice but to wait it out and see for themselves. This prevents them from preparing a counter-strategy in advance and gives others an edge.

6. It works Guerrilla marketing is far more effective than traditional marketing. This is because while

people have grown accustomed to the usage and shows of traditional marketing, guerrilla marketing provides them with a whole new prospect of activities and tactics that enables them to focus more on the products and brands than traditional tactics.

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Cons/Disadvantages

Despite its prevalent advantages, guerrilla marketing does have a few disadvantages.

1. Large investment Guerrilla campaigns require a large investment to be set up. While the cost of carrying

out the said campaign is significantly lower than that required in traditional marketing, the cost of other factors involved, such as idea generation, hiring of professionals to think up such ideas etc. is almost equal to, if not more than, the cost requires in traditional marketing.

2. High risk Apart from the large investment required, guerrilla campaigns mainly depend on the

ability of these campaigns to go viral. This is the most important aspect of guerrilla marketing as the entire campaign is carries out only for this purpose.

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Thus, if the campaign fails to go viral, all the investment and efforts go down the drain.

3. Misconception Due to the viral spread of such campaigns, people may develop misconceptions about the

brand or the product. The common misconceptions that may crop up are that the campaign is only for entertainment purposes, may compare them to competitors, believe it’s a fake product etc.

4. Taking offence Some people may take offence as to the nature, method or type of product being

campaigned for. While such campaigns are not prepared with the intent of offending people, some people

may still take offence. This situation is increasingly becoming more prevalent in India.

5. No method of measuring ROI Viral content is difficult to track outside of a certain location and time frame. This is

because customers leave the scene of the campaign with memories, not something actual and physical.

As such, it is difficult to keep track of and determine the cost-per-response and conversion rate, as there is no predetermined number of consumers.

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Types of Guerrilla Marketing

Despite seeming like there is only one way in which guerrilla marketing is carried out, this is not true. Just like traditional sense, there are various ways through which a guerrilla campaign can be carried out. These ways are broadly classified into the following types of guerrilla marketing techniques.

1. Viral marketing

Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions. Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as “word-of-mouth,” “creating a buzz,” “leveraging the media,” “network marketing.”

Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, images, messages, eBooks etc. Such campaigns are usually carried out on internet platforms, such as social media, YouTube etc.

A perfect example of viral marketing is the 2012 song “Why this Kolaveri Di?” frim the Tamil movie “3”. The song was released on November 18 on YouTube and soon spread like wildfire throughout the country first and then the world through social media. People of every age and background began to hum and dance at the tune of the song for months to come, so much that it was dubbed as the “Kolaveri syndrome”. The purpose of the campaign was successful – the movie was a huge hit and its lead actors attained instant stardom.

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2. Ambient Marketing

Ambient communication is a complex form of corporate communication that uses elements of the environment, including nearly every available physical surface, to convey messages that elicit customer engagement. It is a compile of intelligence, flexibility and effective use of the atmosphere.

In other words, ambient marketing is placing an advertisement for a product in places one would not expect to see them, such as inside buses, potholes etc. An ambient ad doesn’t have to be placed outside. Ambient advertising can be found anywhere and everywhere.

An example is the strategy applied by Eatalica Burgers. This is an American-Italian food joint in Chennai, India. A “Caution: Wet Floor” sign was placed below its poster, with the poster saying “Unexpected and excessive drooling caused by staring at the burger may cause the floor to become wet and this may hazardous for people”.

3. Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing is a form of associative marketing. In this kind of marketing, companies “ambush” an event and promote their product or service to create an understanding in the minds of the customers that the company is associated with the event. The companies do so only after the express permission of the organisers.

This helps the company as they do not have to pay any sponsorship fees and thus are able to promote their products almost free of cost. On the other hand, the customers get the impression that the company or brand is associated with the event and as such get a positive image of the brand created in their minds.

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Ambush marketing is fast becoming common in sports, with the brands using widely watched sporting events to promote their product. An example could be the 2012 Olympic Games. The official audio partner for the 2012 London Olympic Games was Panasonic. Expecting the athletes to wear their product and show it off to the world, Panasonic distributed their premium headsets. But their strategy backfired when Beats sent free headsets as gifts to all the lead athletes such as Michael Phelps & Tom Daley. Beats ended up getting more airtime than their rival sponsor who also had to put up £64 million for the sponsorship.

4. Grassroots marketing

Grassroots marketing is fast becoming popular. It is based on the concept that people share with other people if something exciting or new happens with them. As such, it is similar to viral marketing, but also different in the kinds of platforms that it uses. Grassroots marketing aims at a small group of people instead of a large group. The message is delivered to this small group of people, with hopes that people will tell other people about it. Thus, the success or failure of a grassroots campaign depends directly upon people.

The most major example of grassroots campaigns are flash mobs. Flash mobs are organised by companies to be carried out at particular places, usually public places, such as train stations, shopping malls, busy intersections etc. These flash mobs then convey the message of the company with as many people present watching. These people then relay to other people and so on.

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5. Undercover marketing

Undercover marketing, or buzz marketing, is a form of marketing in which the product is introduced in such a way that it does not seem like marketing.  Instead of clearly discernible advertisements or pitches, undercover ads are based on psychological tricks that get the message across without letting the individual know she's being sold to.

One disadvantage of undercover marketing is that if people realise they have been duped into liking the product, they may develop a negative image about the brand. Also, buzz created by a negative campaign has more effects than that of buzz created from a positive campaign.

Video games are progressively being used by companies to promote their products. By offering a certain fee to the developers, the companies are able to place their products in those games’

.

6. Alternative marketing

Alternative marketing 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. Alternative marketing takes a good deal of imagination and a healthy dose of luck to pull off.

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A great example would be the use of social media. Companies today use social media in a way that it is able to promote its product. On social networking sites, such as Facebook, companies often hire people to create pages and promote the product through said pages in such a way that it appears it is not the company promoting the product, but the page itself. The same holds true for other social platforms, such as Twitter, YouTube, blogging sites such as Reddit etc.

7. Experiential marketing

Experiential marketing is a form increasingly being embraced by all types of companies and brands today. While in regular guerrilla campaigns companies only tell people about the product and its benefits, in experiential marketing companies invite people to experience those benefits and features.

This is done through the organisation of certain events, such as camps, where people can use and experience the product first hand; this can be carried out for services too. Ultimately, engagement marketing attempts to connect more strongly consumers with brands by "engaging" them in a dialogue and two-way, cooperative interaction.

An example can be taken from the Mahindra Monastery Escape. Every year, Mahindra SUV organises this event for adventure enthusiasts where they are taken for a trip from Delhi to Leh in Mahindra SUV’s. This is an effective campaign as the number of people turning up for this event is increasing each year and also beneficial for Mahindra as their products are being promoted without any high cost.

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8. Presence marketing

Presence marketing works along the same line as ambient marketing. Whereas ambient marketing aims at making the product visible, presence marketing aims at the promotion of the brand and the company by simply being there.

Like many other types of guerrilla campaigns, presence marketing also has the most effectiveness on social networks. By maintaining pages, blogs and posts, companies tend to remain in the view point of the intended customers and constantly maintain to stay in the limelight.

Presence marketing is different from alternative marketing, though both may sound the same. The difference lies in the usage of the media platforms provided. While in presence marketing companies themselves are active through pages, in alternative marketing they hire someone else to maintain their presence in such a way that customers are none the wiser.

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Traditional Marketing vs. Guerrilla Marketing

Traditional marketing and guerrilla marketing, both are used by companies to promote their products and services. While the main aim of both the approaches is to make the customer aware about the product, they do have differences that makes them stand apart from each other. These differences are listed as follows:-

Traditional Guerrilla

Requires a large capital and money to carry out its activities and tactics

Requires minimal of capital and money to carry out promotion activities

Geared towards big businesses Geared towards small businesses

Focuses solely on making customer aware about the brand and the product

Focuses not only on awareness, but also to stay in the minds of the customers

It is based on experience, judgement, past information etc.

It is based on psychology of the customers and plays with the mind of the consumer

Due to the large scale of the campaign, companies may lose focus about the basic strategy of the campaign

As the campaign is small scale, there is no loss of focus towards the main aim of the campaign

Approaches growth in a linear manner. One at a time.

Approaches growth geometrically and an understanding that every customer is the centre of a whole new network of prospects.

Centred on increasing sales and making money through its promotion campaign

Centred on increasing interactions and relations with customers through its campaigns

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It is a non-personal form of promotion It is a personal form of promotion

It focuses on what it can take from the society and its customers

It focuses on what it can give to the society and its customers

It is based on the concept of me marketing and focuses on talking about the business

It is based on the concept of you marketing and focuses on talking about the prospect

It is focused on large groups and campaigns are based upon herd mentality

It is focused on small groups and campaigns are based upon the fact each customer is different

There is only one tool that can be used i.e. advertising

There are hundreds of tools, of which marketing is one

The campaigns of rival companies and brands begins to take an almost similar view

The campaigns are not similar as there are many different tools that can be used

Not attention given to follow up. 68% of business is lost because there is no follow up after the sale.

It is all about the follow up and turning customers into repeat customers and better customers.

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Guerrilla Marketing as a tool For social campaigns

The campaigners for social causes are always looking for new ways in how to spread a message about a particular cause. They look for a tool that enables them to spread the word in such a way that it remains memorable.

Since early 2000’s, these people and organisations have found a new friend in guerrilla marketing. Their reason for using guerrilla campaigns is the same as that of any commercial enterprise – guerrilla campaigns are memorable and hit home where they are supposed to. Many other factors play an important role – these campaigns are unexpected, cheap and according to the cause being displayed, they are also entertaining. Many causes for which guerrilla campaigns have been used have been successful.

In India, one of the most methods of guerrilla campaigns employed by people and organisations is street plays or nukkad naataks. Though this method is slowly becoming common, it is still used as it always has the element of surprise. Another example is a campaign carried out in Chennai. Zara, a popular Tapas Bar in Chennai, in association with Chennai Traffic Police decided to address drunken driving (responsible for 70% of road fatalities in India), by leveraging this mind set. They hired an actor to play the role of Yama, the Hindu God of Death and had him sit in the cars of drunk patrons who chose to drive their way home.

The message of the campaign was simple – you go together with death in tow if you decide to drive under influence. Once those patrons got over their shock, they accepted the message and made use of the cab service provided by the bar.

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Another example where guerrilla campaign is successful occurred in Paris in 2008. In 2008, there were 1,600 wild pandas left in the world. In an attempt to raise awareness, the World Wildlife Foundation curated the creation of 1,600 hand-made papier mäché pandas, which were placed in various locations across Paris -- first in front of Hotel Ville, then across the city. It was a striking display that seemed, at first, quite vast, but hit home quickly as viewers realized that every panda in their sight represented the only pandas remaining in the wild. The campaign was political, emotional, and talked about for years afterwards.

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Case Study – The Blair

Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project

is the story of three student

filmmakers, Heather

Donahue, Joshua

Leonard and Michael C.

Williams, who are

investigating the

supernatural legend known

as the Blair Witch in the

town of Burkittsville,

Maryland. After

interviewing the locals,

they disappear into the Black Hills with their recording equipment, and are never seen again. A

year later, their footage is found and pieced together to make the movie.

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There are various reports detailing the amount the movie cost to make, but Daniel Myrick and

Eduardo Sánchez, who co-wrote and produced the film, confirmed the original budget was

somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000. It was shot on handheld cameras, one of which was

returned after use for a refund to keep costs down. The three main actors did most of the filming,

and their lines were entirely improvised – they only had a general outline to follow and had to

react to situations unprepared. It took eight days to shoot, and a further eight months to edit. The

end result was all the more terrifying as audiences didn’t know whether it was real or not.

The seeds of the campaignHaxan Films, the production company belonging to Myrick and Sánchez, had put together a

basic website, www.blairwitch.com, giving the story behind the legend, which went online in

June 1998. The film itself was first aired at the Sundance Festival in January of the following

year. After an all-night bargaining session, Artisan Entertainment bought the rights for a reported

$1million.

In a joint decision, Haxan and Artisan, decided to use the website as the focus of their publicity

campaign. For the next six months, they added to it, and used a number of other low-budget

tactics to promote the film. Prior to the film’s release in July 1999, they had spent approximately

$1million on promotion.

On its opening weekend, The Blair Witch Project grossed $1.5 million on only 27 screens. All

screens were packed, and people queued for hours to be sure of a ticket. The number of screens

was increased twice before its October release in the UK and Ireland. In total, The Blair Witch

Project reeled in over $248million at the Box Office, the second highest return on investment of

any film. Despite advances in modern cinema and much deeper pockets in today’s film industry,

not a single independent film has come close to that campaign.

In addition to the website, which was expanded gradually to reflect new information being

discovered about the ‘story’, the team joined various online forums and fanned the flames of the

story by adding mysterious nuggets of information, to keep people talking. They also shot a

number of low-budget trailers.

The trailers were mainly shown in college campuses, with a special feature on the Sci-Fi

Channel. By avoiding mainstream cinema ads, they not only saved money, but made audiences

believe that they’d stumbled on something special, discovering it for themselves.

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Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the viral marketing campaign was the attention to detail;

the three actors were listed as ‘missing, presumed dead’. They even handed out missing persons

leaflets.

Finally, on the opening weekend in July

1999, Artisan took out a full-page ad in

Variety Magazine, simply noting the

website and the number of hits to date: 21,222,589. It was a simple call to action – you can’t

afford to miss out. Moreover, by limiting the release to only 27 screens, they created the

impression that this was a difficult ticket to get hold of, drumming in the idea that one cannot

afford to miss out.

Success Factors

The publicity campaign for The Blair Witch Project was simply the most inventive, terrifying

and successful campaign in film history. Undoubtedly, part of the reason for its success was that

it was the first film to be widely marketed online. In other words, it was a trailblazer. The

website provided a point of reference for people to refer to, and it was something that could be

shared easily, with the potential to spread like wildfire. The pictures, video and interviews that

appeared online at various intervals added to the uncertainty of whether this was actually a true

story.

Another reason for its success was that it created a feeling of uncertainty in people’s minds. At

that time fake documentaries were uncommon, and the unknown actors simply added to the

mystique. It was also more difficult at that time for people to check the authenticity of the story,

whereas today a simple search online would reveal in minutes that the events were not real.

It would be impossible to replicate the marketing campaign for The Blair Witch Project now.

Many have tried, and many have failed. The Blair Witch Project worked because it was so

unique. Whereas the imitators have failed, because they weren’t. It’s much easier to stand out

when you have an original angle to work from, but the impact lessens each time this idea is

copied.

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Research Findings

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.

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Conclusion

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, the customers’, 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 led 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.

Guerrilla marketing is still quite unexplored and not utilised. This tool has a great potential in marketing. This research has made me understand the weight of traditional marketing, how it is a sinking ship and how guerrilla marketing is more promising in generating interest and sales for a brand.

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