Guerrilla Marketing: Our Favourite Primape

Guerrilla Marketing 101 - Class is in session

If you’ve ever scrolled past fifty cookie-cutter ads without remembering a single one, you already get the problem with “traditional” marketing. Most of it feels safe, predictable, and, let’s be honest, boring.

That’s why some of the smartest brands don’t shout louder; they get more creative. Enter guerrilla (not gorilla…)  marketing: the art of surprising people with bold, creative stunts that stick in their heads (and hopefully in their group chats).

But what actually is guerrilla marketing, and how do you use it without looking like you’re trying too hard? Let’s dig in.

What is Guerrilla Marketing?

Guerrilla marketing is scrappy, unexpected, and way more about creativity than budget. The term was coined in the ’80s by Jay Conrad Levinson, who compared it to guerrilla warfare: small, clever moves that disrupt the big guys. 

Forget billboards and 30-second TV spots. Guerrilla campaigns live in the wild: on sidewalks, in subways, or on your Instagram feed. The whole point is to make people stop, laugh, snap a photo, and share it. 

And here’s why it works on a deeper level: our brains are wired to tune out predictable advertising. We’ve built up “ad immunity”, meaning we scroll past banner ads, mute commercials, and skip pre-rolls without a thought. But when something feels out of place, surprising, or a little absurd, our brain has to pay attention. Guerrilla marketing taps into that instinct, breaking through the mental spam filter and creating moments people actually remember.

Why Guerrilla Marketing Works

Guerrilla marketing works because it disrupts the ordinary. Unlike traditional marketing, which can feel repetitive and easy to ignore, guerrilla campaigns surprise people and create memorable experiences.

In a world where we’re bombarded with up to 20,000 ads per day, our brain has become quite efficient at filtering out unnecessary information (in fact, we remember less than 100 ads we see per day). In fact, some rather sobering statistics for us marketers: 

• 82% of content is ignored

• 64% of viewed ads drive negative emotions

• 47% are deemed irrelevant or annoying

• 99.4% of ads are forgotten

• And the source for all you academic folks: https://thomasramsoy.com/index.php/2024/07/09/consumer-psychology-new-frontier-ad-immunity 

Guerrilla marketing cuts straight through that mental filter. When something feels out of place, such as a flash mob, unexpected designs, or surprise shops, the brain can’t ignore it. Surprise lights up the amygdala (the part of the brain tied to emotion and memory), which means we’re not only more likely to notice the moment, we’re also more likely to remember it and talk about it later.

On top of that, guerrilla campaigns often invite participation: touch this, share that, snap a photo here. Interaction deepens the psychological bond because we’re not passive viewers anymore; we’re co-creators of the experience. And humans value things we’ve actively engaged with.

In short, guerrilla marketing works because it doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like a story you stumbled into, and that makes it infinitely more memorable (and shareable) than a banner ad we all scroll past.

Famous Guerrilla Marketing Examples (a.k.a. This lives rent-free in our collective creative minds)

• IKEA’s Subway Showroom (Paris): Commuters sat on sofas between stops, turning a dreary commute into a showroom on rails. Lesson: put your product where people least expect it.

• Pretty Much Anything the Duolingo Owl Has Done: From crashing concerts to “dying” on the app icon, Duo is chaos in mascot form, and chaos that works (and now everyone has copied, looking at you ScrubDaddy…). Credit to Zaria Parvez and her team for proving that when you trust your social and creative folks, magic happens. Lesson: give your people creative freedom, then get out of their way.

• Coca-Cola’s “Happiness Machine”: A vending machine that spit out pizzas, flowers, and balloons. Pure viral joy (and brand love). Lesson: surprise + generosity = viral gold.

• ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Proof that grassroots weirdness can raise millions and turn a cold shock into global awareness. Lesson: make it easy (and fun) for people to join in.

• UNICEF’s Dirty Water Vending Machine: Packs a powerful punch by forcing people to “buy” dirty water, driving home the message of clean water scarcity. Lesson: shock works best when it’s tied directly to your mission.

• TerraSense’s Urinal Sticker Stunt: Proof that guerrilla marketing doesn’t need big budgets to make a splash (pun intended). And yes, we’ll brag about our own work, because sometimes the smallest, cleverest ideas leave the biggest impression. Lesson: clever beats costly.

Did we really just say our own marketing campaign is in famous examples?

The Bottom Line

Guerrilla marketing isn’t about being outrageous just to grab headlines. It’s about being clever, strategic (it has to align with your brand, your product, and your audience!), and impossible to ignore. Whether you’re a startup or a scale-up, the right stunt at the right time can change the way people see your brand.

At On Point Agency, this is our bread and butter. We love creating campaigns focused on blending strategy, psychology, and creativity to turn bold ideas into campaigns that actually stick. Ready to cook up your own splash? Let’s talk.

And if this only whets your appetite, don’t fret: we’ll be digging deeper into guerrilla marketing in future blogs. Subscribe below to get notified about our future blogs covering creative marketing strategies, low-cost marketing ideas, guerrilla marketing for small businesses, step-by-step playbooks, and case studies of campaigns we love (and a few we don’t).

Think of this post as your amuse-bouche: the best is yet to come.