Attack marketing
Also known as guerrilla marketing or ambush marketing, attack marketing is a form of marketing that incorporates a series of creative and strategic techniques used to build and maintain public awareness surrounding a person, place, product, or event. Attack marketing utilizes the power of social interactions to execute non-traditional marketing campaigns that drive sales, increase name awareness and create long-term buzz around a specific business. Attack marketing is used by many marketing, advertising, public relations and promotional event marketing agencies to promote popular worldwide brands and events. Attack marketing can be tailored to fit marketing programs of all budgets, small and large.
Contents
History
Attack marketing was traditionally used by bootstrapped businesses looking for cheaper forms of advertising. As the marketing industry evolved, engaging consumers who had been bombarded with duplicated advertisements became difficult.
The innovation of non-traditional marketing, such as attack marketing, gained greater popularity. Currently, attack marketing is prominently used to promote small businesses as well as larger brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Disney, Mars and more.
- In 1954, the Marlboro Man appears in Marlboro ads, making the company to become the #1 cigarette brand in the US.
- Guerrilla, ambush and attack marketing became popular in the 1970s.
- In 1982, Nike aired its first national television ads, created by newly formed ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, during the New York Marathon.
- In 1984 Jay Conrad Levinson's book on Guerrilla Marketing is distributed to bookstores
- In 1986, Run DMC created a single called “My Adidas” and significantly raised Adidas shoe sales overnight.
- In 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Linford Christie wore contact lenses embossed with the Puma logo at the press conference preceding the 100 metres final.
- The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 restricts ambush, guerrilla, and attack advertising at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Strategies
Attack marketing uses a number of different strategies to create memorable interactions between businesses and consumers, including use of:
Promotional Staff to interact with consumers
- Brand Ambassadors- knowledgeable brand representatives
- Promotional Models- brand representatives that display brand image
- In-store Demonstrators- brand representatives that demonstrate and distribute product samples
- Street Teams- teams of brand ambassadors promoting brand outdoors
Non-traditional marketing techniques
- Street marketing- Outdoors promotions with promotional staff
- College Campus Activation- College campus marketing events and programs
- Social Media- Event marketing online through Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Mobile Media- Promotional event marketing with vehicles
- Airport Marketing- Product sampling and displays at airports
- Spring Break Marketing- Promotional event marketing at popular Spring Break destinations (flyering, product sampling, etc.)
- Publicity Stunts- Flash mobs, mock protests with promotional models
- Green Marketing- Event marketing using sustainable products
- Wearable Media- Promotional marketing with electronics
- Outdoor Postering- Outdoor poster placements
- Guerrilla Projections- Outdoor digital displays during marketing event
- Chalking/Stenciling- Outdoor sidewalk stenciling
- Flyer Distributions- Public distribution of flyers by promotional staff
To help execute attack marketing programs, many businesses hire other resource agencies that provide event staffing, field support and guerrilla marketing services to help with event logistics.
Related Forms of Marketing
References
- [1]
- Levinson, Jay Conrad. Mastering Guerrilla Marketing. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. ISBN 0-395-90875-2
- Skildum-Reid, Kim. The Ambush Marketing Toolkit, McGraw-Hill, September 2007. ISBN 0-07-013808-7.
- [2]
- [3]
