What’s unconventional, creative and pulls from trends in pop culture? While this could describe the latest street fashion or drinking bone broth for breakfast, we’re talking about guerilla marketing. 

Not familiar with how this advertising format relates to your existing marketing strategy or how to come up with ideas for execution? Don’t sweat it! We’ve got what you need to make your creative vision come to life.

Each brand has unique characteristics, so what works for one company may not work for another. However, this blog is meant to jumpstart your creative juices, inspiring you to adapt and change these ideas as needed to resonate with your targeted audience. Let’s get started!

Why Is Guerilla Marketing Relevant in 2025? 

Guerilla marketing — or street marketing — is a type of marketing where a company uses the element of surprise or unconventional tactics to promote a product or service. Generally, it relies heavily on word-of-mouth or in-your-face promotions that might spread like wildfire online. While this tactic might not work with every single customer, it tends to click with younger consumers — especially if they’re on Instagram, TikTok and X and familiar with your typical digital marketing approach. 

Let’s give a bit of context on how guerilla marketing first entered the scene. In the 1980s, Jay Conrad Levison released a book, “Guerilla Marketing,” coining the term that would later become extremely popular. He believed that a small business could compete with larger companies by using marketing strategies that didn’t require a big budget — and boy, was he right. While big brands do use this style of viral marketing, it’s enabled smaller companies to enter and win markets that would otherwise be unavailable to them. 

So, does guerilla marketing still work? Absolutely! The reason is that it’s influenced by pop culture and ongoing trends, which means it’s always relevant and timely. This makes it a tactic that can’t go out of style. Plus, its out-of-the-box approach is creative and boosts brand awareness often more than traditional marketing — if done correctly.

Audience Engagement Trends

The right guerilla marketing tactic for your business will be one centered around your potential customers. What do they want to see? What drives them to make a purchase? What do they really care about? These are all questions that should drive your creative marketing. And, for unconventional tactics to work, they should follow trends in audience engagement, like: 

Personalized Content

People don’t want to feel like just another name on a list — they want to feel like your brand truly gets them. Think of it like texting a friend: Would you rather get a generic, “Hey, buy our stuff!” or a message that says, “Hey [name], we know you love [insert interest], so we’ve got something special just for you”? When ideating your next guerilla advertising approach, make your target audience feel like you’re an old friend wanting to catch up over coffee, not a business after their money. 

Interactive Experiences

People love to do, not just watch. That’s why experiential marketing sticks with people. From AR filters that let users try on products before buying to live polls, quizzes and choose-your-own-adventure-style content, engagement skyrockets when your target audience has a part to play. 

Social Media Communities

Gone are the days when brands just shouted into the void. People crave connection, and brands that foster genuine communities online are winning big. Whether it’s a private Facebook group for VIP customers, a branded hashtag that sparks user-generated content or a Discord server where superfans can geek out together, social media communities create a sense of belonging. They’re also a location for your guerilla marketing schemes to make it big in front of millions of people. However, that community needs to be built and fostered to get the type of reach you’re looking for. 

Ideating for Guerilla Marketing Campaigns + Inspiration for Your Brand

Want to add a bit of spice to your next campaign but don’t know where to start? Let’s go through the standard process to follow when coming up with a new guerilla marketing project, ending with some ideas you can pull from.

Understand Your Audience

Before launching a campaign, you need to know who you’re trying to reach. Understanding your audience’s interests, behaviors and pain points will help you craft a campaign that resonates with them and sparks engagement. 

Consider factors such as:

• Demographics: Their age, location and lifestyle.
• Online behavior: Their social media habits, favorite platforms and trending content.
• Pain points and desires: The problems your brand solves for them, and what excites or entertains them.
• Engagement triggers: The types of content or experiences they would share with friends.

Look at Current Events and Pop Culture

The best guerilla marketing campaigns strike the right balance between trendy and timeless. You want people to be able to relate to your project without it feeling inauthentic or unoriginal. To do this, look at current events, upcoming holidays and trending topics online. This could include a feud between two big-time singers, St. Patrick’s Day being right around the corner or anything along those lines. While it might not seem applicable at the time, see if there’s any overlap between these items and your brand and use it as inspiration. 

For example, if a blockbuster movie is trending, a sneaker brand could secretly place superhero-themed footprints leading to their store entrance, sparking curiosity and social media shares. This is also called ambush marketing.

Brainstorm Ideas

Guerilla marketing thrives on creativity, surprise and shareability. Think outside the box — how can you grab attention in unexpected ways? Consider interactive experiences, optical illusions, flash mobs or clever product placement in high-traffic areas. Aim for a campaign that’s low-cost but high-impact, encouraging organic engagement and word-of-mouth transfer — also known as buzz marketing.

Some techniques for brainstorming include:

• Collaborate with other creative people to bounce ideas around.
• Word web or mind map to see how certain topics tie together and, ultimately, get your thoughts on paper.
• Conduct a SWOT analysis — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats — to identify key goals.
• Try starbursting, which is where you start with a central question and then generate as many related questions as possible. 
• Let your mind loosen up with rapid ideation, generating as many ideas as possible within a set time frame — and no marketing idea is bad!

4 Guerilla Marketing Ideas To Test Out

1. Interactive Public Installations

Rather than bring people to your product, bring your product to people by using where they already spend their time. Use outdoor guerilla marketing by turning a public space into an engaging brand experience and creating an installation that invites participation.

For example:

• A drink brand creates a vending machine that dispenses a free drink when two people hold hands, promoting sharing the drink with a loved one. 
• A fitness brand installs bus stop seats that slowly tilt forward, making it impossible to sit comfortably — reinforcing their mission to get people moving. This form of stealth marketing is subtle, yet effective. 

Heinz’s “Smack for Heinz” campaign in Chicago is a great example of this. The company set up dispensers near hotdog stands that don’t provide ketchup (mustard being the preferred Chicago Dog topping). Ketchup-loving Chicagoans only had to smack a giant ketchup-red button to dispense a packet of the beloved but elusive condiment.

2. Creative Street Art

Street art can transform ordinary locations into unexpected brand touchpoints. Clever designs that blend into the environment make for Instagramable moments.

For example:

A food brand uses the stripes on a pedestrian crossing to resemble a pack of french fries. (McDonald’s did this really well!)

A paint company creates a massive spilled bucket illusion on a busy street, where the crosswalk appears to be painted in its most vibrant colors. 

3. Pop-Up Booths

Limited-time pop-ups create excitement and urgency while giving people a hands-on brand experience. 

For example:

A toy company announces its newest toy with a pop-up, allowing people to come and test it out. LEGO did this when releasing their newest Botanical Garden set with an event where people could come and build a flower to take home. 

A sustainable fashion brand sets up a “Wear & Swap” booth where people can exchange old clothes for store discounts.

4. Using Everyday Objects as the Marketing

Sometimes, the best guerilla marketing campaigns involve transforming everyday objects into something unexpected.

For example:

• A pizza brand redesigns manhole covers to look like sizzling pepperoni pizzas, making people crave a slice.
• A laundry detergent brand wraps escalator handrails with a design that makes them look like a never-ending roll of fresh white linen.

Examples of Large-Scale Guerilla Marketing Success

Since guerilla marketing is all about using smart branding out in the wild, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite successful campaigns we can’t stop thinking about:

The “Fearless Girl” Statue by State Street Global Advisors

In 2017, asset management firm State Street Global Advisors installed this statue on Wall Street directly facing the iconic Charging Bull. The campaign aimed to promote gender diversity in leadership, quickly becoming a viral sensation, sparking conversation about gender equality in the corporate world and beyond. 

Coca-Cola’s Personalized “Share a Coke” Campaign

The iconic soda brand replaced its logo with popular names, encouraging potential customers to find and share a bottle with friends and family. This campaign blew up due to Coca-Cola’s use of social media, word-of-mouth marketing and in-store experiences, making an experience that people wanted to be part of. 

The Red Bull Stratos Jump: Out-of-This-World Marketing

Red Bull took guerilla marketing to new heights — literally — when it sponsored Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive from the edge of space in 2012. The event, known as Red Bull Stratos, was live-streamed and watched by millions worldwide. By associating itself with extreme sports and human achievement, Red Bull reinforced its brand identity as a company that “gives you wiiings.”

Fitting Guerilla Marketing Into Your Broader Marketing Strategy

One successful guerilla marketing campaign by itself does not make a good strategy. While getting people’s attention is super important, keeping it is even more critical. So, rather than put all your eggs in one basket, use creative marketing as a way to amplify your existing advertising efforts. 

Ultimately, guerilla advertising gets people to know about your brand, and traditional marketing takes it from there. And, who knows, maybe your bright idea will become a memorable campaign that people talk about for years to come.