Warfare marketing & its play with emotions.

Of the many emotions that promotional efforts can trigger, the surprise effect is considered the core element of guerrilla approach (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011). As per Hutter & Hoffmann (2011), when perceptions are met with unexpected disconfirmation, it results into an emotional retort, surprise. The audience is amazed when a pleasant event or sight crosses their mundane lives. According to Hutter & Hoffmann (2011), implementation of marketing ideas at unusual locations, building sized posters, digital screens, ambient advertising and other such ideas evoke surprise emotions in the public. Such an audience cannot obviate themselves from inferring the marketing messages (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011). Coca Cola’s Happiness Machine campaign will help us understand the element of surprise in guerrilla marketing.

A vending machine was installed before the final exams in the cafeteria at St. John’s University in Queens, New York (Aaker & Smith, 2011). This machine distributed surprises instead of just normal sodas. For instance, when one student paid for a coke, the machine dispensed many cokes. Others received a 10 inch sandwich, balloons, flowers and even pizza. Aaker and Smith (2011) say that the surprised students were elated with joy and the spirit in the cafeteria looked nothing less than a festive celebration. Facebook statuses, tweets, instagram pictures about this event were posted, shared and liked by the students and in two weeks, the video commercial was watched more than two million times (Aaker & Smith, 2011). Traditional coke advertisements during the American Idol show and those on television reach more public but spreading joy among a segment of its audience with stunts such as the happiness vending machine established a deep emotional association between the brand and its customers. No print advertisement or television commercial can create such sentiments into the consumers. There was surprise and then there was a strong connection with the brand. This marketing event cost less than $50,000 but gathered tremendous appreciation for its concept and objective from marketers, customers and other corporations (Aaker & Smith, 2011). Super bowl ads or big building posters are predictable, with this Coca Cola achieved people’s smiles. Coca Cola’s happiness machine also justifies Levinson’s (2014) explanation of the extensive use of technology to implement guerrilla marketing ideas. Coca Cola crafted its message in an effective manner and made sure its audience understood what the brand believes in, in spreading happiness. It found the right emotion at the right time and gave the students delightful little surprises that made them forget the stress of the finals. Every attention-gripping story does not need to have life and death instances; all it needs is originality and clarity of ideas to surprise people in unexpected ways.

Margolis & Garrigan (2008) state that guerrilla marketing has proved to be successful for all size of businesses around the globe. They believe that this strategic form of promotion has set itself as a benchmark for economical marketing (Margolis & Garrigan, 2008). The WestJet Christmas miracle, Nikon’s Paparazzi campaign and Coca Cola’s Happiness Machine are all examples of modest budget marketing efforts that paid off with their novel idea and unpretentious implementation. It all captured one emotion, surprise, which led the audience to appreciate the brand and its communication. Levinson (2014) clearly states that guerrilla marketing should align with technology, only then it will be fruitful, otherwise it’s not guerrilla at all. Technology is the need of the hour. This warfare marketing makes efficient use of technology in all forms to ensure successful marketing efforts. Overall, guerrilla marketing strategy has the ability to create a publicity snowball; it manages to capture attention of the press and the audience for good or not-so-good reasons.

References

Hutter, K. & Hoffmann, S. (2011). Guerrilla marketing: The nature of the concept and propositions for further research. Asian Journal of Marketing, pp. 1819 – 1924

Aaker, J. & Smith, A. (2011). The dragonfly effect. [Review of the Stanford social innovation, 2011], pp. 30 – 35

Margolis, J. and Garrigan, P. (2008). Guerrilla marketing for dummies. Hoboken: NJ,Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Levinson, J. (2014). Guerrilla marketing with technology. Retrieved on October 29 from http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/167-guerrilla-marketing-with-technology