Using Guerrilla Marketing as Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising—you see it everywhere around you and in all kinds of variations. The delivery bikes whizzing past you in every city, posters in bus shelters, advertising blocks on lampposts, sandwich boards along the road, LED displays in all shapes and sizes, wrapped and stickered cars. You find outdoor advertising under your feet on mats or floor stickers. And high above you on advertising masts along the highway. All these forms of advertising fall under the umbrella term 'outdoor advertising'.

In addition to the conventional forms of outdoor advertising, there is also guerrilla marketing , the somewhat more daring and mischievous variant of standard outdoor advertising campaigns. Guerrilla marketing consists of striking and usually custom-made campaigns that are often temporary and sometimes even teeter on the edge of what is legally permissible. You can, of course, turn to us for the deployment of traditional outdoor advertising campaigns and out-of-home marketing. However, our passion and specialization lie more in devising out-of-the-box, high-profile guerrilla marketing campaigns tailored to a service, location, target group, or event.

Guerrilla marketing can be used in many ways as outdoor advertising. For example to promote a brand, product, event, film or music album. But also as an awareness campaign, PR stunt, brand activation and field marketing.

How did outdoor advertising actually come about?

In old black-and-white films, as well as somewhat older color films, you see people shouting while selling newspapers. If you walk through a market today, you still hear—especially at the fruit and vegetable stalls and with street vendors—the loud voice of the market trader announcing his special offers. That is also advertising, and it is even the oldest form of advertising. Advertising is and always has been a form of communication to persuade people to do or buy something. That is why advertising murals were also painted on old buildings, such as former laundries.

The French company JCDecaux is big in outdoor advertising. Although you may not know the name directly, you certainly know their advertising carriers. Founder JC Decaux launched the glass bus shelter with advertising in Lyon in 1964, the bus shelter. This concept soon spread throughout France, Belgium and later non-French speaking countries. It took until 1987 before the Netherlands dared to do so, with Amsterdam as the first city.

But it didn't stop at shelters. JCDecaux soon developed mupis, self-contained billboards with a city map on one side and an advertising message on the back. In the years that followed, placards were replaced by much easier to renew posters, rotating posters were placed in advertising columns, which in recent years have been replaced by digital and sometimes even interactive screens.

All advertising in public spaces is therefore outdoor advertising . We already listed some possibilities in the introduction. In practice, however, there is much, much more, in terms of format, advertising medium, and material. With a guerrilla marketing campaign, you try to attract as much attention as possible in a short time. It is often a short-term or one-off PR stunt. For Primark, we once fitted 2500 bicycles with saddle covers overnight, featuring the message of the opening. That certainly stands out!

Dimensions, carriers, the right time and the right place

Outdoor advertising, sometimes also called field marketing , Out Of Home Marketing, or city marketing, can therefore be seen in various forms and diverse sizes. This also applies to guerrilla marketing campaigns. Bicycle saddle covers are small, banners are large. Stickers come in all sizes. With beamvertising, you can even advertise on an area of ​​up to approximately 1000 m². An advantage of guerrilla marketing, where you place messages where you normally wouldn't find them, is that you can specifically target where you display how many advertisements and with what message.

A client is opening a pop-up store in the center of Amsterdam and requests one hundred temporary chalk drawings from us in the vicinity of the store. Another wants messages in front of their competitor's door. You are entitled to have an opinion about that, but then again, it is called guerrilla marketing for a reason. With this form of advertising, you can therefore target a precise target group or location very specifically. Or, conversely, deploy it very broadly. The same applies to brand activation, promotional marketing , PR stunts, city marketing, and brand activation.

Traditional carriers of outdoor advertising include bus shelters, masts, buildings, lampposts and traffic poles, buses, banners, (digital) boards along sports fields, flags, freight traffic, and so on. With guerrilla marketing, brand activation , or field marketing campaigns, you simply do things just a little differently. Curious about the forms of guerrilla marketing we offer? View the overview of our outdoor advertising campaigns.

The preparation, planning and execution of guerrilla advertising is usually slightly different. Many actions are applied or performed at night. For example, if an entrepreneur chooses to place his message at prime locations in city centers or around stations. Or when we need the space in a pedestrian area to do our work. That makes the surprise or confrontation the next day all the greater. 'Suddenly' there is something different for the public to see!

How effective is field marketing?

The effectiveness of an outdoor advertising campaign is difficult to measure. Anyone basing their marketing plans on Return on Investment must abandon that approach for this type of investment. It is simply not as measurable or adaptable as an online marketing campaign . However, with ad blockers and the like, the result of an online campaign is measurable, though not always what you would hope for.

However, the disadvantages that one sometimes sees in outdoor advertising (difficult to target, not easy to adapt and not easy to analyze) are only disadvantages compared to the digital campaigns. If you disregard the online resources, on which there is a lot of focus, and if you compare outdoor advertising with print or television, it turns out to be many times more effective, especially if you include the costs.

Ultimately, it is about where the target audience is located and what you want to achieve with a campaign. Whether online only or street advertising only, it is about the total marketing mix, and outdoor advertising will play an important role in that. Whether it is an advertisement on the street, a bus shelter, an image on a bus, or a public restroom, the possibilities are endless. And if you also consider a custom spectacular, PR stunt , or brand experience, the options are endless!

Using an aftermovie, online or on social media, is recommended in many cases. Not only of the end result and the reactions of the audience, but also of the preparation, which often takes place in the dark. A great way to bring people online who may have missed the action offline!

Sustainable forms of PR stunts and out of home marketing

With image and light you can make a huge statement and stand out in the outdoor area. It can be active and even interactive, relatively easy to 'apply' and you don't really change the outdoor space. As with wild beams, outdoor advertising by means of a powerful projector. Again, you can think from very large to very small. This form of outdoor advertising with light is only clearly visible in the dark.

We projected large snowflakes onto the back of the Van Gogh museum. Very large snowflakes. And we have deployed walking beamer campaigns for other clients. The walker in the city sees the message moving in front of his feet or on buildings he passes. It moves, can even chase the walker and thus attracts a lot of attention. With a clear and catchy message, an original memory is created for the public.

If you are going to work with beamvertising or laser graffiti, it is important, firstly, that there is a surface onto which to project, and secondly, that it is used in the dark. Projecting outdoors in daylight or into thin air does not work. There are other forms of outdoor advertising that are durable, some of which even have a graffiti-repellent effect.

With reverse graffiti , we clean a section of the surface, such as a sidewalk or street. For this, we use a stencil incorporating the client's message. You don't need anything more than this mold, the stencil, a pressure washer, and a dirty street. The result: a clear message on the ground that many passersby won't miss. If the surface is unsuitable for this, for example because it consists of asphalt or natural stone, chalkboard advertising can be chosen instead.

Chalk messages also fall under guerrilla marketing and are often applied at night. By means of another template and an environmentally friendly chalk product, the message becomes visible. How long it remains visible depends on the type of chalk chosen. Visibility can range from a week to semi-permanent.

In the present time you can do a lot temporary chalk expressions who meet the advised 1,5 meters away or, also because of the corona measures, indicate a walking route. However long it remains visible, the chalk products from Graffitinetwerk are not harmful to the environment.

Another sustainable and eye-catching method is the rain advertising or rain campaign. People usually look where they are walking and when it rains their gaze is even more downwards. In a rain advertising campaign, the message comes out when it rains. When the surface dries, the image or text disappears again. Durable, because only a template is needed that can be reused over and over again. There is enough rain in the Netherlands to consider rain advertising as a serious advertising option.

What exactly can you use guerrilla marketing for?

Drawing attention to a new brand or product. The opening of a new store. Promoting a new music album or a new film. These are obvious reasons for launching advertising and marketing campaigns. But as a professional guerrilla marketing agency, we also handle many campaigns for municipalities and government agencies focused on behavioral change and awareness.

Think of markings on the ground to keep a distance of 1,5 meters, to indicate walking directions, or to make it clear once again which waste belongs in which container and not next to it. Where you are supposed to park your bike, or that elections are just around the corner. Whatever you want to tell your target audience, guerrilla marketing, field marketing, or an out-of-home marketing campaign offers plenty of possibilities; there is always something suitable. Want to know more about guerrilla marketing?

Deploy a field marketing or brand activation agency

Guerrilla marketing as outdoor advertising is therefore bold, exciting, and relatively new. It is also often on the edge of what is permitted under the APV (General Local Ordinance) and comes in many forms. An advertising agency, field marketing agency, or brand activation agency devises something playful around a new product or message, and subsequently, a company is needed to execute the plan. Read a supplementary article here about deploying a promo team or field marketing.

Guerrilla marketing often requires specific materials and the spectaculars, stickers, bicycle saddle covers, chalk expressions, street paintings, beamers and all other forms are often applied and prepared in the evenings and at night. For this you need an experienced club of people. That experience is also necessary when the unexpected request comes from a city or municipality to remove the posted message.

Because we have knowledge of the products used, we can explain in detail what they are, how long they last, and what the intention is. In many cases, people turn a blind eye. The times something had to be removed can be counted on one hand. And we are talking about some fifteen years of outdoor advertising experience. In short, guerrilla marketing, field marketing, promotional marketing , and out-of-home marketing – you can do anything with it. What is important, however, is an experienced agency that thinks along with you and executes the campaign well. Then your message is unmissable.

What about outdoor advertising permits?

In principle we can be brief about this: in most cases it is not crystal clear whether a permit would be necessary. But it is also not clear whether it is allowed. The General Local Regulation almost always states that nothing may be changed or applied to or in the public outdoor space. But do you change the outdoor space if you clean a part of the street by placing a reverse graffiti expression?

Or do you add something to the outdoor space when you project a message onto a building with a projector? What about chalk that has washed away after a week? It is therefore situational and never entirely predictable whether, for example, complaints will arise. As a guerrilla marketing agency , we therefore do not apply for a permit for most outdoor advertising campaigns. If a message is indicated subtly and is clearly temporary, it is often accepted. But there are no guarantees.

Artvertising through advertising murals

While we mentioned earlier in this article that old-fashioned and artisanal advertising murals were disappearing, we have recently seen a resurgence of them. We are familiar with the street art murals seen primarily in large cities—artistic expressions intended to enhance the appearance of a street or neighborhood, or to create an art route through a city, as in Heerlen or Rotterdam . But that is not what we mean by Artvertising.

Murals on large exterior facades are used more and more to announce something. Think of new films, events and festivals. But also an opening of a restaurant or the announcement of a new product. They are hand-painted images that draw a lot of attention just while creating them.

It is remarkable to see; people take photos of them, and interaction arises as a result. Generally, these advertising murals simply remain visible on the wall afterwards and are not removed. What happens with an Artvertising project is that the messenger rents a section of wall and can then display their message there.

Want to know more about outdoor advertising?

Do you have questions about outdoor advertising and guerrilla marketing? Do you want to start using outdoor advertising immediately ? Or would you like to know more about the possibilities and costs? Then contact one of our specialists and receive more information without obligation.