Engaging Guerrillas: McDonald's: Guerrilla Marketing and Audience Engagement

Big or small, guerrilla marketing is a creative and engaging solution for all! Although small businesses can really benefit from guerrilla marketing, large brands and corporations are using guerrilla marketing to stay relevant in customers' consideration set. McDonald's is a great example of a market leader in the fast food industry who implemented guerrilla marketing numerous times across the globe. Below are 6 examples of types of guerrilla marketing McDonald's used to creatively catch customers' attention.

Ambient/Environment Marketing
McDonald's used ambient/environment marketing which "creates brand recognition without necessarily pushing the product" (Weburbanist.com). The company placed a life-size version of an empty shamrock shake next to the Chicago river turning green during St. Patty's Day in 2010. This placement was a perfect match for a product with Irish inspiration for an Irish holiday.

Presence Marketing
McDonald's took advantage of common elements on the streets to showcase their coffee, french fries, and chicken nuggets with dipping sauces.

Coffee pothole

Coffee streetlight

Crosswalk street fries

Chicken nuggets & elevator dipping sauce

Interactive Guerrilla Marketing

McDonald's placed a giant take-out bag in the streets to have customers carry around. This is the closest McDonald's gets to creating an two-way experience for the customers rather than a one-way message.

Although these 6 examples are incredibly creative and clever, they are mostly one-way experiences and do not completely interact with customers. However, when you are a market leader like McDonald's, the goal of guerrilla marketing is to entertain customers. Engaging customers with guerrilla marketing should always be a goal. McDonald's could accomplish this goal by giving a 15% discount for the pictured product for customers who tag McDonald's Twitter/Facebook in a picture of themselves with the guerrilla marketing example.

Sources
Alice. 2010. Clever Guerrilla Marketing: McDonald's Shamrock Shake. Retrieved from http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/clever-guerrilla-marketing
Ewen, Sam Travis. 2010. McDonalds Goes Massive in Auckland. Retrieved from http://www.onthegroundlookingup.com/2010/12/mcdonalds-goes-massive-in-auckland.html
Guerrilla Sushi, 2009. Street Marketing: McDonald's Have You Had Your Coffee Fix Today? Retrieved from http://guerrillasushi.blogspot.com/2009/11/street-marketing-mcdonalds-have-you-had.html
Weburbanist.com 10 Different Types of Guerrilla Marketing. Retrieved from http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/19/different-types-of-guerrilla-marketing/