We live in a buzz culture, where the best kind of exposure often comes from word of mouth. Word of mouth is the type of publicity that will fire up your sales and ignite brand recognition, and that’s something we arsonists just can’t get enough of!

This type of marketing, often referred to as guerilla marketing or viral marketing, offers endless creative opportunities that can often be achieved with a relatively sparse budget. It can incorporate street giveaways, PR stunts, intercept encounters in unusual places and anything else you can think of. The idea is to create a memorable and engaging experience that will generate buzz and contain an obvious link to the product or service you are selling.

Next time you’re embarking on a new campaign, kick it up a notch or two. Instead of using the traditional methods to spread the word, get creative and consider a more unconventional approach. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• When it comes to creating buzz, it’s all about the unexpected. Advertising on the back of a park bench is expected. Denver Water found a way to make it unexpected with their Use Only What You Need campaign.
• The marketers for a sushi restaurant were thinking outside of the (bento) box when they created this advertising campaign that was sure to make drivers’ mouths water.
• The folks at Folgers took advantage of their surroundings by turning manhole covers into something unusual and interesting.
• 3M put their money where their mouth is with this campaign for their Security Glass.
• T-Mobile took things to a whole new level when they transformed an English train station into a massive dance floor. Just imagine all the people who pulled out phones to take pictures of the dance party and call friends (as demonstrated by the last few seconds of the video).

Have some fun with your marketing campaigns – it will get people talking about you and light fires that will cast your competitors into the shadows. Contact us for some more creative inspiration!

Inga Rundquist

Inga Rundquist is a Public Relations Arsonist and Co-Owner at MindFire. When she’s not dreaming up ideas that will generate publicity, you can find her knee deep in the social media world, also known as the next PR frontier.