The influence of guerrilla marketing on consumers’ purchasing

behavior

Authors:

Amara Aldebe

Ismael El Rharbaoui

Zeinab Al fattal

School of Business, Society & Engineering

Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration

Course code: FOA243

15 cr

Supervisor: Leanne Johnstone

Date: 2021/01/21

Abstract

Date: 2021/01/21

Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr

Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University

Authors: Amara Aldebe Ismael El Rharbaoui Zeinab Al Fattal

(97/08/25) (97/08/10) (94/12/23)

Title: The influence of guerrilla marketing on purchasing behavior

Tutor: Leanne Johnstone

Keywords: guerrilla marketing, consumers’ behavior, purchasing behavior, marketing

communication, brand image, WoM

Research

question: How does guerrilla marketing influence consumers purchasing behavior?

Purpose: To examine the effect of guerrilla marketing on purchasing behavior

Method: Qualitative research technique

Conclusion: The impact of guerrilla marketing on purchasing behavior mainly depends

on the brand image and how innovative the guerrilla campaign is

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Table of content Chapter 1: Introduction 3 1.1 Background 3 1.2 Problem 4 1.3 Purpose 5 1.4 Research question 5 1.5 Research objectives: 5 Chapter 2: Literature background and theoretical framework 6 2.1 Communication 6 2.2 Guerrilla marketing 8 2.3 Consumer behavior 10 2.4 Effects of guerrilla marketing 12 2.5 Summary of the theoretical framework 13

Chapter 3: Methodology 16 3.1 Research Philosophy 16 3.2 Research design 17 3.3 Data collection and Qualitative technique 18 3.4 Time Horizon 20 3.5 Reliability and Validity 20 3.6 Operationalization 21 3.6.1 Interview Questions 24 3.7 Limitations 25 3.8 Discussion and reflection 26

Chapter 4: Empirical analysis 28 4.1 Findings 28 4.1.1 IT 28 4.1.2 IKEA 30 4.1.3 Nike 31 4.1.4 Professional insight 32 4.2 Analysis 34 4.2.1 IT 34 4.2.3 Nike 36 4.2.4 Professional Insight 37 4.3 Summary of empirical analysis 38 Chapter 5: Conclusion 39 5.3 Further research 42 Chapter 6: References 43 Chapter 7: Appendix 48 7.1 Appendix 1: Images used in the semi-structured interviews 48 7.2 Appendix 2: Interview guide 52

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Chapter 1: Introduction

This introduction chapter will contain background on guerrilla marketing, the main research topic

of this thesis. The background will include information about what guerrilla marketing is and

how it is used, followed by the research problem. Lastly, the research purpose will be presented

as well as the main research question for this paper ending the first chapter with three research

objectives.

1.1 Background Marketing has become an essential tool to attract target consumers into buying different products

and services. Most companies nowadays reserve major portions of their budgets to spend on

advertisements. The huge investments in this tool led the business author Jay Conrad Levinson to

create a new innovative type of marketing, guerrilla marketing (1983). As consumers have been

more and more exposed to endless amounts of advertisement campaigns, they have become

familiar with traditional marketing methods and thereby better at blocking them out (Hutter &

Hoffmann, 2011). One way to solve this issue for companies is to increase the number of

advertisements that the consumers are exposed to, which costs a lot of money and a huge portion

of it could be wasted if a significant number of consumers have learnt to ignore it. This problem

made some companies rethink their marketing strategies and come up with a more

money-efficient and creative approach.

The term “guerrilla” means little war in Spanish and originated in the 19th century during the

peninsular war (Guerrilla warfare, 2002). It was used as an attack strategy based on the surprise

element and on the act of sabotage which was used by smaller forces against massive military

forces (ibid). When companies needed new methods to outdo their competitors in the 1960s, they

started using “guerrilla” tactics in marketing (ibid). But, only in 1983, the American business

writer Levinson created the term that we know today, guerrilla marketing. His idea was to create

a marketing tactic for small and start-up companies to market their business successfully with a

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limited budget (Levinson, 1983). This type of marketing is also known for being more innovative

compared to traditional marketing methods. It is both inexpensive and is seen to be efficient if

implemented correctly (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011).

It is therefore important for a company to set a better response towards its potential customers

through using ‘novel’ marketing techniques such as those grouped under guerrilla marketing. The

first impression that consumers feel towards a brand and how they visualize it is an important

step. Most of the times a consumer will get to know a specific brand by an advertisement that was

displayed, according to Praxmarer and Gierl (2009). A potential consumer can easily get an

immediate expectation of a company’s producing quality if it is associated with an advertisement

that is not up to the standards of the targeted consumers. It is therefore vital for the brand or the

company to consider the consumers’ potential reaction towards the advertisement as a

cheap-looking one will be related to low-quality goods or services and it will not be worth the

expense in the eye of the consumer and vice versa (Liu, Mizerski & Soh, 2012).

1.2 Problem According to Baltes and Leibing (2008), guerrilla marketing is an innovative and unconventional

way of marketing with which a company can achieve significant effects. They also suggest that

strategy is considered as being eye-catching, more creative and barely using a fraction of the

budget than traditional marketing techniques. However, with all the rummage and clutter going

on and for the strategy to work, a message should be well designed on one end to make it easier

for the receiver to correctly interpret it on the other end. Having this marketing strategy displayed

to the general public, a deep knowledge of market processes and social phenomena is required for

an efficient and decisive application of marketing communications as well as a strong familiarity

with technologies and instruments of information communication (Grzegorz, 2017). It is

therefore important for researchers and companies to know more about this type of marketing

strategy. This is mainly due because there is not much in-depth research done on guerrilla

marketing in marketing journals and also because companies should be made aware of the

different types of strategies that are available which could improve their sales.

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1.3 Purpose

The purpose of this case study is to focus on the impact that guerrilla marketing may have on

consumers’ purchasing behavior. Considering the fact that the global market has extremely

widened up, companies strive to survive by gaining a competitive advantage. This implies that

many companies implement multiple marketing techniques in order to obtain more potential

consumers. Thus, guerrilla marketing effects on consumers will be examined whether to be seen

as a sufficient tactic or not. The choice of university students as a consumer group was motivated

by multiple reasons but mainly due to accessibility. During the pandemic times, getting hold of

professional marketers to have an interview is no easy task, especially when so many are needed.

It is therefore mainly due to their accessibility that the authors chose to target university students

as the base of the interviewees. Based on the guerrilla marketing concept, with its different

techniques, tactics and effects as well as consumers behavior, the researchers conducted one

person interviews with twelve university students and an industry professional to determine

whether guerrilla marketing holds its claim of being a powerful marketing strategy.

1.4 Research question How does guerrilla marketing influence consumers’ purchasing behavior?

1.5 Research objectives: 1. To emphasize the significance of the relationship between guerrilla marketing and

consumers’ purchasing behavior

2. To examine the perspective of university student consumers about guerrilla marketing and

its effect on their consumption.

3. To gain an understanding of the importance of guerrilla marketing to the firm and its

impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior.

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Chapter 2: Literature background and theoretical framework

In order to plunge into the theories behind the model of guerrilla marketing, it is required to first

lay out some base ground beforehand. It is believed that this foundation should contain a basic

understanding of the concept of communication to emphasize on the importance of the way the

message is being communicated to potential consumers, which is irrefutably connected to

guerrilla marketing. Furthermore, this chapter of the thesis will be presenting a literature review

about guerrilla marketing and several of its techniques used. Theories on message design,

consumers’ behavior and the effects of guerrilla marketing will also be presented. Ending the

chapter with a summary of the theoretical framework mentioning the model that was altered to fit

into the purpose of this thesis.

2.1 Communication To start, guerrilla marketing as most of the marketing strategies is first and foremost a message

that needs to be communicated, it is between two important elements, coming from a sender and

emitted to the receiver (Keller, 2009). However, guerrilla marketing is a strategy that can be way

more effective compared to others if used properly, given that the traditional marketing channels

such as the advertisements on TV, newspapers, magazines and radio are losing their effectiveness

on consumers (ibid). Below, the process of communication is described for the readers to

understand that it is one of the bases to guerilla marketing. The authors believe that

guerrilla marketing has the same process as communication and that they both start and

finish in the same line excluding some slight changes here and there.

The course that communication goes through starts when the sender chooses the kind of message

and thoughts that are to be relayed, which can include a variety of pictures, colours, words,

objects and symbols (Sandberg & Stierna, 2006). The encoding process is one of the hardest to

accomplish since the sender needs to express the message in a way that everyone can understand

or at least the targeted individuals (ibid). Moving onwards, the message is sent via channels, it is

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generally a method for communication which is split into two (Sandberg & Stierna, 2006).

According to Belch and Belch (2009), a crucial part of the communication model is the message

itself as well as the channel that has been chosen.

Personal communication, or in other words face to face, is a direct interaction with the targeted

group (Belch & Belch, 2009). This can be done via different and multiple means (letters, memos,

text messages, email), but the most famous and the oldest one is mouth to mouth. As for

non-personal communication, it is usually a message that is transmitted to several people at the

same time and an example of it is the media (Sandberg & Stierna, 2006). As for the last end of

this long process comes the receiver or the targeted person. This individual has to process the

message and understand it, though to do so it needs to be decoded. The meaning of the message

can vary from one individual to the other depending on how it is interpreted. However, this is

heavily influenced by who created the message and how the message has been carried out (Belch

& Belch, 2004). Effective communication is more likely to appear when the sender and the

receiver are on the same level (ibid). The communication stage is therefore fundamental in the

marketing process and becomes a great tool if it is thoroughly studied and used effectively. A

basic model of communication is displayed below to give a better visualization of the

communication process (Belch & Belch, 2009). A presentation on guerrilla marketing’s tactics

will follow the visualized figure below.

Figure 2.1: A basic model of communication (https://images.app.goo.gl/7bvhA2neKevKx2JU6)

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2.2 Guerrilla marketing

Guerrilla marketing concept was created and developed by the American, Jay Conrad Levinson

in the 1980s (Levinson, 1983). As previously stated, the term, ‘guerrilla’ was driven from

Spanish, which meant ‘small war’ in the 18th century and was later used for a ‘fighter’ in

England in the 19th century according to (Levinson, 1983). This implies that it is a type of

marketing that is differentiated from the other traditional marketing concepts by its

aggressiveness (Baltes & Leibing, 2008), where the marketers aim to reach the consumer on a

deeper and a personal level (Horky, 2009). In other words, the consumers’ minds are seen as a

battle to win and conquer (Baltes & Leibing, 2008). Adding to that, guerrilla marketing is

distinguished from traditional approaches through its purpose to create a significant impression

with as minimal sources as possible (Horky, 2009). Levinson (1984) describes guerrilla

marketing as a fancy, humorous and creative approach by getting the consumers’ attention. It

tends to be seen as an unexpected and surprising act for the consumers in a daily commonplace to

gain a buzz for the goods and services that are to be advertised (Levinson, 1983). This section

will be followed by an explanation of the presented important relevant factors of guerrilla

marketing. The mentioned guerrilla marketing elements are mostly used by firms in order to

attract consumers. The chosen guerrilla tactics as examples are word-of-mouth, buzz marketing,

and ambush marketing.

Word of Mouth is one of the most significant tactics of guerrilla marketing. WoM is defined as

“oral, person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator whom the

receiver perceives as non-commercial, concerning a brand, a product or a service” (Kirby &

Marsden, 2006, p.164). The idea behind this marketing approach is to implement sensational,

thrilling and unexpected marketing projects, aiming for consumers to be talking about the brand

or the company (Feguson, 2008). WoM is the process of when around 10 consumers start sharing

the word to their family members, friends or colleagues, etc about the brand after they have

become aware of it (Feguson, 2008). It is a very efficient phenomenon for small businesses and

companies to spread awareness among potential consumers by sharing their experience of the

product or the services promoted (Kirby & Marsden, 2006). To do so, marketers need to consider

the consumers’ full journal experience very carefully to build sustainable customer loyalty

towards the brand or the company (Ferguson, 2008). Nevertheless, marketers should emphasize

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the impact that WoM may have on potential consumers as communication issues may occur

(Kirby & Marsden, 2006). What people say to the ones they know such as friends or family about

certain products may have a significant effect on potential consumers pursuing that good or

service provided (Kirby & Marsden, 2006). This implies that the brand image has an important

role in getting potential consumers to be aware of the brand’s existence and beneficial factors

(Ferguson, 2008). So, WoM is one of the essential forces of guerrilla marketing and the following

part will be outlining the theory of buzz marketing to fulfil the effect of WoM.

The second element, buzz marketing is a technique where an event is organized to create a buzz,

meaning getting people to talk and spread rumours (Marsden & Kirby, 2006). To create a buzz

and spread awareness, companies are advised to use different strategies (Henry, 2003). For

instance, collaborating with celebrities or known influencers to promote the products or services

is beneficial to spread the word about the brand, consequently, making a buzz out of it (ibid),

especially for younger generations of consumers (Johnstone & Lindh, 2018). In addition to that,

considering that buzz marketing is an oral communication concept and the changes that are

occurring daily, the consumers are heavily dependent on technology (ibid). This implies that a

wider platform is available and easily accessed to create a further buzz on all social media

platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube (Mohr, 2017). The usage of these

online channels makes it easier for any potential consumer to get to know whatever is needed

from their friends and families (ibid). Therefore, it is vital to be careful with the message that the

company wants the consumer to receive and send. An example of buzz marketing is presented

below, which shows the creativity of Nike’s buzz campaigns.

Example of Nike’s buzz marketing: Nike’s football car (https://www.footballmarketingmagazine.com/advertising/five-innovative-examples-of-guerrilla-marketing-in-football/attachment/nike-football-car/)

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The third element of guerrilla marketing is the ambush marketing effect. Ambush marketing may

be defined as the company’s act as a sponsor. Where sponsorship may be defined as a financial or

an in-cash investment to gain a competitive advantage while striving to urge the consumers’

buying intention and to share some certain message about the brand or the company (Mazodier,

Quester, Candon, 2009). This implies that the company acts as if it is a sponsor of an organized

event to get some certain advantages. This can be beneficial for the brand or the company for

several reasons. By acting as a sponsor, a company avoids the cost of sponsorships with the

advantage of manipulating the attendant consumers in the event into believing that it is the main

sponsor (Tuu & Olsen, 2012). In addition to that, ambush marketing is mostly used in big sports

events such as Football, The Olympics, and the Super Bowl. The big sports events are to be seen

as an opportunity to reach out to a bigger audience; meaning, a bigger number of potential

consumers would be present to exchange the message of the brand or the company. To conclude,

the use of ambush marketing technique is mainly to impress potential consumers by an event

thinking that the company is the official sponsor of it (Scassa, 2011). The image below is an

example of a famous ambush marketing which emphasises Michael Johnson's golden Nike’s

famous shoes, which held a place at Reebok’s, 1996 Olympics sponsorship (Minato, 2012).

Example of Nike’s ambush marketing: Mickael Johnson’s golden Nike shoes (https://www.businessinsider.com/best-ambush-marketing-campaigns-2012-6?r=US&IR=T)

2.3 Consumer behavior

This section will discuss consumer behavior concerning guerrilla marketing. This presentation

will help compare and understand the theoretical framework of consumers’ purchasing behavior.

This is done to examine the impact of guerrilla marketing on purchasing intention from a

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consumer perspective by describing different relationships between guerrilla marketing which are

brand attitude and brand image.

Brand attitude depends mainly on a consumer’s perception towards a brand; this perception also

affects the behavior a consumer has towards that brand (Liu, Li, Mizerski & Soh, 2012). It is

also worth mentioning that the consumer’s opinion of an advertisement might become their

opinion of the brand as a whole. For instance, an advertising campaign that looks cheap, from a

consumer’s perspective, will much likely give off a cheap image of the brand (Praxmarer &

Gierl, 2009). It is safe to conclude that brand attitude plays a huge role in how consumers choose

to purchase or avoid a specific brand (Park et al., 2010).

Brand image is the association that consumers have of a certain brand. Consumers usually base

their perception of this image either rationally or emotionally (Koubaa, 2008). This means that a

product belonging to a brand might have a positive image because it is of high quality which is a

rational perception, while a brand that gives off a high-status image is mainly seen from an

emotional perception (ibid). Even though brands are intangible unlike physical products, they are

still “as real as the product”, according to (Meenaghan, 1995, p. 24). Since it is common for

products in the same industry to look similar, the brand image that is shaped by advertising, for

instance, plays an important role in helping these products be distinguished from each other

(Meenaghan, 1995). Therefore, it is argued that the brand image has an important role in

affecting consumers’ behavior when guerrilla campaigns are present.

What makes purchase intention interesting for marketers is because it helps companies have a

clue about what consumers want as well as the qualities of the products that need to be produced.

Sufficient information about a brand or a product and how satisfied consumers have been with

previous purchases from the same brand as well as the product influence consumers’ purchasing

intention (Tuu & Olsen, 2012). Moreover, positive thoughts towards an advertisement can

influence the consumers’ desire to purchase a product, according to Levy and Gendel-Guterman

(2012, p. 90). The latter authors also assume it is not the advertising that consumers responded to,

rather it is their emotions, attitudes and beliefs which controls their purchasing behavior.

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2.4 Effects of guerrilla marketing

As Levinson mentioned in his book “If you're an entrepreneur, you need guerrilla marketing

more than ever because the competition is smarter, more sophisticated, and even more aggressive

than it was in the past. That is not a problem for guerrillas” (Levinson, 2007, p.23). Guerrilla

marketing as mentioned previously in this paper is known for being unconventional and

innovative as well as it contains certain effects that make this marketing method different from

traditional marketing.

The surprise effect is one of the known traits of guerrilla marketing. This element is used by

creating a creative advertisement and placing it in unusual locations (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011).

The guerrilla advertisement could be, for instance in the shape of a popular meal that people

associate with a certain restaurant, placed in unexpected but visible locations where people

usually pass by (ibid). Seeing this ad will make passer-bys associate this meal with a certain

restaurant and much likely crave it if the advertisement is placed strategically and obvious

enough (ibid). One of the elements that make the surprise effect so effective is that it triggers the

diffusion effect, which is another effect of guerrilla marketing that will be discussed in the next

paragraph (ibid). When people experience something fun and surprising, they tend to want to

mention it to other people, This will help the campaign spread through “word of mouth” for

instance, which is a type of guerrilla marketing. A surprising ad is more likely to be remembered

than a typical ad (Sandberg, Stierna, 2006). If the ad is interesting and surprising enough, its

publicity might even spread to newspapers, magazines and social media (Sandberg, Stierna,

2006). In other words, having the surprise element increases the rates of success of the

advertisement campaign, not to forget adding some humour sometimes which is a fun and

modern way to reach perhaps, a more aware crown (Ives, 2004).

One of the unique traits of guerrilla marketing, compared to traditional marketing is the

advantage of the diffusion effect. Diffusion effect, in this context, is when an advertisement is

spread further from one consumer to another, through talking or sharing through social media for

instance, which increases the number of people that this advertisement is exposed to (Hutter &

Hoffmann, 2011). This effect saves money since the company does not need to spend extra

money on distributing it to individuals, it spreads when the individuals themselves choose to

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share it because they might find it intriguing. There are a few types of guerrilla marketing that

trigger this effect such as, WoM (word of mouth), Buzz marketing and guerrilla PR (ibid).

The low-cost effect is an additional element of guerrilla marketing that may be seen as a result of

the impact of both the surprise and the diffusion effects (ibid). When an advertisement spreads

through people talking about it and sharing it due to surprise or interest for instance, it keeps the

marketing costs low for companies (ibid). The main idea behind guerrilla marketing is not to

create as many copies as possible of an ad and distribute it to as many consumers as possible,

rather create an ad which stands out enough to stay on consumers’ minds after seeing it perhaps

once (ibid). This way helps companies shrink their marketing costs from copying and distributing

traditional advertisements for instance, to placing one or a few unconventional advertisements in

strategic places. An example of this type of marketing is Ambush marketing, which means that a

company or a brand is visible at an event, such as festivals and sports events without paying for

being there (ibid).

2.5 Summary of the theoretical framework This section aims to summarize the conceptual and theoretical framework with the focus on

connecting the different theories that are mentioned in the second chapter so far. In addition to

that, there will be a presentation of the model used in the thesis. The guerrilla model was chosen

to be used as a frame for the relationship between guerrilla marketing and consumers’ purchasing

behavior to further examine the research question in the thesis. The model used for the thesis is

associated with Hutter and Hoffmann’s model of “Framework for research on guerrilla effects

from a consumer perspective” (Hutter, & Hoffmann, 2011). This model was used as it is argued

to be the most suitable model to be altered into the purpose of this thesis as the purpose of the

research problem is to examine the impact or the effect of guerrilla marketing on the consumers’

purchasing intention. The model used aims to summarize the theoretical framework by showing

how each section is connected to the research problem of this thesis.

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Figure 2.5: Framework for research on guerrilla effects from a consumer perspective. The figure is adopted from the Hutter and Hoffman model and developed to suit better the frame of this thesis. (https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajm.2011.39.54)

The literature review begins with a presentation on communication in marketing as a foundation

for the sections that are followed afterwards. Two types of communication were presented to

show the process of the message transformation showing the stages of when the message gets

sent to the consumer by the company until it is received. Also, a model of communication was

displayed in Figure (2.1), where the model was used to get a clearer image of the communication

process and to show its effect on guerrilla marketing and increasing consumers' purchasing

intention if the right message was sent by the brand or the company.

A presentation on guerrilla marketing follows the first section to fit the purpose of the research

question in the introduction chapter. Three different important types of guerrilla marketing were

presented and explained. Nonetheless, the three types share a common effect that has an impact

on potential consumers’ purchasing behavior. The element is taking advantage of and properly

using the emotional appeal. This element could be efficiently taken advantage of if properly and

carefully used. Afterwards, information regarding the consumers’ behavior was presented; in this

aspect, it included brand imaging and attitude as well as the purchasing conduct of consumers.

These three aspects are considered to be a mandatory and essential process for guerrilla marketers

(Powrani & Kennedy, 2018). Afterwards, comes the product or the service itself that the brand is

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Model for guerrilla elements

⬇ ⬇ ⬇ Basic guerrilla effects

⬇ ⬇ ⬇

Consumer behavior and its relationship between these variables

Buzz marketing Ambush marketing etc.

Surprise effect Diffusion effect Word of Mouth

Basic guerrilla effect: high attention at a relatively lost cost

Brand attitude Brand image Purchase intention etc.

offering. In this case, the consumers will either choose to be rational or irrational, emotional in

other words. This purchasing behavior tends to vary from an individual to another depending on

the person's view of the product or service. Moving onwards, it has been mentioned that guerrilla

marketing has different effects on people according to Kelly (2015). Depending on how the

advertisement is made and how innovative it is, sometimes, different effects can be applied with

multiple occurring at the same time, one leading the other to prompt. The advertisement is mostly

situated in unusual locations where people would not have expected seeing it (Hutter &

Hoffmann, 2011).

The unexpected places for advertising and the unconventional ways the product or service is

marketed this leads to a better surprising effect, sometimes with laughter. According to Sandberg

and Stierna (2006), if the advertisement was surprising enough, people tend to give more

thoughts towards it. Also, the consumers tend to remember the advertisement and even talk about

it to friends and family, or even mention their experiences on their social media. This is where the

second effect comes into place, the diffusion effect. In this case, the company does not act in any

way, it is the consumers themselves that trigger this effect. If the advertisement was surprising

enough and differs from the traditional ones that are usually advertised on TVs or magazines, the

individuals tend to lean on technology and online platforms to share their unique experiences

with their friends or followers (Dagorn, 2015). This leads the advertisement to travel further and

reach more potential consumers than what the original spot of the guerrilla ad was intended for.

By triggering the surprising and the diffusion effect, another effect is automatically generated

which is the low-cost effect. This one is easily fulfilled since it is the consumers who share the

advertisement instead and the company does not have to put more money on marketing their

brand. To conclude, there are three basic effects of guerrilla marketing on consumers’ behavior as

it was argued by Spry et al. (2011). The effects that are mentioned are the surprise effect,

diffusion effect and low-cost effect. To make a big impact on the consumer, the relatively

low-costs effect along with the combination of other two effects are essential into getting to the

consumer on a deeper level (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011).

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Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter will be presenting different sections to clarify the empirical method used in the

process of answering the research question chosen for this thesis. The research philosophy was

first presented to be followed with the research design that is used to describe different

approaches that were chosen to be used to examine the research question including the collection

of data. Moreover, the chosen time horizon, reliability and validity are presented ending the

chapter with a presentation on operationalization.

3.1 Research Philosophy According to Saunders et al. (2016, p.124), to answer a research question, a research philosophy

has to be chosen. Research philosophy refers to the combination of the beliefs and the

assumptions made when researching to gain and develop a deeper knowledge in the required area

of study. There are five types of research philosophy to conduct the research, according to

Saunders et al. (2016, p.164). These are positivism, critical realism, interpretivism,

postmodernism and pragmatism. It was argued that critical realism was the most suitable research

philosophy to examine the research problem of this thesis. Critical realism is referred to the

individuals’ explanation of what is seen and experienced taking in consideration “the underlying

structures of reality that shape the observable events” (Saunders et al., 2016, p.139). This implies

that a critical realist’s perception of the world is purely the individuals’ image of the world based

on the experience that is followed by the mental process of retroduction; reasoning backwards on

what might have caused that experience in other words (Saunders et al., 2016, p.140). Critical

realism philosophy was chosen due to the focus of the research question on the consumers’

purchasing behavior and attitude and due to the essentiality of understanding the stimulus

influence on the students’ reaction. As the theoretical framework chapter was based on academic

research focusing on the concepts of guerrilla marketing, it was vital to test the theories and the

assumptions that were made. As a result, the examination of the research question will be

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affected naturally by the values and the interpretations of the authors while choosing the guerrilla

marketing campaigns that were introduced to the participants in the in-depth interviews.

3.2 Research design

The research design is defined by Saunders et al. (2016, p. 163) as a general plan of how to

answer the chosen research question connecting it to the research objectives. In this section of the

thesis, the used approaches in the process of answering the research question will be presented

and explained. The research design used will be accordingly divided into different described

subtitles to emphasize the approaches chosen for the data collection.

There are three types of research design purposes: exploratory, descriptive or evaluative

(Saunders et al., 2016, p.174). A combination of some of these purposes could also be taken into

consideration (ibid). When starting to choose a research design purpose, it is important to go back

to the research question and understand in what way this question should be answered. More

open questions that lead to gaining an insight about the research topic and learning more about it

as there might be little research on this topic, encourage having an exploratory purpose (Saunders

et al., p.174-175). It is safe to conclude that when researching topics that have had limited

research or empirical data on, an exploratory purpose is common to follow to fulfil the research

design purpose (ibid). This case applies to the research topic for this paper as there is little or

insufficient information about the topic of guerrilla marketing and its relation to consumers’

behavior, more information about this will be mentioned in the delimitation section below. The

thesis research question aims to explore the relationship between guerrilla marketing and

university student’s purchasing behavior. To understand the phenomenon more, question words

like “what” and “how” will be asked frequently while collecting the research primary data. The

curiosity to find out the outcome of the research alongside the limitation of secondary data led to

the authors choosing an exploratory research design purpose for this paper.

When choosing a research approach, Saunders et al. (2016, p.144) mention that there are three

research approaches; deductive, inductive or abductive approach. To choose an approach, a look

at the start of the research will give the authors a hint on what kind of understanding they want to

reach by the end of the research (Saunders et al., 2016, p.145). For instance, if the research starts

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from stating a theory that is often developed by reading other literature which is then tested to

look into its reliability, then the research has more of a deductive approach. An inductive

approach starts by collecting data and then building a theory depending on the result of the

research. An abductive approach moves back and forth between theory and data collection while

combining both previously mentioned approaches (Suddaby 2006, p.145).

Using a deductive approach might be too rigid for the sake of conducting this research as there is

no clear theory of interest for the authors that will be tested at the beginning of the research.

However, Hutter and Hoffman’s guerrilla model was used in this thesis to frame a general

relationship between a guerrilla marketing strategy and the consumers’ response. Inductive

research is more flexible as it allows the researchers to collect data first and build a theory based

on the result. Although, this approach requires the researchers to have a rich knowledge

concerning the topic as it doesn’t rely on reading literature and theories that might help

understand the topic better. This leaves the authors with one approach, the abductive approach.

The combination of both methods, data collection and theory suits the complexity of the topic of

consumer behavior as well as a limited researched topic, guerrilla marketing. As Dew mentioned

in his paper Abduction: a pre-condition for the intelligent design of strategy, “working from a

limited set of data or evidence to come up with the best possible explanation” (2007, p. 38).

The research was started by both collecting information and reading relevant literature to explore

the phenomenon, guerrilla marketing and its relation to university student consumers’ purchasing

behavior. The combination of both methods is believed to give the best result for this specific

topic, therefore; the abductive approach will be used for this thesis.

3.3 Data collection and Qualitative technique

According to Saunders et al. (2016), there are two ways to collect data, which are primary and

secondary. Primary data is considered to be new information that is collected for a specific

purpose related to the research problem (Malhotra, 2007, p.24). In contrast, secondary data is

collected data that has already been studied and examined for another purpose (Malhotra, 2007,

p.24). The type of data that was used to examine guerrilla marketing’s impact on consumers’

purchasing behavior was primary data. Meanwhile, secondary sources were used to gain an

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understanding as a foundation for the problem presented, which was done by reviewing some

certain available information such as books and a limited number of articles, dissertations and

theses that have previously examined similar research problems concerning the effects of

guerrilla marketing. These secondary sources were used to form the literature background to the

research problem. Whereas, primary data was an essential tool for analyzing the research problem

due to the limitation in finding enough sources to obtain further new information to get a deeper

knowledge and understanding of the problem presented. The primary source that was used in the

procedure of collecting data was conducted using an interview guide in a setting of

semi-structured interviews for a further deeper investigation to gain a deeper knowledge

concerning the students’ reactions and behavior on different guerrilla marketing tactics.

According to Saunders et al. (2016), there are three types of research techniques to collect data

about a certain research problem. These research designs are qualitative, quantitative and

mixed-method approach. Qualitative research was defined according to Saunders et al. (2016,

p.165) as a synonym for a technique that is used for the collection of information through such as

an interview, or as a “data analysis procedure such as categorizing data” (ibid). The qualitative

approach is also known to be using and creating non-numerical data such as words and images

(ibid). In contrast, as it was interpreted by Saunders et al. (2016, p.166), quantitative research

may also be identified as a synonym for any data collection method such as using a questionnaire.

The quantitative research also tends to analyze the data using graphs or statistics (ibid). What

distinguishes both quantitative from qualitative research is that it “generates or uses numerical

data” (ibid). Nonetheless, mixed-method research is explained as a combination of both the

qualitative and quantitative research methods for the collection of information and analytical

procedures purposes (Saunders et al., 2016, p.169). Arguably, qualitative research technique was

an appropriate fit to further investigate the thesis research question due to the necessity of

examining the phenomenon of guerrilla marketing and its impact on the students’ buying

intention and behavior (Anderson, 2010). The qualitative technique is beneficial for carrying the

study further as extensive research and examination about guerrilla marketing effects on students

were needed to enhance the quality of this thesis. To enhance the reason behind using qualitative

research techniques furthermore is that the social environments could be interpreted differently

based on the different body expressions such as body language or sounds (Hollensen, 2004).

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3.4 Time Horizon

When conducting research, it is important to understand how long of a period it covers. The main

topic or problem at hand can be either represented as a phenomenon at a particular time

“snapshot” or over some time “series of snapshots” (Saunders et al., 2016, p.200). The snapshot

perspective is known as a cross-sectional time horizon while writing about a series of events over

a longer time is called a longitudinal time horizon (ibid). For this thesis, the research will collect

information about how the consumers’ see guerrilla marketing at a certain point in time.

Moreover, consumers’ behavior related to a certain kind of marketing, is arguably a

time-sensitive behavior that might change depending on surrounding factors. This makes

researching with accurate results from a longitudinal time horizontal more of a challenge for the

authors given the time constraints on thesis production. This is why the cross-sectional time

horizontal was chosen for this research.

3.5 Reliability and Validity In this thesis, the authors determined to opt with a qualitative approach to studying guerrilla

marketing. According to Thuren (1991), when adopting qualitative research, numbers are not

included in any way, but it is more about how the situations and reactions were interpreted as

well as try conceiving an understanding of the interviews. For the readers to have certain

trustworthiness towards the study, the authors chose to include in this section two aspects,

reliability and validity. Since the selection and the amount of interviewees’ collected are rather

small compared to when going with quantitative research as well as that the authors are aiming to

find unique factors, our qualitative approach is therefore not difficult to be repeated by future

researchers to make it a trustworthy process. Nonetheless, according to Malhotra & Birks (2007),

the reliability of a study that was made refers to whether the outcome would be consistent and

logical if the assessments were to be repeated. However, in our case where we research aspects

such as brand attitude, brand image and purchase intention it is consequently challenging to

guarantee reliability and validity. Without forgetting that the authors are not delving into basic

numbers but rather feelings, reactions and opinions of a small number of interviewees.

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Moreover, a different compilation of interviewees could as well result in the same outcome or to

a completely different conclusion. From the authors’ point of view, reliability and validity from

the qualitative approach are not about being repetitive but about the trustworthiness, the

transparency and the accuracy of the research process as well as the semi-structured interviews

that were meticulously examined. Ihantola and Kihn (2011) mention that multiple factors that

might affect and influence the validity and reliability of a study are failure to take proper notes

when doing interviews, the quality of the interview questions and interpreting the answers wrong

which leads to a false linkage to the theory. To ensure that the study is as valid as possible, the

authors tried to be free from any prejudice and to interpret the answers as they are without

including any personal opinions. Also, as the authors were trying to be transparent, an interview

guide (see appendix2) is provided to be seen by the readers. According to Kirk and Miller (1986),

the validity in a qualitative observation, one does not discuss any kind of number or figure, it is

more about how the researchers have interpreted and deciphered the situations. Which is why the

authors assessed and examined the interviewees’ performance, including taking into account their

expressions and body language when answering different questions. 

3.6 Operationalization

Considering the exploratory research purpose, it was first believed that the usage of in-depth

interviews was an efficient approach for the collection of data. An in-depth interview is defined

according to Saunders et al. (2016, p.391) as exploring an area of knowledge with no specific set

of questions to talk and discuss freely. The total number of interviewees participating in the

in-depth interviews was planned to be 40, which were supposed to be divided into 4 different

students in each of 10 different in-depth interviews. However, the plan has changed later into

believing that semi-structured interviews were to fit better to maintain an ongoing deep

conversation with the interviewees. It was argued to conduct the semi-structured interviews with

one participant at a time to avoid any biased opinions or thoughts of the campaigns shown.

Which may be a result of other participants’ reactions influencing the other interviewees’.

Semi-structured interviews are differentiated from the in-depth interviews by using a set of

questions that may be varied from one interview to another depending on the flow of the

discussion. Some questions may be ignored or additional ones may be added to further explore

the research question and the objectives (ibid).

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The total number of participants that the interviews were conducted with was 13. 12 of the

interviewees were international university students who are friends of the authors’ friends or

families. In addition to the semi-structured interviews with the university students, an additional

interview with the marketing expert Amer Bittar was also conducted. Bittar has worked in the

marketing industry for 20 years as a brand architect and a visual designer. Bittar has been able to

become the co-founder of the design house, Bittarism in Bahrain. Bittar was approached easily as

he is one of the authors’ brother in law and was asked to be a part of the interviews. Which was

beneficial for the authors to get a professional point of view on the marketing campaigns chosen

(see appendix1 for examples) for further understanding and clarifications regarding the authors’

choice of campaigns. The choice of conducting the interviews with Bittar and the international

students was due to the limited access to companies’ managers. This was mostly due to the

unfortunate circumstances caused by the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19. Although guerrilla

marketing is also convenient for small or start-up businesses, using examples of big companies

to answer the research question of this thesis was chosen due to the limited access to small

businesses’ guerrilla campaigns. Therefore, using guerrilla marketing campaigns of big and

known companies such as Ikea and Nike was a necessary step to proceed to examine the research

problem. In addition to that, these companies are very known to be used by younger generations

which may suit younger generations’ budget and goals.

It was recommended by Saunders et al. (2016, p.391) to capture the semi-structured interviews

either by audio-recordings or taking notes. It was discussed that the interviews are best to be

audio-recorded to ensure that all information needed from the interviewees to be saved, not

forgotten or lacking any important elements. Nonetheless, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the

restrictions of interacting with different people daily have had its effect on people’s emotional

and physical health (Gualano, 2020). Therefore, the interviews were decided not to be conducted

in person but to be conducted virtually instead. Zoom was chosen as an online learning platform

where the interviewees could join the discussion comfortably and without worrying about their

health. The authors were all attending each of the interviews conducted to ensure the flow of the

conversation and for each to complement each others’ notes or comments on the interviews if

there are any. The meetings for the interviews were varied from one to another depending on

22

what was suitable for each participant. Sometimes, rescheduling the meeting was a necessary

option for everyone to be attending at a convenient time. Adding to that, the length of the

interviews were different from one participant to another depending on how much the

participants were willing to share and to discuss further.

The semi-structured interviews were first started by showing the participants both the traditional

and the guerrilla campaigns of each of the three companies presented, IT, IKEA and Nike.

Afterwards, questions were asked to the participant about guerrilla marketing campaigns and later

were asked relating to the traditional ones. However, that was argued to be confusing and

distracting for the first interviewee, therefore, the way of conducting the interview was changed.

The rest of the interviews were conducted by firstly, asking if it was possible to audio-record the

conversation and once the permission was given, the interview would start. Secondly, the

guerrilla campaigns were shown one at a time starting with IT, then Ikea and Nike the last (see

appendix1 for some examples of the images). Moreover, a set of questions were asked about each

of the guerrilla campaigns, which were not necessarily the same in each interview; a question or

two may be either added or removed depending on the flow of each discussion and conversation.

This order in conducting the interviews was chosen to differentiate the responses and the

reactions in the consumers’ purchasing behavior in terms of guerrilla marketing effects. Below, a

demographic table is presented that represents the interviewees:

Table 1: Demographic table of the interview participants

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Age Gender Education/Profession Major Nationality

20 Male Student Economic program France

22 Male Student International business

management Mongolia

23 Female Student International business

management Finland

23 Male Student International business

management Syria

25 Female Student International business

administration Albania

3.6.1 Interview Questions

As the exploratory research purpose was identified, it is significantly important to understand

why the interviewees think the way they do in order to fulfil the qualitative data needed to further

study the research question of this thesis. The set of questions chosen for the semi-structured

interviews are presented below followed by a brief explanation of why they have been chosen

and connection to the literature if applicable.

1. What emotions do the images evoke in you?

This question was asked first as guerrilla marketing depends on the consumers’ emotions

towards what they see for the first time. Therefore, it was needed to get first impressions

and thoughts towards the brand or the company to get a sense of the students’ behavior

and attitude.

2. What feelings do you have towards this brand?

This question was asked to examine if any negative or positive feelings were triggered

towards the brand which may have an impact on the consumers’ behavior when it comes

to purchasing goods or services.

3. How innovative do you think this ad is? Expand.

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22 Female Student Marketing Morocco

24 Male Student

International business 

management Morocco

27 Male Student

International business 

management Syria

22 Male Student Analytical finance Canada

23 Female Student Engineering program Greece

21 Male Student Analytical finance Italy

23 Female Student Music program Norway

41 Male Industry professional Media marketing Syria

4. How memorable do you think this ad is? Expand.

According to Granot (2011), creative guerrilla advertisements should be innovative and

memorable. Therefore, these two questions were important to evaluate if the creativity of

an advertisement may have an impact on how memorable the experience is.

5. Do you think that you trust the brand? Expand.

This question was to be connected to the validity of guerrilla marketing campaigns.

6. Would you consider buying this product/ or buying from this brand? Why/why not?

This question was important to be added as it was directly related to the purchasing

intention.

7. How effective would you say this ad is? And, how likely are you to tell others about it and

the brand? Who would you tell?

This question is vital as it is related to one of the guerrilla marketing tactics, WoM which

may be seen as an effect of guerrilla marketing on the consumer.

8. Any further comments on this marketing approach?

This question allows the interviewees to express any additional thoughts or opinions

3.7 Limitations There are a few limitations that the authors have faced while researching this paper. The available

secondary sources for formulating this research problem and literature background that discuss

the topic of guerrilla street marketing are limited, as well as the companies who used this type of

marketing. Therefore, the authors have decided to choose a broader research question for more

secondary data. As mentioned before, guerrilla marketing, in general, is convenient for smaller

businesses as it is inexpensive and many times, attention capturing (Levinson, 1983). This could

be the reason why it is hard to find many guerrilla street marketing examples used by companies

as well as statistics on how this advertising method affects consumers’ purchasing behavior. The

research was also conducted at a time when the Covid19 pandemic is spread globally and

25

restricting people’s everyday live routines, social lives, finances and health (Hiscott, Alexandridi,

Muscolini, Tassone, Palermo, Soultsioti & Zevini, 2020). These restrictions affected the research

as it made physical contact with the interviewees limited. Instead, online interviews took place

using the application ZOOM, which might have limited access to the interviewees honest

reactions and natural expressions as people are still adjusting to the online meeting services.

Another limitation that the authors were facing is that the guerrilla marketing campaigns are

usually placed outdoors, as well as they might be hard to notice or simply there is a lack of

availability of these kinds of advertisements for the authors. This limitation made it hard to ask

the interviewees about advertisements that were exclusively available where they lived and might

have seen themselves in the street. To make up for this limitation, pictures of campaigns were

shown to the interviewees that include both national and internationally recognized campaigns.

3.8 Discussion and reflection While conducting this research, the authors of this paper chose to document and discuss even the

details of the changes of choices that have been made, after thorough literature research and

consideration. For the methodology chapter, a deep understanding of the requirements was

needed to plan how this research should be conducted. There are three types of research design

techniques; qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, as mentioned before. As the authors

wanted to give an accurate representation of the phenomena as possible, they considered using

the mixed method research technique. This method was considered by the authors as a way to

cover both the qualitative and quantitative aspects while complimenting each other. On the other

hand, choosing this method was more advanced and time-consuming for the authors which might

have resulted in a lacking result instead, given the limited period. These uncertainties made the

authors choose one research design technique instead, the qualitative approach. This approach

was believed by the authors to represent the university student consumers’ thoughts and opinions

in more vivid manners, as well as it gave the authors the chance to ask additional questions

during the interviews when needed.

Choosing a research design approach for this paper was also a bit challenging. The choice

between the inductive and abductive approaches needed a thorough consideration. The lack of

previous research that was discovered by the authors on the main topic inspired them to choose

26

the inductive approach at first. This approach was going to focus on the primary data research to

establish a theory and thereby a conclusion. Although, the lack of experience and deep

understanding of the phenomenon helped the authors choose the abductive approach. As this

approach relies on both previous research and primary data collection, it was considered by the

authors to fit this kind of research topic the best out of other choices.

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Chapter 4: Empirical analysis

4.1 Findings This section will present the result of the semi-structured interviews that were conducted to

examine the research question of this thesis. The result will answer the questions that are stated in

the Operationalization section in the methodology chapter, in addition to side-questions that were

asked to help clarify certain answers and reactions. Also to keep the flow of the conversation.

The result is divided into four sections, the first three sections present a product or a brand in the

same order that the questions were asked. Where the fourth section presents a professional

perspective on each of the presented brands or companies.

4.1.1 IT

Image 1, which illustrates a street guerrilla advertisement was shown to the interview participants

to represent an advertisement campaign for the

movie, IT. The emotions expressed regarding the

picture varied. One of the interviewees which also

happened to be the first person that was

interviewed described the picture as

“Uncomfortable” and “gives out an eerie feeling”

while looking at this participant's body language,

she gave off a feeling of being disagreeable, even

a bit irritated. The participant's face expression

was suggesting that the advertisement did not

convey a positive vibe.

Another interviewee said that the red balloon reminds her of “IT the movie, Valentine’s day or

kids playing around and having fun”. The latter answer introduces a different attitude toward the

picture compared to the first participant. If the description isn't varied enough at this point, a

28

participant commented, “looks like someone lost their balloon, weird!”. The emotions expressed

among the interviewees were associated with whether they recognized the picture as an

advertisement for the movie or not. The participants who recognized the purpose of the

advertisement expressed that they felt “mystery”, “unsettlement” or “excitement”, while the

other group that didn’t recognize what the picture represented expressed either confusion or

happiness associated with thoughts about children playing or valentines day. The majority which

consisted of ten participants agreed that the ad was innovative, either after recognizing it’s an ad

for the movie IT by themselves or by being told what the picture represents. For most of the latter

participants, they had a hint of amazement in their expression followed by a smile the moment

they saw the picture. One of the two participants that did not see this ad as innovative looked a bit

dissatisfied and argued that ‘‘the movie marketers did not put much effort, it’s just a balloon tied

to the sewers”

Seven out of twelve interviewees associated the ad directly with the movie, however; they

expressed that if they hadn’t seen the movie from before seeing this picture, they would not have

had the same association. When the rest of the participants didn’t recognize the movie from the

guerrilla marketing ad, the interviewers mentioned what the ad represented which resulted in

comments that were similar to the latter group of interviewees. Considering that the picture is not

an equal representation of a real-life guerrilla advertising, the interviewers saw the need to

mention certain details that could be missed when looking at a mere picture of what otherwise is

a guerrilla advertising. One of the main details was the text that is written on the sidewalk under

the balloon, which introduced more information about the ad that could easily be missed or

ignored because of the quality of the picture. Five participants commented that they either didn’t

see the text because of its small size or that the text didn’t describe the advertisement enough.

Another participant commented that he needed to see the balloon multiple times to remember the

ad and potentially mention it to his friends. All the participants who expressed that the ad is going

to be memorable agreed on sharing it with other individuals.

When it comes to purchasing this product, the twelve participants agreed on seeing this ad as a

reminder for the movie in case they want to rewatch it or see another season of the same movie,

rather than an effective first introduction to the movie IT. A fan of the movie said excitedly

29

“seeing this balloon makes me want to watch it tonight, it’s been a long time since the last time I

saw it”

4.1.2 IKEA

To represent IKEA’s advertisement campaign, a picture of guerrilla marketing was shown to the

interviewees. When describing the emotions that the interviewees had when seeing image 2, the

opinions on what the picture represented varied but the confusion was common among the

participants. Five participants out of twelve commented almost immediately that the chair

belonged to IKEA, while the rest either took their time to realise that or needed someone to point

this information out for them. One interviewee thought that the big yellow poster belonged to

IKEA as the colours in that poster are usually associated with IKEA, then realised that it was an

ad for an airline company called SAS. For the participants that recognized the IKEA chair, the

majority thought that it was not a good representation of the company. “It looks like an IKEA

chair that someone forgot” commented one participant, “I recognize the chair as it is one of

IKEA’s known designs but it makes me

uncomfortable seeing it in the street, what if it

rains or snows? The chair will get dirty”.

The guerrilla advertisements were considered as

innovative by five out of twelve participants,

while the rest were either unsure if to call it

innovative or “creative” but not in an effective

way. When the question about innovative was

asked, two participants reacted immediately with

a yes while the majority took a few seconds to

answer. The answers for this question have been mainly with yes or no along with reactions

which expressed uncertainty. One participant answered, “yes if I see the chair I would think that

it’s good that IKEA is trying a new concept”. However, three participants agreed on the chair

looking like it had been left and placed randomly “if I see the chair while passing by with a car

I’ll wonder if someone left a chair in the street”.

30

Most emotions were a mixture of positive and negative emotions, many participants were

“confused” while a few but not as many were “uncomfortable”. The main reason for the

confusion is seeing a red chair placed next to a big sign that expressed Ikea’s colours but

belonged to another company. Another reason is not recognizing that the chair belongs to IKEA

and therefore wondering the reason behind it being there ..“it’s very weird that there is a chair

there” commented one interviewee while looking perplexed, while another asked, “why is there a

chair close to a travelling company sign?”. The majority of the interviewee participants shared a

common opinion of the guerrilla ad done by IKEA as not being a memorable scene which

resulted in them not mentioning it to someone after seeing it. One participant said, “if I see this

chair, I will not think of it as an ad, I will probably take a picture and laugh while telling my

friends that someone forgot their chair somewhere”. One of the common reasons for the

previously mentioned opinion is that the chair is placed next to what looks like a highway, this

makes it harder to notice a small chair that isn’t described by a proportionally visible sign or logo

which works as a clear reminder of the brand.

When the participants were asked if they trust the brand, their opinions were not related nor

affected by their answers about the guerrilla advertisement for the company. The participants

expressed their opinion about IKEA as a known furniture company and their choice of

purchasing from them would be related to either the quality and the design of the furniture or the

price, or both of these elements combined. One participant explained, “IKEA is a globally known

company for furniture, I don’t think that this ad will remind me much of the company, but I will

still think of IKEA when I need to buy a piece of furniture, maybe this ad will remind someone

who would recognize the chair as an ad”. An interviewee answered jokingly “I don’t need to buy

the chair, I’ll just take this one if I see it”

4.1.3 Nike

Image 3 and image 4 were shown to the interview participants to represent two examples of

Nike’s guerrilla advertisements. When viewing both images, all participants recognized that

Nike’s logo was in both of the images. Image 4 confused the majority of the participants at first

glance, they felt overwhelmed, as one of them was wondering “why does this bench have no

seating area?”, while another participant asked, “what is the purpose of this bench if I cannot sit

31

on it?”. These interviewees expressions were mixed but still going towards the same end. Moving

on to other interviewees, which consisted of two participants who thought that this was a creative

idea. They loved the idea behind motivating

people to be fit and they thought that it was a

really good concept to make them do it. However,

they were as unaware as to the first participants of

whether it was an advertisement approach or not.

When image 3 was shown, one of the individuals

commented, “wow, I love the idea of the mall

using the Nike barrier to block people from using

the automatic escalators, but is it because the

escalators are not working and the mall is trying to

be creative?”, while another was completely

against since he said’ what if I am tired, what if I

am lifting heavy stuff and what if I am an old

man?’ With that said, the first batch of participants

have shown a lack of knowledge towards

marketing in general and guerrilla marketing in

specific but they had both a positive and a

negative feeling about it. Nevertheless, three out

of the twelve participants have surprised the

researchers with the answers given. These interviewees answered with full confidence as they

knew immediately that the images shown were advertisements, they did not know the name of

the marketing strategy but knew that it was a kind of advertisement. “Nike did it again, I just love

how they advertise themselves”, one of the participants shared.

4.1.4 Professional insight

Bittar shared his insightful knowledge and experience regarding the change of consumer behavior

towards marketing in these modern days. We started the interview by following a similar

structure to the semi-structured interviews that were conducted with the students. Bittar’s

opinions about the chosen visualized campaigns were similar in some aspects to the students’ but

32

different in many other ways considering his experience in the market industry. Amer Bittar was

asked the questions (see appendix 2) during the interview and was answering as follows

regarding each company.

For IT movie, regarding the emotions derived from seeing the guerrilla campaign in image 1,

Bittar has shown his interest by commenting, “if I didn’t already know that this campaign is for

IT movie, I would be very curious to know more”. He explained furthermore that the feelings he

associated with the red balloon from the campaign were “seeing the balloon has a positive and a

joyful sense as it reminds me of special occasions like birthdays''. However, he emphasized on

the question that many people would wonder about, which is “why is this balloon here?”. He

thought that this question is an important factor for each individual as humans tend to be curious,

he added “when there is a hidden message, we tend to get curious to know more about it”.

Therefore, he thought that the campaign was “very clever and creative as it triggers the

consumers' curiosity, which in return improves the brand image in their eyes''. The single red

balloon has a memorable touch to it, he added, “the balloon reminded me immediately of IT

movie as if it was a statement to be remembered”. According to Bittar, the balloon was not

necessarily a good strategy to purchase the tickets to watch an IT movie, but “it certainly makes

me want to go on YouTube and check the trailer out”. Amer explained further that this

advertisement has a WoM marketing tool, he expressed that he had already shared his curiosity

and interest in this particular guerrilla campaign with his friends and had a discussion about how

viral it went in the Gulf area.

Whereas, Amer addressed the Swedish language used in IKEA’s campaign shown in image 3

(see appendix1) as an issue that is considered to be an obstacle for him to understand clearly what

the campaign was trying to achieve. Nevertheless, “the visual perception of the campaign lets me

use my own imagination” Amer mentioned. He thought that it was “probably someone did not

want the chair and just put it there for someone else to take it”. Despite the language and the

randomly placed chair on the side of the highway, he added that “as an experienced individual in

the marketing industry, I see that it is an advertisement from the billboard next to the chair”.

Amer commented that “every campaign has a set of goals to achieve, and I’m not sure about this

particular campaign”. Besides, he answered that he cannot say whether this campaign was

33

effective nor creative as he lacks the information about the goal behind this particular guerrilla

campaign. However, he also mentioned that this campaign was remarkable despite the lack of

background on the campaign’s goals. He stated that “seeing an ad placed where it does not

belong, will certainly make me remember it and the colour of the chair is definitely hard to

forget''. Amer thought that IKEA’s guerrilla campaign was something worth sharing regardless of

the way it is said whether it was in a good or bad way. He said he would mention that he saw an

IKEA chair on the highway to his wife and best friend at least.

Bittar emphasized how smart and uncommon Nike’s guerrilla campaigns shown in image 3 and 3

(see appendix1). He said that image 3 “was placed in an unusual place like a mall or a station

where people most probably use the escalators, which in return forces them to take the stairs”. It

was a way to tell people just do it, according to Bittar. Mentioning that, he explained how

memorable this campaign was for using Nike’s logo on a yellow ribbon which showed that the

escalator was out of service. Image 3 was memorable according to Bittar but inconsiderable of

other individuals who may not be physically capable of taking the stairs, which cannot be judged

as the setting was unknown”. Whereas, image 4 was believed by Amer to be motivated to walk

extra 100 meters, but explained the importance of knowing the environment of the park and focus

on who the audience is at that park used for the guerrilla campaign considering age, health issues

and disabilities, etc. Aside from that, “if the environment was considered to be the right one, it

would trigger positivity as Nike is trying to push your limit a little bit longer”. As Amer

expressed twice his positive feelings towards Nike’s guerrilla campaigns, he was clear about his

willingness in sharing his unforgettable personal experience with his family and friends if he had

passed by Nike’s attempt of taking the escalator or the seatless bench.

4.2 Analysis 4.2.1 IT

The guerrilla marketing campaign of IT has received different reactions from the interviewees. A

red hanging balloon that is tied to sewers is a phenomenon that attracts many passer-bys’ surprise

and curiosity. This was further confirmed from the majority of interviewees who found it

surprising as soon as they saw image 1. The participants also confirmed one of guerrilla

marketing’s main effects, the diffusion effect (when an advertisement is spread further). The ones

34

who recognised the movie and said that it was innovative affirmed that they would probably

share the situation with either their friends or someone that likes the movie. According to (Belch

&Belch, 2009), a positive attitude towards a brand is likely to be built if the campaign is creative

enough. Out of the twelve participants, only two could not recognise the ad and associate it with a

negative feeling at the same time, mostly due to the allocated spot for the ad and their opinion

about the marketers who might have been considered as “lazy” or described as “put little to no

effort into the ad”.

Apart from the two participants who did not watch the movie, the campaign was mostly viewed

with a positive attitude. Due to a lack of the number of participants, the researchers can not come

up with a definite conclusion, but it shows that the participants who do recognise the movie were

mostly positive, happy and wanted to show the ad to acquaintances or share it in their social

media platforms, which was the opposite of the ones who did not recognise it since they did not

associate the ad with a product or a brand. According to Park et al (2010), a strong attitude

towards a brand affects greatly the purchase intention of the consumers. The purchase intent is

highly affected by brand or product recognition. Since this advertisement example was shown as

a mere image, moreover; the interviewees expressed that this ad works as an effective reminder,

not as a first introduction to the movie, it is not proved that this specific guerrilla advertisement

will be effective for the target consumers to purchase it.

4.2.2 IKEA

The guerrilla advertisement for IKEA contained a red IKEA chair placed together with a

relatively small sign with IKEA’s logo alongside a street that seems to be a highway. Besides

these two objects, a big sign with the colours yellow and blue that belongs to the airline company

SAS is also placed there. Looking at a picture of this guerrilla ad created confusion among the

interview participants. That confusion is mainly connected to the lack of clearness of the message

of the ad. The ad was not clear enough as a representation of IKEA, according to the participants.

For instance, IKEA’s sign was relatively small for cars passing by, the big sign next to it had

IKEA’s iconic yellow and blue but belonged to a different company, not to forget that not

everyone can easily recognize the chair as one of IKEA’s. This unclear message caused

miscommunication between the brand and the consumers. As mentioned previously, guerrilla

35

marketing is a communication tool (Belch & Belch, 2004). Since the message was confusing to

the receivers, it also means that the brand failed at communicating their message. The

communication tool in this case is also connected to how memorable the ad is for its consumers

as an unclear message about the brand is arguably not a memorable message.

About half of the participants perceived the ad as innovative after they learnt that it’s an IKEA

advertisement. These participants liked that the company tried to think outside of the box,

although they needed time to interpret the advertisement first, which a car driver passing by

might not have the time to do. However, many participants found this ad not as innovative.

According to Belch and Belch (2009), an advertisement has to communicate the right message to

its audience to be perceived as creative.

As IKEA is a company that has established a well-known brand internationally, the brand

attitude, brand image and the purchase intention were unsurprisingly unaffected by the

unclearness of this guerrilla campaign, according to the participants’ answers. This IKEA

campaign did not show effective results of improving the brand attitude, brand image and the

purchase intention among the participants, at the same time, it did not discourage them from

having a positive attitude towards the brand and its products. As stated by Belch & Belch (2004),

the meaning of a message is heavily influenced by who created the message and how the message

has been carried out. In this case, the creator of the message has an already established brand

image among its consumers, while it might have lacked an effective implementation for this

advertisement.

4.2.3 Nike

Nike’s guerrilla campaigns were represented by two pictures that illustrate different

advertisements but have relatively similar effects. Both of the advertisements are meant to

motivate people to work out more as well as to remind passersby of the brand. This set of

advertisements was perceived as innovative by many interview participants as it had the surprise

effect once the meaning behind them was discovered. As mentioned previously, the surprise

effect is one of the most effective guerrilla marketing elements that also help the ad in being

memorable and potentially spread it through WoM (Hutter & Hoffmann, 2011). An

36

advertisement that is viewed as creative and memorable makes it easier to create a positive

attitude towards a brand as well as it affects the purchase intention positively (Belch & Belch,

2009; Baack, Wilson, & Till, 2008).

The idea of these Nike guerrilla campaigns could arguably be perceived as risky as some

participants reacted negatively to a seatless bench and an out of order escalator. Although, the

same risky concept could be what made these advertisements innovative and potentially

memorable. The interview participants expressed both negative and positive reactions towards

the ad, but neither of these reactions was towards the brand itself as the participants had a strong

attitude towards the brand. A strong brand attitude has shown that it affects the purchase intention

of the consumers (Park et al., 2010).

4.2.4 Professional Insight

Further looking into Amer Bittar’s given findings on the three different brands or companies; IT,

IKEA and Nike. It has been able to analyze the collected data according to his industrial

knowledge in marketing and the experience derived from it.

According to Amer’s conducted interview, regarding IT movie, it was determined that the

marketing tools used were only able to trigger the consumers’ curiosity, however, it failed to

reach the consumers’ emotional level. Further explaining, for instance, Bittar was intrigued to

find out about IT movie by seeing the red balloon along with the hashtag used to name the movie.

However, he was not persuaded enough to become a consumer of IT movie tickets. This implies

that even with a creative marketing plan, the guerrilla campaign may fail to reach its targeted

customer audience and make them loyal consumers. As seen with the golf area in the marketing

sector, according to Bittar, IT movie was able to reach people's attention, increasing the use of

WoM tools without forgetting the social media impact and how the guerrilla marketing concept

became viral, breaking all social media platforms. With these driven results, the consumer was

able to enter the marketing illusion and become a consumer with high expectations on the product

outcome. To later determine that their expectations were let down and not necessarily met

resulting in a consumer turnover.

37

Looking into Bittar’s thoughts on IKEA’s guerrilla marketing campaign, it was previewed that

there was a lack of creativity and knowledge on the targeted market audience. Knowing that

guerrilla marketing should be physically interacting with potential consumers to reach their

emotional senses through their experience, IKEA’s guerrilla campaign did not meet the standards

of that aspect. IKEA also failed to communicate to its potential consumers by not taking into

consideration any language barrier. As seen in image 2 (see appendix1), the advertisement only

spoke to Swedish speakers, while leaving a big part of IKEA’s market audience clueless about

the message that was intended to be delivered. With these advertisement failures, IKEA was not

able to reach its international community nor was it able to advance in its social media platform

and spread WoM. Bittar’s final observation was about the geographic location of the

advertisement. He believed it would have been more successful in terms of consumer interaction

and trying the product if it was placed in a more common area that is closer to the target

consumers, for instance, next to colleges and universities.

When it comes to Nike’s guerrilla campaigns, Bittar expressed that these marketing campaigns

were a little too blunt. The consumers felt as if they were ordered or forced to take the stairs,

rather than properly being persuaded or influenced to choose Nike’s lifestyle. According to him,

consumers may feel a sense of judgment, humiliation and questioning in one's self-worth after

perceiving the Ad’s possibly intended message. Which in return may result in consumers’

withdrawal and a narrower targeted audience. Nevertheless, Bittar has emphasized the positive

outcome of these guerrilla campaigns on the consumers as well. He has also discussed how smart

and creative both the campaigns were in motivating their consumers towards a healthy lifestyle.

Furthermore, the motivation received from observing both images aline with Nike’s mission

statement, just do it.

4.3 Summary of empirical analysis

When analyzing the findings for each company or brand by itself, different results can be

concluded depending on which advertisement is in the discussion. It is mentioned in the paper

that guerrilla marketing was created originally for smaller companies as it is a low-cost marketing

method compared to traditional advertising. Although, the conducted research focused on big

companies that have young consumers as one of their main customer targets to understand the

38

brand image and brand attitude that these consumers might have as well as how these two

elements might affect the research results. The research findings have shown that brand or

product recognition is crucial for a guerrilla advertisement to be effective. The feelings of

confusion and uncertainty did not result in a positive attitude towards these discussed guerrilla

advertisements. The result of the findings has also shown that an advertisement has to be clear

when communicating its message to its consumers for guerrilla marketing to have favourable

effects on its target consumers.

Also, guerrilla marketing is perceived to be an innovative type of marketing, although the

findings show that the opinions vary depending on brand image, brand attitude and certainly how

creative and well-located the advertisement is. The participants’ answers showed that if a

company had already established a stable and positive brand image in the market, a guerrilla

advertisement is more likely to be perceived as a positive reminder to purchase from this specific

company. A traditional advertisement might have the same effect on consumers, although if

guerrilla marketing is created and implemented creatively enough, it is more likely to be

memorable and spread through WoM. As mentioned previously in this paper, creativity creates a

positive attitude towards a brand which also affects the purchase intention positively.

39

Chapter 5: Conclusion

The closing chapter starts with a final conclusion which is related to the research question and

answered. Afterwards, a critical review of the thesis is provided as well as some suggestions that

the authors came up with for further research about this topic.

5.1 Final conclusion The purpose of this thesis is to delve into whether the use of guerrilla marketing may have an

impact on the purchasing behavior of university students. To investigate the impact of guerrilla

marketing, a study was made by conducting a one-person interview with 12 students that are aged

between 20 and 30 years old and an industry professional that works with the field of marketing

for more professional insight. The authors determined that for the experiment to be adequate and

provide positive results, the interviewees were shown different images for three different guerrilla

campaigns. From the authors’ research question, conclusions can be drawn to offer a better

understanding and a summarized answer to the readers. However, before going into it, readers

must know that the conclusion does not take into account any kind of other elements apart from

the findings of the study. In other words, a different choice of candidates, campaigns,

geographical and cultural backgrounds, age gap and among other conditions is beyond this study

and may even lead to completely different answers.

The first conclusion that the authors came up with is that the effect of guerrilla marketing

depends on what company is using to attract the consumers’ attention but mostly on how the

actual campaign was marketed. One of the most valuable characteristics of guerrilla marketing is

its applicatory use. The strategy does not depend solely on its visual marketing such as the

slogan, the image, or the logo of the marketed product. Rather, the guerrilla marketing campaign

is designed to be unexpected and unforeseen and includes the search for unconventional ways of

luring buyers and influencing them to spread the word to others, all while keeping the costs for

40

marketing to a minimum (Syrett & Lammiman, 2003). If these elements are present in the

guerrilla marketing campaign, it is argued that it will affect consumers’ purchasing intention.

Depending on the interviewee’s answers, the authors concluded that the guerrilla campaign’s

vary widely. Importantly, for the strategy to be successful, a well-constructed campaign is

fundamental, the right marketing tools are a necessity and the targeted market has to be accurate

for the campaign.

The second conclusion is that a guerrilla campaign that is perceived as surprising, funny, creative

and just out of the blue will increase the purchase intention of the consumer. This outcome was

first studied in the theoretical framework segment and then endorsed by some of our

interviewees. A creative strategy will arouse more thoughts towards the brand and may lead to a

better word of mouth marketing effect. As a result of WoM, the guerrilla campaign will stay

memorable as it may spread further awareness about the brand among different consumers.

The third conclusion is that the big corporations such as the ones we showed to our participants

have already placed a mindset to their consumers. The latter already know what the brand stands

for, what they are offering and even maybe their values. However, the consumers’ mind can

always change, their attitude tends to adjust to the ever-progressing world. As an example from

our study, when showing the guerrilla campaign of Nike, our participants were pretty much

positive towards the advertisement but that result was only because the authors think that they

were in the primary age of between 20 and 30 years old, where individuals tend to be more active

in their daily life. If another age gap were interviewed, between 50 to 60 years old for example,

the answers and opinions would have been different and maybe even a display of negative

attitudes towards the brand. This conclusion also relates to the previous one on the importance of

companies choosing a campaign that adequately addresses the target audience. It is therefore

compulsory for the well-known corporations to rightfully exhibit their values in a befitting and

calculated way through their marketing advertisements.

The fourth conclusion is that emotions, brand attitude and brand image are all in a way connected

to the guerrilla marketing campaign. Different options open up forward. Ideally, the consumer

knows already of the brand and has a good standpoint towards it, which stands in contrast to

41

previous research that highlights that guerrilla tactics are good for smaller firms. If the guerrilla

marketing campaign is only somewhat successful, then the consumer would want to purchase it

or at the very least be more loyal to the brand. In the worst-case scenario, a consumer dislikes the

brand and the corporation did a guerrilla campaign that is not as creative or just not fit to be out

there, maybe even assaulting. Then the individual might not want to ever try or hear of the brand,

even worse, the consumer might publish negative assessments about it in social media or criticize

it to their friends. As for what comes in between these two situations it can vary widely. Due to

insufficient interviewees, data collected, a more in-depth analysis of each of the concepts of

brand attitude, brand image, emotions and purchase intention the authors are not able to pinpoint

exactly how much these factors interact with guerrilla marketing and how they can change one's

opinion towards the brand.

5.2 Critical review

The authors of this thesis opted to go with this topic due to first, personal interest into the field of

marketing especially a way that is cost-efficient for new companies that want to set themselves to

the public. Second, to contribute to the field of guerrilla marketing by studying how this

marketing strategy affects purchase intention and last to encourage the new growing businesses to

get a chance for advertisement. The authors also found that research in this area is not abundant

compared to other marketing strategies, which made it even more interesting to fill if not even a

tiny gap in this field.

When determining the type of literature to use, we tried to change and adjust books and articles

that were used early on to better suit our progression into the writing of the thesis. In the end, we

singled out articles that were regarded as scientific articles and peer-reviewed. The interviewees

in our study were all aged between 20 and 30 years old except for the industry professional who

was aged more than 40 years old. The participants aged between 20 and 30 years old are all

students who come from different backgrounds with different cultures meaning our participants

are not biased in a way where they had the same upbringing and will lead to more diversified

opinions.

42

5.3 Further research

For future research on the impact of guerrilla marketing on the consumers’ purchasing intent is to

use a wider sample of interviewees within age, profession and different geographic areas. It could

also be of interest to explore how someone’s country of origin may play a role and affects

purchase intent for guerrilla marketing campaigns, maybe even make a research of a comparison

between two or more countries in a study. This may be beneficial for future researchers to get as

accurate results from the analysis as possible. Moreover, the time horizon plays a significant role

in the results of this thesis and future research. Due to the limited time frame for this research, a

cross-sectional time horizon was chosen, however, a longitudinal time horizon is recommended

for future research. This is due to the neediness of conducting the research given that guerrilla

advertising and its effects are bound into the context that the interviews are within.

Moreover, holding several focus groups with a certain number of people according to different

age categories may have a wider result to analyze. Different generations think differently

regarding the purchase of a product or a service, therefore, focus groups may be beneficial as

future researchers will be given the opportunity for a deeper understanding of what is considered

to be effective on the consumers’ purchasing behavior and differentiating the results according to

the generations chosen.

An additional recommendation that might have a different result is changing the research method

used to answer a similar context to this thesis research question. Instead of using only qualitative

research technique, is perhaps using quantitative or mixed-method research techniques using

surveys along with in-depth interviews if the future researchers have access to a longitudinal time

horizon.

43

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Chapter 7: Appendix

7.1 Appendix 1: Images used in the semi-structured interviews

Image 1: IT guerrilla marketing campaign (https://images.app.goo.gl/TXKNYNszdwEcFXeEA)

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Image 2: IKEA guerrilla marketing campaign (https://images.app.goo.gl/AGGWms3zzmQPQnYJA)

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Image 3: Nike’s guerrilla marketing campaign (https://images.app.goo.gl/2JdL7CeWTATJYQc48)

Image 4: Nike’s guerrilla marketing campaign (https://images.app.goo.gl/FFY3dW84sXqdeWks7)

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7.2 Appendix 2: Interview guide

1. What emotions do the images evoke in you?

2. What feelings do you have towards this brand?

3. How innovative do you think this ad is? Expand.

4. How memorable do you think this ad is? Expand.

5. Do you think that you trust the brand? Expand.

6. Would you consider buying this product/ or buying from this brand? Why/why not?

7. How effective would you say this ad is? And, how likely are you to tell others about it and

the brand? Who would you tell?

8. Any further comments on this marketing approach?

52