Gorilla Marketing in Fashion – Fashion and Clothing Magazine

Unexpected experiences always remain in your mind; Isn’t that so?!
If you encounter a new event that surprises you and leads to a new sensory experience, not only will this memory be recorded in your mind, but you will tell it to the people around you many times.
This is exactly what happens in Gorilla Marketing, so that the audience experiences that new feeling.
Unexpected experiences help brands stand out in a competitive market so that people talk about that brand to others and are more influenced by it than any other type of environmental advertising.
In this article, we will first discuss gorilla marketing in fashion and its role in this field, and then we will examine the effects of the digital world and artificial intelligence.

What is gorilla marketing?

In its simplest definition, guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that uses unconventional tactics to attract customers and gain their satisfaction. In other words, guerrilla marketing is an advertising method that is a cost-effective alternative to traditional marketing such as print media (newspapers and pamphlets), television ads, billboards, and email. But the main focus of this type of marketing is to create an unconventional space or object that will eventually attract the attention of the public. This ultimately leads to brand awareness and buying from it.
Normally in this type of marketing, human interaction is an important principle; Therefore, in Guerrilla Marketing, efforts are made to have a great impact on the emotions of the audience with a small budget. This is because the advertisement is spread virally and so-called by word of mouth among the general public.

In marketing science, this type of advertising strategy is also known as guerilla or guerrilla marketing, which is widely used in various fields, including fashion.

The role of guerilla marketing or guerrilla marketing in fashion

We found that Guerrilla Marketing focuses on cost-effective and unconventional marketing ideas that achieve maximum results by attracting the attention of the audience; But how can you use gorilla marketing in fashion?
In the world of fashion, the most common mode of using this strategy is in these three sections:
pop up stores
Shopping envelopes (Bagvertising)
Shop windows (window display)

In the field of fashion and clothing, this method can be used both in products and in pop-up stores. In the article about pop-up stores, we have already told you about these temporary stores. Many pop-up stores are set up in high-traffic locations with the aim of guerrilla marketing. Imagine coming across a giant shoe box in one of the busy streets, which is actually a pop-up store or a temporary store of a shoe brand. This was a real example for the Adidas brand, which launched its pop-up store at the same time as the Primavera music festival in Barcelona, ​​Spain, and it made a lot of news. Nike brand also launched such a pop-up story.

In addition to pop-up stores, one of the techniques used in guerilla marketing is creativity in shopping envelope design, which is also called Bagvertising; Of course, despite virtual spaces, this method is not as popular as before. In the previous decade, it was possible to attract people’s attention in high-traffic areas easily and at the lowest cost with shopping envelopes that had a special and strange design. This method is very suitable for clothing retailers. One of these bags, in the spring 2009 collection of the Karl Lagerfeld brand, was designed with Karl’s own face, which attracted the attention of many people after its release.

The showcase of clothing brand shops is one of the places that can easily attract attention, and the creative and strange ideas of brands, in line with this strategy, can turn into noisy advertisements. There are no shortage of interesting showcases that can be cited; But if we want to give an example that has the features of gorilla marketing, we can use the giant Dior and Louis Vuitton bag showcase as an example. Of course, the award for the most creative showcase will definitely go to the Jackmos brand.

The digital world and the speed of gorilla marketing in fashion

Guerrilla marketing or gorilla marketing became very popular in the early 2000s and caused competition for new and attractive ideas in order to surprise the audience; But the peak of this popularity in the world of fashion was when the use of the Internet and social media became a routine activity of consumers’ lives.
Currently, according to statistics, 90% of Americans use the Internet, and during the last decade, users’ daily use of social media has reached 6 hours a day. In fact, according to these statistics, if a guerilla content is published in cyberspace that has the ability to attract the attention of the audience, it can easily become viral within a few minutes; Because social media users share this content on multiple platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and with minimal cost, that content goes viral.

If we pay attention to the photos and videos that have been widely distributed in the virtual space in recent years in red carpets, fashion shows, and events, we can easily understand that this action was carried out with the strategy of gorilla marketing. For example, Sam Smith’s dress at The BRIT Awards significantly increased Google searches for Harri (Smith’s dress designer) and Sam Smith himself. In recent fashion shows, it seems that the Italian brand AVAVAV has not neglected this strategy either; Because this brand, in the performance of its fashion shows, with the models falling down or the clothes being torn and separated, put the surprise of the audience in the center of its goal with complete elegance. Even in the spring and summer fashion show of 2024, he used this scenario in a different way and plunged the viewer into a momentary shock, and after that, the video of this fashion show went viral.

But the remarkable and common point in these examples is one thing; Being seen by a wide group of people. In simpler terms, in these examples, this content was not only exchanged between people who were interested in the world of music or followers of the world of fashion! But more widely, it was shown to a large number of people, and this is the ultimate goal of guerrilla marketing. In fact, in Guerrilla Marketing, the target audience is considered very wide and wide, even wider than that field of activity; Because as we mentioned, one of the goals of this strategy is awareness of that brand.

Artificial intelligence and gorilla marketing in fashion

Now that we are familiar with the general definition of guerilla marketing and understand that there is no tool more effective and powerful than social media in guerrilla marketing; We want to know that with the advent of artificial intelligence, what developments have been made in this technique in the last one or two years and how it can be used in the field of fashion.
Let’s go back a little! In the midst of the spread of Corona and the economic recession, brands paid more attention to guerrilla marketing than before to get through this era; Because guerilla marketing was a cost-effective way to be seen and create a direct relationship with consumers, which made customers return to stores. Artificial intelligence tools have made this method of marketing even more affordable than before; But how did this happen?

Around August 2021, Zara published an Instagram post showing that the store’s window was full of colored balls suspended in the air.

In the caption of this post, it was written: Walking through our Soho store.
Many of the audience of this Instagram post thought that large screens were installed in the storefront of the Zara store located in Soho, New York, and this 3D video was similar to the videos that are played on their buildings in Japan and China. Many Zara customers in New York had visited this store to see Zara’s showcase up close; But on their Instagram, they published photos of the same showcase and said that it was a promotional video and there was no news of huge screens and suspended balls.

In fact, Shane Fu, a Chinese artist, filmed the Soho Zara store and published this video – which could only be seen online – using 3D software and keeping the lighting to make the image look natural. In an interview with Dezeen magazine, he said: “People are gullible and think it’s a real window or a physical display and they go to the store in person.”
But what was the result of this video?! In the same season, the video reached 17 million views on Instagram alone (now, after two years, the video has about 45 million views), which is not comparable to the posts surrounding the video. The artist says that after this video, other brands also contacted him. He also made a video for Burberry in October 2022; Burberry’s big fur bag in the middle of the street!

Just a few months ago, the news of Le Bambino bus bags by Jacquemus (Jacobus) in Paris was published on all digital platforms and it was difficult for many audiences to even distinguish whether it was real or not. This video has been viewed 48 million times on Instagram in 7 months and has received nearly two million likes. Compared to the Zara example, the speed with which this post was seen and popularized shows the advancement of AI in guerilla marketing in fashion.

After this commercial, there were concerns about the long-term and profound implications of artificial intelligence. Helen Catherine, marketing manager at MG Empower agency, said in line with this concern: “This technology can make videos of things that never happened as if they happened. How are we going to deal with it?”

In the same vein, apparently in the not-too-distant future, there will be rules for brands to declare in their ads which are made with artificial intelligence and which are 3D renderings.
However, AI has brought guerrilla marketing to a new level and acts as a catalyst for this marketing process. The Jackmos brand, which was noted for its creativity in storefront and decor design, now uses artificial intelligence to create a more attractive and less expensive design for its storefront.

In addition to the mentioned points, in any guerilla advertising campaign, the impossible can be made possible to create more excitement in the audience; For example, in the recent advertising campaign of the Victoria Beckham brand, chain bags of this brand are flying and can be seen all over the world; From the Colosseum of Rome and the Clock Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower and even in the arms of the Statue of Liberty in New York. In fact, by combining the symbols of each city and the brand’s key item, the message of the brand’s advertising campaign is quickly transferred to the audience and remains in the mind.

Conclusion:

It can be said that when you want an affordable but noisy advertising method, go for gorilla marketing; But be very careful! Considering the performance of the media and the speed with which content spreads, if you make a mistake in your advertising campaign, it will be irreparable. With artificial intelligence tools, the capacity to create videos and creative campaigns has increased and you can take advantage of it; But keep in mind that artificial intelligence can make your job difficult in some way. With artificial intelligence, the level of expectation of your audience is increasing day by day and they are no longer surprised by any idea. So, with a lot of creativity and checking all aspects, go for gorilla marketing and artificial intelligence and surprise yourself and your audience with its results.