Abstract
Guerrilla marketing is an innovative approach to communicate with customers and to capture their attention essentially due to its inherent creativity, unconventional media, and low cost. Despite the interesting contributions in the literature on this topic, most of what is known about guerrilla marketing is confined to its use and impact on consumers. This study aims to fill a gap identified in the guerrilla marketing literature by conducting an exploratory research study on the propensity of performing guerrilla marketing campaigns in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context. The research objectives of this paper are (i) identifying the perceptions of B2B managers on guerrilla marketing campaigns and (ii) exploring determinants of the adoption of guerrilla marketing campaigns targeted at corporate customers.We present the results of a qualitative research study comprising 12 semi-structured interviews with managers of different business areas. A content analysis was performed using Nvivo software.Participants in this study demonstrated that B2B managers recognize and value the advantages associated with guerrilla communication, which is in many instances seen as useful and viable for the B2B sector. The propensity for adoption is dependent on internal factors such as corporate culture, managers’ and collaborators’ profiles, risk-proneness, market share, and product innovativeness, but also on the sector’s usual practices of innovation and communication. Guerrilla marketing campaigns are more appropriate for attracting new B2B customers and need to be carefully adapted to the targets' profiles and preferences.
Highlights
Guerrilla marketing is a concept that has been capturing practitioners, consumers and media attention, due to its provocative and non-dogmatic characteristics and because of its efficiency and the impacts its communication campaigns have attained
Participants in this study demonstrated that B2B managers recognize and value the advantages associated with guerrilla communication, which is in many instances seen as useful and viable for the B2B sector
It became clear from the interviews that the B2B managers who participated in this study did not have a solid knowledge on the topic of guerrilla marketing
Summary
Guerrilla marketing is a concept that has been capturing practitioners, consumers and media attention, due to its provocative and non-dogmatic characteristics and because of its efficiency and the impacts its communication campaigns have attained. The best-known cases of guerrilla marketing campaigns are predominantly directed to the consumer market, we consider this approach to be relevant and viable for Business-to-Business (B2B) companies to communicate with its target markets in a distinctive way. This paper aims to respond to a gap identified in the literature by exploring the intention to use guerrilla marketing campaigns in B2B sectors. The conclusions of this study provide relevant cues to B2B managers who intend to do guerrilla campaigns, and to guerrilla marketing agencies that want to offer solutions for the B2B sector
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