Guerrilla marketing, which traditionally includes attention-getting street-theater stunts and unorthodox tactics, was once the province of low-budget advertisers who couldn't afford traditional methods to get their messages out. No more. In their new book, Guerrilla Advertising, authors Gavin Lucas and Michael Dorrian show that growing numbers of major marketers are engaged in guerrilla tactics as traditional forms of advertising seem to lose eyeballs. "Guerrilla advertising" is a catch-all phrase for nontraditional ad campaigns that take the form of theatrically staged public scenes or events, often carried out without city permits or advance public hype. "This work is very transient. It's …

Sports-drink marketer Gatorade is capitalizing on China's love of basketball by using Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade as the company's celebrity endorser on ads that run there. Wade's picture has been slapped on 20 million bottles of Gatorade in China since July 1. The star guard will also appear in TV spots for the sports drink. The campaign is tied into an event scheduled for next week, in which Wade and other top American players face off against the Chinese national team in Guangzhou. The company chose Wade because he was "high performing," Gatorade spokeswoman Lisa Claybon said. The ads …

Insurance marketer Allstate is doing damage control. Its new ads show how the industry worked in the wake of criticism involving Hurricane Katrina claims. The ads, which will appear primarily in The Wall Street Journal through year's end, point out how business and governmental leaders can work together to improve the industry. The first ad declares insurance to be "the oxygen of free enterprise. You probably don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about insurance," reads the headline over an illustration of a man tiptoeing among banana peels. "But try doing anything without it." Additional ads in the campaign, …

Luxury-goods marketer Montblanc is hoping a handful of young, relatively unknown designers will provide the venerable brand with a hip element that increases its appeal with younger female consumers. The designers--Jeffrey Costello, Jean Yu, Robert Tagliapietra and Doo-Ri Chung--are appearing in an ad campaign for the company's new jewelry line that will run this fall in Vogue. Montblanc is primarily known for its high-end pens, but the only trace of writing instruments in the new ads is the tagline: "Signature Style." Jan-Patrick Schmitz, the president of Montblanc North America, says Montblanc wants to go from a functional writing instrument brand …

Most back-to-school ads are targeted to kids, so it's not surprising that marketers who have relied on TV ads are now turning to the Internet to grab their attention. One retailer, OfficeMax, has created an entertainment program for both the Web and TV that weaves product plugs into the story line. The program will air Aug. 17 on Walt Disney's ABC Family cable channel; shortly thereafter, it will be posted on Google's Google Video, along with extra content from the show. "Kids in middle school and high school tend to buy things differently," says Bob Thacker, OfficeMax's svp of marketing. …

The current ad campaign for Apple computers shows two men who are supposed to be new computers emerging from their boxes. One is dressed in a suit, and says it will take him a long time to get set up. The other is dressed much more casually, and says he can get going in no time at all. The latter is supposed to be an Apple Mac, while the other, stodgy and slow, is a PC. The spot illustrates what Apple has come to mean in the minds of consumers. It was the cool kid in school that everyone wanted …

In a case of user-generated content sparking a real marketing effort, candy maker Perfetti Van Melle is running a promotional contest. It's based on now-famous home videos involving the company's Mentos brands. Not long ago, a homemade video began making the Internet rounds that showed a Mentos mint dropped into a liter-bottle of soda, causing a chemical reaction that made the beverage bubble furiously and shoot out of the bottle. The result was a pop-culture fad. Thousands of people created and posted short films of their own geyser experiments on sites like YouTube, Yahoo video and Revver.com. Now, the company …

Nissan Motor Corp. will soon be shopping for a new chief global marketing officer. Steve Wilhite, vp, global marketing at Nissan Motor Corp., quit his job to join Hyundai Motor America as COO. Hyundai declined comment on Wilhite, but acknowledged that an announcement regarding a new COO was forthcoming. The job has been vacant since Bob Cosmai resigned in January. Wilhite is a highly regarded marketer, having joined the ranks of the elite during his nine years at Volkswagen of America, where he was instrumental in its turnaround in the mid--to-late 1990s. He left VW in early 1999 for a …

Seeking to engage their customers in an interactive format, Eight O'Clock Coffee Co. is introducing a blog that encourages visitors to submit their thoughts on life, work, and coffee. Dubbed "The Grind," the blog follows a working mother of two who writes about her life and asks the company's customers to share their own experiences. "It's a nice way to communicate with consumers and relate with them on a one-to-one basis," says company spokesman Jeff Maloy. The tactic is another example of a marketer trying to connect with its target group, via a nontraditional media outlet. Visitors to the site …

Most consumer-product marketers have shifted some of their ad dollars from traditional media to the Internet. Foster's beer has taken a more dramatic step. The Australian beer's U.S. owner, SABMiller, has decided to stop advertising on television and shift its entire American ad budget to the Net. Although the brand's TV spending is relatively small--last year Foster's spent $5 million on TV ads, according to TNS Media Intelligence--the move is significant. It is representative of a trend among certain target groups--in this case young men--away from TV viewing and toward the Web. If the initial Web ads aren't effective, Foster's …