It's called guerrilla marketing and one of its main aims is to sell to customers who don't want to be sold to.

This new strategy has developed to target those cynical or anarchical types who can't stand conventional advertising and who deliberately ignore messages on billboards and in glossy magazines.

In contrast to a conventional advertising campaign, guerrilla marketing typically begins quietly with low-level brand awareness-raising to prime the market for a launch.

Designer clothing company Diesel used guerrilla marketing as the main tool for the launch of its 55 DSL range, aimed at 24 to 35 year olds.

Along with increased brand awareness, a core aim was to increase footfall to a new showcase store near Carnaby Street.

The marketers first launched 55DSL.co.uk- a radio station designed to appeal to the target age groups and broadcast each Saturday live on the internet from the store. By using the description 'pirate radio', the cult status of the station was heightened as images of an illegal underground broadcast were conjured up. In fact the entire station was totally legal.

Slightly less legal was the use of flyposting to increase the brand and logo awareness. More than 30,000 stickers bearing the 55 DSL logo but not the Diesel name were posted.

Once the logo was recognised at street level, it was important that the clothing was associated with the right people. Along with sponsoring a skateboarding team, the campaign targeted 'tastemakers' in the industry - those people who decide what is 'cool' at any one moment in time. These include journalists, stylists and celebrities, anyone who will wear the clothes and get them noticed.

An underground magazine brought the clothing brand closer to its intended public. Photocopied and laid out in the style of a 'fanzine', it appealed to the target audience.