P.T. Barnum, impresario, showman, huckster, politician, entrepreneur and purveyor of humbug, was the guerrilla marketer par excellence. Although he died some 120 years ago there's much to learn from his business principles today. Born in 1810 in Connecticut, Barnum was to open 'Barnum's American Museum' in 1840. Among his innovations was a lighthouse, which attracted attention up and down Broadway. The museum's walls were adorned with great paintings of animals while its 'curiosities' included albinos, giants, midgets,'fat boys', jugglers, magicians,  detailed models of cities and famous battles, and eventually a menagerie of animals. Here are some of Barnum's breathtakingly original wheezes:

1)In 1835, Barnum displayed Joice Heth, a 161 year old slave woman who was (allegedly) the nanny to George Washington. He knew how to stand out from the crowd.

2) He used elephants to attract media attention.

3) Barnum knew how to get the most out of the media. Because of his ability to provide interesting and unique stories the media became Barnum's prized resource.

4) Barnum knew power the ambient marketing, before the hateful term was coined. An unemployed man came to his museum and asked Barnum for a job. Barnum handed the man five bricks and instructed him to place the bricks in various places around the outside of the museum. As he went about his business, he was to replace the brick at each spot with another one that he was carrying. He was to answer no questions, speak to no one, and seem to be deaf and dumb. Once an hour, he was to enter the museum, walk right next to the ticket taker, seem to pay the fee, and then proceed through the museum and out the door. A crowd began to form, watching the man and wondering what he was doing. Many of the crowds followed him into the museum just to see what was going on. In fact, the police had to ask Barnum to stop the man, because the crowds that he was creating were stopping traffic.

5) Barnum offered free music from the Balcony of his museum. But he deliberately hired bad musicians. He wanted people to move into the Museum, where they could take refuge from the awful music. This philosophy is continued to this day at fast food franchise places like McDonald's, which keeps the interior restaurants artificially bright so that people will be less inclined to dawdle.