Covert Marketing — An Alternative to Traditional Marketing Tactics
We all remember the Bournvita placement in Koi Mil Gaya, the Ray-Ban Aviators that Tom Cruise redefined in Top Gun, or GAP clothing that Rahul popularized in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. These are just a few examples that portray the effectiveness and potency of a type of Covert Marketing known as Product Placement.
Now you might ask what covert marketing is and what it encompasses. Cambridge dictionary defines covert as an adjective that means to hide or keep a secret. Stating in terms of our above examples, it would mean to cleverly advertise a product to the target audience without them realising that they are being marketed to. A common and rather benign example of covert marketing is product placement in movies or TV shows. For instance, in Friends, when Joey wants a Toblerone so bad; the tactic helped the Swiss chocolate brand advertise itself as a tempting treat. Tactics like influencer marketing, ambush marketing, subliminal messaging, neuromarketing etc also fall under the purview of covert marketing.
This takes us to our next question, is this marketing tactic effective? Well, in most cases it does wonders for a brand and in remaining cases, it does develop good brand recall. This isn’t a low-cost tactic but it sure is impactful, if marketed to the right target audience through the right medium.
Why use covert marketing?
- Customer choices are greatly influenced by celebrities and the trends that are set by people they admire so when a customer sees her favourite actress using a particular brand of perfume, she creates a perception that the perfume must be good and hence they should buy.
- Traditional marketing tactics like advertisements, e-mail or SMS campaigns are being considered spam and are losing their effectiveness. Because of these marketers are trying to find ways to grab their audiences’ attention either through influencer marketing, cause marketing or covert marketing.
Covert marketing is not all that great, it has its ugly side. The issue with it is one of ethics. Where to draw the line? Social media is especially vulnerable to unethical covert marketing. An example is the rise of fake user reviews on e-commerce websites. The practice has become highly common nowadays. Companies plant positive reviews to show their product in a good light or, on the contrary, they plant negative reviews about competitors to hurt their reputation. Sony and Samsung are among the two companies that got in trouble for buying positive reviews.
So how will a marketer take a call on whether to opt for covert marketing? By simply asking, if the campaign is revealed, will it prove to be either embarrassing or lead to legal problems? If the answer to the question is yes then it should not be implemented. The best covert marketing campaigns are the ones that lead to smiles of appreciation from the audience and not backlash.
Let’s see if you can tell all the brands shown in the above image, post your comments below.
