Chapter 10

Alternative
Marketing
 Chapter 10 Outline
• Alternative Marketing • Branded Entertainment

• Buzz Marketing • Video Game Advertising

• Stealth Marketing • In-Store Marketing

• Guerrilla Marketing • In-Store Marketing Tactics

• Lifestyle Marketing • Point-of-Purchase Marketing

• Ambush Marketing • Designing Effective Point-of-Purchase

• Product Placements Displays

 Alternative Marketing
Alternative marketing: relies on buzz, word-of-mouth, and
lifestyle messages at times and in places where consumers relax
and enjoy hobbies and events. It can take many forms such as:
• Buzz marketing
• Guerrilla marketing
• Lifestyle marketing
• Experiential marketing
• Product placement and branded entertainment
 Alternative Marketing
• Developing alternative marketing programs requires
creativity and imagination.

• Marketers identify new places where a consumer’s path

intersects with a brand’s presence or creates a new
intersection point.
 Buzz Marketing
• Buzz marketing also known as word-of-mouth advertising. It
emphasizes consumers passing along information about a
product.
• A recommendation by a friend, family member, or
acquaintance carries greater credibility than an advertisement.
• Buzz is more powerful than words spoken by a paid
spokesperson or endorser.
 Buzz Marketing
The three main sources of buzz are:

• Individuals who truly like a brand: Enthusiast consumers who genuinely like a
brand and tell others about it. E.g. Musical Groups

• Individuals who are sponsored by a brand: Companies sponsor individuals as

agents or advocates to introduce new products, share information, and
announce special events (Brand Ambassadors)

• Company or agency employees: It includes company or agency employees,

where the company or agency decides whether they should pose as
customers or identify themselves as being affiliated with the organization
 Brand Ambassadors
Brand Ambassadors: are typically individuals that like the brand they
sponsor, they may not like the brand but it works best when they
actually do like it.

• The company offers incentives and rewards in exchange for

advocacy.

• Marketers select an ambassador based on his devotion to the

brand, level of influence and the size of his social circle.
 Brand Ambassadors
• Once recruited, the ambassador delivers messages to his social
circle members. They are also asked to promote the brand on the
internet through blogs or on social networks.

• Ideally speaking, brand advocates should be upfront and honest

about their connections with the company.
 Employer branding
Employer branding: occurs when companies showcase
employees discussing what it is like to work for a particular
company.

In the past, HR departments used this approach to attract

quality employees, but quickly marketers realized that
employer branding appealed to customers as well.
 Buzz Marketing Stages
The process consists of three stages:

1. Inoculation: the product is introduced

2. Incubation: a few innovators or trendsetters try the
product
3. Infection: widespread use of the product occurs
 Buzz Marketing Preconditions
Advertising and buzz communication programs from actual
customers typically cannot create a successful buzz by
themselves unless some preconditions are met:

• Product must be unique, new, or superior

• Brand must stand out
• Advertising should be (Memorable, Intriguing, & Different)
• Consumer involvement with the brand
 Why does Buzz Marketing Work?
Buzz marketing works because:
• People trust someone else’s opinion more than paid
advertising.
• Consumers like to render their opinions and share thoughts.
• Many exhibit an inner desire for social interaction and are
concerned about the happiness of others.
• Voicing an opinion can build a person’s ego and sense of self-
worth, especially when the opinion leads to happiness or
satisfaction with a particular product.
 Stealth Marketing
Stealth Marketing (Undercover marketing): A special form of buzz
marketing that involves marketers using concealed methods to
introduce a product to individuals while not disclosing or revealing
the presenter’s true relationship with the brand.

E.g. Someone posing as a tourist might ask people to take a photo

with her camera and then talk to them about the camera.
Stealth Marketing
 Stealth Marketing
• Stealth marketing thrives in the online world, most
notably on social media, due to the ease of creating
videos and offering brand endorsements.

• The enticement to create stealth marketing campaigns

that generate buzz remains, and the debate over its
ethical implications will likely continue.
 Guerrilla Marketing
• Guerrilla Marketing: relies on creativity, surprise,
unconventional interactions and willingness to try
unusual approaches.
 Guerrilla Marketing
• Guerrilla marketing was originally aimed at small businesses with
limited resources, however, all firms now take advantage of
guerrilla marketing.

• Guerrilla marketing emphasizes a combination of media,

advertising, public relations, and surprises to reach consumers.

• It emphasizes reach over frequency in an aim to create a buzz.

Guerrilla Marketing
 Guerrilla Marketing
• For Guerrilla Marketing to succeed, a number of steps
ideally must be followed:
• Discovering “touchpoints” with customers.
• Touchpoint: include places where customers eat, drink,
shop, hang out, and sleep.
• Identifying unique and memorable ways to reach them at
one or more of those places (imagination and creativity).
 Lifestyle Marketing
Lifestyle marketing: involves identifying marketing methods
associated with the hobbies and entertainment locations of
the target audience.

Lifestyle marketing includes contacting customers at places

such as: farmer’s markets, citywide garage sales, flea
markets, craft shows, sporting events, and other places
where a large concentration of potential customers gather.
 Lifestyle Marketing
E.g. The energy drink Red Bull and the producers of the energy snack
PowerBar gave free samples to people attending sports events, including
football and baseball games; The concept was that people who watch
sports would be more inclined to try the product.
 Lifestyle Marketing
E.g. Covergirl offered cosmetics to women attending a
fashion show with the idea that those in attendance would
be more concerned about personal appearance.
 Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing or ambush advertising:
a marketing strategy in which an advertiser ”ambushes" an
event to compete for exposure against other advertisers.
Sometimes it includes targeting competitors’ or other ads
(Brand Wars) in an aim to steal the spotlight from them.
Ambush Marketing
Ambush Marketing
Ambush Marketing
 Product Placements
• The planned insertion of a brand or product into a movie,
television show, or program, a product placement serves
the purpose of influencing viewers.

• Advertisers believe product placements lead to increased

awareness and positive attitudes toward the brand.

• Brand placement features of a low cost per viewer,

especially for movies. How is that?
 Product Placements
After a movie has finished at the cinema, it will usually be
converted to a DVD format for movie rentals.
From there, the movie may be adapted for television
viewing.

This expands a movie’s reach beyond the cinema screen to

other venues where it may be seen multiple times by
individuals.
 Branded Entertainment
The integration of entertainment and advertising by
embedding brands into the storyline of a movie, television
show, or other entertainment medium.

Branded entertainment may also be found in novels, plays,

songs, and movies.
 Branded Entertainment
E.g. The movie Up in the Air starring George Clooney prominently
displayed American Airlines and Hilton Hotels. The movie’s plot
involves Clooney’s character logging ten million miles on American so
he can have his name emblazoned on the plane and ride along with
American Airlines’ chief pilot.
 Video Game Advertising
Product placements in video games have become common.

Gaming has surpassed email as the second most popular online

activity just behind social networking.

Products can be part of a stand-alone video game purchased at a

retail store and played on the computer, or they can be placed in an
internet video game.
Video Game Advertising
 Video Game Advertising
The original and most widespread form of video game advertising
involves locating a brand placement in the game (billboard in a
racing game, a Coke vending machine, or a McDonald’s restaurant
that is permanently integrated into the game).
 Benefits - Video Game Advertising

• The majority of gamers hold positive attitudes about ads

placed in video games if the ads are well done and fit the
scene.

• Online video games present advertisers with the luxury of

generating quality web metrics (Track the length of ad
exposure in an online game and map that with demographic
information to find out who views the in-game ad, how long
they play, and how often).
 In-Store Marketing
• Consumers make approximately 60 percent of all purchase
decisions while in a retail store.

• Retailers can engage consumers through end-aisle

displays, ceiling banners and point-of-purchase (POP)
displays.
In-Store Marketing
End-aisle displays
 In-Store Marketing
• Use of colour, light, and sound are now elements of
in-store marketing (Atmospherics).

• Placing and using video screens and television

monitors to present messages represents the latest
and most expensive in-store marketing tactic.
In-Store Marketing
 Point-of-Purchase Marketing
Traditionally, one of the most important parts of in-store
marketing has been point-of-purchase (POP) displays,
which include any type of special exhibit that advertises
merchandize.

Retailers locate point-of-purchase displays near cash

registers, at the end of an aisle, in a store’s entryway, or
anywhere they might be noticed.
Point-of-Purchase Marketing
 Point-of-Purchase Marketing
• Point-of-purchase displays are still very effective tools for increasing
sales.

• Coca Cola reports that only 50 percent of soft drink sales are made
from regular store shelf.
• The other 50 percent results from product displays in other parts of
the store.

• Manufacturers view point-of-purchase displays as an attractive way

to display a brand more prominently in front of customers.
 Point-of-Purchase Marketing
• Many retailers have a different view, believing that POP
materials should either increase sales for the store or draw
more customers into the store.

• Retailers are not interested in the sales of one specific brand

but instead want to improve overall sales and store profits.

• Retailers prefer displays that educate consumers and provide

information.
Designing Effective Point-of-Purchase Displays
• Effective POP displays clearly communicate the products
attributes.
• A quality display includes the price and other promotional
activities.
• Effective displays encourages the customer to stop and
look, pick up the product, and examine it.
• A customer who stops to examine a product on display is
more likely buy the product.
Designing Effective Point-of-Purchase Displays
• A successful display makes a concise offer that the customer
immediately understands.

• A display has a limited time to get the attention of the customer.

• If the POP fails to get the attention of the customer, the customer
will simply move on to other merchandise.

• Effective displays present any form of special sales promotion that a

company offers.