Hidden Marketing

Hidden marketing is a type of advertising where the ad itself is not obvious but rather disguised. The person who is exposed to hidden marketing should not realize that they are being advertised to. If the person does realize that it is an advertisement, they should not be able to determine what is being advertised until the end. At the same time, the presentation of the advertisement should be interesting and engaging enough for the person to watch and discuss it. Ideally, the advertisement should go viral.

The main objectives of hidden marketing are:

• to generate interest in a company, brand, or product
• to stimulate demand
• to create a loyal attitude
• to create a positive image

The tools of hidden marketing are:

• Reviews and comments. This is the most common tool for hidden marketing. It involves publishing reviews and recommendations on forums and review sites. Properly placed comments and questions left under reviews and press releases also work well.
• Reviews. The key is not to overdo it. Reviews should not be pushy; otherwise, they will turn into ordinary advertising that no one is interested in. Reviews should be conducted in a non-pushy way with a comparison of the advertised product to several others. At the same time, the advertised product should not be the obvious leader. For example, if each parameter is taken separately, our sample lags behind someone else’s sample in each parameter. However, if you compare the average value, our sample becomes the obvious leader. Moreover, considering that it has some unique property or the lowest price, it becomes the leader. The main thing is that the person chooses the leader on their own.
• Opinion leaders. As in the previous case, the main thing here is not to turn hidden marketing into direct advertising. When a famous person or an expert in their field is asked to talk directly about something, it becomes advertising that no one is interested in. But if the opinion leader mentions something relevant to what is needed, it is what is needed! Sometimes, you don’t even need to say anything. Here is an example: an opinion leader talks about something on their YouTube channel, and in the background, on the edge of the frame, there is a drink that we asked to be placed there – the job is done, a simple but clear example of product placement. Not a word about the drink, but everyone paid attention to it. As an option, ask a famous person, who is always under the paparazzi’s scrutiny, to wear a T-shirt or carry a bag with the desired logo.
• Using products and services in TV. Recently, it has become popular to use product placements or services in the scenes of movies and TV series. However, many try to draw maximum attention to their brand, turning hidden marketing into direct advertising. For example, if a character simply decides to drink tea and a corner of the tea package appears on screen, and then a small label hangs from the cup, that’s a normal move. But when the product becomes the center of attention and is shown in all its glory, the effect is not the same.

A couple of good examples of hidden marketing

The first case I would like to mention as an example of how to do hidden marketing correctly happened in the XIX century. The actions took place in Russia, and the idea of good hidden marketing was embodied by Nikolai Shustov to popularize his cognac. To make everyone know about Shustov’s cognac, Nikolai Shustov hired several students whose task was simple. All they had to do was go to a bar and loudly ask if they had Shustov’s cognac. Usually, there was no such cognac yet because no one knew about it yet, and then the students’ task was to create a loud scandal with a fight! Each of the fights immediately appeared in the newspapers, and Shustov’s cognac was mentioned in each article. Already after a few days, this cognac was in every bar, and everyone wanted to try it, wondering what kind of cognac it was! A superb idea and brilliant implementation!

The second case happened closer to our time. The essence of the advertisement was that a crowd of girls followed a guy at a certain distance, causing confusion among passersby. When the guy noticed them, the girls started screaming and running after him… This behavior of the girls attracted media attention. I remember watching all this action in the news with surprise. The viral effect did its job, and when the attention was already gained, it turned out that it was a clever move by the marketers of the AXE deodorant. Then, marketers shot several commercials that also became viral due to their plot and explicit scenes. Some of the commercials were surrounded by scandals, which further aroused interest in AXE, but that’s a completely different story.