surrogate marketing arokia,deepak_ifmr

8/13/2019 Surrogate Marketing Arokia,Deepak_IFMR

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SURROGATE MARKETING

Arokia Rexton C

Deepak. MR

Introduction and definition

Marketing is turning out to be a hard nut to crack with an inflow of numerous players for each

and every product available on the earth. Right from small players to huge corporations depends

on advertisements to pull customers. So completely staying out of advertisements is out of

question for any brand. Hence even products like alcohol that are banned from direct

advertisement have found a way to flash their brand names indirectly on screen. This technique

has been coined a fancy name called surrogate marketing.

Surrogate marketing is a techniquewhere companies that manufacture products which are

banned from direct advertisements, introduce brand extensions with same brand name as thebanned product.The dictionary meaning of the word surrogate is to appoint (another) as areplacementfor oneself. Here the brand extended product acts as a replacementfor the main

banned product only in the promotions and hence the term. A quick example would be

McDowells soda as a surrogate for McDowells whisky. The ad comes with a flashy tagline

The No 1 spirit . The double meaning of the word spirit has been cleverly usedby the

advertiser here.

Other examples that are used as surrogate include Kingfisher water and calendars, Bacardi musicCds, royal stag music Cds, Royal Challenge music CDs and golf accessories, Smirnoff apple

juice, AC black apple juice and Wills fashion week events.


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How to select the surrogate products

Brand Extension

Brand extension plays a crucial role in surrogate marketing. Once the manufacturer is pushed to

go for surrogate marketing, the next important process is choosing the medium (product/service)

through which they are going to advertise the banned product.Brand extensioncomes into the

play at this juncture. The banned product brand would be extended to another product/service

which has no legal issues in being advertised. The newly extended product/service is technically

called asspinoffs or surrogates.

Companies generally pick up complementary products that are used along the main product as

surrogate products. This is done in order to set the same mood in the consumers mind as the

parent brand would do (brand association). Care should be taken that the surrogates should

comply in line with the parent brands image, awareness, attitude and relationship with the

consumers.

A list of products/service banned from being advertised, attributes connected with them and

some possible extensions are given in the table below:

Product Related Attributes

Possible Product Extensions

(Includes the products/services

which can be used as surrogate

products)

Beer/liquor

Fun, relaxation, excitement Sponsoring Comedy shows ,

sports programs

Friends, Opposite sex friends, missed out friends Messaging apps like watsapp,

we chat etcDim lights (bar effect) Restaurants

Dance, sing, shout, hoot, DJ, Dance floor Sponsored parties, Singing and

dancing events, music CDs

Exotic ambience Restaurants

Exotic glass ware, curvy bottles Glass wares like beer mug, wine

glass, bowls etc , bottle opener

Side dishes Snacks

Foam, cock tails, raw shots Carbonated beverages, water,

soda

Low temperature Ice cubes*

Thrill ,Riding vehicles, Adventure sports accessories

Cigarette Lighters, ash trays

Cigarette

Smoke Mens deodorant

Lighting Lighters, candles, lightings,

match boxes

Sharing a cigarette with friend Messaging apps like watsapp,

we chat etc


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Style Apparel

Put off Ash trays, shoes

Tobacco Chew Candies, mint, pan

Spit Bubble gum

Infant Formula

Babies Children adaptation centers,

Baby-sitting centersInnocence, tenderness Nipples and other baby products

Purity, healthy Milk, cradle, other toddler

products

Sexual

Services/ Porn

Fun, youthfulness Sexy model reviews, wallpapers

etc

Relaxation Bed, pillow, mattress, spa,

Ayurvedic massage CDs and

books

Safety Condoms, contraceptive pills,

sexual wellness products

Aroma Deodorants, room freshener,mouth freshener

Sweat, tired, longer time Energy drinks

Love, bonding Sex advice programs

Privacy Personal diaries

*ice cube, which is a commodity now, can be tried to be branded. Branded ice cubes can be sold at bars

and pubs and they could take their POD as purity, flavors (eg: lime, mint, sweet etc) etc.

India Vs other parts of the world

Promotions of cigarettes are banned in most of the countries (186) and hence only surrogate

marketing such as event sponsors is done by them. As far as alcohol is concerned countries like

Philadelphia, Turkey and Russia, alcohols advertisements have been totally banned as in India

and hence the usual surrogate marketing by brand extension is used for promotions. But in

countries like US alcohol advertising is allowed on TV programs where more than 70% of the

audience is adults. Here though actual surrogate marketing is not used a milder version of it is

used, as there are several restrictions on the content that can be shown on alcohol ads.

Advertising based on the strength of alcohol content or the after-effects is not allowed. This

means that they cannot advertise based on important features (i.e alcohol strength) and benefits

(highness) but only on values. Value based advertising always involves a mild dose of surrogacyto bring in the in-direct effect. Hence in most of the beer ads some kind of surrogate like crazy

dances or dialogues are used as the theme. Egs WASSUP commercial by Budweiser.

[WASSUP commercial by Budweiser--Youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTZCgsZGeA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTZCgsZGeAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTZCgsZGeA


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Effectiveness of surrogate marketingThe main purpose of using a surrogate product while promoting banned substances is that the young

people and the non-intended audience should not be influenced by these promotions. To check the

effectiveness of the surrogate ads a market survey was conducted to a sample of 90 people (drinkers

and non-drinkers). As a part of the survey the people were asked to view McDowellsplatinum soda ad

and comment on what product they recalled after viewing the ad. 95% of the sample who had

consumed alcohol recalled whisky after viewing the ad. 100% of the sample who were non-drinkers

recalled the actual product being showing on screen (i.e soda). The above results show that surrogate

marketing plays a highly effective role.

[McDowells No 1 Platinum soda-Youtube ad]

http://ww.youtube.com/watch?v=NzI-TQV3PJo

Future -Merging into social mediaSocial media has become the buzz word these days. With millions of consumers shifting to interactive

channels like YouTube, Facebook, twitter etc, the promoters of various brands including liquor and

tobacco products are following suite. The shift from traditional (TV, radio, print) to social media looks

like a great advantage for surrogate marketers. The main purpose of banning products from promotions

is that young people and the non-intended must not be influencedby the promotion. Social media

helps in the above objective by restricting content that can be viewed, by age and category. The

Facebook page of Bacardi, India does not open unless the age of the Fb account holder is more than 25,

thereby satisfying the first objective. The alcohol brand pages ads appear on targeted audiences Fb

profile (who are already using alcohol), thereby satisfying second objective of intended audience. This

target audience information is collected by Fb algorithms that navigate through user profiles, user

check-ins, groups joined etc. As the content in social media is highly targeted as mentioned above, the

Facebook pages of various alcoholic brands show explicit content without using surrogate or

replacement. Slowly but steadily restrictions are coming up as to what can be shown on social media

and hence brands like kingfisher fill their Facebook pages with surrogate content such as kingfisher fest,

music shows, event etc.

Is surrogate marketing ethicalOne important question any marketer should ask himself before deciding on a marketing strategy is that

Is it ethical? Ethical issues have been making the job tough for the marketers in the recent past than in

the early 19th

century. The reason behind this was that there were no proper standards for ethics

devised and followed throughout the globe. It varies between different time periods, social groups and

even worse, there are different opinions within the groups themselves. Recent researches have proved

that marketers and the customers have different view towards ethics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzI-TQV3PJohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzI-TQV3PJohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzI-TQV3PJo


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