In a world where people are constantly being subjected to marketing messages, the allure of crafting a stealth campaign is easy to understand. Stealth campaigns have clear advantages over traditional marketing campaigns, mainly that people are unaware that they are being marketed to. With the multitude of marketing channels available the ability to launch a stealth marketing effort is greatly enhanced.
People tend to put up a wall when they feel that they are being marketed to. They naturally distrust marketing messages because the purpose of marketing is to influence their behavior in a way that benefits the marketer, not for the customer. Therefore people aremore receptive to a message that is not perceived to be a marketing message. The other advantage stealth marketing offers is the ability to allow the customer to make a “discovery.” When a customer feels that he or she has made up their own mind about a product or idea, they tend to be much more loyal. This customer is also more likely to spread the word about the smart choice they made. This could mean telling their friends at work or perhaps they may spread the word through social media or blog post about their discovery. The irony is that a well executed stealth marketing campaign will make a customer feel pride for thinking for themselves and not being influenced by advertising or other marketing messages.
Although it is necessary to trick the customer in making the discovery, stealth marketing should not be manipulative or run counter to the best interest of the customer. Honesty and integrity will make a stealth marketing campaign easier to execute. It will also help if anything goes wrong, which it often happens. Unless you are marketing a physically addictive product that kills its users (Cigarette Companies), deception will only get you into trouble. The thing to remember is that you are using stealth to present a message that is both good for both you and your customers.
The methods of stealth campaigns come in many forms. Some are as simple as creating fake reviews on the web or as complex (and expensive) as any agency can dream up. A classic example of stealth marketing was the technique where movie theaters would splice in single frames into movies that advertised popcorn or soft drinks. This is exactly what Brad Pitt does in fight club, except in that movie he is splicing pornographic images into children’s movies. Either way the results are the same. The viewer does not actually register what they have seen, but the single frame elicits a response. In the case of old movies, the person would be likely to buy a concession while in Fight Club the result was a theater full or confused children and horrified parents. Product placement is also a tried and true form of stealth marketing although recently consumers have caught onto this practice and product placement is no longer very stealth. In the 1950s and 1960s however the cigarette companies in particular were very keen to use product placement to enhance their brands.
Stealth Marketing campaigns can work with many channels. In most cases the more creative approach the better. Various forms of social media are an obvious channel to use, but do not sleep on the offline avenues as well. Remember that the key is to have integrity in what you do even if your tactics require secrecy. Honesty is the most important thing and will lead to lasting brand strength, and it will help you endure if any of the methods do produce unintended consequences. Do you know of any instances where stealth marketing has been successful or blown up in a company’s face?
Speaking at Ignite was challenging in many ways, some expected, some completely unexpected. I would classify myself as an average public speaker – I do not do a lot of public speaking but I have done some presentations in the past and generally do not find myself intimidated speaking in front of crowds. My goal in doing Ignite was to challenge myself and to get outside of my comfort zone by trying something new.
When I initially applied to Ignite, I had a good topic but had done very little research to back up my ideas. The time between when I applied and when I was accepted was about a month. I honestly did not think I would be chosen to present. When I finally did receive word that I was accepted, I was excited but apprehensive. I needed to do a lot of research to back up my ideas so I got started right away. I had a month to get everything together so I figured this would allow me plenty of time. Researching the project was actually easier than I though it would be and the research went quickly. So with copious amounts of information to back up my ideas I began crafting my presentation.
Creating the presentation was much harder than I could have imagined. The format of ignite is completely inflexible: 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide. This inflexibility had a massive impact on the result of my presentation that I never anticipated. It is difficult to present all the information I wanted to in each slide. It also amazing how short 15 seconds is when you are speaking (when watching 15 seconds seems the time seems longer). I had to cut out many important ideas because they did not fit into the flow of the presentation. I also found it necessary to really emphasize how I was articulating my ideas. A few extra words here and there could throw off the pacing of the presentation. The need to be precise with my word choice made it necessary to script the presentation more than I would like.
When the day finally arrived it was a great experience. There were 750 crammed into the Brown Center at MICA. The last time I had been on a stage in front of 700 people was when I was in a band, and back then I had 4 other people on stage with me. It then dawned on me that I had never really done a solo presentation before in front of a large group of people. I was the sixth speaker which turned out to be a great speaking position. It was just long enough for me to settle into the flow of things, but early enough so that I did not spend all night worrying about my presentation. As the fourth speaker came on, I started to get a bit nervous but I was able to keep my fears in check.
When I finally did get on stage, I just did what I had practiced 100 times before and everything went great. I figured that the worst case scenario is that I faint on stage, and if that happens, it will at least be memorable. Truth be told I was lucky because my actual performance was better than my practices which is rarely the case. Speaking at ignite was a great experience and I would suggest to anyone to seize the opportunity. There was such an incredible amount of intelligence and talent in the room and it was and Honor to be a part of it.
I have been taking off some time from the Blog recently as I have been selected to present at ignitebaltimore 10. My talk is about how highway subsidies have caused so many problems for our country, particularly for Urban Areas. I will post a video of the speech here as well as some links to some of the sources I used for the presentation.
I will say that the Ignite format is an interesting challenge. For those that do not know, Ignite talks are all five minutes long and contain twenty slides. The slides are advanced every fifteen seconds. It is interesting because the presenter has no control over the speed of the slide delivery. Therefore it requires either a very strict plan, or it requires one not to be overly reliant on the slides. Personally I like the challenge of not being reliant on the slides. My goal is to have as few words as possible and so far the only words I have are labels for visual data. Overall its been an interesting process, I just hope the result is interesting for the audience.
