Have you ever wondered why companies like Bacardi and Royal stag entered the field of music CDs and are advertising it so rampantly? Or why Kingfisher got into mineral water? Why Haywards 5000 soda and its ‘Honsla anthem’ are so popularized, where as its originally a liquor brand?
The makers of these brands have either been banned from advertising their original products or their marketing activities were restricted by the norms and regulations of the countries in which they advertized.
These are all cases of surrogate marketing. Surrogate marketing can be defined as an intentional utilization of a company, person or object to help convey the message of another party. The term needn’t always have negative connotations as quoted in the examples above. It can have positive connotations as well. It can be considered somewhat similar to grass-root or viral marketing in which a marketing firm or the marketing wing of a firm recruits people to spread the message. Positive surrogate marketing can also refer to employing a representative to the manufacturer who will sell your product.
However, like in everything else, the darker side of surrogate marketing has always been more talked about and become a trend than the positive side. Surrogate marketing has been popularly used as a means of promoting products and services that are considered unhealthy, unethical, illegal or immoral by some groups in particular or by the society at large, in a way that it becomes acceptable to the society. For instance, there are strict norms on the advertising of liquor and tobacco in many countries including India. In such countries, companies promote their products by associating with and promotion of more acceptable brands. For instance, everybody knows four squares is a company making cigarettes, but it doesn’t advertise its cigarettes, but it is more known for the Four Square bravery