Stealth Marketing Effectiveness in the Cognitive Stage of Consumer Acquisition: A Demographic Study

Stealth marketing has been a favourite tactic for many marketers to create buzz about a new goods or services. This tactic is inexpensive, occasionally invisible, yet, when used correctly, can yield great results. An alternative strategy for product promotion is called stealth marketing. This helps in better breaking the clutter and providing a more meaningful and effective association to the brand. The physical evidence shown in the context adds to the brand club and helps potential customers identify themselves with the brand in a clearer way. Stealth marketing techniques include covert advertising, product placement, word-of-mouth marketing, and viral marketing. A company might, for instance, pay actors to advertise its product in public or arrange for product placement in a well-known movie or television show. This is a marketing technique used to attract exposure without pretending to be advertising for a new product, service, movie or book. These promotional strategies are also frequently called buzz marketing. This is a general term that covers a broad range of distinct marketing techniques. Some comparative studies have also been done in the area of how stealth marketing forays along with other forms of marketing. Several studies have also found stealth marketing to be manipulative and outrageous when seen from the customer’s perspective. This study will help the academic community, industry stakeholders and the public at large in better understanding the use of stealth marketing and in turn fine-tune its use to better serve the community at large. However, there is a dearth of studies, which captures the effectiveness of stealth marketing at the cognitive stage of customer acquisition. In the cognitive stage the product gets customer’s attention. This study focusses on measuring the effectiveness of stealth marketing at this front.