Know-How Exchange : Branding

hi bk

to the best of my knowledge "ghost marketing" is such marketing activities the actual company behind the marketing remains uncovered. it can be funding some research and ensuring that the results are beneficial to the company the results are published.

for example, a couple of months back i read an article in my weekend newspaper supplementary, that a research in some european country(i forgot the name and date) has found that having ice cream is good for people to feel good, like hearing a good news, winning a prize etc. the reason, according to the research, when one consumes ice cream, the area of the brain that is stimulated, gets stimulated when one hears a good news of promotion, winning prize etc.

now the research firm didnt reveal exactly who sponsored the study, but the report mentioned that some sources mentioned "one of europe's largest food & beverage major" is a sponsor of that research firm. well i leave it to all here to guess which firm might have sponsored it ;-))

another type of "ghost marketing" is placing an advertisement in the disguise of an article, mostly in print media, newspapers. the ad is very much descriptive, bereft of any punchlines or highlighting any offer of that sort and it is placed not in usual ad placement areas(like bottom of the page). after you read the article, most of the people will not realize that its an advertisement.

hope this helps.

cheers!!