Vol - I , ISSUE - V [ June 2011 ] : Commerce

Author : Dr. S. G. Khawas Patil [ Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Nanded ] Laxmikant S. Hurne [ Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Nanded ] Surrogate Advertising : A Successful Marketing Strategy for Liquor, Whisky products
Abstract: Simply the surrogate advertising means, advertising of banned products like Bagpiper Whisky with the help of same nature product with same brand names but basically of which advertising is not banned by rules or law. i.e. Bagpiper Club Soda. Intention behind such advertisement is to popularize the whisky, liquor products. Generally, we always watch the advertisement of such product, but these products are not shown directly. The different things like Soda, Mineral Water, Music CD, Mega Cricket team clubs, Friends clubs are shown in advertisement. Many people know about the liquor products, but they can't understand where to purchase such Music CDs 'are available or where is that Mega Cricket Club, because actually many time such products never marketed. These advertisements call the attention of viewers towards the liquor products. Key words: Surrogate, whisky, liquor, soda, music cds.

Introduction: Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is banned by law. Advertisement for products like alcohol which are injurious to heath are prohibited by law in several countries as well as in India and hence these companies have to come lip with several other products that might have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the whisky or beer bottles of the same brand. Common examples include Hayward's and Kingfisher beer

brands, McDowells No. 01 Whisky which is often seen to promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertisings. Surrogate advertising is advertising which embeds a brand or product message inside an advertisement which is ostensibly for another brand or product. There are a number of reasons for companies to use surrogate advertising. One of the most common reasons is to circumvent a ban on direct advertisements of particular products. Many nations have laws restricting alcohol and tobacco advertising, for example, so companies' surrogate advertising to market their products. Techniques used might include advertising another product with the same brand name, sponsoring community events, issuing public service announcements, or sponsoring sports teams. All of these activities technically do not violate the ban on direct advertising, but they still get consumers familiar with the company's branding.

Objectives: 1. To know the effectiveness of surrogate advertisements. 2. To know whether the products shown in advertisement are sold or not. 3. To know customers awareness about surrogate advertisements.

Hypothesis: 1. Customers have adequate information about surrogate products. 2. A surrogate advertisement impacts the consumers buying decision. 3. Respondent customers know which the leading whisky products are.

Research Methodology: The surrogate advertisements of liquor products are generally given on TV. So, such advertisements were observed on various Hindi TV channels for collecting information of original and surrogate products. For testing effectiveness of these advertisements and to know knowledge of people about surrogate products, 50 respondents were interviewed. Observed Surrogate Advertisements for the purpose of Study: When we are watching TV for two or three hours, we can observe that the following advertisements are shown, but whisky or alcoholic products are not advertised directly. Surrogate products like Soda, Mineral Water, Music CD having same brand name of whisky are shown to spread message about alcoholic products. Following are the various surrogate advertisements which are used by manufacturers of whisky and liquor products.

1. Bagpiper: It is a famous brand of whisky. In advertisement actually Bagpiper Club Soda is shown at the place of whisky.

2. Royal Stag: It is well known as 'RS'. Instead of advertising whisky, manufacturer had shown Music CD and Mega Cricket in the advertisement with theme "Make it Large". But people never try to purchase these products. They always know that Royal Stag means whisky.

3. McDowell's No.l Platinum:

This whisky brand is advertised with surrogate product Soda. Indian Cricket Team skipper MS Dhoni' tells that, "The No. 1 Spirit of Leadership". Through soda company is advertising their whisky products.

4. Hayward's 5000: This brand is also advertised with the help of soda and packaged drinking water, but many people know very well that Haywards 5000 & 10000 are whisky, beer brands. 5. 8PM: Advertisement of this whisky is different than all of others. In first scene, few youth girls and boys are moving somewhere rapidly. In next scene they are going show & see "Aath ke Thaat" in a disco club. Means indirectly, enjoy after drinking 8FM Whisky.

6. Imperial Blue: This whisky is popularized by showing music cd's in the advertising. i.e. Imperial Blue Music CD's.

7. Royal Challenge: Some cricketers are shown in this advertisement, at the same time music is played. At the end of advertisement brand name 'Royal Challenge' is displayed in bold letters with very small 'Music CDs'. It was also advertised with the help of mineral water.

8. Officer's Choice: 'OC is the leading and well-known brand in whisky market. Actually this brand is advertised by showing mineral water and soda, but all people can know what intention of that advertisement is. It shown that 'OC' is the brand of officers and dynamic people. Discussion: When researchers had seen all of these advertisements, they found following facts. Few whisky brands are powerful in market like R.S. / O.C. / McDowell's. So, their advertisements are more creative and powerful. Hayward's and Bagpiper are also stable brands in whisky market. So, their advertisement gives proper information about their original products. The brands like Royal Challenge and 8 PM are not well known. The people can't understand the meaning of advertisement of these advertisements. For checking the effectiveness of all these surrogate advertisement, we had interviewed 50 people and collected information about their knowledge of such advertisements and products. Following are the results of these interviews. We had made an attempt to know about awareness in people for surrogate advertisement. When question is asked to people, that whether they know or not which product is actually advertised and which is shown in advertisement, then they replied like: 42 people can tell which product is shown indirectly in advertisement. Means they know that only whisky products are shown. Only 8 people told that they can't understand the product is already shown i.e. soda or music cds. And which is actually advertised i.e. whisky. The questions are asked to all people about their buying decision for whisky is changed or not after watching the advertisement. They responded as: 19 people told that they didn't consume

whisky, so such advertisement can't impact them. 27 people replied that, they had changed their brand due the advertisement, because these ads shows that particular whisky is different that others. 4 people told that, they didn't like to change their brand. Finally, we asked about whisky brands to people, 35 people told that they know McDowell's Platinum. 47 people know about Royal Stag. Officer's Choice is known to 39 people. 42 people are familiar to Bagpiper. 23 respondents know the Hayward's whisky. The Very few people know about other products. Maximum number of respondent can identify or tell about which product is shown in advertisement and why? Only 8 people don't know about these ads. It means Hypothesis No. 1 is correct. Purchase decision of maximum people i.e. 27 is influenced by surrogate advertisements. Means hypothesis no. 2 is found to be correct. As maximum respondents reported that, they can easily understand which the whisky and liquor products are. So, hypothesis no. 3 is proved to be correct. Conclusions: Maximum respondents can tell intention behind surrogate advertisements, i.e, to advertise liquor, whisky products. It means surrogate advertisements are correctly targeting their customers. Surrogate advertisement is a successful strategy because maximum respondents are changing their purchase decision. It is observed that, customers and manufacturers are not interested in surrogate products, because we cant see such products in a number as compared to whisky. Shortly, we can say, these advertisements are complying with legal aspects and advertising the correct product. So, Surrogate advertisements are successful strategy for marketing of whisky, liquor products.

Suggestions: Frequency of surrogate advertisement is very less. So, companies may increase frequency for more effectiveness. Advertisements of Imperial Blue, 8 PM, Royal Challenge are not creative & considerable as compared to Officer's Choice, Royal Stag. So, they have to improve quality of their advertisements. Manufacturers should use all TV channels for advertising. Because some people doesnt watch cricket or sports and news channels. So, variation in use of TV channel may help to reach up to all people.

Reference: 1. Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, Pearson/Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi 2. K. Karunakaran, Marketing Management, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai 3. Belch and Belch, Advertising and Promotion, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.