Do you feel that sometimes to get ahead in life we need to put others down? In this extremely competitive market this tactic works wonders for firms!
When you walk down the road, you notice a poster of McDonald and Burger King targeting each other’s products that who is the better one, or when you see an ad targeting a struggle that is relatable to your life, at that moment have you ever thought which kind of marketing they are trying to do by targeting their competitor’s products or service. This practice is a different type of marketing which is known as ‘Negative Marketing’. Negative marketing is an approach that traditionally hits into negative emotions like irritation, fear, anger, or sadness to produce a response from the consumer, often in favour of what a brand provides or against what a brand opposes or competes with.
When you walk down the road, you notice a poster of McDonald and Burger King targeting each other’s products that who is the better one, or when you see an ad targeting a struggle that is relatable to your life, at that moment have you ever thought which kind of marketing they are trying to do by targeting their competitor’s products or service. This practice is a different type of marketing which is known as ‘Negative Marketing’. Negative marketing is an approach that traditionally hits into negative emotions like irritation, fear, anger, or sadness to produce a response from the consumer, often in favour of what a brand provides or against what a brand opposes or competes with.
- It involves painting your competitors in a bad light.
- A ploy to show the product to look superior to competitors in the eyes of consumers.
This technique has many times been condemned to be unethical business practice. But still businesses use this tactic to get limelight because the strategy works.
Negative marketing techniques to make a positive impact
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1
Understand the customers you don’t want
when you aim to attract the right type of customers, at the same time it is equally essential to know which customers you do not want. It’s vital to be aware of these kinds of customers you do not want so that you can avoid unintentionally marketing to them.
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2
Be controversial
What more makes people buzz like a little controversy? But, you’ll need to be ready to handle the conversation and the emotions that are sure to arise. Controversy need not be much critical, it can be much lighter such as “Coke vs. Pepsi.” Undoubtedly, if you work for Coca-Cola, your position would be that Coke is better than Pepsi. Likewise, if you work for Pepsi your position would be that Pepsi is better than Coke. Opt a topic related to your brand that people are passionate about.
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3
Develop a shared negative experience
People turn to dislike many of the same things: endless office meetings with no purpose, sitting in traffic, offensive people talking loudly on mobile phones in confined environments, being treated rudely, and many more. Sharing a negative experience that your audience can connect to can develop bond and engagement. Make sure to transition back to a positive solution and avoid a full blown rant.
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4
Try using negative titles occasionally
For instance, instead of using a blog post titled “Best Tips To Buy Laptop” as the title. Use this blog post title “Don’t Do These 10 Things While Buying A Laptop.” To get more clicks.
Examples Of Negative Marketing
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1
Volkswagen – Self Depreciation
In 1959, a New York advertising agency DDB, landed the account of an unfamiliar automobile manufacturer from Germany by the name of Volkswagen. It was analysed as an ugly vehicle that provided few features that would challenge the big, brassy, and large “finned” vehicles of the day. With little in the way of influence the copywriters at DDB thought to play against type and highlighted the negative aspects of the vehicle. One spot called the car “a lemon,” while another said “think small.”
Volkswagen proposed negative mental images by using insulting language to build curiosity in consumers. When readers were engaged with the copy of the advertisement, they were approved with all the positive aspects of the vehicle. Positive marketing veiled in negative messaging.
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2
Harpic- The Harpic Challenge:
Why is Harpic doing negative marketing? You might be thinking about how Harpic is doing in negative marketing. The brands might also relate to our problem or some bad experience we have suffered. In the advertisement of Harpic, they say that in 30 seconds of the ad, their product will clean the bathroom and make your bathroom look brand new. Here they made use of negative marketing where they united with the customer’s bad experience how competitor’s products have failed before to clean their bathroom. This idea helped Harpic a lot to build attention among the buyers where the potential customer would be anxious to know and use their product in future.
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3
Star Sports:
“Star Sports”, being a sports channel, they have done such marketing where it gave a positive view to their negative marketing which expressed a message in their ad how “if your television doesn’t have Star Sports you won’t enjoy sports no matter how big your television is”. Star Sports utilised negative marketing in such a way and made a very positive influence on their potential customers to subscribe to their channel to have an excellent experience on their television.
We can sum it up by how the brands utilise various kinds of strategy to make relationships with the customer and have a buzz around the market to let people have an impact on how the brands are working every day to make a powerful and lasting impression among their customers. A bit of negative marketing can have a positive influence on your whole marketing strategy.
