Surrogate Advertising in India: When Brands Speak Without Selling

Hello, readers! We, team BUSFAM, a premier creative advertising agency, are once again back with our popular #BreakingtheAds segment, where we take you through surrogate advertising where brands stay memorable without showing their products.

You must have come across advertisements where a bottle of alcohol is promoting a music album. Your mind instantly strikes that the company is not famous for any albums but for whisky. Yet, the brand does not mention alcohol anywhere.

Well, that’s the power of surrogate advertising, where brands maintain their visibility without directly promoting the product. In India, surrogate advertising is a survival tactic for alcohol and tobacco companies that are under legal restrictions to advertise their brands.

What is Surrogate Advertising?

In the advertising world, where billboards, reels and celebrity endorsements rule the market, certain brands speak silently under the disguise of a surrogate campaign.

Surrogate ads do not sell the product directly. Instead, they form associations to build brand visibility and recall. The main purpose is to keep the brand alive in public memory and directly influence consumer choices.

Famous Surrogate Brands

Over the years, there have been well-known brands that resorted to surrogate advertising to stay relevant and competitive. Here are some examples.

 

1. Imperial Blue: It is a popular whisky brand, popular for its “Men will be Men” campaign featuring a humorous situation and a soulful ghazal to maintain strong brand recognition.
2. Wills: It is a famous cigarette brand successfully advertising through Wills Lifestyle Clothing to tap into the growing Indian market.
3. McDowell’s No.1: A flagship brand of Diageo India, the brand heavily promotes its soda brand through strategic partnerships with sports-related events and high-profile endorsements. The brand utilises surrogate advertising to promote its products, focusing on themes of friendship ("yaari") and celebration.
4. Blenders Pride: It is a premium whisky brand, widely known for the Blenders Pride Fashion Tour, which positions the brand as stylish, sophisticated, and premium through surrogate advertising.

Is Surrogate Advertising Effective for Brands?

It is seen that surrogate advertising really works for brands where direct promotion is restricted. However, as a digital marketing agency, BUSFAM thinks its impact is somewhat mixed.

1. Increased Recognition: Surrogate advertising by alcohol and tobacco companies definitely helps them to build a strong brand identity by promoting unrelated products or services. Moreover, if the brand is already famous, consumers are easily able to associate the surrogate ads with the original ones.
2. Influences Consumer Perceptions: Studies show that surrogate advertising greatly influences customer perception by duplicating the brand image across categories. Gradually, the indirect promotion keeps the brand relevant in the minds of consumers.
3. Premium Brand Positioning: Surrogate ads allow brands to appear trendy, which further helps them to target the right audience. If implemented in the right manner, these brands create an image that gives a perception of sophistication and exclusivity.

Now Come the Drawbacks.

1. No Focus on Sales: The main focus of surrogate advertising is branding. There is literally a focus on immediate sales. Hence, there is a possibility that ROI can be quite low.
2. Constant Consistency: Brands continuously need to put in their effort and budget into the surrogate ads to maintain the brand recall in the competitive market.

Conclusion

With strict advertising laws, surrogate advertising remains a powerful voice to ensure a consistent brand presence. All it requires is a blend of creativity and strategy.