The term situational marketing refers to an innovative way of marketing that is not dependent on brand recognition or brand preference. Situational marketing is not a new concept. In fact, it has been around for a long time and is gaining more relevance these days in the advertising world. A decade ago, the concept of situational marketing was very vague. Today, it has grown to become an essential element of modern advertising and is fast becoming popular in the UK.
Recently, Russia also held the FIFA World Cup tournament, which is considered to be one of the most important international events of the year. Large global companies didn’t stay away from the event, thinking that their brand would not be exposed to the target demographic. Think about some interesting examples of situational marketing utilized by marketers during the 2021 FIFA World Cup tournament. Some companies advertised their products on live streams of the event on Twitch. Some even thought it was worth it to boost results using StreamOZ.
1. News In Situational Marketing
One such example is the use of news events as a part of a situational marketing campaign. Many online and offline businesses look at the IT industry and analyze the impact of special calendar dates such as Easter and Christmas. They then plan their marketing strategy around these special dates.
A common practice is for them to offer discounts or freebies to potential customers on those dates. What makes this form of seasonal marketing so interesting is that it can really capture the interest of the target demographic long before the event date approaches.
2. Virgin Airlines
A good example of a brand using situational marketing to its advantage is Virgin airlines. When they announced their flight reduction plans for flights to Egypt in April, they included a coupon code offered through a mobile application for customers traveling to Egypt. Virgin Airlines was able to attract many extra passengers because of this special coupon code.
This coupon offered customers a free ticket or discounted airfare to Egypt. It worked so well that Virgin had to expand it to cover all of its destinations in the Middle East by the end of August. The expansion of Virgin’s marketing through location-based marketing allowed the company to reach a very specific market and greatly increase its customer base.
3. Facebook
Another example is the social media marketing professionals at Facebook. The social networking giant made a mistake in launching a television advertising campaign for its chief product, Facebook. The advertisement campaign featured a black and white image of a woman in a bikini while she was performing a sex act on a man on television. This was offensive to some Facebook users, especially women, who responded by unfriending the woman and blocking her from their social network.
Some marketers believe that this was a mistake, yet others believe it was an important lesson for Facebook and other social media companies about how to handle controversial issues. Social media is all about people being social, so dealing with the controversy is key. While most marketers agree that it’s a good idea to give consumers an opportunity to voice their opinions through Facebook and other places of their choice, they still believe the best place to advertise is on the spot. This is where situational marketing comes in.
Conclusion
Situational marketing by adding captions to their advertisements is how many large brand names have begun to use captions to get their messages across to their potential customers. The captions tell a story about the current events or promotional factoids about the company or product. When you watch a YouTube video, you are told a captivating story about the product. This type of story is what makes it stand out from the endless stream of other videos that are all over the internet. Using Facebook and other places on the web to advertise is all about context and presenting your brand as relevant to the current events of the moment.
This is just one strategy that brands are using to get the most out of their current events and their products or services. Whether it’s a viral video, an infomercial, or a commercial, a smart marketer will make the most out of whatever they can find to get their message across to their customers. As the world of Facebook and the rest of the social networking sites continue to expand, more savvy marketers will take advantage of what this emerging marketplace has to offer.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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