Stealth advertisement is one of the sales promotion techniques used in the marketing industry today. Companies spend a lot of money on advertisements, which affects their revenue. For a company to remain competitive in today’s turbulent market, it needs to reduce its operation costs e.g. advertisement costs. Levi Strauss & company applied a cost-effective advertisement: Stealth advertisement. The Company advertised its products through the Web after carrying out a cost-benefit analysis. Levi Strauss & Co. contracted Feed Inc. to carry out its online advertisement. Feed Inc justified that above 14 million people watched their website and this could be translated to a good percentage of sales. They recommended that the cheapest advert is the Stealth advert. The TV adverts that can reach several viewers, was found to be expensive. In the TV adverts, firms compete to get time allocation when most of the viewers are online i.e. when there is newscasting. The adverts put within an interesting program would not be seen by many people; people tend to hate them as it interferes with one’s concentration in the program. Most people may not like the product being advertised, these adverts may not reach targeted viewers.
The studies indicate that stealth advertisements normally steal the stage mostly from funs. Wrigley Jr. Company inserted a peculiar advertisement in one of Chris Brown’s top-ten hits; there is a reference to an old chewing gum that goes “doubles your pleasure, double your fun.” This is a type of Stealth advertisement to the lovers of pop music. Celebs performing these adverts do not admit openly that they are being paid. Several companies pay Musicians since they are regarded to be excellent speakers and celebs; many people like listening to their songs. For instance, companies allow musicians to include some parts in their company pictures in their albums. Celebs advertise for them without anyone knowing that this is their strategy. In this way, they sway buyers who watch or listen to such music to their products.
There are negative scenarios associated with the Stealth advertisement. In some situations, there are unethical scenarios that Stealth Advertising plays. These adverts infuriate those people who are browsing. While browsing on the internet, one sees a pop-up window asking, “Click and earn” only to realize that it is some advert of some product. It is unethical, for a company to use Stealth advert criteria to promote its product because it causes disturbance to some people. Secondly, the media e.g. radio or televisions playing such music would be unaware that Chris Brown’s Song has some advertising component. The media need to be paid for the advertisement! When companies advertise in this way, the media playing the music losses its to be revenue. There are also some disadvantages to the company; people may be deceived, but there is no guarantee that they will purchase the products that are being advertised. These adverts can also be omitted by the consumers while browsing (Jacquette 67).
According to Jacquette, for a company’s continuous growth, the selling concept should be improved and be innovative. The company brands should provide for the needs of the consumers. In designing the products, consumers’ attitudes should be taken into consideration. Since most people visit the internet and browses, Stealth advertisement captures their attention. In this way, a company’s products advertised may attract some customers. Companies use this kind of advertisement to reach customers since most people have gone online. There is the need to persuade the customers in any way to change their buying attitude. When persuaded, customers will appreciate the product and recommend it to their friends who might not be aware of the product (128).
Importance of supply chain management and Relationship Management
Supply chain management involves coordinating activities across the supply chain in a company. Central to this; taking customer demands and translating them into corresponding activities at each level of the supply chain. Some of the advantages of a Supply chain are: – The discovery of what the customer wants, the predictions on customers’ need trends, and matching of supply & demand. When accompanying coordinates all these activities, the company will ensure that the delivery of goods continues in the market. One of the global supply chain methodologies is the lean supply chain that involves waste elimination (Lambert 123).
Relationship management helps an organization to identify, make, and deliver to customers what they need, place, and the best time of need. Companies can understand much about the customers’ needs by inquiring from them how they want the product made. The company keeps this data and produces the exact needs of the customers (Lambert 136).
Works Cited
Jacquette, Dale. Journalistic ethics: moral responsibility in the media. Washington DC: FT Prentice Hall, 2007.
Lambert, Douglas. Supply chain management: processes, partnerships, performance. New York: Chain Management Inst, 2008.