Brands So Popular, They Never Advertise!

Read about some of the cult brands around us that dabbled in traditional advertising and made billions in sales with minimal ad spend.

Is there any such thing like no advertising over traditional media? Well, there certainly is!

While we all love being wooed by such brands, marketers continuously go the extra mile to figure out the most effective ways to glue the audience to their brand. Brands like Apple, Coke, Nike, etc. have time and again demonstrated what powerful money-ridden campaigns can do.

However, what really interests us to write this article is recognizing some of the big brands today that started small and aimed to grow organically. What sets them apart is how uniquely they allocate their marketing dollars and their idea of defying the age-old practices that the regular marketers follow. Their compelling growth, without going heavy on advertising, is an inspiration for all. Have a read!

ZARA

With more than 6500 stores globally and a prominent presence online today, ZARA deviated from following the traditional marketing route. They managed to stand out as a company whose technology and automation allowed them to analyze fashion and consumer trends better, monitor audience feedback and act quickly.

ZARA has become a people’s favorite for the exclusivity it offers. The fact that the brand produces limited numbers of each piece, there runs a sense of urgency for the consumers to buy its products. Additionally, the brand follows a rather anti-marketing approach on their social platforms and do not plaster themselves on every second billboard. What makes ZARA unique is that the company only spends about 0.3% of sales on advertising.

Commenting on the same, Kedar Teny, Chief Strategy Officer, Tilt Brand Solutions says, “ZARA is a classic example of a retail brand that has built its reputation on consistent & predictable experiences, built on high quality and a value proposition.”

Rolls Royce

We are sure none of you would have witnessed this luxury carmaker selling itself loud to the audience. That’s because it instead reaps the benefits from its reputation among its wealthy clientele. There is an aura of exclusivity that surrounds the brand name when only a handful gets to own it and of course, a sense of achievement that it emits.

The brand holds an identity of its own and is capable of generating demand all by itself. Their marketing strategies are aimed towards a high net-worth niche, bypassing the masses.

As if this wasn’t enough, the brand in 2012, beat a 107 year old sales record without any traditional ads.

Shahnaz Hussain

Ever since the inception of this brand, it has been true to its roots. While the cosmetics market is bombarded with commercials, Shahnaz rather marketed the brand on the basis of its unparalleled range of quality products, without spending much on traditional media. With more than 350 products under this rock-solid brand today, the best quality Ayurveda cosmetic products have been a preferred choice for most Indian women.

The brand has won everyone over its word-of-mouth approach for decades now. Shahnaz believes ‘the best advertisement is when the public says it’s good’ and that is what has been the marketing strategy of the brand.

Tupperware (India Market)

Earl Tupper began selling household plastics and revolutionalized the whole kitchenware market with his intelligent designs. In 1948, he discovered the magic of ‘home parties’ and Tupperware’s marketing strategy was born. Ever since then, the brand is synonymous with plastic ware, despite not coming out with a single commercial.

Exploring an untapped market and choosing direct selling over any other marketing tactic, this helped Tupperware register a roaring success. The brand’s marketing and distribution strategy involved organizing women-only parties, where the company agents demonstrated the product benefits to their prospective clients. This strategy was highly instrumental in making households switch to plastic ware from metal food containers.

Teny also comments, “Tupperware is a brand that has been built on a model that essentially eliminates the need for advertising. It’s a network marketing brand which piggy backs when one satisfied customer becomes a distributor.”

Naturals Ice Cream

What began from a small street in Mumbai, today very proudly operates pan-India. We are talking about Naturals Ice creams here!

What glues the consumers to this brand has been its USP itself- made of ‘sugar, milk, fruit and nothing else’. Their products are all healthy and free of preservatives. Personalization of the brand, in terms of Indian flavors, has been an added advantage.

This brand has never been advertised and has grown largely by word of mouth and now has a market share of over 10%.

Krispy Kreme

Why is there a need to advertise doughnuts? Well, Krispy Kreme agrees with you!

The brand hasn’t been a big spender on traditional media and relies majorly on word-of-mouth. They rather believe in investing in digital, apps, social and their employees. For them, everyone who comes to their store is a marketer. These stores themselves are a significant part of their marketing approach. They are designed in a manner that the gooey doughnuts are vividly visible to any passerby. The literal transparency through the window eliminates the barriers and allows customers to step in and sample.

What is the Learning for You?

While not taking help of the traditional media is worth the brag, the above brands also have a few other things in common. They honed in on a pertinent user pain point and met those with a superb quality or right price. They made their products speak for themselves and made us realize that loosening the grip in our marketing efforts isn’t that bad!

Here’s concluding with what Harish Bijoor, Brand-expert & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. thinks- “Advertising is top-down and brand-pull is bottom-up. Brands that are truly popular don’t need advertising at all. The bottom-up brand pull is more real than any advertising can ever aspire to be.”

Hope this article was helpful to you!