Marketing strategies change constantly. A change in recent years is what some call anti-marketing. Anti-marketing has emerged from obscurity due to traditional marketing strategies failing. Traditional marketing still has a role in advertising, however, more and more people are becoming uninspired from these “over-marketing” techniques. The role of anti-marketing counters this whole way of thinking because of the reason that people do not want to be told what to do. People are less inclined to buy a certain product that they’re “told to” by marketers. They are more jaded, and in effect more “conscience”, than before. What is found in traditional marketing techniques often is information overload. Centered around the consumer’s orientation, there is too much sales pressure and choice. This in turn leads to confusion and irritation. Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Less is more”? In short, that is what anti-marketing is essentially about. By offering the consumer a “Soup of the Day”, you are reducing the confusion and focusing on the essentials. It’s quite effective because people are tending to yearn more for simplicity and authenticity.

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Indrajit Sinha, an associate marketing professor at The Fox School of Business, examines anti-marketing in his book Reverse Psychology Marketing: The Death of Traditional Marketing and the Rise of the New “Pull” Game. A great example to explain his point, is mentioning Simon Cowell, you know…that British guy on American Idol. Oftentimes, he’s more cruel and rude than necessary to the contestants…but guess what? People like that. It’s his authenticity and his disregard of being political correct that makes him so appealing.

A good example in the blogging world to refer to…and in some part what compelled me to write this post…is Geoff’s blog, Can’t Get Rich. To put it bluntly, his views on making huge amounts of income online is basically that you can’t. His message is quite effective…why? Trying to make a target seem unreachable piques ones interest. It’s simple, it’s authentic, and being politically correct is not put into consideration at all.

image credit: cantgetrich.com

Creating curiosity gives the customer a presence of mystery and wanting to know what is “going on inside”. Sinha mentions many restaurants and clothing stores not addressing their addresses in commercials. Doing so adds on to the allure of mystery. Something that restaurants do in making it seem more mysterious, is having the blinds used on the windows. I can personally say that this an effective strategy because when I went to New York City, my friend and I came across this restaurant called “Jekyll and Hyde Club”, which refers to the famous character with a split personality. It had various figures outside for display, such as Mr. Hyde and various skeletal statues. The windows and any openings, however, were all shut…creating curiosity and giving mystery. We eventually decided to go in and check this place out (unfortunately the anti-marketing created, overshadowed the quality of the restaurant itself!).

In his book, Sinha states that, “with traditional marketing changing, those clinging to the old rules are paying a big price“. Apple’s iPod success can be contributed to its simplicity. Whole Foods and bottled water are influencing marketers use of nature. Clearly, more and more large corporations are becoming aware of this emerging trend. They are embracing the change of traditional marketing strategies, and have become quite successful. Bloggers can apply anti-marketing to their blogs as well. The first step in using anti-marketing is understanding the fundamentals. Just remember…keep it simple, keep it authentic, and disregard all political correctness.