Advertising of products or services is an indispensable marketing tool that can be used to create awareness about the products and brands. Advertising has many forms; surrogate advertising is one such form. Advertisement of a product that inherently communicates about some other product, though the latter product is invisible in the ad is called a surrogate advertisement. Both these products bear the same brand name. This article discusses at length the need for and the various aspects of surrogate advertisements.

As per various laws and bylaws, direct advertise- ment of many products and services is banned in Indian markets. An interesting fact to note is that only the advertisement of such products or services is banned and not their consumption. Many of such products generate enormous revenue for the government. Since the government does not ban their consumption, marketing of such products continues and since direct advertising of these products is not possible, marketers adopt the way of indirect marketing through surrogate advertising. An advertisement, which inherently communicates about some other product, though the product is invisible in the advertisement, is recognized as surrogate advertisement. Surrogate advertisement apparently speaks of a product different from the latent one. Both the products, apparent and the latent bear the same brand name. This style of advertisement is undertaken to take advantage of the brand name in creating awareness. The brand name takes a prominent place along with an attractive logo, so that it is clearly visible and recognizable. The sole objective of surrogate advertising is to enhance recognition of such products whose advertisement is banned according to the contemporary laws and bylaws but not the consumption.

Khoob jamega rang, jab mil baithenge teen yaar, aap mein aur Bagpiper. Who can forget this wonderful and catchy punch line? It is the advertisement of `Bagpiper' soda. This ad is a wonderful example of surrogate advertising. While on one hand, the ad is directly advertising for soda water, it is actually trying to enhance the consumption of soda water by indirectly embarking in the mind of the viewers the use of soda water. No friends group is foolish to consume only soda water when they party. So now, it can be understood what the ad actually proposes to communicate. In fact, this ad intends to draw attention towards the alcoholic products manufactured by `Bagpiper' which cannot be advertised directly. Soda water is only a complementary item while the main products are actually different. On the same lines, there are ads for products like mineral water, juices, etc. which actually are complementary products to the alcoholic products.

Advertising Express Magazine, Surrogate Advertising, Indian Markets, Direct Advertising, Contemporary Laws, Complementary Products, Kingfisher, Tobacco Product Manufacturers, Brand Building, Liquor Advertising, Internet Advertising, Innovative Packaging, Brand Portfolio.