Stealth Marketing

BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeStealth MarketingCallum: Hello, I’m Callum Robertson. How do you decidewhat particular product tobuy? These days we are bombarded by advertising³ andmarketing messages: on television, on radio, productplacement in films, adverts⁴ on the underground, posters inthe streets, people handing out fliers, pop ups when webrowse the internet, junk mail sent to our homes or spam toour email, cards left under the windscreen wipers of ourcars, it goes on and on. According to one commentator⁵ wereceive several thousand marketing¹ messages every day.
　　But it’s not only these obvious and direct forms ofadvertising that help us to decide what to buy, in fact weoften ignore these because we are sick and tired of all theadvertising. We know it’s advertising and we don’t reallytrust it.
　　One genuine and honest way we get information is throughword of mouth. Word of mouth. This expression means we hearabout something because other people have been talkingabout it. Maybe family or friends recommend something tous, tell us a film is good, for example. We trust theiropinion sowe go to see the film.
　　We might also learn about things because we overhear otherpeople talking about them - on the train, in a café or inthe pub, for example. But now it seems that even this formof information may not be entirely⁶ genuine.
　　Advertising companies are having to become more creativeand imaginative in order to sell us things. One new form ofadvertising that is becoming more and more common is knownas buzz marketing or stealth marketing.
　　What is it? Well there is a clue in the name. Stealth is anadjective for something that is very difficult to detect.
　　Stealth bombers⁷, for example, are planes that can’t beseen by radar⁸. Stealth marketing is advertising that can’tbe detected, the people being advertised to, you and me, donot know that what they are experiencing is actuallyadvertising. We think it’s genuine.
　　For example you might be in a café or a pub and you hearpeople talking about something, maybe it’s a new mobilephone or a new service of some kind. You think they areordinary people so you might consider that what they arerecommending to each other is an honest source ofinformation. But, you could be wrong. Stealth marketingcompanies employ actors to go to places where people areand they act out a script which involves talking aboutparticular products or services.
　　Graham Goodkind works for Sneeze, one of these stealthmarketing companies, and he describes scenarios¹⁰. Scenarios,different scenes with invented storylines which peopleoverhear. He uses another related word as well,‘eavesdropping¹¹’.
　　'Eavesdropping .' Eavesdropping is when you deliberatelylisten to someone else’s conversation. Anyway, here’sGraham Goodkind talking about one kind of stealthmarketing.
　　Graham GoodkindGeneral conversations that you might think you areoverhearing, which you’re not, you are overhearing thembut you’re meant to overhear them, there might beeavesdropping, there might be an argument, there might betwo long lost friends. We create lots of differentscenarios that a casual observer listens to. And thestorylines are made up to grab people’s attention muchlike an advertising campaign that you would see on TV ismade up to grab your attention.
　　Callum: He says they use conversations that you are meantto overhear and they might have a story in the same way asan advert² on television does. The difference is that ontelevision you know you are being advertised to. DoesGraham think these advertising scenarios are dishonest atall?
　　Graham GoodkindWell at the end everything is very transparent¹², at the endof all our scenarios there is a reveal process whereby thefact that people are being essentially¹³ advertised to isrevealed to them. So it’s done in a very transparent andhonest way.
　　Callum: Graham says that at the end of the scenario⁹ thereis a ‘reveal’ process. People are told that they arebeing advertised to. He explains more about this revealprocess.
　　Graham GoodkindThe reveal normally, we recommend to our clients that aredoing this sort of marketing that the reveal involves someform of maybe discount or award so that at the end of theday, people feel a: entertained, they’ve been involved,they’ve experienced advertising they’ve been a part ofit, and then they feel actually very good about it becausethere is some pay off.
　　Callum: So the people who have overheard the conversationscan get a discount on the product or some other prize afterlistening to the scenario. And Graham says that this worksbecause people feel involved and they’ve got somethingthemselves, a pay off. But of course that only works ifpeople have stayed around to the end of the scenario!
　　So, the next time you’re in a bar, café or maybe justsitting on a train and you hear people talking aboutsomething they’ve bought, before you think that it's agood word of mouth recommendation you have accidentallyoverheard, think again, could it be they were just actors,performing an advertisement?

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 advert   

vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告

参考例句：

• The advert featured a dolphin swimming around a goldfish bowl.该广告的內容为一条在金鱼缸里游动的海豚。
• Please advert to the contents below.I believe you won't be disappointed.敬请留意后面的内容。相信您一定不会失望的。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

5 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

10 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

12 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

13 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。