Moving Away From The Herd With Non-traditional Marketing

“John Cena and 4 others followed DrinkPrime”. 

That’s the notification I woke up to on a random Tuesday morning. Now, why would John Cena, an American wrestler and actor, follow DrinkPrime, an Indian water purifier company? 

The only explanation? 

He got us confused with Prime Hydration - An energy drink company owned by former YouTube rivals KSI and Logan Paul. But this wasn’t the first time DrinkPrime was mistaken for Prime Hydration. In fact, we’ve been tagged in multiple tweets by the founders themselves! On average, we get at least 3 wrong mentions every week while the hashtag #DrinkPrime is used in most tweets and posts. 

DrinkPrime has always been a part of the ripple effect of Prime Hydration’s events. On the day of Prime Hydration’s launch, our website traffic increased by 50% and we had 78% new users! Moreover, that week, we saw an increase in organic search by 70%! 

Did you know that this energy drink sold out hours after it was launched? 
No newspapers or TV ads and no billboards. So, how did they do it? 

With the pure power of non-traditional marketing!

From launching the brand on an Instagram live session to the Co-founders pretending to work at Walmart - Prime Hydration had a lot of marketing stunts up their sleeves to endorse their drink. 

They’re not the only ones taking this route of marketing. Recent trends show that brands are moving away from the herd with non-traditional marketing.  They want to experiment with new technologies while leveraging modern mediums and strategies the non-traditional way! This is how brands plan on breaking through the clutter. 

In simple words, any unconventional way of reaching your audience and making an impact can be considered non-traditional marketing. While traditional advertising is becoming expensive with its effectiveness on a decline, non-traditional marketing has proven to be successful in increasing customer recognition and engagement. Traditional media has limits that non-traditional forms of advertising can break. 

Let’s take an example of influencer marketing; one of the most famous and successful forms of non-traditional marketing. Valued at ₹900 crores, the Indian influencer marketing industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Influencer marketing is expected to grow by 25% to reach ₹2,200 crores by 2025. Why is this form of marketing witnessing this sudden rise? 

Because a one-size-fits-all strategy is never a good one (be it in water purifiers or marketing).

DrinkPrime has so far been successful in its non-traditional marketing attempts by implementing the influencer marketing strategy. Our subscribers are spread across the age group and within an age group also comes multiple interests. The best way to reach them? By tapping into their interests and influencers that cater to those interests. From cricketers and homemakers to beauty influencers - we have worked with a variety of influencers. While marketing DrinkPrime we look for spaces where our audience is not expecting us. We’d rather have a 10-second brand integration in a naturally shot Day in The Life video instead of an in-your-face celebrity-endorsed ad on television. 

One of our most successful campaigns was with Anu Kargada. With 924K views on the promoted video, out website data shows a significant spike in both English and Kannada landing pages during the period of the campaign. 

Through influencer marketing, unlike the traditional route, you can steer away from spending all your marketing budget on a single channel and reach your audience on their preferred platforms. Studies suggest that sponsored or collaborative content can increase brand awareness by 50%!

However, non-traditional marketing is not always about being subtle. Beer brands advertising on coasters to Kitkat designing bus benches shaped like their chocolate bars - the avenues for non-traditional marketing are endless! I remember visiting an amusement park where Oreo had marketed their famous vanilla and chocolate biscuits in the form of a circular bench! 

With its authentic and relevant way of marketing, non-traditional advertising has been successful in overshadowing traditional ways. This does not mean that the traditional ways are completely out of the picture. Traditional methods might work wonders for some brands, depending on their product and services. At the end of the day, marketing is all about connecting with your audience at the right place and at the right time. 

The article is authored by Manas Ranjan Hota, Co-founder and COO of Drink Prime