Marketing, for all its seeming innovation and forward-thinking, is for the most part a largely traditional and static science. Accepted theory abounds and new ideas gain acceptance only slowly.
Traditional marketers continue to contend that mass media is still relevant to the consumer – particularly during the launch of a new brand.
This is something Hotcow and its director Sally Durcan intend to change. In her opinion a brand doesn’t need mass marketing alone in order to establish itself and continue to grow. Indeed, an experiential approach in tandem with a more traditional campaign will be more effective than either on its own.
In order to make any reasonable commentary on marketing to women in the early part of the 21st century it is first essential that the position of women as consumers is stated as definitely as possible. To start with the most startling of stats, according to a report from 2000, “women purchase or influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods and influence 80% of all healthcare decisions.” 
Guerrilla Marketing, we’ve all heard of it, and we’ve all heard of the odd hugely successful campaign. More than one though? Perhaps not…so we at Hotcow have decided to give you our take on the issue with our top ten of the most successful guerrilla campaigns in memory – read on.
Travel for pleasure first became fashionable during the 17th century with the Grand Tour, but it wasn’t until the industrial revolution that the tourism industry began to grow. In 1758 the first “official” travel company – Cox & Kings – was formed and, whilst at this point tourism was still an activity for the wealthy, it was just under 100 years later that the pioneer of modern mass market tourism, Thomas Cook, founded his company in 1841 with the organisation of the first package tour in history. 
A good publicity stunt is as valuable as weeks, if not months, of PR work. A bold statement perhaps but one which has been proven on many occasions – here at Hotcow we’ll even go one step further; for charities a good publicity stunt can make the difference between a bad year and a great one. 
The consumer electronics industry has, in the past decade, been revolutionised by three things; miniaturisation, falling prices and a perception that technology is no longer simply functional but also a brand dominated style choice.
Add to this the fact that, in the main, most technology products have a maximum shelf life of 12 months before they are rendered obsolete or a significant update is issued and it’s possible to see just how intense competition for a market share is. If a product does not make an instant, significant impact then it is unlikely to have the chance to gain a foothold.
With research showing that the non-alcoholic drinks industry in Europe and the USA was worth a mammoth $241 billion dollars in 2005 and an increasingly discerning UK consumer market demanding high-quality, healthy, natural products it doesn’t take a thorough understanding of economics to observe that the non-alcoholic market is a strongly contested one.
As 2007 draws to a close and a new year comes into view the marketing industry turns its thoughts to assessments of the preceding months and predictions for the coming year. And, this year, much of the reflection seems to be on the subject of experiential marketing and its integration into so-called “traditional” campaigns.
Indeed, there is much conjecture that EM is the must integrate marketing methodology for the coming year.
