The Law of Hype - Law #20 under the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
“The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press”. When things are going well you do not need hype. When you need hype, it usually means you are in trouble.
When was the last time you had created a hype about something? If you remember, then you should also remember the reason behind creating that hype. A hype is usually created when you are not getting due attention. The reason behind not getting due attention might be anything from an inefficient marketing strategy to a failed product or service. Whatever the reason, one will get the attention one deserves if they play their cards appropriately, right from planning the product or service to executing an effective marketing strategy. We should not forget that it always boils down to how you market a product or service to decide the fate of a product or service. It seldom matters weather the product or service is really good or not. It’s therefore true to state that a product’s success in the market depends on the marketer managing their marketing activities.
People usually don’t create a hype when things are going great guns, you only hype things when things are not going as expected. One of the most popular examples in India Business is the Satyam episode where the promoter ‘B Ramalinga Raju’ had hyped the business turnover and the number of employees employed for dubious reasons.
Creating a Hype was considerably easy in earlier days due to the broadcaster way of information sharing. Those were the days when information was shared through traditional media such as Radio, Television and Newspaper only. Whatever the channel, the corporate information was shared to the media through a press conference after which the information would appear on any or all of the broadcasting channels.
These days due to digital media, things have changed drastically. It is not easy to hype things without people taking notice of it. Today’s people have become smarter and know how to verify and cross check one’s claims. They can now easily differentiate between facts and mere hypes. Digital Media has increased the transparency on information, an example of which can be found on the cellular company ‘Idea’ ads in which mobile internet users mock the politicians and business people to refrain from trying to fool them. It is therefore can be said that the Law of Hype has lost its hype in today’s Digital world.
