COVERT Selling: The Hottest Trend Revealed

and How You Can Play to Win!

by Kevin Hogan

The October 13th episode of Donald Trump's, "The Apprentice," featured his teams of candidates putting together the next marketing concept for Dairy Queen. For those of you who don't know or haven't been paying attention, 18 contestants compete for a job running one of Trump's many corporations. In this episode, Dairy Queen got nearly 44 minutes of airtime. I have no idea what Dairy Queen paid to have that time. I do know that it is brilliant and more importantly, profitable…advertising.

Putting your brand in front of a huge part of your demographic for 44 minutes is worth an enormous amount of money.

This is more than "product placement" which is very effective…this is all about building the brand! It gets no better than having you and me watch two teams figure out the best way to make Dairy Queen increase their sales. Brilliant and very profitable.

You're worth $1100 per year to the advertisers

If you are the average American, about $1100 per year per person is paid by the world of business to simply get your attention…whether you are 3 years old, 30 or 80. That's a whole bunch of money to get your attention…and attention is what it's all about.

Your brain isn't able to pay attention to all of these advertising messages if it doesn't know which ones to pay attention to…so your brain is being taught what to pay attention to…and some of the strategies are brilliantly clever.

50 years ago, getting someone's attention was fairly simple. Today it takes new skills and knowledge to gain the attention of people. Nothing is easy about getting someone to pay attention to YOU and the old theories and methods are not only antiquated but in many cases worthless.

Covert Advertising

Interestingly, covert advertising has been around for years but today it is the hottest trend in promoting products and services…and you CAN play. 

Remember watching the movie Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox? For those of you too young to remember, this movie was quite the hit about 20 years ago and had two well-done sequels. The movies cost a fortune to make and as the series continued, one trend was clear. More and more brand name products were featured in the movies. 

I remember seeing a USA Today newspaper in one of the movies and I remember people drinking a Pepsi in all three of them. (Now you can check my memory by hitting your video collection and discover ALL of the products that were covertly used by cast members.)

More recently, the hit TV show (I confess that I enjoy it), Survivor is using a number of sometimes subtle, sometimes in-your-face promos for everything from Mountain Dew to cars to candy bars. They could pay for a traditional 30 second spot, but why not link their covert advertising to people we obviously have emotions for?

Another kind of example? Celebrities like Rob Lowe, Kathleen Turner and Lauren Bacall have hit the talk show circuit with what amounts to promos for medications…all paid for by the pharmaceuticals. Sometimes covert, sometimes overt…always effective.

More? Revlon became part of a storyline in the daytime soap opera, All my Children. Austin Powers: Goldmember was a veritable stage for various products and promos…again some covert some overt.

Is all of this ethical? In general yes, and in general it is not only ethical but profitable and something the smaller business owner should be utilizing in their community or profession.

How Does it Work?

How does covert advertising work? As you have learned from reading the last several months of Coffee you know that the human mind is "primed" by viewing this kind of material. It simply makes people watching more likely to purchase when presented with the opportunity.

Why Covert?

One question is why are companies going to covert marketing, such as putting their products in movies and TV shows? Everyone needs your business (especially now when companies have to lay off workers because business is so bad) and covert marketing works well. For some companies, traditional advertising (30 second spots on television) are simply not working as well as they used to. Everything from more entertainment options to smaller audiences have a lot to do with this.

Placing an ad in a newspaper or magazine can be one of the most treacherous methods for small businesses to attempt and they are almost guaranteed to fail today for the business who can't afford daily full page exposure.

What Can You Do?

So what are YOU, the entrepreneur, the small business person, the professional to do to succeed in promoting their business? How can YOU, the individual or small business person accomplish what the big companies are now succeeding at?

You probably don't have the money to pay All My Children or Survivor but you certainly have the ability to utilize Covert Advertising.

Here are some specific ideas you can implement immediately.

(1) Write an article about your area of expertise for a trade publication or journal and utilize your personal experience and a personal story to illustrate a key point in the article. (Don't overuse this strategy. Remember this is covert advertising.)

(2) Write an article for your local newspaper…the paper that shows up in the box below the mailbox once each week…for free. Write a 7 or 10 point article. "10 Ways to Lose Weight in 2003." "10 Ways for Warren Township Residents to Reduce Their Taxes." Then somewhere around point number six or seven include your specialty as part of the solution and link it to the line at the bottom of the article that identifies who you are, your phone number and website.

(3) Get some contact info printed at the end of your article. Forget saying the name of your business when people ask you who you are. Say that you are the "FOUNDER or PRESIDENT of the ultimate website on influence and personal growth, kevinhogan.com." Some publications don't like to put too much information in the line at the bottom of the article and this assures you will make it.

(4) Have a colleague plug you in their brochure, advertising, speeches, and you do the same for them. I promote a lot of my friends books and audio programs. They do the same. Key: Pick your best product and service and make sure it is something that all customers will be ecstatic to have!

(5) Reciprocate. If your friend makes country gifts, have one on your desk so when people ask about it, you can give them your friend's address. Have them do the same thing for you. (This may not work as well if they sell tires…)

(6) Promoting yourself or your own product can work and it can be effective but having a testimonial and using quotes is really how to optimally use covert advertising. Always use real quotes and always return the favor. "I always knew that Psychology of Persuasion was a good book, but when Richard Brodie, who wrote Virus of the Mind, said it was one of the best he ever read, I felt incredible!"

(7) Ask for quotes/testimonials if you don't get them unsolicited. I wrote Joe Vitale (author of Hypnotic Marketing) in 1995 for a quote for Psychology of Persuasion. He came through with: "This is a work of sheer genius. If I were the only person on earth to have this book, I'd rule the planet." Ever since then, I plug Joe's best work everywhere I go. (notice the second line of this item!)

(8) There are literally hundreds of ways to make alliances with other people that can help you. If you work at a gym you can give out the cards of the best nutritionist you know. But don't just give it out. That isn't covert, that is a throw away. "This woman is the finest nutritionist I know and she will help you get in shape, get healthy and become a new you. She is your final destination." Then, the best nutritionist you know can recommend that they go to YOUR gym because it isn't the pick up spot that Bally's and Lifetime are, but a place you can go and not be bothered while you work out. Constantly promote people who do good work and ask them to do the same for you.

We will talk more about Covert Advertising again very soon. Keep watching!

Kevin Hogan is the author of nineteen books. He is best known for his international best selling book, The Psychology of Persuasion: How to Persuade Others to Your Way of Thinking.

In the past decade he has become the Body Language Expert and Unconscious Influence Expert to ABC, Fox, The BBC, The New York Times, The New York Post and dozens of popular magazines like Forbes,Investors Business Daily, InTouch, First for Women, Success!, and Cosmopolitan.

He has become the go-to resource for analyzing key White House figures.

Hogan has taught Persuasion and Influence at the University of St. Thomas Management Center and is a frequent media guest. Articles by and about him have appeared in Success!, Redbook, Office Pro,, Selling Power, Cosmopolitan and numerous other publications. He was recently featured in a half dozen magazines (including wProst) in Poland.