If you’ve been on the internet or have any form of social media platform, it is likely that you have come across a troll from time to time.
Trolling involves “making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on various internet forums with the intent to provoke an emotional knee jerk reaction from readers”.
For many businesses, trolls can negatively impact their brand image and drive away customers, however over time, marketers have learnt to overcome this negative impact and found a way to use them to their advantage.
Introducing – Troll Marketing.
“Troll marketing can be incredibly effective, but it’s also really, really risky”. It has created a whole new style of marketing that is both relatable, funny, and relevant. Brands are pitching themselves to consumers as a friend rather than a company, in order to create content that is engaging and entertaining and it's totally working!
Here are some successful examples:
Netflix
By utilising consumer data, Netflix successfully trolled their consumers by generating funny and light-hearted content in order to create a sense of familiarity and relatability.
Sainsbury’s
After receiving a note from a little girl asking why their ‘tiger bread’ wasn’t called ‘giraffe bread’, Sainsbury’s used the letter as an opportunity to create a viral stir by subsequently changing the name of the bread in all of their stores.
Spotify
In 2016, Spotify created a launched a new marketing campaign that exposed user’s listening habits. The campaign received a lot of attention and coverage due to its humorous and cheeky nature.
What do you think of this technique? Have you witnessed any of your favourite brands implementing it and do you think it was successful?
Feel free to leave any comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Amazing read, i agree that troll marketing is effective!
Great post! So many brands are doing this now! Really interesting read you made some great points about troll marketing and it’s becoming more common now it definitely gets everyone’s attention
Great stuff, interesting topic I had never considered this from a business marketing point of view. I can't say that I've seen it but I will definitely keep an eye out for troll marketing now. I think that it is a smart tactic because it is different and will likely get the attention/interest from the consumer.
Hey Xanthe! Really interesting! I really love it when brands do things like this. It puts a nicer, more lighthearted image of them in my mind. One other example I remember is the American fast-food chain 'Wendy's' also using this tactic and replying in very funny ways to people on twitter
Hey! Loved reading your blog post. There was actually a relevant episode on 60 minutes tonight on this same issue. They found that Facebook were very unresponsive to complaints about trolling and unless there was a threat of violence then very little would be done. Troll marketing was a relatively new concept to me though! You make some really good points.