Promotion 431
reaching the target audience with the required
message in this case. In others, however, con-
scientious application of the checklist could
have quite different outcomes.
If the audience is highly specific, for
instance, direct marketing by mail or e-mail has
the potential to targetit more effectively. The
mode of messagedelivery permits much more
detail than a poster, though it is limited by the
recipient’s interest and patience. The price
consists only of postal charges, potentially
reduced by volume discounts. However, con-
siderablecostis likely to be incurred in produc-
ing the kind of mail shot that actually engages
the favourable attention of prospective custom-
ers. Furthermore, the intrusive reputation of
direct mail results in generally low receptivity,
so the price and cost per converted call can be
substantial. Because the verbal message is
typically reinforced by visual devices, often in
considerable quantity and variety, modulationis
unavoidable and far from uniform. Measurabil-
ityis self-evidently straightforward.
In another situation, publicity might be
chosen as the best way to deliver a simple or
detailedmessageto a general or specific audi-
ence. There is no priceat all, and the costis very
low. Audiences do not generally stop to think
whether reportage and editorial comment are
spontaneous or the result of a press release, so
receptivityis a negligible consideration. On the
other hand, the potential for modulation is
highest among all ingredients of the promo-
tional mix, because a third party has been
invited to act as interpreter between the origi-
nator and the audience. Someone else’s agenda
can thus determine the form and content of the
eventual message. As for measurability, the
volume of coverage resulting from the initiative
can easily be monitored, quantified and classi-
fied as productive, neutral or damaging. How-
ever, the effect on the target audience will be a
matter of pure speculation.
An underlying dimension in all these
hypothetical cases is the issue of controllability.
It is worth reminding ourselves that the mar-
keting mix and its sub-mixes are normally
defined as the ‘controllable variables’ in the
marketing equation. The degree of control
which can in fact be exerted over the outcome
of a promotional initiative is therefore a crucial
strategic issue. The three examples above
include the two ends of a broad spectrum:
advertising is highly controllable, but at a price;
publicity is virtually uncontrollable, but cheap.
The third may at first seem to occupy a position
towards the low end, for authors and com-
mentators generally emphasize the assumed
high resistance to its output: mail shots, mail
drops, telesales calls and unsolicited promo-
tional messages received by fax or e-mail. On
the other hand, prolific use by such sophisti-
cated marketers as Reader’s Digestand the AA
(Automobile Association) suggests that it can
yield cost-effective results when applied
efficiently.
Among the other techniques in the promo-
tional mix, sponsorship is a relatively new
phenomenon, which has been growing rapidly
in recent years (see Table 17.1). The strategic
aim of sports sponsorship, as one example, is to
gain direct real-time exposure, plus secondary
exposure through media coverage, plus more
general publicity. This poses special controlla-
bility problems. For instance, sportswear man-
ufacturers have established formal associations
with performers or teams who later generated
nothing but negative publicity, an outcome
which must have reflected to some extent and
in some way on the sponsor. Similarly, event
organizers who struck lucrative deals with
tobacco companies a decade ago have since
inherited a public relations liability, thanks to a
sea-change in official and public attitudes to
smoking. In 2002, a ban on all tobacco sponsor-
ship of sport was announced, to take effect in- Formula 1 motor racing, much the most
prominently linked, was given a reprieve until - Its world organizing body promptly
lobbied for Moscow to be added to the list of
Grand Prix venues, presumably because such
sponsorship is not regulated in Russia, evi-
dence of the faith that major sponsors have in
the effectiveness of this ingredient of the mix.