The Marketing Book 5th Edition

PRODUCER

CONSUMER

DISTRIBUTOR

SALES

FORCE

TRADE

PROMOTIONS INTERNAL

PROMOTIONS

JOINT

PROMOTIONS

'ENCOURAGE'

DIRECT

PROMOTIONS

'PULL'

'PUSH'

Sales promotion 459

necessarily a sale. Promotions may encourage
consumers to send for a brochure, visit a
dealer or consume a sample. The ultimate aim
is always sales, but this is true of marketing
generally.
3 Benefit orientated. Promotions offer their
targets additional benefits, beyond the
‘standard’ marketing mix. The enhanced mix
could include extra product, a reduced price
or an added item, service or opportunity.

The everyday vocabulary of marketing promo-
tions is full of inconsistencies. For simplicity
and brevity, the word ‘promotion’ will be used
in this chapter to refer to a sales promotion,
rather than its broader context of marketing
promotion.

Understanding sales promotion – a tale of price and prejudice

Sales promotion is a catch-all term covering a
multiplicity of marketing activities. In the past,
our understanding of promotions has been
hampered by a tendency to bundle all the
different types together for study and discus-
sion (Peattie and Peattie, 1993). As Flack (1999),

writing in Marketing Week, expressed it, ‘the

sector suffers largely from a poor definition – a

price promotion is not the same as a value-

added promotion but the two are often lumped

together’. Coupons and discounts are among

the most widely used promotions, and research

evidence and practical experience from such

price-based promotions dominates the litera-

ture. This has encouraged:

 A limited view of what promotions can

achieve.

 An overly rational–economic view of their

effects on consumers.

 A tactical and short-term view of promotion,

since economic incentives are only effective

while they are on offer.

 A negative perception about the impact that

promotions may have on brands and brand

positioning.

All of these negative perceptions of sales

promotion, and more, were encapsulated in

Jones’ (1990) Harvard Business Review article

‘The Double Jeopardy of Sales Promotion’. He

concludes that companies, faced with saturated

markets, have been misguidedly channelling

money away from above-the-line advertising

and ‘fighting with fury for market share; using

Figure 18.1 Sales promotion targets