Fishing in the Promotional Closet

I got a late start with my spring cleaning this year, but I really got into it. So much so that, when I was done, I decided to do a little digging in my old promotional closet. No telling what’s been pitched in there over the years. Here’s what I found, a lot of it surprisingly valuable.

First, shopping for tie-in partners and co-sponsors is a lot like shopping for shoes. They may look good at first, but more importantly, they need to fit. You should feel comfortable in them. If you buy the first pair you see, they’ll end up in the back of your closet, reminding you of naught but money wasted. Instead, try a few on for size, and make sure they enhance your total look, not detract from it. And take good care of them so they’ll last a long time.

Think about Biore’s involvement with Lilith Fair, a perfect fit for a youth-skewed skin care brand. Or the recent Cannon Mills and Cheer detergent joint print ad in which both brands got their messages across well.

What could make more sense than Rusty Wallace and Energizer batteries, since Rusty really likes to go fast. Likewise, the James Bond/BMW relationship is a natural. The last Bond movie was really a subtle infomercial for the 7-series BMW. These pairings all fit nicely, enhance both properties, and can be worn over and over for years to come.

Retailers, meanwhile, are a lot like coat hangers. They are necessary. They are functional. Some are fancier than others, but they’re all still hangers. Your brands and promotions will just hang there taking up space until you figure out how to put them to use. Sometimes they accumulate to the point where they really clutter up the closet and need to be weeded out. In the end, retailers, like coat hangers, must carry their weight in order to be valuable.

Think about the success of certain limited-distribution brands. There are the high-end players like Rolex and Polo, only available in authorized outlets. There are specialty packaged goods brands like Science Diet and Iams pet foods, available only from pet stores and veterinarians. Even Nike and Levi’s control where they’re sold to some degree. The strongest brands, and the best promotions, make effective use of the retailers.

Brands can seldom exist today without the blessings of Kroger or Wal-Mart or Nordstrom. Promotions are much more effective if they can be extended into retail. In fact, most promotions today are all about retail. Can you say that your retailers are carrying their weight?

Then there are the discounting-based promotions, items that quickly lose their charm. Look in the back of your closet, and you’ll find all the stuff you bought on sale and never used again.

Everyone has made a purchase on sale, but was it worth it? You bought it because it was cheap, which speaks volumes about its value. An overemphasis on the offer is apparent in most every promotional closet.

Brands that rely heavily on discounting as their primary purchase incentive suffer in the minds of consumers. Think about the oft-discounted brands in two-liter soft drinks, sub-premium beers, canned cat food. Eventually, you lose the thrill of victory of finding a bargain and begin to wonder if you’ve been had. Way too many brands are in this shape or are getting dangerously close.

Good promotions aren’t price promotions. Check out this year’s Reggie winners, or the upcoming World PRO Award winners. They aren’t about cents-off; they’re about reinforcing the brand’s message in a compelling manner.

Sometimes what’s old is new again. I just fished out my old powder blue tuxedo and cherry red ruffled shirt to wear to a friends’ disco birthday party. Yep, back in style (well, sort of). There’s always good stuff stuck in the back of the closet, things forgotten, maybe in need of a bit of repair.

Think about brands that faded and are coming back: Audi, Abercrombie & Fitch, Burger King, Dewars. They’ve been retooled for today’s consumers.

Babies in Bugs Promotions, too, can undergo alterations and be rescued from the closet. Remember the great American Express promotion to refurbish the Statue of Liberty? Amex should run that one again. McDonald’s sure makes good use of Monopoly, taking it out of mothballs on an annual basis. The promotion I’d like to see again is one Volkswagen ran in the late ’60s. It was a U.S. Savings Bond giveaway – to babies born in the backs of VWs.

The promotional closet needs to be cleaned up now and then, to weed out the useless accumulation of cheap ideas, cents-off coupons, key chains and T-shirts, depleted phonecards, tie-ins that went astray, and programs that didn’t get executed at retail.

There’s gold back in there with the dust bunnies. You’ve just got to know what to look for.