Content area
Full Text
Sales promotion and direct marketing have always overlapped, but recent innovations mean they now share yet more common ground. Claire Foss examines the relationship
It's no secret that the techniques of sales promotion (SP) and direct marketing (DM) have been bedfellows for many years. It's a rare direct mail pack that does not contain an incentive, while direct channels are often the delivery method for SP campaigns. More than two-thirds of all coupons were delivered by direct mail in 2005, according to the 2006 Valassis Annual Coupon Report.
While the two disciplines have different approaches, recent innovations in digital, CRM and loyalty are causing DM and SP to overlap even more. Digital direct channels are delivering SP messages that are more about long-term engagement rather than one-off sales increases.
So in these days of blurred boundaries between the disciplines, is it still possible to say exactly where an SP campaign ends and a DM one begins?
Many SP campaigns now include loyalty, data capture and retention techniques that are more commonly found in the DM world, alongside traditional SP devices such as sampling, on-pack promotions and vouchers. "A company might want to drive trial, but if there's no mechanism for making people stick with the product, they won't get very far these days," says Edwin Mutton, director at the Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP).
The infamous Threshers 40 per cent off voucher, circulated at Christmas 2006, is a case in point. A voucher might be a traditional SP technique, but in this case the method of distribution was viral email, a direct channel - and the voucher included a data collection mechanism.
Further evidence of this crossover can be seen in a recent league table of the most awards received by SP agencies, compiled by Marketing Directs sister title, Promotions S- Incentives. Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel came second to SP agency Elvis at the top of the table, with many other DM agencies vying for space in the rest of the list. "Five years ago, what an SP agency and a...