The 2 Guyz on Marketing think “yes.” Why? Multiple reasons.

2 Guyz Larry remembers the on-air radio contest in 1991 on the once famous Ken and Barkley Company radio program. It was back when radio personalities were media stars of the city, and wielded a lot of clout.

Larry decided to go recently  with a former student and have a hamburger from Hamburger Habit at 11223 National Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. Over the years Londre has always doubted the use of this banner which says “Best Hamburger.”  But more than his quest for the perfect burger, he is a lifelong collector of marketing and advertising stories.

So many things are wrong with the posting of this banner. Is the claim true? Well, it was once judged best by a radio show, so that is true. Were they the best? Maybe. Are they still? Highly unlikely. (Does anything stay “best” that long?)

But most importantly, it’s been too darn long to claim the results from a 1991 radio station promotion!

Both of the 2 Guyz on Marketing teach and work in marketing, advertising and promotion. In our classes, this brings up issues of advertising ethics, honesty in advertising, and sound business practice (or lack of).

Sales promotion includes several communications activities, under Promotion in the nine P’s of Marketing, that attempt to provide added value or incentives to wholesalers, retailers, or consumers to stimulate immediate sales. These efforts or activities attempt to stimulate product interest, trial, or purchase. Sales promotion is the process of persuading a potential customer to buy the product. Sales promotion is designed to be used as a short-term tactic to boost sales.

Why do companies and advertising agencies use sales promotion? To promote an increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or service.

Larry and his former student agreed that it may not be the best hamburger within three blocks of National and Sepulveda.  For many reasons it’s not appropriate to use the banner.  I would bet no one who was part of the “study” even works at KABC anymore. I would also bet they have changed suppliers and employees multiple times, too.

Legally, the FTC gave us the “6 Month Rule”, which basically states a “new product” is new for 6 months. An advertiser cannot promote a new product is new forever. (That’s why a lot of products do smaller innovations more frequently, so that can continually “legally” claim to be new, or “new and improved”).

But simply it’s not good to say you “were”, if you “are not”. And even if you “were” back then, 27 years is just too long.

Cinemark, the third-largest movie theater chain, has a marketing partnership with the AAA (aka the Auto Club). The AAA promotes that they have movie tickets discounted for Cinemark.

As an AAA member, you can purchase tickets for $8.49. Not sure you knew that. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? Discount programs and sales promotion fall are part of “Price” and “Promotion,” under the 9P’s of Marketing.

Today, Cinemark said customers of “Movie Club” pay a monthly fee of $8.99 for movies. But wait there’s more. It’s only one movie a month. Really? The Movie Club members will receive a credit for only one movie ticket a month. To be fair, these subscribers can also buy additional tickets for $8.99 each. Seems to the 2 Guyz that the program doesn’t amount to much.

In a major city like Los Angeles or New York, average ticket prices are twice that much. But nationwide, ticket prices average less than $9, so again, where is the benefit.

Discounting and sales promotions are usually designed to be short term sales boosts to get people to try something or possibly switch brands. There is a downside, though, in that people can get “hooked” on it. J.C. Penny tried to eliminate their coupon discounts a few years ago, only to find sales drop dramatically.

So as movie fans, when we heard Cinemark announce their $8.99 movie promotion, “Movie Club,” we had to look more closely. And we also found it odd that it limits only one ticket a month. Cinemark sells tickets to Auto Club for $8.49. That’s a better “movie” deal.

• Promotion:
  • Eight (8) major, strategic components: The communication elements include personal and non-personal communication activities.
  • The activities that communicate the merits of the overall product, which include:
    • Personal Selling/ Sales Force: Sales persons:
      • A special 2 Guyz on marketing tip: “Listen more than you talk. People who listen more, learn more, plus helps you position your service/product/solution or offering.”
    • Advertising: There’s an expression “It is only creative if it sells.” I wanted to add “It is only good media spending if it sells.”
    • Sales Promotion
    • Collateral Materials
    • Direct Marketing (also referred to as Action or Direct Response Advertising)
    • Interactive/Internet/Web, Digital Media, Social Media:
    • Events and Experiences
    • Public Relations/PR

Promotion is the “stuff” that lay people think about when we talk about marketing. There’s lots of creativity, ideas, and brainstorming. But The 2 Guyz teach it’s that and a lot more, too. Promotion is a critical strategic part of any company or brand’s marketing mix.

From The 2 Guyz on Marketing, here are some strategic questions to ask, as a business owner, brand manager or advertising professional, and all fall under Promotion:

• • • Have you noticed that you may watch what you want to watch in TV programing, when you want to watch it and anywhere, any screen? TV is still the largest single advertising media when you measure how many people are touched by a single message at a single time. All of these factors affect media planning.
    • Look at and evaluate the eight different elements under Promotion and your brand’s practices and ask is there a better way? Which of these eight ways works best, or which ones work well together?
    • What are your costs in dollars and manpower or person power, and be sure to ask, “Is there a different or better way or ways to budget to build awareness?”
    • Look at different strategic partners? How might their costs affect yours?
    • To whom should you target and promote? Under People/Targeting, target audience within media falls here.
    • What should you promote? What are strategic copy points.
    • Discounting? Special sales? What economic and discount levels should you offer? Look at revenue versus costs.
    • What form or combination of promotion should you offer? Features?

How frequent? Add media planning here. Great promotion placed in the wrong place is wasted effort. Lousy promotion in the best place is equally flawed. Good marketing and advertising is the blend of creating promotion and media planning that work together strategically. Brian of the 2 Guyz on Marketing preaches to his class that it’s both science and art together in a delicate balance to be successful.

We will do additional posts on media planning and we have a couple of videos out on media planning. Check out our YouTube channel for that.

For more Marketing insights, ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to Londremarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P’s/Nine P’s ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P’s/Nine P’s or Nine P’s/9P’s of Marketing.

*Created by Larry Steven Londre. Copyright 2007.

Using the nine P’s of Marketing, we put this under dumb “Presentation” and dumb Promotion“ by Sherwin Williams, the paint company.

Sherwin Williams won’t be paying $1 million. Why?

Sponsored by Sherwin Williams, the paint company, has a big paint can promoting itself at Angel Stadium. The can is behind the left-center-field wall at the stadium.

The copy reads, “Angels home run in the can $1,000,000.” If a home run is hit in it, they pay the Angel Baseball Foundation charity $1 million.

Yesterday Justin Upton of the Angels hit a home run.

Sherwin Williams won’t pay off. Why? The home run didn’t land in the can but bounced in. Really?

They may have had fans, customers, store managers, but they also had TV and radio. Plus all of the social media today.

What is this “P” or “Presentation?” It is the act of presenting any of the different 9P’s© and/or components to your customers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, sales force, marketing intermediaries, clients, employees, partners, and/or others.
We find that this example can fall under Presentation, Partners and Promotion.

Just dumb, under many of the nine P’s of Marketing. Totally lost sight of the goal: building good brand awareness and brand association. Net result: the exact opposite.

Right now, $1 million to the charity is a lot cheaper than the damage bad PR and presentation is doing to the brand.

Click on the video and see what the 2 Guyz have to say!

Promotion is one of the key concepts shared with luminary E. Jerome McCarthy’s original 4 P’s of the Marketing Mix. It’s where all the heavy lifting of marketing communications is.

Under promotion, there are eight (8) major, strategic components. These communication
elements include personal and non-personal communication activities.
The activities that communicate the merits of the overall product include:
• Personal Selling/Sales Force (Sales people)
• Advertising
• Sales Promotion
• Collateral Materials
• Direct Marketing (also referred to as Direct Action or Direct Response Advertising)
• Interactive/Internet/Web, Digital Media, Social Media:
• Events and Experiences
• Public Relations/PR

So to see promotion in action, let’s look at an example. With an improved economy, business people, families, students, grandparents, and others are traveling more. Hotels are showing higher occupancy rates. Hotels are increasing their promotion and upping their pricing.

Simply put more people are staying at hotels, For example, a 100-room hotel with 90
rooms occupied would have a 90% occupancy rate.

Remember how in the 90’s hotels differentiated, sold and promoted themselves with
free breakfasts, local calling and a free newspaper? Some Holiday Inns had signs on the road saying “Free HBO.” That’s a start, but there is so much more to Marketing than a sign.

What are people looking for in a hotel? It’s more than the “core feature;” of a place to stay. But features are most powerful when they are turned into  problem-solving benefits. In this case, they might be Rest/Sleep/Pool/Clean Room and Towels/Location to start.

Sometimes it’s more that that, or other, more specific benefits. Hotel people will tell you it’s about location, but even that is just a start. Just because a hotel is in Las Vegas doesn’t get it lots of bookings. (There are more than 150,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas, so location is only the beginning.)
They are looking for so much more than location, location, location.

But look at airport hotels which have easy access to the airport or special conference
rooms for company employees flying in from all over. Look at amenities at all hotels, with Internet or wi-fi access, hotel name and their, reward programs (points added to their accounts for example. Think Hilton HHonors, or the Advantage program for American Airlines).

Can you believe but an ironing board is important for some. What about a pool, the brand’s reputation, TV with a good, working remote, Price (one of the Nine P’s), special offers, value; quality, style; ratings of hotels from previous guests.

Brian Hemsworth, one of the 2 Guyz, realized that he had, over his lifetime, chosen a hotel for almost every one of the reasons in this post. Not all were the deciding factor, but most have contributed at one tie or another. Promotion is way we learn of offerings, specials, and opportunities.

With Promotion, hotels fight or battle over the claims of which ones have the best beds, sheets, etc.), fitness center, food, restaurants, Starbucks coffee, special promotional offers, convention services; room service, pillow menu selection, white noise machine, candy, apples or cookie at check-in, and turn-down service.

Examples also include: hotel parking, where the fees can be expensive; resort fees; fee for a room key (just kidding); but computer fee at the business center isn’t; availability and the poor working order of the fitness center equipment; the printing out of an airline boarding pass can cost up to $7.50; refrigerator; surcharges for phone calls; wireless access; roll away beds, up to $60; mini bar stocking (hate that one); receiving faxes or packages; room service: (surcharge, delivery fee and mandatory gratuity, yikes; check out too early or too late fee; storing bags and wake up call.

I found it interesting that the Benjamin Hotel in Manhattan is offering work-down calls.
It’s the opposite of a “wake-up call.” Really. Yes, it is true. The guest arranges to have the concierge call at a specific time or times to remind the guest to go to bed and sleep.

By the way the Benjamin’s rates for New Year’s start at $400.

There is promotional all around us all the time, but during this most recent eclipse event, it’s gone crazy.

This “tease” aired on ABC Network TV, which was promoting the eclipse today’s eclipse. The clip aired on Monday, Feb. 26, 1979 as the last total solar eclipse for North America until now.

The ABC News Special Report segment is on Youtube.com, isn’t everything? The clip aired on Monday, Feb. 26, 1979 as the last total solar eclipse for North America until now.

Watch the sky safely and TV on August 21, 2017.

If it’s promotion, the 2 Guyz On Marketing are on it.