Consumer Promotion II

Trial Generation and free Sampling

Enticing members of a target market to try a product is often easy when the trial comes at little or no cost to the customer. The use of samples and free trials may be the oldest of all sales promotion techniques dating back to when society advanced from a culture of self-subsistence to a culture of trade.

Clear Shampoo started its trial generation campaign for its first launch. Trial generation have also been used extensively by other brands which include Toothpastes, Shampoos, Tea and Packed Milk.

Sampling and free trials give customers the opportunity to experience products, often in small quantities or for a short duration, without purchasing the product. Today, these methods are used in almost all industries and are especially useful for getting customers to try a product for the first time.

Free/Extra Product

Some promotional methods offer free products but with the condition that a purchase be made. The free product may be in the form of additional quantities of the same purchased product (e.g., buy one, get one free) or specialty packages (e.g., value pack) that offer more quantity for the same price as regular packaging.

Premiums

Another form of sales promotion involving free merchandise is premium or “give-away” items. Premiums differ from samples and free product in that these often do not consist of the actual product, though there is often some connection. For example, a cellphone manufacturer may offer access to free downloadable ringtones for those purchasing a cellphone.

Contests and Sweepstakes

Consumers are often attracted to promotions where the potential value obtained is very high. In these promotions only a few lucky consumers receive the value offered in the promotion. Two types of promotions that offer high value are contests and sweepstakes.

Contests are special promotions awarding value to winners based on skills they demonstrate compared to others. For instance, a baking company may offer free vacations to winners of a baking contest. Contest award winners are often determined by a panel of judges.

Sweepstakes or drawings are not skill based but rather based on luck. Winners are determined by random selection. In some cases the chances of winning may be higher for those who make a purchase if entry into the sweepstake occurs automatically when a purchase is made. But in most cases, anyone is free to enter without the requirement to make a purchase.

A sub-set of both contests and sweepstakes are games, which come in a variety of formats such as scratch-off cards and collection of game pieces. Unlike contests and sweepstakes, which may not require purchase, to participate in a game customers may be required to make a purchase. In the United States and other countries, where eligibility is based on purchase, games may be subjected to rigid legal controls and may actually fall under that category of lotteries, which are tightly controlled.

Demonstrations

Many products, like Head & Shoulders with its mobile head washing machines equipment, benefit from customers being shown how products are used through a demonstration. Whether the demonstration is experienced in-person or via video form, such as over the Internet, this promotional technique can produce highly effective results. Unfortunately, demonstrations are very expensive to produce. Costs involved in demonstrations include paying for the expense of the demonstrator, which can be high if the demonstrator is well-known (e.g., nationally known chef), and also paying for the space where the demonstration is given.

Personal Appearances

An in-person appearance by someone of interest to the target market, such as an author, sports figure or celebrity, is another form of sales promotion capable of generating customer traffic to a physical location. However, as with demonstrations, personal appearance promotion can be expensive since the marketer normally must pay a fee for the person to appear. As Pakistan’s famous singer, Jawad Ahmed surprise-visited the little towns and cities as the promotional activity for the Supreme Tea in 2004.

Sponsorships

Sponsorship may be an arrangement to exchange advertising for the responsibility of funding a popular event or entity. For example, a corporate entity may provide equipment for a famous athlete or sports team in exchange for brand recognition. The sponsor earns popularity this way while the sponsored can save a lot of money. This type of sponsorship, known as cause-related, is prominent in the sports, arts, media and charity sectors.

When commercial radio stations began broadcasting in the early 1920s, the programs were aired without advertising. Many radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers and programming was provided to sell radio transmitters and receivers. This led to a system where radio and television programs were financed by selling sponsorship rights to businesses. Eventually, the broadcasters began selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses.

ABN-Amro bank successfully sponsored first time in Pakistan 20-20 cricket tournament in Karachi in 2005 when bank took significant media coverage as well as a good recognition in the local consumer market. Recently Warid Telecom also plans to sponsor the Tape-Ball tournament to penetrate the local consumers and young generation (Next potential customer).

Sponsorship is also becoming increasingly important in education. Many companies want their logo on sponsored equipment in return. Formula One teams, for example, have heavily relied on the income from tobacco advertising.

Other types of sponsorships revolve around companies paying for parts of television broadcasts and sporting events which bear their name.