4.5.3 Promotion
Unit 4.5 The seven Ps of the marketing mix - Promotion
Learning outcomes
“There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster.”
- Jerry Della Femina (advertising guru)
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”
- Stuart Henderson Britt, Advertising consultant (1970)
“Advertising is not money down the drain - it is an investment in the future of your brand.”
- Stelios Haji-Loannou (founder of easyJet and the easyGroup)
“You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.”
Norman Douglas, UK author (1868 - 1952)
Promotion refers to the various marketing processes used to inform customers about a product and persuading them to purchase the product. It is about the communication methods used to raise customer awareness and interest in a product. For example, consider which of the following statements seems more attractive to you as a potential consumer:
"Buy 1, get 1 free" or "Buy 2 and get 50% off"
Manufacturers that claim their disinfectants "kill 99% of all germs" or "only 1% of germs survive"
Soft drink producers that claim "low sugar" or "not entirely sugar free"?
Promotion is about getting the right message to the right customers at the right time in the right place or way.
The objectives of promotion in the marketing mix include:
Persuasion - Creating customer interest, and encouraging demand for the product.
Information - Generating brand awareness and providing customers with product information.
Differentiation - Differentiating the product from rival products.
Devotion - Creating brand loyalty and developing the brand name.
Watch this WestJet commercial which reveals the potential power of promotion in the marketing mix:
The learning outcomes (or assessment objectives) for this section of the syllabus are:
The following aspects of promotion (AO2):
• Above the line (ATL) promotion
• Below the line (BTL) promotion
• Though the line (TTL) promotionSocial media marketing as a promotional strategy (AO3)
Teacher only boxNote to teachers
Please note the following are no longer part of the new course:
The following aspects of promotion: promotional mix (AO2)
The impact of changing technology on promotional strategies (such as viral marketing, social media marketing* and social networking) (AO3)
Guerrilla marketing and its effectiveness as a promotional method (AO3).
* Social media marketing as a promotional strategy (AO3) is part of the new syllabus (first exams 2024).
Please be aware of the above points when referring to or using past IB exam papers and mark schemes.
Key concept - Ethics and Promotion
Is it ethical to make, promote, and sell pizzas like this?
Tasks
Find some more examples of unethical promotional methods used by businesses.
From a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) perspective, what are the various methods of knowing that apply to the use of such promotional techniques?
Discuss the extent to which unethical promotional campaigns, such as misleading packaging, are socially acceptable in your country.
In your discussions, consider whether anything can or should be done about such approaches to marketing.
This task is designed to encourage students to think critically about promotion as part of the marketing mix. Although there is no need for IB Business Management students to learn about the legal aspects of marketing or promotion, being aware of such rules or societal expectations can be useful for evaluative discussions about promotional strategies. Students should use ethics as a key conceptual lens in their discussions.
Extension task
What this short news clip about "shrinkflation" - the art of reducing a product's size or weight while charging the same retail price. This strategy is often used by supermarkets and other retailers of food and beverages. Shrinkflation is an alternative to retailers increasing their prices (inflation). However, in real terms, consumers still pay more per unit.
Discuss whether the use of shrinkflation is unethical or whether the strategy is more acceptable than simply raising prices due to inflation in the economy.
ATL Activity - 12 Hidden Symbols In Famous Logos
Many businesses spend huge amounts of money on promotion, including the use of logos (symbols that give brands, products and businesses a unique identity). Watch this 9-minute video that features twelve famous logos with hidden symbols / messages that you may not have had any idea about.
What does the video reveal about the logos of these twelve well-known brands/business?
Video times included for reference only:
1. Paramount Pictures 0:28
Apparently, the original logo was drawn on a napkin. The mountain on it resembled Ben Lomond in Utah, as it played an important part in the life of Paramount Pictures. The 24 stars around the mountain were not a random design for the logo, but represent the 24 actors and actresses who were the first to sign contracts with Paramount Pictures.
2. Domino's Pizza 1:22
The original Domino's Pizza logo had dominos on it. The one / single dot stood in the logo represented the very first Domino's Pizza restaurant. The subsequent two dots in the logo symbolised the two franchises that opened a few years later. The plan was to add dots for each new restaurant - but there were more than 17,000 Domino's Pizza restaurants around the world by the end of 2019!
3. Hershey’s Kisses 2:19
They video shows the chocolate Kiss shape between the “K” and “I”. The brand "Hershey’s Kisses" is so called because it is, apparently, named after the sound the chocolate makes moving onto the conveyer belt! The video also mentions that prior to 1921, the chocolates were individually wrapped by hand!
4. NBC 3:09
The peacock logo was first used by NBC in 1956. Of all the birds the company could have chosen, NBC choose a peacock for its variety of colours and also to show how proud they were of their new broadcasting technologies.
5. Carrefour 3:56
The name Carrefour translates as “crossroads”. That explains the red and blue arrows in the company's logo that point in opposite directions. The white space in between the arrows also shows a “C” - naturally, this stands for “Carrefour”.
6. Roxy 4:24
The world famous surfing brand, Quicksilver, launched it female clothings line called Roxy back in 1990. Roxy’s logo is more than just a heart to symbolise love for sports, as the crest in the logo is built of two Quicksilver logos on their ends.
7. Cisco 4:56
Internet networking giant Cisco got its name after the city of its headquarters – San Francisco. The company's logo has both a reference to its location and to what they do as a business - but also looks a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge too.
8. Picasa 5:19
The term “casa” means “home” in Spanish. The negative space in the centre of the logo of Picasa - a company owned by Google - looks like a little house. The house represents the home for Picasa customers' digital memories.
9. Nintendo Gamecube 5:54
The cube isn’t just a cube within a cube, as Nintendo's logo might first seem to show. The outer figure of the log is the letter “G” and the inside negative space forms a clear “C”. This shows "GC" for Gamecube.
10. Unilever 6:22
The letter “U” which clearly stands for Unilever is made up of 25 other icons that represent everything else that is important to the British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Look carefully, and it can be seen that there is a lock of hair, a tea leaf, a jar, a hand and even a spoon in the logo, as well as many other symbolic drawings that display the broad product portfolio of the company.
11. Wendy's 7:14
The fast food chain's company logo clearly says... “mom” on Wendy's collar. The idea is that Wendy’s is happy to give you the taste of your mom’s cooking, irrespective of whether you stick to a healthy diet or eat fast food as a guilty pleasure - even if the logo design was unintentional.
12. Pepsi 7:54
The designer of the revised Pepsi logo (for which it paid over $1m) has explained that this logo makes reference to the earth's magnetic field, Feng Shui, Pythagarus, geo dynamics, the theory of relativity, the Golden Ratio, the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, and even René Descartes (?!). True to its corporate culture, the red, white and blue colours of the Pepsi logo have always represented the American flag.
Business Management Toolkit - Hofstede's cultural dimensions (HL only)
For an organization of your choice, evaluate the role of culture dimensions for effective promotional strategies used by the business.
You might find it useful to refer to BMT 11 - Hofstede's cultural dimensions (HL only) prior to answering the above question.
InThinking Business Management resources
Click the hyperlinks below to access the InThinking resources for this particular section of the IB Business Management syllabus.
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