Cars, holidays, $$$….where do your promotional dollars go and whose brand is it anyway?One car – one happy consumer; 10,000 homes with continual brand presence? Your choice – rewarding the masses with branded promotional products….

By involving branded premiums in promotions as opposed to cars and holidays the brand is reinforced to the end consumer resulting in increased brand equity.Creating a continual brand presence, post purchase is the goal – or should be the goal of every promotion. Brand presence = top of mind = customer purchases = sales $$$.

Your questions answered on the big prize draw card…Some of the drawbacks of “the big prize offering”;

1) False Brand Building 2) Your P&A $$$ paying to advertise cars & holidays. 3) Rewarding only a single consumer.

Explanation: Many companies today have realized that by giving away a car or holiday – whilst delivering the initial impact in store, does very little to actually build the brand on a long-term basis. In fact the negative effect is that they are actually paying to advertise the cars and holiday destinations rather than their own brand. Travel and auto companies are often very accommodating – why shouldn’t they be – you are paying to promote their brand to every one of your consumers.

Example One: You are giving away a holiday that will be enjoyed by a couple or a family – and you can almost guarantee that they will not be thinking of your brand when on the holiday and may forget who paid for it shortly after they return. What you will have paid for is fun, experience and enjoyment for a single consumer who will remember what a great time they had at a theme park, at a tropical island beach or sightseeing overseas. Just to top it of – they will return advertising what a great time they had at ***** to friends and family, who may very well turn round and book a trip to that very destination. (Your advertising dollars well spent? – don’t think so.)

Example Two: You are giving away a car – ie the latest little convertible everyone is talking about. Similarly the car will be enjoyed by one person – and again you can almost guarantee that they will not be thinking of your brand when experiencing the driving pleasure every day and will forget paid for it shortly after they pick it up. Your prize dollars in this case work even further for the car company as what you will have paid for is a **** owner that will continually pay for servicing, new parts and accessories. Not to mention the fun, experience and enjoyment for that single consumer who will be reminded of the car brand every day when they are driving. And again – new car – everyone wants a drive, a look, and admire of your brand spanking new **** with little guarantee that your brand will even come up in conversation. (Your advertising dollars well spent? – ditto – read - don’t think so.)

$$$ CASH $$$ - Cash prizes are in a category of their own – everyone needs / wants cash. Fact is, cash works – it may not get you loyalty or repurchase later on but it does get instant sales volume. Cash is like winning Tattslotto – everyone will spend it differently. Given the choice – does the average blue collar supermarket buyer really want to: a) go first class to Europe. b) be driving around in a sports car they can’t afford to insure. Or, c) win cash so that they can pay the bills and take the kids to the beach for the school holidays and afford that new outfit or a few nights out? It may be boring to many but putting on the old “real world” cap and analyzing what the average (mass/majority) Australian is motivated about – it is cash – or lots of prizes and a good chance of actually winning.