Comparing and contrasting product promotion strategies for teaching materials

Promotions strategies.

There are two types of promotion strategies:

Above the line promotion where TV, radio, newspapers, internet, and billboards are used amongst other stratagems)

Below the line promotion intended to be subtle so that consumer is unaware of advertising purpose (e.g. testimonials, sponsorship, product placement, direct mail, trade shows, and public relations).

The five elements that would be involved in promoting / selling the following two components are: personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity.

The promotional objectives for both are also similar in that their overall strategy is to: present information to consumers; increase demand for the product; and differentiate the product.

BREAKFAST CEREALS

A combination of above the line and below the line promotion will be used with emphasis on below the line. I will use Internet advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers. I will also give incentives like discounts ("two for the price of one"), a contest, a quiz show, and/or prizes listed at the back of the box that consumers can buy with x amount of coupons. I will also pay researchers to conduct special research on the benefits of using the equipment, and will then publish this research.

Games and recipes can be featured on cereal boxes, and features connected to popular trends for e.g. children or adolescents. Each box, too, will informally state the benefits that can be expected from consuming this product. This will make consumer feel good whilst motivating him or her to buy more of the product. All of these strategies are currently employed by best-selling products such as Kellogg and Post.

CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS

I will use Internet advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers. Similar to the above, a combination of above the line and below the line promotion will be used with emphasis on below the line.

Coke uses the 'my Coke' rewards strategy where customers enter codes found on specially marked coke products on a website. These codes can also be 'texted' from a cellular phone. The codes, converted into points, can be redeemed for prizes or sweepstake entries. In a similar way, in 2008, Pepsi Stuff featured premiums, such as t-shirts, hats, leather jackets, and mountain bikes -- that could be purchased with Pepsi Points either online or thoguh a special catalogue. This is a covert type of promotion where the product incentive itself seduces customers to buy more of the product. This promotional strategy can easily be applied to breakfast cereals too, particularly since both products are relatively small in scale and are also sold in bulk, therefore can readily employ these strategies. Compare, for instance, to large-scale products such as funeral homes or exercise machines where size and expense of the product warrants more over line promotion than below line promotion. (The larger and more expensive (quality-containing) the product, the more below line strategies such as some of those adopted by Kellogg's and Coke would cheapen the product).

Being that carbonated soft drinks do not, by their nature, have nutritional value, I will have to focus on other features and create my own. I would, therefore, connect it to relaxation and invent -- as Coke has done -- the connection of sparkling drinks with being 'cool'. Researching the 'in' trends of the time and researching the audience most likely to buy the drink, I will forge connections between the drink and audience by manufacturing a certain image. (I can do this too with cereals, focusing on the nutritional and natural, health-promoting image). This image can also be promoted via celebrities on TV shows and in other advertisements.