POI Pulse Guest Column
Four levels of Trade Promotion Management
If you are a sales manager, or an account manager the results your team or your team produces can really come down to what level you have collectively achieved with your management of Trade Promotions. I define these as the four levels of Trade Promotion Management and as you move up each of these levels, the thought processes employed changes and most importantly you will see a change in results.
Today I want to take you through the different levels from the ground up, based on the different maturity of the account managers and the team they operate within.
Level 1 – Decision
This is the lowest level of Trade Promotion Management and typically where too many account managers are at. This is the process of simply making decisions about levels of discounts, how much co-op to pay, a volume forecast and which products to promote. The clear majority of the decisions are conducted in a reactionary manner, or simply just going through the motions of repeating decisions made in the past. There is little or no understanding as to whether the promotions are financially viable or not.
Level 2 – Plan
An account manager who has graduated to level two is doing some degree of planning; that is, simply starting to think about how they will promote and how often. At this level there is certainly more thought around the financial viability of promotions and the general timing of them. The focus at this level is on meeting the customer requirement of X number of promotions each year with little or no general consideration for the mechanics involved in promotions. The relationship with the customer is typically a one-sided conversation where the account manager is implementing a plan driven by the customer’s desires.
Level 3 – Vision
This is the level where most account managers will believe they are at; but sadly, most are really at level two. This level is where there is true vision put into the promotional plan. Modelling around price scenarios and different promotion mechanics are employed. A high amount of trial and true engagement with retailers via Joint Business or Joint Category Planning where there is true understanding and implementation of experimentation in cooperation with the customer to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
Companies at vision level have invested heavily in a commercial insights or a trade marketing team who analysis and provide insights into promotion effectiveness and efficiency to drive the greatest possible return on investment.
Level 4 – Purpose
Rarely is this level achieved, yet this is where everyone should be aiming for. It is the simple step of understanding the purpose of promoting your products. An account manager or sales team at this level will have not only plan for the current year but a clear strategy for five years. You will not only have a good strategy but understand clearly the purpose and the associated long term goals.
Every decision made in the business will be aligned and referenced back to the purpose.
To learn more about how to level up, read the full article on the Blueshift website.
Industry News
Kellogg’s on Staying Relevant for Today’s Consumer Source: (Media Post October 4, 2018)
Kellogg’s The Cube brings more than 16 different data sources to examine usage cases and ensure the data is used in real time.,” In the past, this collection wasn’t happening in the same room at the same time. “Now, we leave those meetings with action plans and then come back afterward to review outcomes”
says Gail Horwood, SVP, Integrated Marketing, Learn more
Inside Amazon HQ – AI at Work Source: (CNN October 5, 2018)
“Every conceivable optimization opportunity has some form of machine learning applied to it,” said Srikanth Thirumalai, who leads search at Amazon. He’s been centered on using artificial intelligence techniques to make products more discoverable, and shopping more pleasant. His very first project was identifying duplicate product pages. Learn more
POI Fall Annual Summit, Dallas, TX “Collaborative Marketing Driven By Data Analytics” November 7-9, 2018
Join us for a Celebration, POI’s 10th Year Anniversary, with 300+ CPG and Retailer peers! Attendees include: Boston Beer Co., JM Smucker, Casey’s General Stores, P&G, General Mills Spectrum Brands, Clorox, Tito’s Homemade, Duracell, Colgate-Palmolive, Pernod Ricard, Maple Leaf Foods, Nestle, Starbucks, Church & Dwight, Kellogg, Mars, Tree House Foods, Pfizer, Hershey, Pharmavite, Energizer, Keurig, Dr. Pepper, 7-Eleven, Tillamook, Constellation Brands, Bimbo Bakeries, PepsiCo, Bush Brothers, Sargento, Rich Products, Bellisio Foods, Massimo Zanetti, DPSG, Deoleo Bertolli, Musco Family Olive, Daisy Brand, AAFES, Ajinomoto Windsor, Walgreen’s, Blue Buffalo, Pinnacle Foods, California Olive Ranch, Del Monte Foods, Mondelez, ConAgra, Palmero Villa, Novartis, J&J, Red Bull, Hormel, Clif Bar, Crayola, Cargill, Brown Forman, Campbell Soup,Abbott Nutrition, Johnsonville, Kimberly Clark, Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits BIC, Coca-Cola, Tyson Foods, Ventura Foods and more! See the updated preliminary agenda, and Register here
Inquire about a complimentary pass at jhampto@p-o-i.org
Del Monte’s New Messaging to Connect with Millennials Source: (Marketing Dive October 5, 2018)
Technology is also playing a larger role in engaging today’s shoppers beyond creative and branding. Del Monte recently piloted a solution to connect digital ad impressions to offline purchase data. Like the current campaign, it was an effort to reach millennials on a variety of devices and across different points in their purchase journey. Learn more
POI TPx and RE 2018 Survey – Benchmarking Opportunity
Be part of the dialogue at POI – In addition to getting a copy, time with the Author, Pam Brown, and insights on promotional performance improvement (including Digital, AI, and Advanced Analytics, those entering have the opportunity to earn a $500.00 Amex gift certificate! Please take the survey here!
Mondelēz’ Digital Accelerator Marketing Approach Source: (Marketing Week October 2, 2018)
Regional CMO, Debora Koyama is currently working on what Mondelēz calls its ‘Digital Accelerator’, a platform that aims to engage its brands and marketers with the latest technologies including voice, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, “all those more emerging, promising platforms. I’m excited to partner with everyone in the industry to shape and try to drive that. Collaboration and partnerships, experimentation, creating new relationships, trying different models.” Learn more
J & J Enlisting Influencers to Reach Gen Z Source: (Ad Age October 2, 2018)
“When we gave the teens this product, it was one they really loved, and they created great content,” says Simon Geraghty, U.S. acne portfolio lead for J&J. “They were using it all the time. Then we put it into paid media and auto-optimized based on performance, and it really took off. It had a 50 percent lift in sales after being stagnant a number of years. ” Learn more
Lean Cuisine, DiGiorno Deliver ROI with Twitter Source: (Mobile Marketer October 2, 2018)
Nestle’s Lean Cuisine had a $5.70 return on investment (ROI) after running its #ItAll campaign on Twitter and frozen pizza brand DiGiorno had a $4.95 ROI with a campaign that used Twitter’s Periscope service.. For both Lean Cuisine and DiGiorno, Twitter provided the highest ROI across social channels. Learn more
POI 2018 TPx Panorama Released – Announces Best in Class! Source: (Crossroads – NBC News 8-27-2018)
“Consumer buying behavior and the market landscape have dramatically changed in the last few years, which is further fueling a necessary but profound paradigm shift in the CPG ecosystem that calls for manufacturers and retailers to understand not only the consumer but pricing, trade deals, and digital marketing offers in today’s retail marketplace,” said Pam Brown, Chief Commercial Officer of the POI. “What we have found and reported in this year’s report is that vendors have upped their game and are offering predictive analytics, AI, machine learning, in-flight promotion tracking and other leading-edge capabilities that will help drive efficiency and trade.” Learn more, and access the report here
Kroger & Walgreens Blur Lines in The New ‘Competitive Ecosystem’ Source: (Forbes October 3, 2018)
Amazon’s head-turning acquisition of Whole Foods last year seemed to kick off the odd-couple/partnering-with-the-enemy retail trend as merchants scramble for ways to grab for market-share crumbs amid a $2.3 trillion global e-commerce shopping landscape and increasingly persnickety, choice-rich consumers who are gravitating toward healthier goods, be it organic bread or “clean” blush. Learn more
Scholarship opportunities available!
“I truly enjoy meeting as a group and learning from the professors and colleagues at the POI Certified Collaborative Marketer program at Saint Joseph’s University.
Thanks for putting this certification program together, it’s fantastic!” said Veronica Escalante, Customer Development Manager, Sprout Foods, Inc Learn more
Leave a Reply