Sales Promotion: Going hand in hand

charity's first partner two months later, it proved to be the first
illustrious tie-up of many. Others that have since joined include Gap,
Giorgio Armani, Converse, Motorola, The Independent and Apple.

The benefits for the charity have been clear: heightened awareness, not
to mention a sizeable financial contribution. For its brand partners, it
has meant much the same, in addition to a crucial third advantage: they
have been able to tap the tie-up to show their social
responsibility.

Of course, not all partnerships involve a charity, but the principles of
each partner benefiting from the power and reach of the other remains
true. One further benefit of both parties being commercial entities is
that by piggybacking each other's marketing they can also save on media
spend, while gaining access to additional markets.

When Tabasco wanted to grow its market, it tied up with Papa John's to
encourage the pizza delivery chain's customers to smother their deep
pans in the fiery sauce. The idea was to increase brand awareness,
persuade pizza eaters to try the combination and then maintain
consumption levels.

Toucan developed a campaign that featured a third party on Tabasco's
packaging for the first time. Six-sheet posters, email, SMS and online
activity supported an on-pack free pizza offer, while Papa John's
offered consumers sauce samples and limited-edition pizzas with Tabasco
as an ingredient.

'The two brands shared the cost because they could see the considerable
benefits of working together,' explains Gary Rapps, managing director at
Toucan. The activity reached more than 15m people and boosted sales of
Tabasco by 40%. 'The promotional tie cemented their relationship - both
brands are still talking to each other and it has given them the
confidence to explore other similar partnerships.'

While a straightforward sales increase is one potential result of a tie
with another brand, the partnership technique is even more effective for
promotions that are not particularly sexy to consumers. 'For the COI,
which has to deliver important but dry messages to specific audiences,
it works well,' says Luke D'Arcy, group marketing director at Iris.
'Some audiences are turned off by traditional communication channels and
authority figures, so you have to find credible ways of engaging
them.'

The COI last year created a roster of partnership agencies to respond to
the challenges faced by its government department clients, communicating
key messages including its five-a-day healthy-eating campaign and the
'Frank' drug information activity.

Previously, the sponsorship department handled such work, but
partnership marketing calls for a fresh set of skills, believes Daphne
de Souza, who oversees the roster and is the COI's head of sponsorship.
She adds that sales promotion agencies in particular are well-versed to
handle such tie-ups. 'The agencies can identify partners, negotiate with
them, develop promotional activity and implement the work,' she says.
'Tie-ups with trusted brands can be an extremely effective way to get a
message out.'

The Home Office's domestic-violence campaign needed to communicate a
message to women and men in a discreet manner; communication was carried
through Unipath pregnancy testing kits, Burger King and Topshop among
others. 'Now we have the case studies, we can start to educate our
clients. We can also get our media planning agencies to recommend it as
an approach,' says de Souza. For brands that get involved, there are
corporate social responsibility benefits too. 'There tends to be a
high-profile ad campaign to support the work, so there can be a "hero"
effect for brands,' she adds.

Clive Mishon, chairman of the Institute of Sales Promotion and a
long-term advocate of partnerships, points out that one brand's direct
mail can be another's promotion. 'Sales promotion has always been good
at recognising non-traditional media and leveraging them for the good of
both brands, whether it is bread wrappers or cereal packets,' he
says.

Britvic's J2O teamed up with Little Britain duo Matt Lucas and David
Walliams to promote the comedy act's first live tour. The campaign,
through Inferno, used promotions in bars and pubs, a website and taxi
and ambient advertising to build awareness of the tour and drive
on-trade sales. 'The strength of this tie lays in the popularity of the
Little Britain brand,' says Kate Emery, director of Inferno. 'J2O
leveraged this at point-of-purchase and beyond.' The work helped the
tour sell out and, based on the media used and the show's audience,
Inferno estimates the partnership reached more than 750,000 people.

Toucan's Rapps identifies two approaches to partnerships. The quick fix,
which might take the form of an on-pack promotion, gives a reward to
consumers and can target a new customer base at a relatively low cost.
The second approach has more in common with sponsorship, where brands
can benefit from a longer-lasting relationship.

Although Mishon believes brands are learning they can boost ROI by
looking to the longer term, citing Nectar as an example, Rapps says the
trend is 'toward the quick-fix, low-cost approach because it is less
hassle and allows firms to make tactical associations and run ad-hoc
projects'.

Such approaches could be accused of lacking in strategic thinking, warns
Iris chief executive Ian Millner, who argues that purely tactical
partnerships that aim to reach as many consumers as possible with
'indiscriminate offers' risk eliciting a cynical response. 'If consumers
feel they have seen it all before, they are less likely to be impressed,
and the partners will derive no differentiation and no lasting value,'
he says. 'For partnership marketing to be really successful, it needs to
be treated as a marketing discipline and not just a sales tool.'

While the attraction of shared budgets and sales lifts is undeniable,
there is potential for difficulties if brands with conflicting
objectives try to work together. One party might change its plans,
resulting in time and resources being wasted, or a partner's sales force
might fail to implement the scheme effectively.

One way for partners to avoid such risks is for both brands to sign a
letter of intent as soon as possible after agreeing to work together,
which should define roles and responsibilities, so each party knows
exactly what its commitments are. 'When getting into bed with other
brands, you have to be 100% sure the partner is as enthusiastic,' warns
Rapps. Brands have to be ready to lose a certain amount of control.
'Ultimately, it is often the partner that leads the activity.'

However, flexibility is also vital, as is compromise. 'In our work for
the COI, we often find that the strict brand guidelines are less
important than getting the core message out there,' says D'Arcy. 'But
you have to be clear about what you want.'

It is also important for brands to spend time cultivating their
relationship. Folio Hotels, which hired partnership specialist Cocktail
Marketing to help it build a variety of arrangements, spent three years
arranging a deal with publisher Emap. 'The big investment is in time -
you have to approach it like business development,' advises Mark Taylor,
head of marketing at Folio Hotels. 'Everybody has their own objectives,
so you have to establish mutual interests. The Times seeks added value
for readers, so we were able to offer a two-for-one night deal that
performed better for us than buying an ad in the Daily Mail.'

What each partner expects to get out of the activity also needs to be
determined early, as their objectives will not necessarily be the same.
'It is hard to isolate the effect,' admits COI's De Souza. 'At the
moment, we use an advertising equivalent value model. We try to convince
clients to put evaluation into the budget, but if they are dealing with
a relatively small budget of £200,000, it can be difficult.'

For Mishon, however, such problems are outweighed by the advantages of
partnering. 'No two deals are the same so you have to think around the
issues,' he says. 'You have to examine who you are talking to and the
cost against the benefit. It's not easy, but nothing worthwhile is.'

CASE STUDY - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Partnership marketing is often about more than just sales, as the COI
has proved through its use of this tactic to communicate government
campaigns to specific markets.

Last summer, the Department of Health (DoH) was keen to communicate with
young people to cut rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted
infections. It also wanted to promote behaviour change and encourage the
use of condoms by 16- to 24-year-olds. However, this group is turned off
by authority figures, so a more innovative approach was required.

Roster agency Iris conducted research into young people's attitudes and
identified music as a communication route. Iris co-ordinated the
creation of a portfolio of influential brand partners to communicate a
credible message. Partners included MTV and Radio 1, along with 1Xtra
and Durex.

An umbrella identity, Bare All This Summer, was developed, which
included an online survey seeking information on attitudes to sexual
health and individual experience. Media partners were then able to
create bespoke content, while featuring safer-sex messages. Marketing
activity also directed people to the campaign websites,
www.bareall06.co.uk and www.playingsafely.co.uk.

Radio 1 kicked off a week-long campaign in May fronted by Tim Westwood
and Sara Cox. A free helpline offered advice and Durex donated 500,000
condoms through on-air promotions and at summer music festivals.

According to the DoH, it was essential to keep innovating and looking
for credible third-party voices in order to be heard. 'These groups have
a close affinity with brands, and by using a partnership approach, it
was possible to communicate with them in a more effective way.'