The Argentine Equation
For 20 years, I’ve had a great professional dream: to help elevate the promotionindustry in Argentina to a higher place in marketers’ minds. After enormous effort on the part of myself and others in the promotion marketing industry here, we’ve made some great advances.
Marketers have finally begun to understand that promotion is not only an effective tactical tool, but also an important strategic element in the development of global marketing plans.
Last spring, the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide (APMA) conducted a market research study with representatives from consumer goods companies at an organization-wide meeting in Buenos Aires. Our objective was to understand their views on the role of the promotion agency in strategic development.
We learned some interesting things. First, marketers admit that their advertising agencies aren’t addressing all of their needs. There is a distinct gap between their ad agencies, which they charge with increasing brand share in the minds of consumers, and promotion agencies charged with increasing brand share in the market.
The study found that Argentine marketers no longer approve of promotional efforts being led by junior management, which has been the tradition here since the beginning.
Most importantly, marketers said they recognize that current business conditions, new promotion tools, and technological advancements make it necessary for them to begin managing their brands differently. Ultimately, they admitted they needed a separate promotion agency.
Logistical intelligence Marketers in Argentina have developed clear ideas about the services the promotion agency should provide. They believe the agency should not be married to one specific tool, should be given the power to freely make recommendations, and should be staffed by seasoned promotion consultants with the ability to discuss strategies.
The Argentinean promotion industry doesn’t have any academic institutes to help train professionals, so it’s up to the agencies to train our own future professionals. Promotion associations around the world, including CAMPRO in Argentina, are working to improve this situation.
Agencies need to be highly creative. The marketer expects not only creative designs and promotion systems, but also strategic thinking on ways to build brands. Agencies need “logistical intelligence” to implement creative ideas under manageable budgets, and they also need to understand trade marketing, because consumer promotions should be accompanied by trade activity that improves the products’ reception in the market.
Agencies need to have reasonable operating costs if they want to maintain long-term relationships with their clients. Marketers should be able to work directly with suppliers if they want to, and agencies should support the supplier in the production of materials. Suppliers and agencies must create strategic alliances that ensure lower costs, excellent quality, and on-time delivery.
After many years at The Smith Group, a leading Argentinean agency that has won several World PRO Awards over the years, I have embarked on a challenge with a brand new agency that will try to adhere to the tenets set forth above. But we won’t succeed unless all promotion agencies focus on a few criteria as we enter the new millennium: Think globally, act locally, and provide know-how when it comes to recommending integrated programs to our clients.
That’s how promotion agencies will begin to enjoy a fair share of marketers’ communication dollars. That’s how we’ll form tactical and strategic dialogs with them. The goal is to be their partners in the defense of their brands’ market shares.
