The Long and Winding Road

Fresh from the sale of Frankel & Co. to Publicis, Bud Frankel reflects on the legacy and the future of the promotions industry.

It’s a great time to be in promotion. Of all the marketing disciplines, promotion is re-emerging as one of the most sophisticated and powerful tools in the marketing mix. It used to be that marketers believed promotion triggered incremental sales and only advertising built a brand’s image. Times are indeed changing.

When I founded Frankel in 1962, clients were choosing their agency partners by discipline, be it promotion, direct marketing, or advertising. I was committed to providing solutions for clients’ problems, no matter what the discipline. Back then, I strongly believed that getting to know clients’ businesses – understanding their distribution channels and all the ways their brands interact with consumers – was paramount. Understanding the essence of the brand and developing relevant messages to motivate consumer action had to be the basis of all our promotional marketing strategies.

That vision has not changed. We offer clients the broadest possible range of capabilities based on a brand’s contacts with consumers whether at retail, on TV, or online. Most of the time, we don’t know which capabilities a brand needs until we start working with the client. Then we develop strategic marketing programs that fit the needs of the marketplace, the client’s corporate culture, and the brand’s distribution channels.

And most importantly, we measure results – by sales, distribution, point-of-sale or off-shelf displays, or features. What’s central to our measurement guidelines is the ability to not only increase sales but build the brand in the minds of consumers. As a testament to our results, we’ve won numerous Reggie Awards including a Super Reggie for Visa USA’s “Read Me A Story” program (1997) and a Gold for Oldsmobile Intrigue’s “Buzz Tactics” (1998).

BIG HAPPY FAMILY

The growing contribution promotion makes to brand awareness puts us in good company. As the marketplace continues to evolve, two truths have emerged. One, there’s less of a defined line between agencies handling brands. That gives us all the chance to be brand stewards and focus on what’s best for the brand. Two, consumers are far more marketing-savvy. Promotion pros need to be smart about their message to consumers. It’s not about the trinket, it’s about the essence of the brand and how that fits consumers’ needs.

At the turn of the century, global branding is the name of the game. Helping clients integrate their marketing programs on a worldwide basis is essential. At the same time, meeting the needs of consumers on an intimate, one-to-one basis is necessary. That’s why holding companies eager to offer myriad services are buying up promotion shops fast and furiously. Publicis SA bought Frankel in January. It’s great for us, and great for them. We join one of the world’s largest communications groups as it builds a U.S. presence. They get a marketing company known for its creative programs and blue-chip clients like McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, and Nestle USA. Publicis wants to take promotion marketing to a global level, but more importantly, it’s looking for brand stewards who are integrators with the capabilities to carry that out.

The recent spate of acquisitions shows a new give and take between holding companies and the agencies they buy. Holding companies give agencies the capital and global reach to grow. Agencies bring innovation and distinct brand-marketing tools to holding companies’ global client base.

At Frankel, we’ll use our new funding to continue our investment in technology initiatives, expand internationally, and substantially increase billings, revenues, and staff. Being part of the Publicis family gives us the chance to work with many more of the top multinational clients in every major category.

Now the real challenge comes for all promotion professionals. Blurred lines between disciplines and marketers’ growing reliance on agencies to deliver more integrated programs mean that we have to adapt like never before. As new marketing channels emerge, like the Internet, agencies have to choose to embrace or reject them. The shops that embrace highly sophisticated technology will lead the marketing communications industry.

Frankel has made a major investment in pioneering ways to integrate new technology into marketing. We have a patented digital point-of-purchase system engineered by our Siren Technologies division. Animated, digital signage is centrally controlled so promotion managers get perfect execution. We also have a patented image archiving and retrieval branding operation, BrandGuard, which permits clients to create everything from point-of-sale to direct-marketing materials worldwide. What’s next? For all of us, no doubt, it’s the vast potential of the Internet.

The irony is that while technology links us and shrinks our world, there’s more pressure than ever to produce global marketing programs. Companies like McDonald’s, Visa, and United Airlines are no longer American brands, they’re global leaders. As our clients supersede traditional borders, we must find a way to accompany them.

We promotion professionals have been dealt a challenging hand, and we’ve played it well. But the game ain’t over yet.