UK Issues

• The subjects of promoting to children and alcohol promotions continue to be high on the agenda. They have now been joined by increasing concerns over data collection and use by marketers, particularly for behavioural targeting.

With the coalition government in power, marketing to children is moving higher up the agenda. The IPM is working closely with the Advertising Association, to provide evidence defending promotional marketing against the criticisms being levelled at it. The IPM has also been fully supportive of the Advertising Association’s ‘CHECK’ initiative that provides information on best practice marketing to children.

Alcohol promotion continues to come under scrutiny. The IPM, alongside the Advertising Association, will continue to work on the industry’s behalf to fight an outright ban on alcohol-related promotions.

• The government’s focus on social marketing – marketing communications aimed at changing citizen’s behaviour for the good of society – is of considerable interest to the IPM as behaviour change marketing is what we are all about. We will be seeking ways to engage with the government, the Third Sector, and industry on best practice in this area.
• The Institute has taken a lead role in the extension of the ASA’s remit which, as of March this year, gave it the power to apply the code to companies’ own websites.

Since we believe that digital media are the ‘media of choice’ for promotions, this is an area where we have greatly influenced the outcome. This is a particularly important initiative given the number of online-related consumer complaints received by the IPM’s Compliance department.

Europe

• The EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices. We now have three decisions from the European Court of Justice that have made it clear that only those practices that are specifically banned by the UCP can be forbidden by EU national governments. Any national laws banning promotional marketing practices that are not listed under the UCP are not valid. It may take some time for the impact of these decisions to work its way through EU member states. Furthermore, some member states have indicated a desire to change the UCP to allow them to continue to ban a range of promotional techniques.

It is possible that some EU countries may continue to try to apply national laws restricting promotional marketing. If so, then it is likely that the relevant cases would be referred to the European Court of Justice. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep members informed.

Further advice on running promotions, whether in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, or in relation to other European countries, is available from the IPM’s Legal Advisory Service.

• The Institute continues to lobby in Brussels, at Westminster and through its direct links with BIS (formerly BERR) and the AA. It also works closely with the Federation of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA) in lobbying at the EU Parliament. The Institute is also a member of the Promotional Marketing Council of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA).

The Olympics

The IPM’s legal team, Philip Circus, Beverley Saha and Ruth Hobbs, is working closely with the London 2012 brand protection team to ensure that the promotions industry is treated fairly when it comes to what promoters can and can’t do in the run-up to and during the London Olympics. The LAS team has issued guidelines to ensure promoters do not fall foul of the rules and is on hand to advise on what is permissible.

Education

Education continues to be a major driver on the IPM’s agenda. Chris Bestley, our Director of Education, and Richard Pink, Associate Director, have noticeably strengthened the current program both in terms of content and new tutors. Over the last 12 months, they have added new courses including An Introduction to Shopper Marketing and Fundamentals of Motivation.

The next 12 months will also see the following courses added to the education line-up:

Measuring the Value of Experiential Campaigns
Running Promotions on Mobile

• The IPM Diploma in Promotional Marketing remains the definitive foundation course in promotional marketing. To ensure we provide the very best and most useful content to delegates, each module has undergone the most thorough review in the Diploma’s history.

We also introduced a second intake for the Diploma, with the course commencing in September each year.

• The IPM Diploma in Motivation, now in its seventh year, continues to attract a healthy number of students.  

• In-house training: There is increasing use being made by agencies and promoters of this in-house facility, particularly in light of promotional marketing practices being passed over to brand management.

• The Measuring Promotional Effectiveness course goes from strength to strength in light of the increasing need for measurement.

Institute members benefit, of course, from significant savings on the above courses. Full details are available here.

Awards

The IPM Awards 2011 continued to build on the success of and changes to our awards program made over the last three years. In spite of a tight market, entries were up by 14% and over 650 people attended the ceremony at the Hilton, Park Lane in June. A number of winners were then submitted as entries to the European IMC Awards and MAAW Globe Awards.

Legal Advisory Service

• The Legal Advisory Service (LAS) continues to grow in stature and in usage, and is an area in which we achieve unparalleled positive feedback. This is becoming an ever more important service, particularly in the area of digital promotions. We have also seen how failure to comply can result in damage to the reputations of brands.

In December last year, two new LAS consultants, Beverley Saha and Ruth Hobbs, were appointed by Head of Legal, Philip Circus, and Annie Swift. Beverley spent nine years as Legal Counsel at Coca Cola and then set up her own legal practice specialising in promotions and contractual law. Ruth spent 15 years working in promotional marketing agencies, latterly as Group Account Director at Rivet (now Open). She subsequently set up her own consultancy specialising in compliance. Following the very sad death of LAS consultant David Dargan in January 2011, Beverley and Ruth worked alongside Mike Slipper prior to his retirement in July 2011.

Given Beverley’s area of expertise, the IPM is now able to offer a further service – drafting and reviewing client/agency contracts.

• The IPM Seal, the consumer-facing accreditation scheme, continues to gather momentum and we have recently seen a marked increase in promoters and agencies applying to be granted it. Any promotion, in its entirety, that passes the rigorous guidelines laid down by the IPM’s Legal Advisory Team is awarded the Seal. The promoter may then include the Seal logo on-pack, on point-of-sale material, in ads, on DM material and online as a reassurance to the consumer that the promotion is legal, decent, honest and truthful, and hence safe to participate in. In other words, it does what it says on the tin. The Seal has been applauded by the industry, and by other associations such as ISBA and the ASA, and around 200 campaigns have already been granted usage. The Seal comes as part of the LAS package with no extra costs.

Significant savings on LAS usages are, of course, in place for Institute members.

• The Institute has added to its legal support by offering advice on areas such as corporate finance, commercial property, employment law and commercial litigation. Members are now able to access this advice, at very preferential rates, through our exclusive alliance with leading law firm Lewis Silkin.
• The Institute also offers legal advice on international promotions through Phillip Circus, our Director of Legal Affairs.

Joint Partnership Initiatives

• A closer working relationship has been forged with the DMA, ISBA, IAB and BCSC (British Council of Shopping Centres) with reciprocal member benefits being extended.
• The IPM’s Coupon Committee actively confronted the retail industry on the problems of coupon mis- and mal-redemption and fraud. There has been significant press coverage both in the nationals and the trades and, following intense lobbying, the major retailers have now changed their coupon policies in an attempt to eradicate mis- and mal-redemption.  
• A service called the Survival Kit was launched over 18 months ago. The IPM put together a small group of well-established and respected experts in fields ranging from specialist financial support and advice, leadership and team coaching, outplacement and career transition program through to TUPE transfers, debt recovery, corporate finance and litigation. Each expert has a wealth of experience in one or more of the above areas and, what’s more, is offering privilege rates to Institute members.

Research and Insights

• Over a year ago, the IPM joined forces with Colin Harper, a leading researcher in the field of marketing, to provide much needed data and insights into promotional effectiveness. The first ever value of the promotions market was established, with estimates of over £36 billion. Two White Papers have already been published with more scheduled. Seminars accompany each White Paper and, to date, have been particularly well attended by brand owners and agencies.
• The IPM has teamed up with the University of Westminster to provide further insights into the effectiveness and ROI of a range of promotional marketing techniques across most product categories.
• Recently the IPM forged a relationship with leading research outfit fast.MAP and is partnering the latter in the Marketing GAP. This is a high-profile annual study, now in its seventh year, in which consumers are asked how they respond to a range of marketing techniques and creative treatments. Marketers are then asked what consumers think of marketing and how they think consumers respond to those techniques and treatments. The ‘Marketing GAP’ is the difference and, with the IPM’s support, the focus is on how to close the GAP – invaluable information for marketers and their agencies.

IPM Generation

Last year, the IPM established a new group, called Generation. 12 ‘young’ industry representatives now meet on a regular basis to discuss ways in which the Institute can better engage the younger end of the promotions market (those under 35). One of their first initiatives was the introduction at last year’s IPM Awards of a new award, called ‘The One to Watch’, recognising the exemplary contribution of a young person to a particular campaign/campaigns. Further initiatives, including events, will soon be announced.

Industry Representation

The Institute continues to play an active role in the direction of the promotional marketing industry:

• In Europe, through our membership of EACA and FEDMA, and through lobbying in Brussels and at Westminster;
• Through our active membership in or partnership with marketing industry bodies and trade organizations including AA, ASA, ASBOF, CAP, ISBA, IPA, IAB, DMA, BCSC, POPAI, PROMOTA and BPMA;
• Maintaining our profile by taking space at marketing industry exhibitions and continuing our participation in the Parliamentary Debating Group (through which we sponsored a very successful debate at the House of Commons on the Big Society and Social Marketing).

Promotional Marketing Magazine

Under the stewardship of Publisher Matt Sullivan and Editor Martin Croft, Promotional Marketing magazine and its website continue to gain more gravitas. As mentioned previously, the brand has now been extended into Awards (the Cogs), one-day conferences (Mobile and Social Media) and a weekly e-newsletter providing the industry with the week’s most significant news and developments from the world of promotional marketing.

Member involvement/Events

Member involvement is critical to the future success of the IPM, particularly at a time when it seeks to extend its services to the industry and make people and organisations from all marketing disciplines recognise that promotions are part of what they do.

As a result, 2011 has seen more opportunities for Members and Non-Members to engage with both the IPM and with each other through Chairman’s lunches and dinners, seminars, roundtables, briefings, and through more social networking events – sporting tournaments, quizzes, and further activities up and down the country.

Summary

Challenging times call for brave and innovative measures. Such times have traditionally presented opportunities for the promotions industry. The IPM has made great strides in making itself more relevant to practitioners and brands that have yet to recognise that promotions permeate the content of their communications across all media.

We still have some way to go, but with the initiatives that we are taking, and through the hard work of the Board and the IPM Team, I am confident that we are making the changes necessary to position us to take advantage of the opportunities that are ahead and to provide added value and confidence to businesses that promote.

Bob Suppiah
Chairman