Two successful promotions

By Charles D. Lauber V.P., Advertising & Promotion Palmer G. Lewis Co. Auburn. Wa.

E VERYTIME you stick your neck

L out and state "this was our most successful promotion" you (l) must be specific regarding what "success" is, and (2) run the risk of 'one-upsmanship' from a reader who might say "that's not so red hot."

At our request, Charles D. "Chuck" Lauber has set out brieJly here two successful case histories of promotions by the Palmer G. Lewis Co. of Auburn, lla., of which he is the v.p. advertising and promotion. PGL has an excellent reputation for helping dealers with advertising and promotion. - ed.

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Nevertheless, we'll proceed and describe two promotions that we felt were quite effective as to number of people involved, financial success and positive results.

(l) *CONTEST OF THE YEAR"

One objective of this three month PGL Company promotion is to concentrate employee selling efforts on a single supplier; our ?artner in the Contest of the Year'.

Another goal is to sell as many "Winter Sorting Orders" (a wide range of specific products - written on one invoice) which allows the customer extended payment terms and some discounts. Prize drawing tickets for a $ 1,000 Hawaiian vacation trip and $250 cash pize are issued to salesmen and a portion to all other full time employees.

Excitement increases as the annual company banquet approaches, when top salesmen are honored and the drawings for the Hawaii vacation trip and cash prize are conducted. Throughout the three month span, biweekly reports are issued and eyecatching bulletins keep the interest in the promotion at a high level.

Results: several dozen more W.S.O. orders were written than the previous contest of the past year and sales of the Partner-in-the-Contest products exceeded our estimate. Plus accumulated points for the whole contest

(Please turn to page 33)

Story at a Glance

The "whys" behind two successfu I industry promotions . one was an in-house contest by a supplier and the other was the same suPPlier's assist to a retailer having a grand opening sale.

Successful Promotion

(Continued from page 30) were double over last year's contest. All promotion pieces were designed and printed in the PGL Auburn, Washington "advertising & promotion" department.

(2) DEALERASSTSTSELLTNGPRO_ MOTION

The PGL advertising and promo- tion department assisted a Levenworth, Washington dealer in promoting consumer sales during their grand opening sale by producing an 8-p., 2-color tabloid.

Working closely with the management of Marson and Marson in developing the tabloid resulted in a sale that was very impressive. The four day event brought in cash sales totaling approximately $27,000 and charge sales on items directly related to the sale were approximately $13,000.

Palmer G. Lewis Co. has produced over four million total tabloids for dealers on the West Coast and Alaska.

SATES PB0M0Tl0N by Palmer G. Lewis Co. of the 'Contest ofthe Year",an employee sales contest combined with $1,000 vacation trip drawing, was well promoted from within. Capitalizing on the Rose Bowl-bound U. of W. Husky football team with '1ickets" and a contest drawing ticket. lt continued on through bulletins and reports every two weeks, culminating in the "Star Awards" contest banquet program and place card. Several of the bulletins and folders are reproduced above.