Forand Against

The debating teams were:

Discussion wascontinued after thedebate in one of Westminster’s famous politico pubs, The RedLion and several discussion points will be continued after this debate. The BPMA would liketothank everyone who attended thedebateasthe support for theindustryand new connections made will help raise theprofile of merchandise.

MEERKATS, MUSIC AND THOSE RED CAPS

Delving deep intothe emotional psyche, the proposing team from theBPMA, pointed to awide range of effective measures, citing theemotional response merchandise drives when received.Leaving lasting memory and exceptional recall,the proposers used a wide range of examples from Comparethe Market’smeerkattoystothe fact we drink from aStellaArtois ‘chalice’rather than apint glass. Even Trump’s infamous redcapswere used to illustratethe role of merchandise in asense of identityand belonging.

The opposing team leveraged theirside of thedebatebyusing examples of channels which happily providememorable experience and recall without merchandise. Tony Spong used aspecific piece of advertising music to illustratekey points on howweassociate withbrands and marketing. He urged the assembled audience to consider all sides in his closing speechtohelpshift thedebatevote.

Taking awiderange of questions from the floor,attendees challenged thedebaters to address keypoints from sustainabilitytobeing part of theconversation earlier in thestrategic process. End users from major media outlets pondered thequestion; whywas merchandise not in themix moreoften? Answering the questions from thefloor,the debaters qualified manydifferent aspects of thequestions posed particularly on sustainable options and howbest to bring merchandise intothe pitch processes earlier.The opposing team encouraged the assembled promo industryrepresentatives to put themselves front and centrewith theideas as thedoor waswide open.

Opposing Sides And Colleagues

On thedebateteam were not only two colleagues from thesameagency, VCCP,but also workedtogether on thesameaccount. This made thedebateevenmoreinteresting as it showeditwas possible to represent awide range of views from end users. During questions from thefloor,acouple of promo industry colleagues used great examples of merchandise activatedthrough VCCP on behalf of their clients whichmadefor afascinating discussion.

Sustainabilitywas Ahot Topic

Trevill addressed thewide range of sustainable questions raised to statethe important role of theindustrytoadvise and assist everyend user achievesustainable goals, citing thevast range of options the whole industryneeded to shout about.

Using promotional merchandise in an unashamed way, Carey Trevill’sclosingwords, pointed to thelovely promo gifts she had brought foreachmember of thedebateteam. Presented to eachbeforethe debatestarted she said she would forgivethemfor arguing against themotion as she knew they had fallen forthe wonderful sustainable and British made products in their goodie bags. Quoting a BPMA mantra, expect theextraordinarywhen it comes to promotional merchandise, Trevill urgedend users to appreciatethe pivotalrole merchandise playsinthe marketing mix.

Beforethe debate started, a‘pre-vote’was takentoascertain thedirection of theroom and withthe vote landing agreater majority, at least 15%ofattendees had changedtheir minds after hearing from thedebate. PM adds alittlefurther disclosuretosay theroom was split around 60/40 in favour of thedebatepurely as so manypromo people were in theroom.

The Debating Group

Under formal debating rules, The Debating Group has been debating contentious political issues whichsurround marketing since the 1970sand while this debatehad less political challenge, therepresentation of industryin this political setting brought thechallenges faced by our sector intothe spotlight.

The Debating Group boasts trade association members from across thespectrum and includes theChartered InstituteofMarketing, Advertising Association, IPIA, Data &Marketing Association and MarketResearch Society. The BPMA joined afew years ago and hosted one of thefirst virtual events in 2020,also winning that debate,helping further theprofile of theindustrywithend user audiences.

Tulip Siddiq MP is theDebating Group’s President and is joined by members of the House of Commons and House of Lords to support this important group,driving discussion about creative industries.