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With billions spent annually on trade promotion, CPG’s second-largest expense after COGS, it’s time for post-graduate education in how to do it right, says the author and founder of the new Promotion Optimization Institute (POI).

Professionalizing Promotion

Management & Optimization:

A New EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIAL

A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR COLLABORATIVE MARKETING IS UNDERWAY, as the

recently formed Promotion Optimization Institute (POI) and several

food universities join forces to develop a new certification program and

promotion capability matrix, says Mike Kantor, POI’s Executive Director.

By MICHAEL KANTOR, FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PROMOTION OPTIMIZATION INSTITUTE

A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE CPG INDUSTRY HAS MADE THE CASE FOR SHARED RESPONSIBILITY IN OPTI-

MIZING PRICE AND PROMOTION

. The changes constituting this shift are that:

Consumers / shoppers are shared, have greater choices, are less loyal and more savvy;

Access to quality, real-time data through integrated systems is driving better decisions;

A historic shift in the economy is challenging trading partners to do more with less.

These three trends necessitate a more strategic, collaborative approach –– one that makes it possible for

CPG companies to optimize merchandising, marketing, and sales efforts in new ways.

Even in today’s challenging economic climate, best-in-class marketers are not slashing promotional invest-

ments across the board. Rather, they are taking a targeted, opportunity-based (brand, category, and store)

and geographic approach to the type and depth of events. The goal is to produce the most profitable

results in serving today’s consumers.

But to do this effectively, marketers need to learn how to collaborate and optimize their promotional

efforts.

The first step is identifying mutual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and skill sets. By doing so, trading