Promotional Products as Internal Marketing Communication Vehicles A Case Study

• Published in: Journal of promotion management Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 51 - 64
• Main Authors: Cooper, Marjorie J., Straughan, Robert D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Binghamton Taylor & Francis Group 1997; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bank marketing; Communication; Contests; Insurance companies; Promotional products; Sales management; Sales promotions; Studies; United States > US
• ISSN: 1049-6491; 1540-7594
• DOI: 10.1300/J057v04n02_04

A study was conducted to assess the impact of using promotional products as internal communication vehicles in the context of a national insurance company's sales contest. It was expected that the frequent use of promotional products would not only increase salesperson performance, but would also result in a more positive attitude of both the communications and the contest.
As expected, the results indicate that the use of this type of internal communication can dramatically increase sales. Those salespeople receiving the promotional products each week generated 40% more new applications than the other groups. However, there was no appreciable difference between the group receiving occasional promotional products and the group receiving no promotional products. This suggests that a certain level of frequency must be achieved in order to affect behavior. Finally, contrary to expectations, attitudes among those receiving the promotional products were more negative than among the other groups. Possible theoretical and situational explanations for this outcome are discussed.