Business Tip 6
Are You Delivering Consistent and Impactful Brand Marketing Messages?

"Here ... just use Joe's PowerPoint."
The great thing about Microsoft PowerPoint is that anyone can use it to throw together a marketing presentation. The bad thing...that's precisely what everyone does.

There's a good chance you have different presentations for each account, for each new product launch, for consumer insights, for event calendars, for in-store merchandising programs. And there's a good chance your colleagues have their own collection. Sometimes you borrow theirs and add a few "touches." Sometimes they borrow them back and add a few more. When all is said and done, does anyone know what messages the customers are getting? And what impression your people are making?

The issue with most organizations: a scattered, diverse, semi-professional collection of presentations, sell sheets, white papers, studies, calendars and who knows what else. You're a 21st century brand manufacturer with world-class product research, development, marketing, planning and logistics. Shouldn't your selling platform...the face you present to your customers...reflect that sophistication?

The "Wow" and the Wherefore
Interactive Edge, recognizing the need for consistency and control over the production and dissemination of brand marketing presentations, offers a solution in its Interactive Customer Marketing Tool. These computer-based selling platforms are customized for each brand organization to incorporate a full range of marketing objectives: from presentation of consumer insights, to new item intros, and in-store merchandising plans.

Furthermore, these solutions are professionally produced, incorporating animation, interactive features and the ability to customize on-the-spot for individual accounts and merchandising situations. (In short...you won't have to rely on the canned PowerPoint sound effects for your "Wow" factor.)

Interactive Customer Marketing Tool
Here's a look at how a wide variety of capabilities can be built into a single selling tool designed to provide consistency and flexibility for the entire sales/marketing organization:

Consumer Insights - Allows you to call up account-specific...or store-specific...shopper data and present relevant insights. Also incorporated can be an interactive Account Strategic Plan that lets reps customize strategies based on individual account objectives.

New item Presentations - A complete new item presentation can be made available with individual product icons launching product details and actual video/audio presentations of TV, Print, Radio and OOH.

National Programs -A menu-driven collection of all the company's brand programs. Reps can use this interactive application to sell-in national programs to retailers and to lock-in key events for the calendar year.

Customer Marketing Solutions - This section details the account's strategic plan, key programs and initiatives that have been locked-in; visuals of sample in-store displays, and profitability calculations based on product assortment.

Programs Calendar - Grids all of the national programs and key initiatives that have been locked-in. Programs can easily be added to or removed by clicking the Modify Calendar button at the bottom of the screen. The Reorder button is used to determine promotion priorities.

Build-A-Display -Simulates placement of product displays and merchandisers throughout a store to gauge impact.Users can dynamically select various store views including End Caps, Lobby, Front End, Perimeters and more. All product and POP selections are displayed for future analysis and profitability calculation. Final plan outputs can be easily exported to Microsoft PowerPoint for distribution and discussion."

Key Benefits

• Enhance your brand image with customers and trading partners using interactive media and customer-specific data and analysis
  
  
• Increase sales force efficiency and effectiveness with a streamlined sales and marketing communication strategy
  
  
• Repurpose solutions across divisions, products, new item launches, and from year-to-year
  
  
• Consolidate and centralize paper-based presentations, planners, product packaging, sell sheets, and other sales and marketing materials into a single, web-updateable electronic format
  
  
• Maximize the use of your creative assets. Graphics, video and animations"

The data, products and accounts depicted in this example are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual data, products or accounts is purely coincidental.