Q: "Advertising is the most 'important' element in the promotion mix." Discuss whether you agree or disagree by evaluating the other elements of the promotion mix. PART 3 DIRECT MARKETING

Sales Promotion Sales promotion affects the demand of a service or product differently to advertising. Whereas advertising is designed to create awareness and image the role of sales promotion is primarily to elicit an immediate purchase from the potential customer. Once again sales promotion doesn't seem as stylish or sophisticated as mass media advertising yet it has grown at an annual rate of about 9-12 percent. In comparison advertising expenditure has only grown at an …

…Thomas Duncan, the director of the integrated marketing communications graduate program at the University of Colorado summed up IMC nicely when he said "when all brand and corporate messages are strategically coordinated the effect is greater than when advertising, sales promotion, marketing, public relations and every other element are planned and executed independently, with each area competing for budgets and power, and in some cases, sending out conflicting messages." (Harris, Integrated Marketing Public Relations pg. 2)