Symbiotic Co-Marketing Expenditures Increasing

Duncan (2005, p 510) reports that symbiotic, co-marketing expenditures have increased over the past decade at the expense of traditional consumer promotions and advertising. The reason? Several factors he says: lost effectiveness of traditional advertising, economic changes have forced marketing managers to be accountable, and finally there has been a power shift from manufacturers to retailers. Sounds like Wal-Mart and Chiquita Brands.

Duncan does say (p. 507) that a sales team must take precautions with the hippos in the channel, however. Retailers especially are often more interested in building their own brand and use co-marketing funds to subtlely do that. How to counter this misuse? Manufacturer sales teams produce their own ads or tv spots for the retailers/channel to use. The local retail outlet has a time slice to give name and address.

Reference
Duncan, T (2005). Prinicples of Advertising & IMC. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.