Looking for an ambassador (fail)

Last month Geberit organized the contest ‘Beste Fitter van Nederland 2011’.
After five laps it was time for the final. The winner got great honor and won a price. However for Geberit it is really important that the winner become the ambassador of the contest and other marketing communication activities during the coming year.  
So, it is really important that the person who won the contest is suitable as an ambassador. Last year the contest was first held and then the right person won,  a charismatic and communicative person, so a real ambassador. However, the winner is chosen because of his plumber skills and not because of his communicative talent. On the other hand it is really important for Geberit that the winner is quite communicative, so he is a good ambassador for the contest. Therefore it was exciting to see who won this year. This year the winner is  a quiet person, a doer not a talker, not a real ambassador, so Geberit, what now?

Return on investment of Marketing communication

As a company it is important to produce products  what consumers really want to buy. These products should fit to the consumer needs and wishes, so the products should be reasonable priced, the quality should be important and off course the functionalities and the design of the product are important. However, when a company produces a product what really fits to the needs of the consumer it is important to be known as a company. Therefore, marketing communication is really important. There are different types of marketing communication, like TV advertising, promotional leaflets, exhibitions, a website etc.. Almost every company uses marketing communication, what costs a reasonable amount of money. However, what is the specific revenue of these activities? One of the main difficulties of marketing communication is the calculation of the return on investment (ROI) of the activity. What will be the profit of an activity after deduction of the full costs?
There exist several models to calculate these figures, however with these models it is still not easy. Which consumer buys due to the activity or would he bought the product without the activity too? This is what it makes difficult to calculate the ROI of an activity. You have to be aware of the fact that the type of marketing communication  influences the accountability of it.  
Marketing communication wherefore it is reasonable easy to calculate the ROI is by example when vouchers are used. Then it is clear which consumers bought the product due to the marketing communication activity.
In the contrary, exhibitions costs a lot of money, and it is not clear which consumers bought  the product due to the visit of the exhibition. Then it is really difficult to calculate the ROI of the activity.
So, marketing communication is a really important tool for a company and needs to be used. However,  it is not easy to calculate the ROI what makes it a sort of a controlled gamble and therefore you have to be aware of the ROI all the time (logical reasoning).
 oHoweH

Creativity will be rewarded!

When a company produces a product or provides a service it is very important to let the consumer know that you exist! Every company has several options to communicate their message about  their  product and service to the consumer.
This all is about Marketing communication. Advertisements on the television, on the radio, however nowadays new  media are getting much more important. The use of internet in marketing communication solutions is very useful because it is an interactive type of marketing and also very direct. You have to possibility to increase your knowledge about the  consumer (interaction)  and by using this knowledge you can specify your communication to an individual. So you will invest in more direct and useful marketing (no waste like by the old fashioned  methods on television or radio)
Another very attractive marketing communication tool is Free Publicity. Use news-items related to your company, events, product innovations and several other subjects to communicate for free. Also creative activities like (De Bavaria Dames) generate a lot of Free Publicity.  
So be creative and focus on new marketing technologies (use of internet) and Free Publicity. Your communication budget will be spend much better rewarded.