Abstract:

During 1969 and 1970 a programme of research was undertaken at the University of Bradford Management Centre which explored some hitherto ignored aspects of below-the-line promotion. Part of this programme, the whole of which was initiated and sponsored by Horniblow, Cox-Freeman Ltd. the London Advertising Agency, attempted to relate known behavioural phenomena from the wider orbit of marketing to below-the-line promotion specifically. Whilst a considerable body of knowledge exists on the impact and effectiveness of media advertising, in comparison the extant research on the whole area of below-the-line is miniscule. This is all the more surprising when it is remembered that, in the U.K. at least, total expenditure below-the-line is probably more or less equal to expenditure on media advertising. The ideas presented in this paper are as yet unproven hypotheses - they are hypotheses generated by an interpretation of the results of a survey of 1 U.K. housewives, 500 retailers and 15 in-depth company studies, together with recent thinking on the nature and role of marketing communications.