Promotional marketing is no longer simply about competitions and prize draws. Social media and the increasing use of experiential marketing means communications professionals, particularly within PR, need to know what how to use promotional marketing. Graham Temple, chairman of the industry body, the Institute of Promotional Marketing, talks legal regulations, opportunities and change

What does the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM) do?

We were set up in 1933 and at the time, it wasn’t called the Institute of Promotional Marketing. It was, in the main a body set up to support sales people and it became quite soon after the end of the war, the Institute of Sales Promotion. We changed the name six years ago and became the Institute of Promotional Marketing. We are a membership organisation and also sit on the CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) committee and therefore are responsible for assisting to write and maintain the advertising codes.

Why is promotional marketing important for communicators to understand?

We look after everything non-broadcast. It used to be competitions and on pack offers and those are still really effective, but it’s also about experiential activity, when people take part in an event.

Promotional marketing is about changing behaviour – which could be that they’re going to buy a different product, they’re going to buy that product more often – alternatively changing behaviour could be teaching kids to cross the road or fasten their seat belts. It doesn’t have to necessarily result in the sale of a product, but you can use it to change behavior by increasing the awareness through non-broadcast channels.

How has social media changed promotional marketing?

We are so aware now of lots of PR agencies getting involved in social media and of course we have an interest there, because if they're running some sort of online promotional marketing campaign as an attachment to social media communications, they may not be aware that there are certain codes and requirements in place that they should be aware of.

The lines are being blurred, the promotional marketing world has changed and if you go back to the ‘60s, it would’ve been the competitions or the prize draws. That was great and for many many years promotional marketing didn’t develop at the same rate as the advertising community. It wasn’t until we entered the world of digital everything that prom marketing started to change beyond all recognition because we found there were new channels of communications open to us that weren’t there before. We started to change and we ended up with lots of different specialists within our industry and we have this eclectic mix. This entire mix of specialists falls under the promotional marketing umbrella.

What does the IPM do in terms of legal regulation and guidance?

We’ve launched for the LCC, the legal code certification. It’s an online course that our members and non-members can take which specialises in the basic legal understanding that affects all things promotional marketing; the laws and regulations, including the writing of terms and conditions. We’re not seeking to turn the promotional marketing industry into legal experts, but it does occur to us that there aren’t specific qualifications that you need to get into this business.

We have this online legal code certifications course where we’re encouraging our members to put their employees on it. It’s not compulsory, but it does give everybody a basic grounding in the rules. If you can work within those rules, then you can be creative within those guidelines. If you don’t know what the parameters are, then you might find that that can’t quite happen.

We provide a legal advisory service for our members where we approve promotional marketing campaigns for legal and regulatory compliance. They deliver whatever it is they want to have approved and within 24 hours, we get it back to them. We can also give the IPM seal which is a verification tool to give consumers and brands the confidence that the promotion is absolutely legal, to code. We’ve just begun to give legal advice on European campaigns as well.

What are the consequences if a campaign does not comply with regulations?

If something was not complying with the law or the code of practice, the Advertising Standards Authority, the body that investigates complaints – that are normally consumer driven – would be made aware of a campaign. On occasion, what could happen, the ASA will investigate and could uphold that complaint and that is the walk of shame. They would publicise the fact that it doesn’t comply in some way and could advise the promoter to withdraw the campaign. That doesn't happen very often but it does happen from time to time.

What services does the IPM offer its members?

One is our educational training. We have 12 different courses which range from certificates in various disciplines, right up to the IPM diploma. Our role is to make sure that practitioners of promotional marketing are informed in every aspect of it as they could ever wish to be. These courses and qualifications are recognised by Greenwich University. Within the promotional marketing fraternity, they are very highly recognised. We have about 100 people who go through a diploma every year.