While most managers would think long and hard before bringing to market a product that lacked patent protection and could be easily imitated, many invest in sales promotions — sweepstakes, coupons, time-limited price discounts, free gifts or samples, special events, displays, membership rewards, consumer-directed promotions and so on — that are easier to imitate than the simplest new product. Others sign off on plans so generic that they seem unrelated to the brand or company offering them, despite the fact that sales promotions may absorb a significant portion of a company’s promotional dollars — currently a reported 31% of marketing budgets1 — and they are increasingly being used for both packaged goods and consumer durables as concern has grown about the cost effectiveness of media advertising.2

For example, the “you pay what we [employees] pay” price promotion instituted by General Motors Corp. during the summer of 2005 was imitated after only five weeks by its two major U.S. rivals. Analysts estimate that the promotion cost GM an average of more than $5,000 per vehicle3 through its September 30 termination, contributing to a $4 billion loss on North American operations during the first nine months of 2005.4 The full year was marked by a 50% decline in GM stock value and a 4% decline in sales vs. 2004.5

The unhappy outcomes for GM — and similar ones for imitators Daimler-Chrysler and Ford — illustrate the negative consequences of easy-to-copy promotions, but this example is hardly unique. An analysis of 20 years of research evaluating sales promotions indicates that most such promotions do not pay off, and even the studies painting a happier picture find no more than 60% earning back their costs.6

In contrast, a strategic focus leads to promotions that defy or delay imitation and yield disproportionate benefits for companies that have already developed a strong competitive position. For a fraction of the cost of the “you pay what we pay” promotion, any automobile marketer — or any other marketer — has a range of promotional tools to consider. For example, both the Pontiac and Cadillac divisions of GM reported successful promotions in 2005 that did not involve discounts. Pontiac used an episode of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” television show to have two teams compete in producing brochures for the 2006 Pontiac Solstice, a new model compact convertible. Viewers