AU2004100972A4 - Marketing and promotion of goods and services - Google Patents

Description

P/00/012 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "MARKETING AND PROMOTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2

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Z MARKETING AND PROMOTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES" FIELD OF THE INVENTION OTHIS INVENTION is concerned with a system for marketing and 0 o promotion of products and services in a localized precinct.

The invention is also concerned with a medium to convey a marketing 0 or promotional message relating to products or services available to potential consumers in that localized precinct.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Methods or processes for marketing a promotion of goods and services progressively have become more sophisticated to take advantage of developments in communication and media formats. These methods or processes must also adapt to changing demographics in a target audience.

As marketing techniques become more sophisticated and highly specialised to suit a particular good or range of goods or a particular service, this sophistication and specialization has lead to narrowly defined consumer target definitions representing smaller and smaller demographic groups as demographic criteria become highly refined.

While these highly sophisticated marketing techniques may avoid wastage of resources or inappropriate consumer targets compared with more conventional broad spectrum marketing with newsprint or television media, much, if not all of the savings can be offset by the costly nature of such specialized marketing campaigns.

For broad spectrum marketing campaigns attempting to reach the wisest demographic profiles, newsprint and television are probably the most common media. It has been shown however that to be effective, newsprint and television marketing of a product or service needs to be repetitive and 3

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0 frequent, and, in many cases constant over a protracted period of time to be effective on potential consumers having a jaded and ever decreasing Z attention span from constant bombardment with advertizing material.

N Prolonged, repetitive print media and television marketing campaigns add substantially to the cost of the good or services being marketed.

N At present, there exists a need for a cost effective system and/or Cr medium which is exposed to the widest demographic group possible or even 0 o to separate or disparate demographic groups and which can effectively 1 convey a marketing or promotional message to a target demographic.

One example of a hitherto cost effective marketing system for goods and/or services was the humble matchbook. Inexpensive to product and distribute, matchbooks had front and back outer surfaces to carry a simple message and, in some cases, the inside surfaces of the matchbook cover could also be utilized to carry additional or alternative promotional messages.

Matchbooks probably peaked in effectiveness during the 1960's and 1970's as they were useful to smokers who then formed a significant proportion of the population across a very wide demographic range.

Typically, matchbooks promoting hotels, restaurants, cigarette brands, alcoholic beverages and all manner of goods and services were provided on restaurant tables, bedside tables in hotels, cashiers desks and the like as free give-aways. Of more recent times it has been proposed to utilize a pack of toothpicks to carry advertizing indicia for similar goods and services and to place these packs of toothpicks on tables in restaurants or on countertops in take-away food outlets.

The success of matchbooks and toothpicks as an advertizing or marketing medium relied upon customers taking the matchbook or toothpick pack away and use it several times over thus exposing the user to a repetitive message.

As far as matchbooks are concerned, with the increasing regulation to prevent smoking in restaurants and public places and the general decline in the number of persons smoking, matchbooks now represent a spent force as a marketing/advertizing medium.

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SAccordingly there exists a need for a cost effective o advertizing/promotional medium which is inexpensive to product and Z distribute and which has the capacity to impact on the broadest demographic spectrum possible. Such a medium should also be able to be deployed in such a manner as to maximise exposure and accessibility to potential users N of the goods and services being promoted via that medium. Moreover, it O should not possess any negative connotations associated with socially and o environmentally unacceptable conduct.

In restaurants, patrons typically remain seated for up to one half hour 0 o 10 before a table service attendant takes orders. Depending on how busy in the kitchen, patrons could wait up to another half hour before being served. The meal itself could take from one half hour to two hours to complete depending upon the number of courses chosen or simply the social mood of the patrons at the table. In a fast food restaurant, the duration of time spent at a table could be as little as thirty to forty five minutes whereas for conventional restaurants the duration could be up to three hours.

It has been noted previously that most restaurant patrons, whether alone or in a group, would inspect advertizing indicia on, say, a matchbook, much more closely than an advertisement in the print media which usually is ignored by people who skip over articles and advertisements if they do not catch their attention. In the same manner, it has been noted that restaurant patrons will inspect labels on beverage bottles in great detail whilst they idly await service or between courses when otherwise they might only cursorily note the beverage brand.

While advertizing and promotional media such as matchbooks, toothpick packs and the like can be very effective in communicating a marketing or promotional message to a very wide demographic, such media is not suited to small service orientated or retail businesses which, while appealing to a wide demographic, are limited to a relatively small geographic region. Such small businesses generally are limited to a small advertizing budget which might include Yellow Pages advertizing or leaflet drops.

While many marketers claim that their particular marketing or 0 0 promotional programme is effective in communicating successfully with a o target demographic, there is no real or practical methodology available for Z businesses to ascertain whether their marketing or promotional campaign is ND cost effective.

It is an aim of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least ci some of the shortcomings with prior and inexpensive advertizing and Cpromotional processes and otherwise provide an advertizing and promotional o process and medium to permit potential customers a useful choice.

0 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a system for marketing and/or promoting products and for services substantially within a predetermined geographic region, said system comprising:selling to a supplier of goods and/or services within said predetermined geographic region a predefined space portion on a place mat to accommodate advertizing and promotional indicia of said supplier; and providing free of charge to a food and/or beverage provider located within said geographic region a predetermined number of place mats for use by patrons at a supply establishment of said food and /or beverage provider, said system characterized in that at least one predefined space portion of said place mat comprises a redeemable token severable from said place mat.

Suitably said place mats include a predefined space portion to incorporate advertizing and promotional indicia of said food and/or beverage provider.

Preferably said place mats are replaced, at said establishment at predetermined time intervals, with new place mats bearing identical or new advertizing or promotional indicia.

If required said redeemable token may be coded to denote a particular food and/or beverage provider and/or a time period during which said token became available to said patrons.

The place mats may include perforations therein to facilitate O severance of said redeemable token therefrom.

z IND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS N in order that the invention may be more clearly understood and put Ointo practical effect, reference will now be made to preferred embodiment,

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o one of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 shows a place mat for a food plate.

0 Fig. 2 shows a place mat for a beverage glass.

"Comprising clause" DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Fig. 1 illustrates a place mat for a food plate (not shown).

Arranged about the edges of mat 1 are a plurality of border space portions 2, each bearing advertizing or promotional indicia. Located within the central region of mat 1 is a larger space portion 3, also incorporating advertizing indicia. If required additional space portions 4 of a smaller area than space portions 2 may also be provided to carry advertizing or promotional indicia.

Perforation lines 5, 6 may extend longitudinally and transversely of the mat 1 to allow severance of border strips from mat 1 and if required, intermediate perforation lines Sa, 6a may be provided to allow severance of selected space portions 2 comprising particular advertizing indicia portion of the place mat 1 may also be printed with indicia representing a game playing area 7.

In practice, a marketing organization would approach a range of small businesses in a particular geographic region such as a suburb ora particular section of a suburb. The small business owner would be provided with the opportunity to purchase an advertizing space portion 2 or 4 either for a finite number of place mats regardless of time or otherwise for a finite period of time such as one or two months. The small business owners existing graphic material could be employed in the advertizing indicia or it could be 1- 7

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c-I arranged by the sales representative for the marketing organization.

OWhen all advertizing spaces are sold, or even beforehand, local Z restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and the like where foodstuffs are served _on plates for consumption at the food providers establishment, are approached with an offer to provide the place mats free of charge for that N one month period and also to include in the large central space 3, advertizing 1 indicia of the food provider. When all place mats have been consumed a O fresh supply of place mats is provided or otherwise at the end of the finite 1 advertizing period, a sales representative removes any remaining place mats for the preceding advertizing period and replaces them with a fresh supply of place mats with the same or differing advertizing indicia.

In the manner described above, a small business providing goods and/or services can obtain highly focussed advertizing or promotion of goods and/or services to a wide range of local residents who frequent that food provision establishment during the promotional period. In orderto add value to the small business owner's investment in the advertizing or promotional medium and otherwise to provide a means of measuring the effectiveness of the advertizing medium, redeemable tokens may be embodied in the advertizing indicia. Such tokens may represent, for example, a price discount or some other incentive upon production of the token and to assist this redemption programme, all or selected ones of the space portions 2, 3 or 4 may be rendered easily severable by perforation lines 5, 6, 5a, 6a.

Where redeemable tokens are concerned, the small business advertizer can obtain a direct measure of the increase in business arising from the advertizing or promotional campaign. As it is likely that within a particular marketing region there may be several restaurants, cafes or the like, the place mats may be colour coded so that the token can be identified with a particular food outlet or type of food outlet. In addition, each space portion 2, 3 and 4 may be coded to identify a marketing period. Even if a particular advertizing space portion was not occupied by a redeemable token it is made of a size similar to a business card or some other suitable size to encourage a diner to remove the advertisement and store if in a wallet, 8 0 CA handbag or the like for future reference.

O In promoting the advertizing opportunity to small business owners, the Z marketing organization would ensure that none of the small businesses advertizing on a particular place mat would be in direct competition.

Accordingly other small businesses which might otherwise be directly competing with those on a first place mat may be accommodated on one or 0more further place mat layouts which are restricted to a single ford provision Sestablishment or a particular group of food provision establishments within a 1 particular marketing area.

Fig. 2 shows schematically an alternative embodiment of a place mat for use with the invention.

As illustrated the place mat 10 is a place mat for a beverage bottle or glass (not shown). Score lines or perforations 11 permit selected segments 12 to be removed from a central mat portion 13 without detracting from its intended purpose of absorbing condensation trickling down the outside of a beverage bottle or glass. In a manner similar to that of Fig. 1 central portion 13 and removable segments 12 may bear advertizing and promotional indicia printed thereon and some or all of segments 12 and/or central portion 13 may comprise redeemable tokens as a market enhancement mechanism and/or a means by which the effectiveness of an advertising programme may be measure.

For example, the size of the place mats is preferably chosen such that the advertizing indicia about the outer perimeter of the mats is still readable even when a plate or beverage container is placed thereupon. In this manner, a patron at the food and/or beverage providing establishment is exposed to the advertizing indicia both consciously and subliminally from the time that the patron is seated until the patron leaves the establishment.

It readily will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the various aspects of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

In less expensive food and/or beverage providing establishments the place mats of Figs 1 and 2 may comprise a lesser quality paper with a S9 0 ci monocolour print. For more upmarket establishments, a better quality paper O or board may be employed with mono-or multicoloured prints.

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Claims (3)

1. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said place mats include a predefined space portion to incorporate advertizing and promotional indicia of said food and/or beverage provider.
2. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said place mats are replaced at said establishment at predetermined time intervals, with new place mats bearing identical or new advertizing or promotional indicia.
3. 4. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said redeemable token is coded to denote a particular food and/or beverage provider and/or a beverage provider and/or a time period during which said token became available to said patrons. A place mat whenever used with the system of any preceding claim, said place mats including perforations therein to facilitate severance of said redeemable token therefrom.