When that discussion starts about the next promotion - there is a tension created in that room.

People have two options:

(1) To create something that is interesting and new (something that might not work) or

(2) Do the safe thing

The safe thing is what we did last promotion. "Just put it on sale - just this time in the different way." But it's really not different. It's just another sale- another discount.

A discount is that last refuge of a marketer that couldn't add any real brand value to the situation. It's that last stand, the finial shot - "Just throw it on sale - some one has to buy it if its cheap enough."

This gets a lot of low hanging fruit of people that want the cheap thing, but it might not be the fruit that we are actually looking for.

When people think about the next marketing campaign - their minds typically jump to just offering a discount.

What if it jumped to something else instead?