Retailer 1

TO: All Employees
FROM: [Name]
SUBJECT: Change to Advertising Campaign

We will be changing certain elements of our consumer print and television campaign in response to requests from our key retail accounts.

Our retailers have told us that while the current campaign is indeed original and memorable, consumer response to the campaign, measured in terms of customer visits, has been declining steadily since the advertising launched. The retailers believe that the advertising's focus on brand-image attributes may indeed be creating a more positive consumer impression about the brand but is not effective in driving consumers into their stores. They would like a more price/value-driven message will have greater bottom-line impact.

Because we are committed to the advertising as it stands but must also be responsive to the retail channel, we have directed our ad agency to make slight revisions to some, but not all, of the commercials. We will run the revised versions in selected markets where we can easily measure retail sales. Should retail movement show significant increases, we will consider revising all of the advertising in the campaign.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

[BL]* Sales departments and retailers will often prefer hard sell advertising to image advertising. If product movement can truly be shown to be impeded by non-hard sell advertising, it may be worth considering revision.
* Consider testing revisions on a limited basis to confirm or disconfirm suspicions; reassure readers and ad agency of the value of the campaign as developed.