... but investment analysts (and Ad Age) disagree.

At least that's what I got from this article.

Wall Street be damned, Hershey Co. is sticking by its theory that in-store marketing and promotion works better than advertising.

Despite a slew of questions from analysts suggesting a link between the chocolate giant's recent decrease in ad spending and its lower-than-expected third-quarter sales, Hershey President-CEO Rick Lenny was adamant that Hershey's increase in consumer marketing next year will happen "closest to the point of consumption." Translation: in store.

The analysts are concerned about a quarter in which Hershey grew less than expected. However, their results have been consistently good over the past several years, as even the critics concede, saying that it's "hard to overly criticize Hershey given they've had such a good 3- to 4-year record."

Hershey's boss told the analysts:

"Marketing-mix modeling still reinforces that trade [spending] has the highest level of return on investment and then within consumer support ... those [efforts] closer to the point of consumption and point-of-sale tend to have the higher return," Mr. Lenny said in a conference call with analysts. In general, he said, Hershey uses advertising to create awareness for new brands and new platforms, but views in-store support – whether through sampling or through activities tied in with retailers' own strategies – as the best way to capitalize on those high-return investments.

Music to my ears.

Happy birthday to us!!!

TPMtoday, the world's first (and presumably only) blog concerned with trade promotion and channel management, is a year old this week

I'm sorry I had to miss the party, since I was traveling and was in a client meeting all that day, but I hope all the visitors enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

The blog has been a lot of fun and a good way to communicate with people as an add-on to this newsletter. I hope you enjoy both as much as I do.

Some of our recent posts at the blog include:

EDLP(tm)

Good results from the other guys' marketing

Haggar thinks I'm cool

For newspapers, the hits just keep on coming

Sneakers cheap chic

Cool commie stuff