Writing last year about their survey of trade promotion management processes, Sahir Anand, Senior Research Analyst of Aberdeen Group, says, “… Trade promotion excellence is not about reducing the amount of spend but primarily about improving its efficiency. Sixty-five (65%) of Best-in-Class and 75% of All others do not have executive mandate for trade promotion staff to integrate planning, execution and effectiveness analysis. Hence, the biggest challenge facing the CPG industry is getting senior leadership to shift its thinking and to view TPM as a cross functional marketing platform not a stand-alone tool.” more…(Aberdeen sub required)