John Donovan, managing director of Don Marketing, an agency specialising in promotional games, says he has supplied more than a billion game pieces without any problems. He counts Shell’s Make Money game (said to have raised sales by 25%) and the Great Guinness Challenge (which boosted sales by 30%) among his biggest successes.

Despite Shell making the agency an out-of-court settlement of £60,000 over the use-without-consent issue, Alfred Donovan has recently set up a ‘Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group’ to bring attention to what he believes is Shell’s misconduct in relation to several promotions the company has run.

Many games have had spectacular results – for instance the Shell Make Money game in 1984, which is claimed to have lifted sales by more than 25 per cent…

In total, Don Marketing has issued three High Court writs and a County Court proceeding against Shell, alleging wrongful use of retail promotions developed by Don Marketing. Shell has already settled one of the three writs out of court.

ARTICLE BEING ADDED TO OUR ONLINE ARCHIVE

Marketing: The play’s the thing

31 May 1984

EXTRACTS:

People love to play games, and, as Shell’s Make Money promotion shows, they’ll flock to the point of sale to take part. By George Pitcher

It is appropriate that the American term for promotions like the much vaunted and widely imitated Shell Make Money campaign, aimed specifically at getting customers to the point of sale, should be ‘traffic building’. The amount of extra traffic built at Shell stations at the expense of its less imaginative rivals has, most observers believe, made the £2m investment in the promotion look like money well spent.

Such can be the power of the game card. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that this technique of sales promotion has been around for some time – Shell first used it in the 60s.

Innovation, however, is only part of the story. Shell’s Make Money campaign, for instance, is an example of sticking to a basic idea that works, though the point must be made that there were a large number of sophisticated new developments.

The promotion, run by Don Marketing, gave the lie to the well-worn theory that the distress-purchase nature of petrol buying means that location and price are the critical sales factors.

‘Panic measure’

‘We proved that simply isn’t true,’ says Don Marketing’s managing director, John Chambers. ‘But the way some of the major companies dropped their prices as a result of the Shell promotion can only be described as a panic measure – an emotional reaction that could do no-one any good,’ he says. ‘The cost of a price cut is horrendous compared with that of a well-run promotion – maybe ten times as much, The more creative promotions mean that market share can fluctuate without resort to price cutting.’

Photo caption: Make Money: Old idea, new sophistication

Link to Original Article containing complete text with photograph

http://www.shellnews.net/PDFs/Marketing31May1984.pdf

The 1984 version of the famous Shell Make Money campaign has set alight the battle among the petroleum companies, and could lead to a renewal of the sort of promotional campaigns that were so familiar in the late 1960s.

Don Marketing directors from the left, John Donovan (Chairman), Roger Sotherton (Marketing Director) and John Chambers, Managing Director. Photograph taken at Don Marketing Chelmsford UK offices in 1983, with Shell Singapore Make Money poster in background.

Don Marketing Managing Director John Chambers photographed on Shell forecourt during the spectacularly successful Shell Make Money game in 1984.

Fast flowing Don: Marketing Magazine 16 February 1984

Shell Make Money full page advert: Daily Express 21 February 1984

Shell Make Money full page advert: Evening Standard 21 February 1984

Shell is back making money: Incentive Marketing and Sales Promotion March 1984

London Evening Standard article “the old lady with the right-hand halves” about the “spectacularly” successful Shell Make Money game: 1984

Anatomy of a Shell winner: Campaign Magazine 27 April 1984

Don Marketing directors, from the left, John Chambers, Roger Sotherton and John Donovan on a Shell UK forecourt during the Male Money promotion in 1984, which Don Marketing also supplied for Shell Ireland and Shell Singapore.

Don Marketing founder and Chairman John Donovan (right) with Don Marketing Managing Director John Chambers on a Shell UK forecourt during the Shell Mastermind promotion in 1984.

CAMPAIGN 27 APRIL 1984 Page 39 Associated full page Don Marketing ad in same edition of magazine

The play’s the thing: Marketing 31 May 1984

Shell Press Release for Shell Mastermind Promotion July 1984, plus FULL RULES and Game Piece (Promotion launched Monday 2rd July 1984)

EXTRACT FROM PRESS RELEASE: John Smeddle, Sales Manager, Shell UK Oil said: “The successof Make Money, which we launched in February, is now a matter of record. It increased our trade and helped to change the petrol market from one concentrating almost exclusively on price to one where we could create interest and excitement for the motorist buying petrol at a fair price. “The fact that so many of our competitors followed into national promotions is testimony to the power of a properly structured forecourt game.”

Shell Mastermind full page advert: London Evening Standard 2 August 1984

Shell Mastermind half page advert: Daily Mirror 27 August 1984

Don Marketing full page ad relating to Shell Mastermind in Marketing Magazine, 6 September 1984

Why games became big business: Campaign Magazine 14 September 1984