How to ruin a Promotion

I had no idea I was in for promo planning lessons when I headed for Mirissa on Saturday, to spend 3 days on the beach.


As expected, Monday being Full Moon Poya attributing to the long weekend, the traffic was slow and took unusually long to clear due to heavy traffic both ways. Post 40 minutes in traffic, we realized what was causing this monster traffic jam - the “World Thrift Day”! And National Savings Bank (NSB) was conducting a major promotional drive, all the way from Colombo to Galle, but missed some really important elements in planning their promotion;

1) Adding a fleet of buses to make traffic worse on already congested roads, wasn’t really a thrifty idea.

2) Lacking a back up plan in case of a break down – I spotted two of them stilling traffic for more than half an hour.

3) Ignoring the environment – CO2 emissions, Wastage of fossil fuels especially when crude oil prices are sky rocketing.

4) Annoying all the people who are eager to get home soonest, to be with their loved ones.

I can keep adding more annoying things NSB did to ruin the long weekend for many people. But the most important lesson is, do all the promotions on the planet, but be a bit more sensitive to intricate details. This promotion may have started off as a clever idea to drive deposits on Thrift day, but the execution ruined it all for NSB. This is a classic example of when making that quick buck takes precedence over the people and the planet at the heart of business planning.