Direct marketing: contacting and influencing carefully chosen prospects with means such as telemarketing and direct mail Sponsorship: the act of providing money for a television or radio program, website, sports event, or other activity usually in exchange for advertising or other form of promotion Product placement: the practice of supplying a product or service for display in feature films or television programs Sales promotion / merchandising: activities designed to stimulate sales normally at the point-of-sale; includes retail displays, product sampling, special price offers, shelf talkers, contests, give-aways, promotional items, competitions and other methods Event marketing: a planned activity of designing or developing a themed activity, occasion, display, or exhibit (such as a sporting event, music festival, fair, or concert) to promote a product, cause, or organization. Exhibitions/trade shows: events or shows (e.g. fashion shows, agricultural shows) where companies can display their wares or services Advertising is just one of many elements that comprise the promotional mix. When marketers communicate with target markets across a broad range of different promotional types and media, the potential for contradictory or mixed messages is very real. Accordingly, it is important that advertising is treated as part of a total marketing communications program and that steps are taken to ensure that it is integrated with all other marketing communications, so that all communications messages speak with a 'single voice'. The process of ensuring message consistency across the entire marketing communications program is known as integrated marketing communications. Marketers need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the elements in the promotional mix in order to select the right blend for a given situation. For instance, public relations allows for high credibility message delivery with relatively low costs, while advertising permits message repetition. Advertising is especially useful for creating awareness, but personal channels come into play for the actual purchase. The "right" promotional mix should consider both message impact and message consistency. In addition, decision-makers need to recognise that consumers rely on different information sources at different stages of the purchase decision process. Therefore, advertising and other elements of the promotional campaign must be integrated to ensure that consumers receive the right messages via the right channels at the right time, depending on the consumer's readiness to buy. In terms of integrated communications, the literature identifies different types of integration: (1) Image integration refers to messages that have a consistent look and