---

Revision with unchanged content. As classical mass advertising is losing effectiveness to generate revenues, mar keting managers attach importance to alternative methods to gain and retain customers. In particular, sales promotion activities are popular to give pro spect customers an incentive to buy, whereas the relationship approach aims at establishing a long-lasting bond between provider and customer. In order to find out whether these tendencies provoke the desired actions, a survey among German consumers was conducted, investigating their attitude to wards determined marketing tools and each tool s impact on the purchase decision-making process. The existing deal-proneness towards the promotion tools samples, coupons, premiums, loyalty cards and sweepstakes and their ability to provoke purchase and re-purchase was examined. Further, this re search states possibilities to connect short-term activities with the long-rang ing relationship approach and is therefore of high value for marketing mana ger and consultants, company management, lectures and students of busi ness and media & communication studies; as well as for everyone who is curi ous to know which promotion tool is the German s favourite one.

---

Neele Claussen, Dipl.-Kffr. (FH), Master of Business Administration. European Business Studies with focus on Marketing and International Business at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany; Universidad de Alicante, Spain and Mid Sweden University, Östersund. Responsible of Import at Iberoimport Trading, Alicante Spain.

Vannessa Uhlein, Dipl.-Kffr. (FH), Master of Business Administration. European Business Studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany; Universidad de Alicante, Spain and Mid Sweden University, Östersund. Neele Claussen, Dipl.-Kffr. (FH), Master of Business Administration. European Business Studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany; Universidad de Alicante, Spain and Mid Sweden University, Östersund.

---