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Theoretical and Applied Economics
Reference:

Cross-promotion: features, causes of success and types of popular mechanics

Vedernikova Mariya Igorevna

Postgraduate student, Saint Petersburg State University

125993, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Smolny str., 1/3 Entrance No. 7, p. 3.

maria.vedernikowa@yandex.ru
Other publications by this author
 

 

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8647.2024.3.68921

EDN:

MHLOHA

Received:

08-11-2023


Published:

07-10-2024


Abstract: Cross-promo is becoming more and more popular among companies in the Russian market. Both representatives of large businesses and medium-sized companies resort to this marketing mechanics. The article discusses in detail the theoretical aspects and reasons for the growing popularity of cross-promo, analyzes the important nuances that companies face when conducting this type of activity, and the main mechanics of this type of partner campaigns, and also provides recommendations for organizing an effective cross-promo. The subject of the study is cross-promo, and the object is the growing popularity of this mechanics among companies in the Russian market. The purpose of the work is to systematize the varieties of cross-promo. The result of this study is a detailed description of various types of cross-promos and the formulation of recommendations for the successful conduct of promotions. Cross-promo formats such as sampling, organization of joint events, joint advertising campaigns, organization of recommendation cross-promo, joint promotions and contests, implementation of partner programs and loyalty programs, joint creation of products are considered in detail. The uniqueness of the article consists in identifying the factors that determine the achievement of the planned indicators for this type of promotions. Recommendations are given on the choice of partners for cross-promo and the formation of promotional offers attractive to the target audience.


Keywords:

cross-promotion, marketing, affiliate marketing, advertising campaigns, advertising, promotion, attracting clients, sales, cross marketing, promo

This article is automatically translated.

Cross-promo opens up a number of opportunities for companies, the main of which are: increasing brand confidence through promotions with larger and well-known partners, attracting additional customers at no significant cost, increasing brand awareness, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Introduction

Cross-promotional and marketing tool for joint sales promotion and promotion of goods and services of two or more companies at the same time [1]. Strictly speaking, this is one of the types of affiliate marketing that can be implemented both as part of a single campaign and on an ongoing basis: "Tactical cross-marketing is a short—term one-time collaboration between two or more companies in order to promote the products of each of them. Strategic cross-marketing is a long—term cooperation aimed at solving diverse tasks" [2].

Most often, no more than three companies participate in the organization of a joint cross-promo, since the presence of a larger number of participants can significantly complicate the project [3].

The relevance of this study lies in the analysis of the concept of "cross-promo", considering its differences from terms such as "cross-marketing" and "cross-promotions", studying the dynamics of the growth of popularity of "cross-promo" among Russian companies, as well as in the analysis of modern formats of this type of promotion.

The conducted research on the use of the term "cross-promo" allows us to conclude that the practice of its application in modern Russian marketing literature has developed in such a way that the concept of "cross-promo" has a broader meaning than "cross-promotion", however, its meaning is narrower than the term "cross-marketing".
The main difference between these three terms is the amount of interaction between different companies.

Thus, a "cross-promotion" may imply a single marketing activity aimed at solving a specific task: for example, stimulating demand for a selected product or service.

"Cross-promo" refers to active promotion within the framework of joint marketing activities aimed not only at stimulating demand, but also at increasing knowledge about the brand and interacting with the partner's base.

The concept of "cross-marketing" has an even broader meaning than "cross-promo". It is most often invested not just in joint promotion, but also in a series of marketing activities: joint events, repeated mention of a partner on various resources (both online and offline), creation of joint products, etc.

Summing up, we can conclude that cross-promo implies the promotion of goods and services of two or more companies at the same time, but does not imply such intensive interaction as in the framework of cross-marketing.

Methodology and research conditions

The research methodology is based on the analysis and synthesis of available data on cross-promos. The theoretical and methodological basis of the work is the theories and ideas of Russian scientists and practitioners in the field of marketing and PR. The author systematizes scientific, practical and methodological information about cross-promos, recommendations for organizing a successful cross-promo and the necessary factors that need to be taken into account in order to achieve the set KPIs.

The scientific novelty of the study consists in a comprehensive analysis of the following factors: the growth of the reasons for the popularity of cross-promos in Russia, the necessary components for organizing a successful campaign of this format and formulating a number of recommendations for conducting cross-promos.

Also, with the help of the Yandex Wordstat service, an analysis of the popularity of the "cross-promo" search query was conducted over the past 2 years: from December 1, 2021 to December 1, 2023.

So, if in the period from November 1 to December 1, 2021, the absolute number of search queries for the keyword "cross-promo" amounted to 755, then for the same period in 2023 — 1080 (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1 – Graph of the growth in popularity of the search query "cross-promo"

The 43% increase in the popularity of the "cross-promo" query in the search for 2 years shows that interest in this topic is steadily increasing.

Together with the "cross-promo" request, users most often search for examples of promotions, clarify that the request relates to the marketing industry, want to know about the types of cross-promotions and clarify that they are interested in promotions in Russia (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2 – Top 5 most popular search queries together with the keyword "cross-promo"

The analysis showed that the number of requests varies greatly depending on the region. Thus, residents of Moscow are looking for cross-promos the most, St. Petersburg is in second place, Kazan is in third, followed in descending order by Novosibirsk, Perm, Khimki, Nefteyugansk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Nizhny Novgorod closes the top ten cities where cross-promos are most often searched for (see Table 1). If in the case of Moscow and St. Petersburg, these statistics can easily be explained by the larger population and the concentration of specialists working in the field of marketing and advertising, then in other cases such a relationship was not observed. Thus, the population of Nizhny Novgorod significantly exceeds the population of Nefteyugansk, however, the number of cross-promo requests in the latter city is significantly higher, as is the regional popularity of this request.

It also seems advisable to analyze the popularity of the "cross-promo" request for each region separately. Regional popularity shows the share that a region occupies in impressions for a given word, divided by the share of all search results impressions that fell on that region. The popularity of a word or phrase equal to 100% means that the query in this region does not stand out in any way. If the popularity is more than 100%, then there is an increased interest in this topic in this region, if less than 100%, it is reduced.

Table 1 – Top 10 cities for the display of materials on request "cross-promo"

Name of the city

Number of impressions

per month

Regional popularity, in %

Moscow

342

268

Saint-Petersburg

133

262

Kazan

24

227

Novosibirsk

22

137

Perm

21

256

Khimki

20

742

Nefteyugansk

19

3086

Krasnodar

18

159

Krasnoyarsk

17

170

Nizhniy Novgorod

15

97

It seems logical to assume that cross-promos will continue to gain popularity among Russian companies for the following reasons:

- The cost of traffic and, consequently, customer acquisition is growing every year.

- Some target audiences of customers are difficult to find using the settings of advertising platforms, while partners may already have a database of suitable audiences.

- The growing competition in the market leads to the fact that most companies are focused on getting conversions and sales [4].

- By involving a large and well-known partner in cooperation, you can gain the trust of the target audience.

- Joint activities allow you to increase brand awareness among the target audience without significant budget injections.

- By offering profitable offers from partners to the audience from the company's base, you can increase the loyalty of existing customers.

- There is a "growing psychological rejection of advertising" among the audience [5].

Thus, the reasons for the growing popularity of cross-promo among the marketing activities of Russian companies become clear: basically, it is the desire to promote the brand, attract new customers and increase revenue. Also, during a crisis, this communication tool becomes especially relevant, since its main advantage is the ability to reduce costs by distributing them between partners.

The main part

In this section of the study, the reasons for successful cross-promos, types of mechanics and recommendations for organizing cross-promos will be considered.

Reasons for successful cross-promos: what aspects should be taken into account when planning

1. Target audience

Choosing a partner whose clients include representatives of the right target audience is the key to a successful cross-promo. This is a more significant indicator for making a decision on cooperation than all the others. Companies with a narrow target audience or working in the B2B sector need to analyze the audience of a potential partner especially carefully. It is much easier for companies with a wide target audience to choose a partner for cross-promotion. It is also important to note that cross-marketing involves combining the efforts of such organizations that do not directly compete with each other [6].

2. The possibility of base growth

When organizing a cross-promo, one of the main tasks, as a rule, is to attract a new audience. "The essence of cross-marketing boils down to the fact that customers of one company become potential consumers of goods and services of another at the same time," notes [7]. To do this, the company and the potential partner must have different bases. If the databases and the audience almost completely overlap, then such an action will not bring results: new users will not find out about the company, but existing customers of the company can see a profitable offer sent through the partner's database and take advantage of it. With a high degree of probability, they would have made an order anyway, or a discount or a bonus of a lower face value would have been required to motivate them. In this case, instead of revenue growth, the company loses the marginality of the orders made, especially if the first sale to a new client is unprofitable for the company and the calculation is made on the customer's payback due to LTV (Lifetime Value).

3. Strong partner brand

This indicator plays a particularly important role for cross-promos, the main purpose of which is to increase confidence in their own brand through joint promotions with companies with a more well-known and promoted brand. When searching for partners for such cross-promos, it is important to consider the following points:

- A potential partner should have an impeccable reputation, there have been no significant situations recently that could negatively affect the brand. Otherwise, it is advisable to wait for some time until the audience forgets about the negative story, or refuse to cooperate at all. Before making a decision, it is advisable to answer the following question: "How significant is an incident involving a potential partner for the target audience?" For example, if it is planned to organize a cross-promo with an oil refining company, but only the day before the news about an oil spill during fuel transportation by this company was released, while the selected target audience mostly cares as for the environment, it is better to postpone the issue of holding an action.

- The partner's brand should be known and, preferably, be more recognizable than their own brand. In this case, it becomes possible to increase brand awareness and gain the trust of the audience at the expense of a stronger partner.

- The niche in which the partner works should not cause a negative reaction from the target audience. So, for a business that positions itself as socially responsible, it is unthinkable to do cross-promotions with companies producing tobacco or alcohol products.

4. Profitable offer

When preparing an offer for a "cold" audience that does not yet know anything about the company and whose trust in the product has not been formed, it is important to choose the offer especially carefully. This is the only way to motivate such an audience to do a certain action: go to a website, subscribe to a newsletter or social media account, purchase a product. An advantageous offer (a free service or product, a significant discount, an increased level in the loyalty program, accrual of bonus points, etc.) will allow you to achieve your goal. The main thing is that the offer is really attractive to the target audience, otherwise the campaign will be ineffective. It is important to understand which task is a higher priority: getting revenue from the first sale to a "cold audience" or attracting customers, even if the first sale is "zero" or "minus".

Many companies now choose the option in which the first sale goes "to zero" or "to minus", and attribute the costs to marketing investments. As S.N. Mishchenko notes, "with the help of control, the costs of attracting new consumers and the profit recouping these costs can be calculated. Often, the added value is brought by the after-sales service of the product (service)" [8].

5. Native format

It is known that most people, to put it mildly, dislike explicit advertising, since the number of advertising messages that a person sees during the day offline and online is steadily increasing. There is an aversion to advertising and banner blindness. Therefore, it is better to make advertising messages as native as possible so that they do not differ too much from the communication format familiar to the audience. When communicating with an audience from your database, you should tell them about the partner's significant advantages and benefits of his offer. Usually, customers trust the word "partner".

It is best to complete the performance with a pleasant bonus. For example, a gift: a free gym membership for a month, a free consultation with a leading specialist, a free service, etc. Bonuses are best represented using promo codes or links with UTM tags to the pages of the partner's website. By following most of these recommendations, you will ensure a higher chance of a successful cross-promo.

6. Relevant offer for the target audience of your own database

The task of the partners is to communicate effectively with the audience from the new base. To solve the problem, the partner can send the most effective offer from his side. When agreeing on an offer, creatives and frequency of placement, it is important to try to predict the reaction of existing customers to this communication. If there is an understanding that the offer is highly likely to be irrelevant for your own audience or communication will be too frequent and intrusive, it is worth discussing this with a partner and, if it is not possible to renegotiate the terms, refuse to cooperate. For example, a partner insists that you need to make 3 mailings with his offer on the database within a month. If the average frequency of sending emails with relevant offers is once a month, it becomes obvious that such a frequency of communication will be excessive and part of the audience will unsubscribe from the mailing list. Accordingly, a certain percentage of the audience will be drawn. A forecast regarding the revenue that the company could receive if this audience remained in the database and continued to purchase goods or services with an average frequency and an average receipt will help make the right decision.

It is important to consider all 6 points so that cross-promos bring the desired results and do not cause a negative reaction from your own audience and the partner's audience.

Varieties of cross-promo mechanics

The choice of a specific cross-promo mechanic depends on the objectives of the joint campaign, the agreements of the partners and the resources available to each of them. "The depth of marketing interaction in cross-marketing may differ depending on the desire of partners to unite for short-term promotions or to create a strategic cross-marketing alliance," concludes Ya.I. Semiletova [9].

If the company has no experience in conducting cross-promotions, it is necessary to consider the introduction of this type of campaign as a serious change in marketing strategy. You need to prepare carefully for planning changes, because "planning involves developing a sequence of actions that allows you to achieve the desired result, setting goals and objectives, drawing up an action program, identifying the necessary resources and their sources" [10].

It is also possible that the resources and capabilities of one partner (base size, brand awareness, site traffic, etc.) significantly exceed the resources of the second partner. Most often, in this case, companies cooperate within the framework of affiliate marketing, which implies payment for the placement of affiliate advertising material [11]. The following payment schemes are possible within the framework of paid interaction:

- sale fee – CPS (cost-per-sale);

- action fee – CPA (cost-per-action);

- cost per click – CPC (cost-per-click);

- display fee – CPV (cost-per-view);

- the fee for downloading the mobile application is CPI (cost-per-install).

There are quite a few cross-promo mechanics that are actively used in practice:

1. Conducting cross-promotions

A very popular and fairly simple option, involving mutually beneficial promotion. The implementation of any promotional campaign is aimed at arousing the interest of the client by offering him additional benefits: discounts or gifts.

2. Sampling

It is a free offer of a sample product together with a product from another manufacturer. This option has shown good performance in the perfumery and cosmetics sector.

The advantages of sampling can be successfully applied in online business (adding samples when ordering any basic product), or offline. It is important that the partner's database has a target audience, but the companies are not direct competitors.

3. Organization of joint events

Almost any event is a good opportunity to realize mutual promotion. For example, a well-organized holiday can bring a lot of benefits to partners offering similar services and products. It is worth taking the choice of a partner seriously: a manufacturer of sports equipment, uniforms, or a supplier of healthy food will be a suitable option for a sports holiday.

4. Conducting joint advertising campaigns

This type of campaign involves the promotion of two or three brands using a single advertising communication. It is usually implemented as the provision of discounts for the purchase of a list of any services or goods laid out together on the supermarket counter. At the same time, products can belong to different categories, for example, pasta and sets of cups, plates or glasses. This may look like a promotion of some product item in the set. For example, it is proposed to purchase two packaged goods together and receive a discount. As a rule, such events are often implemented in large chain retailers. Recently, these actions have often been held at gas stations owned by large gas station chains.

5. Organization of a recommendation cross-promo

In this case, it is assumed that some products, more often innovative, will be promoted thanks to the recommendations of experts experienced in this market, but working in related fields. In most cases, the existence of such a partnership is due to its long-term nature, and brands interact using all available means: in commercials, booklets, on the pages of PR publications, during vivid presentations and master classes organized by manufacturers.

6. Conducting joint promotions and contests

This is the next stage of cross-promotion cooperation. After completing several mutually beneficial campaigns that have expanded both target audiences, the interacting companies are able to support various events in the future.

Also, an important recommendation for improving the company's PR promotion is the organization of thematic cross-promos [12].

For example, a retail chain has organized a competition, the winners of which will receive gifts from both brands. Such a move often helps to strengthen cooperation between friendly companies, as well as arouse the interest of new customers who have not previously purchased products from partner companies. O. A. Nesterenko notes that joint marketing and joint loyalty programs, as well as bonus systems and co-branding are more in demand than other formats of cooperation in a crisis [13].

Food manufacturers often hold excellent master classes in prestigious restaurants so that the consumer gets into the habit of buying several products made by different brands at once, for example, frozen meat delicacies and pasta.

7. Implementation of partner and loyalty programs

Today, the option of cooperation between several companies is becoming popular: a travel company, a network of gyms, a bank, etc. Using a loyalty program is another step that develops and deepens relationships with each client. As K. A. Tatarinov notes, "the purpose of each loyalty program is to encourage the buyer, encouraged by the prize, to make further purchases in the future" [14].

It is also important to note that the introduction of loyalty programs allows not only to maximize profits, but also to predict user behavior and future revenue [15].

Many companies have turned to game mechanics that make it possible to increase the effectiveness of loyalty programs by focusing on psychological perception factors [16].

At the same time, the expanded interaction of various companies, as a rule, increases the list of possible interesting gifts and discounts for customers. A simple example: each subscriber of the Tele2 cellular company can use discounts and partner offers from the loyalty program "More". The range of bonuses takes into account different groups of the target audience, so users can choose both jewelry as a gift, discounts on hotels, and receive bonuses at gas stations and in a large chain supermarket. As a result, this additionally motivates subscribers to log into the My Tele2 application more often.

8. Co-creation of products

This option is labor-intensive, but it is beneficial to all companies involved in the project that are jointly trying to solve customer problems.

It is important to understand the key sources of cross-promo, as well as each of its formats. A source is a form of some kind of advertising, for example, a mailing list or a news section of a website. The format demonstrates the content: a special offer, banners, holding joint contests, etc. Usually, partners select several suitable options. So, the educational service should be promoted at a training webinar. Universal options include special offers.

The number of cross-promo mechanics is quite large: from the simplest promotion to a grandiose joint event. In the article, we have considered only the most common mechanics.

The main recommendations for conducting a cross-promo

1. Analysis of cross-promo results

Even if you make every effort, the results of the cross-promo may look disappointing.It is impossible to guarantee that the partnership will bring certain revenue or the exact number of customers in advance. It is only possible to make an approximate forecast based on previously conducted promotions. It is possible that out of the projected 2,000 clicks on the site's pages, in practice about 10% of this number will turn out. It is possible that the number of customers who went to the site of a cross-promo participant from the resources of a large company will be zero. There may be several reasons: incorrectly selected audience, unsuitable offer, boring promotional materials, frequency of communication, etc. Or maybe the partner made a serious mistake, because sometimes misunderstandings arise, partners may not show their best side, show their bad faith or simply not fulfill the terms of the contract.

In this case, it is important to evaluate the quantitative results and take them into account when preparing the next cross-promos.

2. Taking advantage of gamification

Using game marketing strategies helps to attract an additional audience. If a marketer hypothesizes that potential consumers would be interested in completing any tasks in order to receive bonuses, then technical means have many possibilities that will make the gameplay more exciting and interesting. Cross-promo in the game format is definitely worth testing. As practice shows, such a campaign shows better results compared to standard mechanics. Therefore, conducting partner campaigns when using gamification in marketing allows you to get better results [17].

3. Building honest and long-term relationships with partners

Communicating truthful information to a partner helps to build a trusting long-term relationship. If the existing database of email newsletters contains 10,000 subscribers, then it is not necessary to inform partners that there are 10 times more of them. The results of the cross-promo, as a rule, put everything in its place.

According to experts, "effective directions of the relationship marketing concept should be used to prevent conflict and negative interactions with partners, as well as as proactive solutions" [18].

Also, it is not necessary to change any points of the partnership agreement during the promotion or abandon the promotion at the very last moment.

4. Coordination of advertising materials for the partner base

There is a pattern: the more often a person sees the same type of advertisements, the less interesting they are to him. Sometimes this negatively affects the success of the campaign conducted with partners. The best option would be to devote 75-80% of advertising to news about the activities of your own company, and 20-25% to special relevant offers from partners.

Conclusions and further directions of research

Cross-marketing provides excellent opportunities to ensure business promotion even during a crisis period. The manifestation of cross-marketing activity will bring results if the interacting companies are not competitors, their circle of consumers has a similar income level, and the goods successfully complement the partners' offer. In turn, using the full range of marketing opportunities, the company is more likely to become a market leader [19].

The formats of cross-marketing activity can be quite diverse. Each of them should take into account the specifics of the business, as well as the main tasks facing the promotion. For example, when sales are carried out on social networks, it is best to conduct a joint broadcast, raffle a prize or exchange promo codes. An offline business can test a new product on a partner's audience, as well as organize mutually beneficial promotions with other companies.

The chances of success of a cross-promo are quite high. It is only important not to limit the partnership to the exchange of promo codes, but to study the audience, try to guess its needs and satisfy requests with relevant offers. In this case, the chances of cross-promo success are significantly increased, as well as for building mutually beneficial long-term relationships with partners.

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First Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The subject of the research in the peer-reviewed work is the reasons for the popularity of cross-promos in the Russian market. The research methodology is based on the analysis and synthesis of available data on cross-promotion, the work summarizes the theories and ideas of Russian scientists and practitioners in the field of marketing and PR. The authors attribute the relevance of the work to the fact that in the conditions of a significant and sharp deterioration of the economic situation, the methods of state influence on public processes are changing and, accordingly, the system of public administration and finance must undergo changes. The scientific novelty of the reviewed study, stated by the authors, consists in a comprehensive analysis of the following factors: the growth of the reasons for the popularity of cross-promos in Russia, the necessary components for organizing a successful campaign of this format and formulating a number of recommendations for conducting cross-promos. The following sections are highlighted in the text of the article: "Introduction", "Methodology and research conditions", "Main part", including the following subsections: "Reasons for successful cross-promos: what aspects should be taken into account when planning", "Varieties of cross-promo mechanics", "Basic recommendations for conducting cross-promos", "Conclusions and further directions of research", "Bibliography". The authors, using the Wordstat Yandex service, analyzed the popularity of the "cross-promo" search query over the past 2 years: from December 1, 2021 to December 1, 2023, and provided a graph of the growth in popularity of the "cross-promo" search query over the analyzed period, noted the growth in popularity of the "cross-promo" query in the search on 43%, indicating a steady increase in interest in this topic. The popularity of the "cross-promo" request for individual cities is also analyzed, the reasons for the growing popularity of cross-promos among Russian companies are suggested, the following aspects are highlighted that must be taken into account when planning successful cross-promos: target audience, the possibility of base growth, a strong partner brand, a profitable offer, native format, relevant offer for the target audience the audience of its own database. Recommendations for conducting cross-promotions are summarized in the following four points: analyzing the results of the promotion, taking advantage of gamification, building honest and long-term relationships with partners, and coordinating promotional materials for the partner base. The point of view is expressed that the best option would be to devote 75-80% of advertising to news about the activities of your own company, and 20-25% to special relevant offers from partners. The bibliographic list of the article includes 18 scientific publications on the topic under consideration, which are referenced in the text, which confirms the existence of an appeal to opponents. Among the reserves for improving the publication, the following can be noted. Firstly, the text highlighting used by the author in a special font style, as well as various markers for the design of lists, are in many cases unsuccessful, since they do not focus the reader's attention on key points. Secondly, the name of table 1 - The Top 10 cities for the display of materials on the request of "cross–promo" is placed for some reason not before the table, as provided for by the rules of registration, but after it. Thirdly, it is necessary to clarify the numbering of the figures, since after "Fig. 2. The top 5 most popular search queries together with the keyword "cross-promo", there is "Fig. 4. An example of a joint action of the Tanuki restaurant chain and OBI hypermarkets", and Figure 3 is missing. The reviewed material corresponds to the direction of the journal "Theoretical and Applied Economics", reflects the results of the work carried out by the authors, contains elements of scientific novelty and practical significance, may be of interest to readers, but needs to be finalized in accordance with the comments made before its publication.

Second Peer Review

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The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The article made an attempt to present information about the organization of successful promotions and the formulation of recommendations for the cross-promotion, but this topic is not sufficiently disclosed. The relevance of the topic of the article is reflected in the fact that the number of marketing technologies is constantly increasing because modern consumers are becoming more demanding of the product bought. In this regard, the competition in all sectors of the economy getting tougher, many manufacturers are faced with the need to increase the competitive advantages of the product. In modern conditions require different approaches to attract the attention of customers, first and foremost, the use of cross-marketing technologies. The scientific novelty of this text is not obvious, there is no reference to other research, the text presents only the author's view, which greatly reduces the level of reliability of the presented material. A review has a lot of comments and complaints about the article: 1. The writing style is difficult to be called scientific, the text of the article is no theoretical issue is the issue that complicates the perception. Without this section is quite difficult to assess the contribution of the author in the study. I need to write the introductory piece, it is more comfortable to read the publication now in the "Introduction" section shows only the definition of "cross-promotion", which is not enough for a scientific article. It is also desirable to allocate a separate unit, in which the author is conducting its own analysis and presents the results of comparison with other researchers ' work. 2. The second point follows from the first - the lack of appeal to opponents. The article also no statistical or retrospective analysis of the development of cross-marketing in the world and in Russia. 3. The article is not solved, how do you measure the index of "Regional popularity %". It is also unclear what was the analysis of queries on the subject studied in the context of regions. 4. Figure 3 is not informative, what exactly was a joint action of restaurant and supermarket? 5. The article does not distinguish between the concept of "cross-promotion", cross-marketing and cross-promotion". 6. Also, the reviewer suggests, on the basis of the text of the publication, modify the title of the article, proposal reviewer: "Modern aspects of cross-marketing in the Russian companies". In connection with the above observations, we can conclude that the scientific novelty is not obvious, it is impossible to estimate the contribution of the author to the study question, the conclusions of the article is not supported by arguments. The work is not fully comply with the requirements of scholarly research, but written on a topical subject that will resonate among the readership, so it may be recommended for publication in the scientific journal "Theoretical and applied Economics" after substantial revision submitted comments.

Third Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The subject of the peer-reviewed study is such a useful marketing tool for promoting goods and services as cross-promo. Despite the fact that the author himself, instead of justifying the relevance of his own research, limited himself to listing what was done in the process of work, it is impossible not to recognize the rather high degree of relevance of studying the phenomenon of cross-promo, given the growing popularity of this tool in Russia, the intensity of its use by Russian companies, as well as the good results that joint "cross-promotion" gives promotion of goods and services. Unfortunately, with regard to methodology, the author also got off with general phrases about the eternal "analysis and synthesis", "theories and ideas of Russian scientists", "systematization of scientific, practical and methodological information". That is, practically nothing is said specifically about the methodology used. Nevertheless, it can be understood from the context that in the course of the research, the analysis of search queries using the Wordstat Yandex service, the procedural and institutional analysis of successful cases of using cross-marketing, a critical conceptual analysis of the main approaches to cross-prom implementation, as well as the analysis of secondary statistical data were used. The correct use of these methods allowed the author to obtain results with signs of scientific novelty. And again, despite the incorrect formulation of novelty by the author himself (scientific novelty may be the RESULT of research, not the PROCESS, that is, those elements of new scientific knowledge that were obtained in the course of research, and not what the author DID in this process; accordingly, the "complex analysis of factors" declared by the author to be scientific by definition, the result cannot be). Such results include the following: explication of the factors of growth in the popularity of cross-marketing in Russia, the mechanism of successful cross-promos, as well as specific recommendations for organizing and conducting effective cross-promos. Structurally, the article also does not cause rejection: its logic is quite consistent and represents the main aspects of the research. Although the author's desire to follow the IMRAD structure accepted in international science should be recognized as not very successful, since there is no "Discussion" section in the work, and the "Results" section is called the "Main part". However, it should be repeated: the structure of the reviewed article is quite acceptable. The following sections are highlighted in the text: - "Introduction", where a scientific problem is formulated, an attempt is made (not very successful) to substantiate its relevance, and definitions of basic concepts are proposed; - "Methodology and research conditions", where an attempt is made (also not very successful) of theoretical and methodological reflection and where, for unclear reasons, the scientific novelty of the study also turns out to be; - "The main part", where the main results of the study are presented and recommendations for the application of the knowledge gained about cross-promotion are formulated; - "Conclusions and further research directions", which summarizes the results of the conducted research, but contrary to the title, no prospects for further research are outlined. The style of the article can be recognized as quite scientific, although not without some drawbacks. There is a certain amount of stylistic in the text (for example, the incorrect expression "... Most of all cross-promo ["the term cross-promo"? – Rec.] residents of Moscow are looking for ..."; or redundant words like "it seems logical to assume ..." ["is it logical to assume"? – Rec.]; etc.) and grammatical (for example, an extra comma in the sentence "Most often, the organization of a joint cross-promo involves ..."; another example of extra commas: "It is most often invested not just in joint promotion ..."; etc.) errors, but in general it is written quite competently, in good Russian, with the correct use of scientific terminology. The bibliography includes 19 titles, and adequately reflects the state of research on the subject of the article. Although it could be strengthened through the use of sources in foreign languages. An appeal to opponents takes place when discussing the reasons for successful cross-promos. The advantages of the article include the use of illustrative material (two figures and one table), which facilitate the perception of the text. In the future, the author may wish to take a more careful approach to substantiating the relevance of his own research, as well as its theoretical and methodological basis. And with regard to the structuring of the text, you should also be more careful and put only what is really contained in this section in the title of the section. GENERAL CONCLUSION: the article proposed for review can be qualified as a scientific work that meets the basic requirements for works of this kind. The results obtained by the author will be of interest to economists, marketers, sociologists, representatives of Russian companies, as well as students of economic specialties. The presented material corresponds to the topic of the journal "Theoretical and Applied Economics". According to the results of the review, the article is recommended for publication.