I don't know about you all, but if I find something I want that's a great price, but then upon a closer look I see that the great price requires the dreaded "mail-in rebate", I will set it right back down.  Think about that.  I've already evaluated the product enough to know that A) I want it and B) I'm willing to pay the price, and after a couple seconds of evaluation, I can put it right back down, walk away and never look back.  (Well, maybe look back, but only once).

One word:  Experience.  I know, from experience, that I will pay what I deem to be too much for that product, and then I'll go home with big plans to get the cash that is rightfully mine back into my pocket where it will burn a hole until the next can't-beat-it deal comes along.  But what will actually happen is that I'll get home and start playing with my new purchase.  I'll remember my rebate a while later, and attempt to cut out the UPC code, and then I'll soon realize that my kitchen scissors won't be able to handle the job.  So I'll put the box in a 'safe' place and continue playing, with a plan to dig the box cutter out of the garage in the very near future.  What happens next is always a little fuzzy.  I clean out my purse and ditch what appears to be a worthless receipt.  My 'safe' place to store the box will turn out to be a 'hiding' place - from myself.  And as a fairly frugal consumer, I'll remember 6 months later and get a pain in my stomach when I realize my money is burning a hole in someone else's pocket and there's nothing I can do about it.

Now, imagine you're a small business owner and the purchase is a year's worth of local advertising.  You have a shoebox full of receipts, and instead of one UPC codes, you're cutting ads out of newspapers, magazines, and radio tapes as your proof of performance.  Balihoo has designed a co-op advertising solution that redesigns the rebate experience. 

Through Balihoo's co-op marketing software program, franchise owners can do it all in one place - select and customize the creative, place their ad in various publications, pay the total costs and yes, receive their rebate RIGHT AWAY.  No box cutters necessary.  No need to clip ads.  Because all the required information needed to get that refund is housed right inside the ad builder software.  The system calculates the total, reduces it by the subsidized amount, and then only charges the affiliate - get this - what they OWE!  But you know what else happens?  People make the purchase!  It's what they call a win-win.

As a product specialist, I feel proud to see a co-op advertising solution that works the right way for our users.  And as a rebate-repelled consumer, I feel hopeful that the current way isn't the only way.