Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sreedhar Madhavaram (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an assistant professor of marketing, Department of Marketing, Nance College of Busine.ss Administration, Cleveland State University.
Vishag Dadrinarayanan (M.B.A., Institute for Technology and
Management, India) is an assistant professor of marketing. Department of Marketing, McCoy College of Business Administration,
Texas Srate University-San Marcos.
Robert E. McDonald (Ph.D., University of Connecticut) is an assistant professor. Department of Marketing, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University.
represent the voice of a brand and the means by which companies can establish a dialogue with consumers concerning
their product offerings" (2001, p. 823). That is, marketing
communication may provide the means for developing strong,
customer-based brand equity (Keller 2003). Furthermore,
marketing communications help the firm in eliciting favorable responses from customers (Duncan and Moriarty 1998).
Although a number of factors influence customer-based brand
equity, including product, price, and distribution, in this paper, we focus on the influence of IMC on brand equity.
Recently, Kitchen et al. (2004) observed that IMC has
evolved from being a mere "inside-out" device that brings
promotional tools together to being a strategic process associated with brand management. Further, Naik and Raman
note that IMC emphasizes "the benefits of harnessing synergy across multiple media to build brand equity of products
and services" (2003, p- 375). In this paper, however, by taking the works of several researchers (e.g., Duncan and Moriarty
1998; Jap 1999; Reid 2003), we conceptualize interactivity,
strategic consistency, and complementarity as synergy constructs. Therefore, noting the intricate relationship between
IMC and brand management, this paper aims to explore IMC
as an integral part of a firm's overall brand equity strategy.
But what is a brand equity strategy? Hunt notes, the fundamental thesis of brand equity strategy is that, to achieve
competitive advantage and, thereby, superior financial performance, firms should acquire, develop, nurture, and leverage an
effectiveness-enhancing portfolio of brands' (forthcoming).
Analogously, we define brand equity strategy as a set of processes that include acquiring, developing, nurturing, and leveraging an effectiveness-enhancing, high-equity brand or
portfolio of brands. By high equity, following Keller's (1993)
definition of customer-based brand equity, we mean the strong
and highly favorable brand associations of customers. Keller
Jotinial af Adveriiiing, vol. 3'1, ni>. 4 (Winter 2{IO5), pp. 69-80.
2005 American Atademy of Advenisinji, All tights reserved.
ISSN 0091-3367 / 2005 9.5O * 0.00.
70
Specifically, we propose a conceptual model of brand equity in which the aspirational brand identity guides IMC in
an effort to develop and maintain customer-based brand equity. The essence of this brand equity strategy is that by clearly
and consistently communicating the brand identity to other
brand stewards, the brand strategist can ensure a more synergistic and effective IMC. This, in turn, leads to stronger customer-based brand equity. An ideal outcome of such a strategy
would be a consumer-held brand image that is congruent with
the strategist's intended brand identity.
I
'
EVOLUTION OF IMC
In the past decade, IMC as a research area has generated a lot
of debate, led to intellectual discourse, and overall, has contributed to the evolution of IMC as a strategic tool that can
help firms to be more effective in realizing their brand communication goals. Given (1) the explosive growth of new electronic media (Bezjian-Avery, Calder, and Iacobucci 1998), (2)
the numerous and diverse means of communication and communication options (Keller 2001), (3) the speed, span, and
reach of electronic communication, which is driving firms to
adopt a global perspective (Kitchen and Schultz 2003), and
(4) the rapidly changing advertising environment (Gould
2004), IMC theory and practice has grown and evolved. This
section provides a brief overview of the evolution of IMC (as
shown in Table 1) in terms of (1) its conceptual development,
(2) its strategic role in brand equity, and (3) its importance as
a major communications development.
Conceptual Development
'
Winter 2005
71
TABLE I
The Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communications
IMC has evolved from . . .
To...
Tactical orientation
Strategic orientation
Local
Global
Emerging development
"Inside-out"
"Outside-in" customer-oriented
Managerial fashion
Emerging paradigm
Gould (2004)
Gould (2004)
"What is it?"
Swain (2004)
and/or effective in communicating with their intended target markets, and in turn, can help firms in achieving superior
financial performance through higher brand equity. In the
next section, we present and discuss IMC strategy and brand
identity strategy as critical components of the firm's overall
brand equity strategy.
BRAND EQUITY STRATEGY
Building and properly managing brand equity is a priority
for many firms (Keller 2003). Keller (1993) points out that
building brand equity requires (1) internal brand identity efforts, and then, (2) integration of brand identities into the
firms overall marketing programs, such as product, price,
advertising, promotion, and distribution decisions. Furthermore, Keller (1993) suggests that the strength of the firm's
brand equity from communications depends on how well
the brand identities are integrated into the supporting marketing programs. In addition, Keller (2003) calls for effective strategies for integrating marketing communications
in building and maintaining brand equity. Although all
marketing programs, such as product, price, advertising,
promotion, and distribution, can potentially create and
maintain brand equity, in this paper, we focus on the role of
the firm s marketing communication efforts in a brand equity strategy. Specifically, as shown in our brand equity schematic (see Figure 1), we propose brand identity strategy and
IMC strategy as critical components of the overall brand
equity strategy.
How does IMC contribute to a firm's brand equity? Schultz,
Tannenbaum, and Lauterborn (1993) conceptualize the effects
72
FIGURE I
Brand -Equity Strategy: A Schematic
Brand
equity
interface
Brand
identity
interface
Brand
identity
strategy
Brind
identity
contacts
IMC
strategy
BIrand
equity
contacts
Brand
Equity
1
1
that firms can use IMC to achieve high brand equity through
marketer-controlled brand contacts.
We now introduce the concepts of brand identity concaccs
and brand equity contacts. Braiui identity contacts are all message-carrying interactions concerning the brand between the
brand stracegiscs and che brand stewards. Brand stewards are
all internal and external entities (individuals and groups) that
have responsibility for communicating che brand to customers, prospects, and publics (de Chernacony 1999). Brand stewards can include advertising and public relations agencies,
direct marketers, and salespeople. Brand equity contacts are all
marketer-sponsored interactions concerning the brand between
brand stewards and customers, prospects, and publics that
are intended to create or maintain strong and highly favorable associations.
As shown in Figure 1, we propose that firms that are better able to influence their IMC through their brand idencity
contacts will be better able co influence their brand equity
through their brand equity contacts. Internal brand identity efforts are the first seep toward firms building their
brand equity (Keller 2003). We argue that there are cwo
interfaces that fall within the purview of the firm's overall
brand equity strategy; (1) the interface between the firm's
Winter 2005
IMC strategy and brand equity, and (2) the interface between
the firm's brand identity strategy and IMC strategy. Furthermore, we propose that while the former interface can be influenced through brand equity contacts, the latter interface can
be influenced through brand identity contacts. Also, the
firm s overall brand equity strategy is influenced by the
feedback loop from the firm's customer-based brand equity to the firm's brand identity strategy, external environment, competitors" brands, and changing customer
needs and preferences.
IMC and Brand Equity
The traditional communication process (Lasswell 1948), which
depicts the flow of messages from senders to receivers via elements such as encoding, media, and decoding, has undergone
noticeable changes and has evolved into a more interactive
and dynamic process (Kotler 2003). However, the traditional
framework is still followed as a guideline for understanding
and describing the brand communication process. Under the
emerging interaction-focused view of brand communications,
there is an extensive focus on brand contacts. It is now widely
accepted that (1) although communication is but one of the
drivers of brand equity, it is nonetheless a crucial one, (2)
brand communication is transmitted through a combination
of vehicles rather than broadcast advertising alone, (3) brand
communication can be meticulously planned or unplanned,
and (4) some important brand (equity and/or identity) contacts are not controllable by the brand strategist (Duncan and
Moriarty 1998; Schultz 2003).
Integrated marketing communication has been advanced
as a strategic business process that could contribute to building brand value (Schultz 2004a). Although systematic research
on several strategic and tactical aspects of IMC is gaining
momentum, it is widely accepted that effective communication is critical in enabling the formation of brand awareness
and brand image, that is, brand equity. Brand equity has been
identified as a valuable source of competitive advantage for
many organizations (Aaker 1991; Bharadwaj, Varadarajan, and
Fahy 1993; Keller 1998). Given the importance of brand equity, it is not surprising that many organizations devote considerable amounts of resources to developing strategies that
will allow them to build and/or maintain strong brands
(Schultz and Barnes 1999). For Duncan and Moriarty (1998)
and Duncan (2002), marketing communications is the glue
that enables the connection between the firm's efforts and
customers' favorable responses. .
As Schultz (20()4b) notes, brand equity is not merely built
through independent forms of communication (such as advertising or public relations), but is generated by managing
brand equity contacts via IMC. IMC, with synergy among
the various communications vehicles as its fundamental con-
73
74
"perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory" (1993, p. 3). There are
ways of measuring brand equity besides customer-based
brand equity, however. For example, there are (1) financial
measures of brand equity based on stock prices (Simon and
Sullivan 1993) and potential value (Mahajan, Rao, and
Srivastava 1994), and (2) measures involving consumer behavior, such as purchase (Kamakura and Russell 1993). For
the purposes of this paper, however, we propose measuring
brand equity in terms of brand knowledge perceptions, for
two reasons: (1) If the firm has a portfolio of brands, measuring brand equity based on stock prices becomes problematic,
and (2) consumer perceptions are precursors to behavioral
manifestations of brand equity (Cobb-Walgren, Ruble, and
Donthu 1995).
Brand Equity Contact Factors
"
Winter 2005 75
FIGURE 2
A Conceptual Framework
Brand
identityoriented
culture
IMC synergy
Constructs
Interactivity
Interactivity consistency
Complementary
Top
management
support
Brand equity
A wareness
Image
IMC
etTectiveness
Internal
market
orientation
yond the individual communication options. Therefore, we offer the following propositions linking IMC synergy with brand
equity:
Pla: Positive interactivity is related positively to hrand
awareness.
Plb: Positive interactivity is related positively to brand image.
P2a: Strategic consistency is related positively to hrand
awareness.
P2b: Strategic consistency is related positively to brand image.
P3a: Complementarity is relatedpositively to brand awareness.
P3b: Complementarity is related positively to brand image.
IMC Effectiveness
Synergy among the various marketing communication activities should potentially make IMC more effective. Adapting
the business performance measures used by Jaworski and Kohli
(1993) and Narver and Slater (1990), we propose that IMC
effectiveness can be measured as the perception of firms as to
the effectiveness of their IMC efforts compared with their
competitors" IMC efforts. For example, the key informants
from the firms can provide the assessment of IMC effectiveness when compared with competitors' IMC programs. Hence,
as harnessing synergy through IMC builds brand equity of
products and services (Naik and Raman 2003), effective IMC
leads to higher brand equity. Naik and Raman (2003) dem-
76
is related positively
to IMC
to IMC
Brand Identity^rhnted
Cult$/re
Reid (2003) suggests that IMC synergy and IMC effectiveness are based on cultural and managerial factors. Recently,
Urde (1999) introduced the concepc of brand orientation
tliat is centered on brand identity. For Urde, "brand orientation is an approach in which the processes of che organizacion revolve around the creation, development, and
protection of hrand identity in an ongoing interaction with
target customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages in the form of brands" (1999, pp. 1 17-118;
emphasis added). Throughout his paper, Urde draws parallels between his concepts of brand orientation and market
orientation. Therefore, drawing on similarities between
Urde's notion of brand orientation and Slater and Narver's
(1995) conceptualization of market orientation as a culture,
we conceptualize brand identity orientation as a culture that
(1) places high priority on rhe profitable creation and maintenance ot brand idenriry/identities, and (2) provides norms
for behavior regarding the organizational development of
and responsiveness to brand identity-related information.
We argue tbat firms with a brand identity-oriented culture
Winter 2005
P7c: Top management
complementarity.
to
Among other things, relationship-marketing theory highlights the importance of personal interactions for employees
within the firm. That is, as Duncan and Moriarty (1998) note,
in order for firms to integrate their external marketing communication, they should first achieve that integration internally. Hacketal. (1998) note that IMC requires, as a precursor,
a high degree of interpersonal and cross-functional communication within the organization, across business units. Also,
firms often use external agencies/firms for their marketing
communications purposes. That is, many employees who are
responsible for marketing communications may not be employees of the marketing firm. Gummeson (2002) labels all
such employees as "part-time marketers." In order for the firm
to implement a successful brand identity strategy, full-time
and part-time marketers of the firm need to supply each other
with all the required information so they can agree on specific
identities for individual brands. Employees can be influenced
most effectively through the concept of internal marketing,
and hence can be motivated to be customer conscious by applying marketing-like approaches and activities internally
(Gronroos 1982). That is, the success of an external marketing program such as marketing communications is dependent on internal market orientation (Piercy 1995). Recently,
Lings (2004) proposed that (1) internal market orientation
has a positive relationship with internal aspects of firm performance, and (2) internal aspects of firm performance have
positive relationships with the external aspects of performance.
Therefore:
P8a: Internal market orientation is related positively to positive
interactivity.
P8b: Internal market orientation is relatedpositively to strategic
consistency.
P8c: Internal market orientation is related positively to
complementarity.
P8d: Internal market mentation is related positively to IMC
effectiveness.
DISCUSSION
Consistent with recent developments in the understanding
and application of IMC, the proposed conceptual framework
(1) applies IMC as an integral element in a successful brand
77
78
REFERENCES
Aaker, David A. (1991)> Managing Brand Equity, New York: Free
Press.
(1996), Building Strong Brands, New York: Free Press.
^. and Alexander L. Biel (1993), Brand Equity and Advertising: Advertising's Role in Building Strong Brands, Hillsdale,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Belch, George E., and Michael A. Belch (1998), Advertising and
Promotion. Boscon: McGraw-Hill.
Bezjian-Avery, Alexa, Bobby Calder, and Dawn lacobucci (1998),
"New Media Interactive Advertising Vs. Traditional Advert ising,"7ofn!?/ of Advertising Research, 38 (July/August),
23-32.
Bharadwaj,SundarG., Rajan Varadarajan, and John Fahy (1993),
"Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Induscries:
A Conceptual Model and Research," Jw/rwrf/ of Marketing.
57 (October), 83-99.
Carlson, Les, Stephen J. Grove, and Michael J. Dorsch (2003),
"Services Advertising and Inccgraced Marketing Communicacions: An Empirical Examination," yrwrrw/ of Current
Issues and Research in Advertising. 25 (Fall), 68-82.
Chang, Yuhmiin, and Escher Thorson (2004), "Television and
"Weh Advertising Synergies," Journal ofAdvertising, 33 (Summer), 75-84.
Cobb-Walgren, Cathy J., Cynthia A. Ruble, and Naveen Donthu
(1995), "Brand Equity, Brand Preference, and Purchase Intent," Journal of Adverti.mig, 24 (Fall), 25-40.
Cornelissen,Joep P., and Andrew P. Lock (2000), "Theoretical
Concept or Management Fashion.-' Examining the Significance of IMC Journal of Advertising Research, 40 (5), 7 15.
Cornwell, T. Bettina, Donald R. Roy, and Edward A. Steinard II
(2001), "Exploring Managers' Perceptions of the Impact of
Sponsorship on Brand Equity," Journal of Adt>ertising, 30 (2),
41-52.
de Chernatony, Leslie (1999), "Brand Management Through
Narrowing the Gap Between Brand Identity and Brand
Reputation," Journal of Marketing Mattagemenl, 15 (January/
April), 157-179.
Duncan, Thomas R. (2002), IMC: Using Advertising and Promotiofi to Build Brands, Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Winter 2005 79
-, and
(1998), "A Communication-Based Mar, and Don E. Schultz (2003), "Integrated Corporate and
keting Model for Managing Rtlationships," Journal of MarProduct Brand Communication,' Advances in Competitiveketing, 62 (April), 1-13.
ness Research, 11 (1), 66-86.
Eagle, Lynne C , and Philip J. Kitchen (2000), "IMC, Brand
Kotler, Philip (2003), Marketing Management, Upper Saddle River,
Communications, and Corporate Cultures: Client/AdverNJ: Prentice Hall.
tising Agency Co-ordination and Cohesion," EuropeanjourKrugman, Dean M.. Leonard N. Reid, S. Watt Dunn, and Arnold
nal of Marketing. 34(5/6), 667-686.
M. Barban (1994). Advertising: Its Role in Modern Marketing.
8tb ed.. Fort Wortb, TX: Dryden.
Gould, Stephen J. (2004), "IMC as Theory and as a Postscructural
Set of Practices and Discourses: A Continuously Evolving
Lasswell, Harold D. (1948), "The Structure and Function of
Paradigm Shift," Journal of Advertising Research. 44 (March),
Communication in Sociecy," in The Communication of Ideas,
66-70.
L. Bryson, ed.. New York: Harjier, 37-51.
Gronroos, Christian (1982), Strategic Management and Marketing Lings, Ian N. (2004), "Internal Market Orientation Construct
in the Service Sector. Helsingfors: Swedish School of Economand Consequences," Journal of Bus ine.is Research. 57 (4), 405
ics and Business Administration.
413.
Gummeson, Evert (2002), "Relationship Marketing and a New
Madhavaram, Sreedhar (2004), "Foundations of IMC Theory,"
Economy: It's Time for Deprogramming," yw/rn^/ of Serworking paper, Texas Tech University.
vices Marketing. 16(7), 585-589.
Mahajan, Vijay, Vithala R. Rao, and Rajendra K. Srivastava
Hack, Becki, Heidi Schultz, Don E. Schultz, Linda Mullinix,
(1994), "An Approach to Assess the Importance of Brand
Chris Cares, and Alexandria Wornack (1998), "Integrated
Equity in Acquisition Decisions," Journal of Produa InnovaMarketing Communication Best-Practice Report," in IMC
tion Management, 11 (3), 221-235.
Study Report of the American Productivity and Quality Center,McArthur, David N., and Tom Griffin (1997), "A Marketing
Houston: American Productivity and Quality Center.
Management View of Integrated Marketing Communications,'V''^/ of Advertising Research. 37 (September/OctoHines, R. (1999), "Ins and Outs of Integrated Marketing," Triber), 19-26.
angle Business Journal. 15 (10). 25.
Hunt, Shelby D. (forthcoming), "On Reforming Marketing: For
Naik, Prasad A., and Kalyan Raman (2003), "Understanding
Marketing Systems and Brand Equity Strategy," in Does
the Impact of Synergy in Multimedia Communications,"
Marketing Need Reform.'' Jagdish Sheth and Raj Sisodia, eds.,
Journal of Marketing Research. 40 (November), 375-388.
Armonk, NY: M.B. Sharpe.
Narver, John C , and Stanley P. Slater (1990), "The Effect of a
Jap, Sandy D. (1999), 'Pie-Expansion' Efforts: Collaboration ProMarket Orientation on Business Profitability," JoarW o/
cesses in Buyer-Supplier Relationsbips,"yoj!(rfft?/(?/Al(3r;&^/Marketing. 54 (October), 20-35.
ing Research. 36 (November), 4 6 1 ^ 7 5 .
Percy, Larry, John R. Rossiter, and Richard Elliott (2001), "What
Jaworski, Bernard J., and Ajay K. Kohli (1993), "Market OrienIr Takes for Successful Advertising and Promotion,"' in Stratation: Antecedents and Consequences," Journal of Markettegic Advertising Management. Oxford: Oxford University
' 57 (January), 53-70.
Press, 3 5 ^ 8 .
Joachimsthaler, Erich, and David A. Aaker (1997), "Building
Piercy, Nigel F. (1995), "Marketing and Strategy Fit Together,"
Brands Without Mass Media," Harvard Business Review,
Management Decision, 3 3 (1), 4247.
75 (January/February), 39-50.
Reid, Mike (2003), "IMC-Performance Relationship: Further
Kamakura, Wagner A., and Gary J. Russell (1993), "Measuring
Insight and Evidence from che Australian Marketplace,"
Brand Value with Scanner Data," International Journal of
International Journal of Advertising. 22(2), 227248.
Research in Marketing. 10 (March), 9-22.
Rossiter, John R., and Larry Percy (1987), Advertising and PromoKapferer, Jean-Noel (1997), Strategic Brand Management: Creattion Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
ing and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term. London: Kogan Schulrz, Don E. (1998), "Branding: The Basis for Marketing InPage.
tegration," Marketing News. 32 (24), 8.
Keller, Kevin Lane (1993), "Conceptualizing, Measuring, and
(2003), "The New Brand Wagon," Marketing ManageManaging Customer-Based Brand Equity," Journal of Marment. 12 (January/February), 8-9.
keting. 57 (January), 1-22.
(2004a), "IMC Receives More Appropriate Definition,"
(1998), Strategic Brand Management, Upper Saddle River,
Marketing News, 38 (15), 8-9.
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
(2004b), "A Clean Brand Slate," Marketing Management,
(2001), 'Mastering the Marketing Communications Mix:
13 (September/October), 10-11.
Micro and Macro Perspectives on Integrated Marketing
, and B. Barnes (1999), Strategic Brand Communication
Communication Programs." yo/zrwi^/ of Marketing ManageCampaigns. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.
ment. 17 (September), 819-847.
, and Philip J. Kitchen (1997). "Integrated Communications in U.S. Advertising Agencies: An Exploratory
(2003), Strategic Brand Management, Upper Saddle River,
Study," Journal of Advertising Re.search. 37 (5), 7-18.
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kitchen, Philip J., Joanne Brignell, Tao Li, and Graham Spickett
, and
(2000), "A Response to 'Theoretical Concept or Management Fashion?'" Journal ofAdvertising Research,
Jones (2004), "Tbe Emergence of IMC: A Theoretical Pet40(5), 17-21.
spective," Journal of Advertising Research. 44 (March), 19-30.
so