2008

Concept Paper - #3

[imc.]
marketers have been continuously looking for ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of
marketing. And imc has been one of the most salient concept/process that has emerged in the last two
decades. this paper explores what imc is all about.
Background to of Integrated Marketing Communications

Brands have the opportunity to move away from being the 'shouting' brands of the 1950s and 1960s,
when there was a need to sell products quickly in an era of high demand, to becoming 'listening' brands,
making the most of the advantages of the e-marketing mix: in particular, interactivity with customers,
individualisation of the offer and intelligence gathering for the supplier.

It was in the late 80s and early 90s the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications surfaced.
Duncan and Everett (1993) emphasise the importance of IMC and relationship marketing:

'IMC is a cross-functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with customers
and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and
encouraging purposeful dialogue with them'.

One of the first papers to attempt any development of theory in this area was a study of advertisers in
the United States by Caywood, Schulz and Wang (1991). Since its publication there has been
considerable debate about IMC as a discipline. The seminal text by Schulz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn
(1993) itself adopts the definition by Caywood et al of IMC as:

'a concept of marketing communications that recognises the value of a comprehensive plan that
evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines and combines these to provide
clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact'.

Duncan and Everett (1993) also highlight the importance of the unified message and define it as 'the
strategic co-ordination of all messages and media used by an organisation to influence its perceived
brand value'. A task force from the American Association of Advertising Agencies developed the
following:

'IMC is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognises the added value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines – for
example, general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations – and combines
these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communications impact'. (Belch and
Belch, 1999)

This is a tighter definition than the Schulz (1993) 'big picture' approach to understanding IMC. He
believes companies should develop total marketing communication strategies that recognise how all of
a company's marketing activities, not just promotion, communicate with customers.

Whilst there is no agreed upon definition of IMC and even practices vary by organizations, marketers
firmly believe in the concept of IMC. And most marketing & communications institutions, scholars and
academics have agreed upon three broad components of IMC:

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 1. Audience focused; not just consumer, but shopper, opinion leaders, influencers and other stake-
holders including customer (trade), internal audiences.
2. Channel-centric; media channels and sales channels. Would include advertising, PR, Direct
Marketing, Online marketing, sales promotions (consumer & trade) and other non-traditional
contact choices.
3. Results-driven; focusing on measurable and accountable business results through a valuation of
market opportunities and estimation of return on investment. The measurement tools
employed in IMC reinforce its orientation towards measuring behavioral responses rather than
attitude and communication effects (e.g. awareness, etc.)

Concept/Process
IMC as a process

Strategic Management
Expanded notion of of brand
Strategic Business
brand communication
Process
communication
Programmes

Nurture Inclusion of
relationships Behavioral Responses customers, prospects Audience-focused
& loyalty and all stake-holders

Co-ordination,
Uses a variety of
consistency of
communication Channel-centric
messages and
disciplines
channels

Measurability over
time
Results-driven

Past Definitions Current Definition

At the heart of the IMC thinking is the logic whole is greater than the sum of parts. Assimilating all
insights & foresights into audiences & stake-holders (internal & external), channels of marketing &
communications (including promotions) and desired behavioral responses with the objective of arriving
at an overall strategy to maximize returns on investment is what Integrated Marketing Communications
is in essence. Insights into interconnections between channels, communications and consumers is key to
great Integrated Marketing Communications & the result is the golden thread that ties in all channel
marketing, communication & promotional activities.

And this helps marketers to guide all resources & stake-holders to come up with strategies that work
together towards a larger goal with shared objectives and outcome.

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