Sree Narayana Guru College of Commerce

P.L. Lokhande Marg, Chembur Mumbai -89.

PROJECT REPORT ON
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATRION.

In the partial fulfillment for

Bachelors of Management Studies (BMS)

SUBMITTED BY:
ANIKET DAULATI KANHURKAR.

TYBMS SEM V-VI (2014-15)

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Prof. Ms. KAZANAFAR KHAN.

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my gratitude to our Principal MR. RAVINDRAN.KARTHADI.

For his support. I wish to thank Mrs.
, HOD BMS Department, for giving
me the opportunity to work on this project.
I am grateful to my project guide Ms. KAZANFAR KHAN, without her prompt
responses, feedback and support this project would not have been possible.
My appreciation also goes to my family, friends for their suggestions, support and
help. Without their support and conviction this project would not have been
possible.

SREE NARAYANA GURU COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

P.L. Lokhande Marg, Chembur Mumbai -89 Mumbai - 400705

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that
Mr. /Ms

of

TY BMS has undertaken and completed the project work titled

During the
Academic year 2012-2013 under the guidance of
Mr. /Ms.

Submitted on ____________ to

This college in fulfillment of the curriculum of Bachelor of Management

Studies, University of Mumbai.

Project Guide

BMS HOD

Principal

External Examiner

Date:

DECLARATION

I,

student of TYBMS, SREE NARAYANA GUEU COLLEGE

OF COMMERCE hereby declare that I have completed the project report on

In the academic year 2014-15. The information
submitted by me is true & original to the best of my knowledge.

Signature

Title
Sr no.
1

Particulars
Introduction

What is integrated marketing?

Component of IMC

Heart of IMC

Levels of integration

Case study

Actual process

Evaluation and barrier

recommendation

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conclusion

Page no.

INTERATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Introduction

Pepsi, announced some time back that it was scrapping its familiar red, white, and blue design
and switching to a radical new electric blue package and logo design, the reason being that
Pepsi's image, particularly in international markets, had been losing something in translation.

As The Wall Street Journal observed in reporting on the Project Blue launch, "Pepsis image is
all over the map." The story explains that a grocery store in Hamburg uses red stripes, a bodega
in Guatemala uses '70s-era lettering, a Shanghai restaurant displays a mainly white Pepsi sign,
and a hodgepodge of commercials feature a variety of spokespeople, ranging from cartoons and
babies to doddering butlers.

It's not just Pepsi's marketing communication that sends different messages to different people.
Consumers say the cola tastes different in different countries, so PepsiCo's plans also call for
revamping manufacturing and distribution to get a consistent-tasting drink marketed throughout
the globe. And some of its European marketing communication partners were mixed in their
support of the plan because they felt they weren't consulted about how it was to be implemented,
so there's work to be done there, too.

Everything Sends a Message: What happened to Pepsi dramatizes the point that message
consistency is a systemic problem, as well as strategic. It has to be approached from the
viewpoint of the whole company and its total business operations, not just from how the
company executes its marketing communication or corporate image programs.

As Nicolas Hayek, CEO of Swatch, says, "Everything we do, and the way we do everything,
sends a message." And thats where Integrated Marketing Communications comes in.
Integrated marketing communications is a process that manages all of a company or brand's
interactions with customers and other key stakeholders. Its premise is that everything a company
does, and sometimes what it doesn't do, sends a message.

In the marketplace of the 21st century ... the driving force is not a company with products to
sell but customers controlling what, where, and how they want to buy. Thanks to the Internet, 24hour toll-free phone numbers, credit cards, and express delivery services, consumers are
accessing information on demand and seeking out the products and services that interest them.

Gone are the days when a company determined where, when, and how it sells its product. This
new approach not only changes the way we make our purchasing decisions, it also revolutionizes
how companies market to their customers. For most companies to win, they must replace
outdated mass-marketing tactics with a targeted, customer-focused approach.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is one such customer-centric, data-driven method

of communicating with consumers. Nestle, IBM, Sprint, Microsoft, Apple computers, Nike and
many other companies have adopted the IMC approach.

What is Integrated Marketing?

Integrated marketing is a comprehensive approach to internal and external organizational
communication.

Definition of IMC:
As per American Association of Advertising Agencies
'The concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic role 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'.

According to Don Schultz, Integrated marketing Communications is a new way of looking at the
whole, where once we only saw parts such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion,
purchasing, employee communications, and so forth. It is realigning communications to look at it
the way the customer sees it - as a flow of information from indistinguishable sources.

A successful IMC campaign requires that the firm find a right combination of promotion tools
and techniques, defines their roles and the extent to which they can or should be used, and
coordinate their use.

In the words of Duncan and Everett, Integrated Marketing Communications may be defined as
The strategic coordination of all the messages and media used by an organization to influence
the perceived brand value

The focus here is on two aspects:

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1) Being present at all the contact points

2) Managing the communications well that your brand speaks one language. As Nowak and
Phelps say - your brand should have One voice reaching to your customers, may it be by
any number of channels.

If this does not happen:

a) You may miss out on some of the contact points where your customer awaits your
communications but he does not find you and he abnegates the brand.
b) You may reach different contact points but different communications (including the
intangibles) speak differently, your customer gets confused as to what he should associate
with your brand.

Thus the first aspect creates awareness and the second aspect creates and maintains loyalty.

Other views on what Integrated Marketing Communication is:

Integrated marketing is a cross-functional process to create, maintain and grow profitable
relationships with customers and other stakeholders, with the intended result being a gain in
brand value for the company, as well as its products/services.

IMC is the management of all organizational communications to build positive relationships

with customers and other stakeholders -- stresses marketing to the individual by understanding
needs, motivations, attitudes, and behaviors.
Integrated marketing unifies the core purpose, key goals and strategies and company-wide
processes to create congruent messages and sufficient dialog with all stakeholder groups.
Necessary conditions for an Effective IMC program:

Today, IMC definitions are broader in application, as a brand is developed in stakeholders' minds
as a result of all interactions they have with a company, and not just as a result of a campaign
they are exposed to. The premise is virtually the same synergies are achieved when all brand
contacts work in concert.

While definitions differ, the practice of IMC involves the same success factors and helps
organizations build and deepen relationships with their many stakeholders. The following
conditions should be considered "necessary," but not sufficient conditions of IMC practice:
1. It must speak to all stakeholders with a "single," consistent voice.
2. It must assume the consumers' point of view.
3. Its strategic communications disciplines must be internally integrated.
4. It must have a clear and consistent message that is more efficient and effective than
competing messages.
5. Its messages must cut through the increasingly cluttered commercial landscape.
6. It must foster a two-way dialogue between consumers and itself.
7. It must build bonds that lead to long-term, consumer-to-brand relationships.
8. It must not place excellent marketing ahead of corporate reputation.

Thus in the IMC approach, the different communications are in the form of arcs making up a
360-degree circle, at the center of which lies the customer. With too much communication
surrounding the customer he gets confused, he being a center of many brand communications
circles and still more if the communications from a single brand are not integrated. Thus the
communications need to be spread and integrated on a holistic basis what forms the basis of
IMC.

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The Components of IMC

Integrated Marketing will require strategic combination of two or more of the following basic
marketing elements/instruments used in concert to multiply the effectiveness of a campaign:

Advertising (Print/ Television/Radio) - used to inform and entice a prospect about a

company's product or service, draw attention to the company Web site and stimulate trial
use.

Public Relations - also used to inform, but adds credibility by use of a third party
endorsement.

Web Site/ Internet - used by both existing customers and prospects to obtain product
and service information and, with the implementation of eCommerce, conveniently
purchase online.

Sales Promotion - provides short-term incentives to buy. Best used when offered to
prospects who are already familiar with the product or service.

Direct Marketing - used today mostly to establish an ongoing relationship with a current
customer or prospect in order to stimulate repurchase and build loyalty.

Special events

Video and audio presentations

Multimedia presentations etc.

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There are TWO CRITICAL FACTORS that have the most influence on the effectiveness of an
Integrated Marketing campaign.

The first is the strategic combination or "mix" of the basic elements. Achieving the most
effective mix is usually the result of experience.

The second critical factor is the consistency of the theme across all elements in the
campaign. Logically, consistency is best achieved through the use of a single source
responsible for defining the role of each element, creating the theme, and coordinating the
timely implementation of the campaign. However, consistency is where most companies who
believe they are already integrating their marketing efforts usually fall short.

The following Research compiled from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the American
Management Association, and the Direct Marketing Association reiterates the fact that
strategically combining the basic marketing elements with a consistent theme will impact results:

Average stand-alone direct mail campaign generates 3.3% response rate.

One basic marketing element added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate
increases to 5.4%.

Two basic marketing elements added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate
increases to 6.7%.

Three basic marketing elements added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate
increases to 6.9%.

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Factors contributing to IMC's rising prominence

1. Fragmentation of media: - both the print and the Television media have proliferated
dramatically in the past decade which has resulted in less reliance on mass media and more
emphasis on the other promotional options, such as direct mail and event sponsorship.
2. Better audience assessment: - More sophisticated research methods have enabled more
accurate and specific targeting, leading the marketer away from the mass media to
promotional tools that reach only the segment that has been targeted.
3. Consumer empowerment: - empowered consumers are more skeptical of commercial
messages and demand information tailored to their needs.
4. Increased advertising clutter: - has diluted the effectiveness of any single message. There
seems to be no end in sight to this 'media' proliferation.
5. Many marketers feel that traditional advertising is too expensive and is not cost effective.
Hence there is a trend of shifting of budgets from media advertising to other forms of
promotions.
6. Database technology:- can be used to create accurate customer and non-customer profiles
for developing highly targeted direct response & telemarketing programs can be
implemented.
7. Channel Power: - Retail channels are developing power and hence are able to demand
promotional fees and allowances from manufacturers, which divert funds away from
advertising and into special events or other promotions.
8. Increased Accountability: - have led the firms to reallocate marketing resources from
advertising to more short-term and more easily measurable methods such as direct marketing
and sales promotion.

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4Ps versus the 4 Cs

The current revolution in the market has brought about several Differents. This has led to the
replacement of 4 P's of marketing by the 4 C's of marketing. The 4Ps v/s the 4Cs:
Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER: Understand what the consumer wants and needs. Times
have changed and you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics
must now match what someone specifically wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is
buying is the personal "buying experience."

Not PRICE, but COST: Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy the want or need. The
product price may be only one part of the consumer's cost structure. Often it's the cost of time to
drive somewhere, the cost of conscience of what you eat, and the cost of guilt for not treating the
kids.

Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE: As above, turn the standard logic around. Think
convenience of the buying experience and then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all
possible definitions of "convenience" as it relates to satisfying the consumer's wants and needs.
Convenience may include aspects of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction
service time and hours of availability.

Not

PROMOTION,

but

COMMUNICATION:

Communicate,

communicate,

and

communicate. Many mediums working together to present a unified message with a feedback
mechanism to make the communication two-way. And be sure to include an understanding of
non-traditional mediums, such as word of mouth and how it can influence your position in the
consumer's mind. How many ways can a customer hear (or see) the same message through the
course of the day, each message reinforcing the earlier images?

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The Heart of IMC

In keeping with the above trends, there are Five power concepts that go in IMC and make the
communications efficient and effective.

1. Customer Focus i.e. Your message must be appealing, relevant and accurately timed and
must be based on the understanding and anticipation of what the customer expects and wants,
when he wants it, and how he wants it to be delivered to him.

2. Customer Empowerment i.e. you empower your customer to define the relevance; you do
not define it for him and do not force the content as per your convenience. You allow him to
decide how deeply he wants to be involved in the communications. This concept extends
beyond the permission from customer. Her you are asking your customer to take the lead.

3. Immersive marketing i.e. you need to be consistent at all the contact points and need to
have continuity such that all the roads of different media lead down the same path to the
brand. The beauty of your communications lies in that the consumer gets the option only to
decide how far to go and not what different objective to go for.

4. Brand Resonance i.e. your communication while creating relationship must stand for
something that the customers think is worthy of a relationship with them.

5. Emotional bonding i.e. your brand develops a relationship with your

Customer based on the insights about the customer. He is not only loyal to your brand but he
treats the brand as a friend, a trustee, a close relative, or as an inseparable part of his life. In
this case he becomes an advocate for your brand and propagates your message himself. In
other sense he becomes a contact point for the other consumers. Thus the communications

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become vital to be managed so well that even this newly created contact point speaks the
same voice.

Correctly implemented, the IMC program is a continuous cycle of gathering data and
implementing response-generating marketing communications, which are based on previously,
gathered data. Marketing communications derived from consumer need can build perceived
value into your product or service, and separate it from the competition in the minds of your
customers and prospects.

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Levels of Integration

Integration of communication goes beyond the definition of one message, one voice to which so
many marketers ascribe. Integrated marketing communications is not just merely a piece of
advertising, a piece of public relations and a piece of direct mail that all look the same. Rather,
IMC is the management of all brand contact points through an integrated, consumer-driven
strategy. It means realigning your communications from your customers perspective so that
your public relations is indistinguishable from your advertising, your direct marketing is
indistinguishable from your promotions and so on.

There exist various levels at which such integration can take place. The following table details
each of such stages.

Stages of Integration of Marketing Communication

LEVEL I
Tactical Co-ordination

To create one sight, one sound by consolidating communications

planning. Often leads to attempts at cross-functionality, where teams of specialists from

different areas of expertise are formed to increase synergy.

LEVEL II
Redefining the Scope of Marketing

Rather than considering

Communications communications as an outbound activity, the firm looks at all points at

which the consumer and the brand are in contact. Most important result of this level of
integration is inclusion of Employees as both target for and proliferators of Marketing
communications.
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LEVEL III
Application of IT The key ingredient here is the use of databases to capture individual
transactions. This enables the firm to market to groups of individuals rather than the average
customer at the middle of the segment.

LEVEL IV

Strategic and Financial Integration

In this level two issues are paramount:

a. The ability to measure the return on customer
investment
b. Ability to use the marketing communication to
drive organizational and strategic directions.

Rather than measuring say, extra sales resulting from an advertising campaign, the firm would
now measure the returns from a specific group of customers against costs associated with that
group.

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Case I

How The Entertainment Industry Capitalizes On IMC

As the entertainment industry is forced to become more creative in reaching its audiences, the
opportunities for marketing communications are endless. As Hollywood creates more and more ways to
communicate with its audiences, the need for integration is paramount. With burgeoning franchises,
entertainment companies have begun to delve deeper into marketing strategies that enable them to
connect with their customers across their whole range of properties and communication divisions. The
hype about integration has created a "buzz" in Hollywood that has the industry turning out some of the
best marketing strategies and campaigns in years.

Entertainment companies are defining their success with well-thought-out, consumer-driven strategies
and are using an array of marketing tools to connect with audiences in more relevant and creative ways.
In the process, integrated marketing communications (IMC) is beginning to take center stage as the
entertainment industrys shining star.

IMC Takes Center Stage

IMC has taken center stage in the entertainment industry as a result of several factors and trends. Two of
the greatest of these factors driving IMC principles are:

The proliferation of media choices

The proliferation of media has fragmented audiences, making it harder and harder to reach them
through traditional means. Long gone are the days when a single 30-second television commercial
could capture the attention of an entire target audience. Todays media competitive frame includes 12
networks, 213 cable channels, hundreds of radio stations and even more magazines
(www.ultimatetv.com). At the same time, consider the number of movies and home videos released

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each month. Even still, we must add the thousands of websites available on the Internet to this media
mix.

The changes in consumer media consumption.

As the number of media options has increased, audiences have become more diversified. Viewers are
now able to make choices in their media consumption that match their specific interests.

Television for the masses is passe. As the number of media outlets is rising, ratings are decreasing.
For example, the last episode of Seinfeld drew fewer viewers than a regular episode of the Beverly
Hillbillies. It is clear that advertisers must become more sophisticated in their media targeting if they
are going to reap the benefits that these changes in media consumption can offer.

However, as an industry that is dependent on media for advertising, as well as for the delivery of its
product, these facts are even more striking.

Hollywood has responded to the situation by flexing its marketing muscle to leverage communication
across all of its customers brand contacts, not just advertising. This strategy has led the industry to focus
on aligning its marketing efforts for a property around all of its company divisions, rather than limiting its
marketing power to the division responsible for the main product, such as theatrical or home video.

Using creativity and marketing savvy, the entertainment industry has successfully capitalized on aligning
communication vehicles through the following four principles:

Principle I - Focus on the consumer

The industry is increasingly becoming more consumer-focused, using media outlets to find out
what their consumers want and then deliver it to them through well-defined, specific formats and
programming.

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Entertainment companies are proving that they know this tenet better than most others.

The business is using integrated marketing principles to connect with its customers not only
through its advertising messages, but also through the entertainment product it offers.

As explained earlier, the proliferation of media today has resulted in extreme audience
segmentation. For example, the WB network reaches ethnic viewers, FOX offers specific children
programming, Lifetime TVs format targets women, and ESPN attracts sports fans. The rise of
such specific television formats indicates that the industry is moving toward segmentation
strategies. The effects of audience segmentation in the entertainment industry have led to
marketing strategies shaped by the consumer. Consumers shape brands based upon their
individual perceptions and judgments, and marketers must measure the significance these brands
hold in relation to their targets and build identities around these meanings. Franchises are
demonstrating that consumers own the brand through the branding strategies and promotional
partners they utilize. For example, networks and shows are starting to brand themselves in
consumer-specific ways. As a result, we have seen the emergence of networks defining their
brand identity according to their audiences perspective.

"Everything we do, every contest we run, is from a kids point of view," says Cyma Zarghami, general manager and executive vice
president of Nickelodeon. "It permeates the way we work and what we do." Such networks are branding themselves through their
consumers voice with such slogans as Lifetime TVs "Television for Women." Slogans such as this reinforce that networks are talking to
specific customers with specific interests, instead of a mass audience.

Case in Point: The Rugrats on Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon demonstrates this principle in its explicit commitment to its consumers kids.
Nickelodeon is the creator of the first television network for kids. The network became the 24-hour
cable ratings leader for the first time in 1995 and continues to hold the title today. Kids are at the very
core of this network. As its website touts, kids are the creators, drawers, thinkers and writers for
everything that takes place on Nickelodeon. In fact, the grown-ups behind the scenes display all of the
pictures that kids send them and post them on refrigerators throughout the company as a constant
reminder of their audience.
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As a result of this cable channels philosophy, much of its programming follows the same lead.
For example, The Rugrats, is an animated series about life from a toddlers point of view and is
written completely from a childs perspective. Debuting in 1991, this hit series has won several
awards including the Emmy, Cable Ace and Parents Choice. It began as a Sunday morning
cartoon and now airs 13 times each week with more than 23 million viewers. The growing
success of this animated series could be trumpeted as the result of the audience perspective upon
which it is based.

Principle II - Aligning marketing communications vehicles

Another essential communication principle appearing in entertainment marketing strategies

involves the various communication tools employed in delivering messages to consumers. The
spotlight on the entertainment industrys marketing strategies is most evident through the creative
executions that the various marketing mix elements offer the entertainment industry.

With all of the competition, Hollywood can no longer create something and expect people to
come see it. Instead, it has to promote it and promote it right. This means communicating with its
audiences at every point that they interact with the brand.

Chris Moseley, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Discovery Networks,
reinforces the importance of alignment of all customer contact points: "I think all four parts of the
equation programming, marketing or promotions (and I use them interchangeably), sales and
research are key factors in how well anything performs." The result is an integrated marketing
experience that builds relationships between the company and its consumers.

Case in Point: The Rugrats Movie

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The marketing campaign for the release of Nickelodeons The Rugrats Movie demonstrates how a
successful entertainment marketer builds this experience across all brand contacts. The movie
was scheduled to open November 25, 1998. The integrated marketing strategy for this animated
film based on the TV series already includes computer games, CDs, magazines, books, a
comic strip, toys, an amusement park and a live stage show.

The official buildup of the movie began with on-channel promotion, including new TV
episodes, leading to one that sets up the movie by revealing that the main characters mom is
pregnant.

Other Rugrats promotional support includes a partnership with Burger King for a Kids Club
promotion.

Also in the marketing mix is the release of two computer programs in the month preceding
the movie release, one of which is based on the movie itself.

Broderbund Software and Nickelodeon plan to launch numerous cross-promotions with the
release of the game, including print advertising, contests and in-theater promotions beginning
in September.

Furthermore, the Rugrats marketing blitz includes:

(a) A newspaper comic strip
(b) A guest appearance at Paramounts King Island where kids will have an opportunity
to meet their favorite Rugrats characters during a "Rugrats Weekend
(c) A live musical tour
(d) A Simon & Schuster book series to coincide with the U.K. release of the movie
(e) Rugrats merchandise and hundreds of licenses for Rugrats items (including dolls,
board games, clothing, bedding, videos, fruit snacks, school supplies, greeting cards
and party goods)

Through this comprehensive marketing strategy, Nickelodeon has brought The Rugrats and the movie
into the lives of its audience in all ways that it interacts with the brand.

Principle III - Internal corporate synergy

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Entertainment companies are building alliances across their entire franchises in order to bring
their entertainment properties to life across as many mediums as possible.

Andrew Capone, senior vice president of marketing for NBC explains, "I want to find a way we can
combine a number of our properties, including cable and our stations, to help clients in integrated
marketing solutions." In order to heighten the success of their products, as well as those of their
advertisers, entertainment companies are realizing that they must build alliances across all the
divisions of their brands. The opportunity to tap into their sister companies is certainly an advantage
for this industry in capitalizing on this idea of synergy.

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Success Factors

The Entertainment Industrys use of IMC, highlights some success factors for effectiveness and
these include:

Segmenting valuable customers.

Analyzing profitability.

Examining customer, brand & stakeholder contact points with the company.

Marketing based on consumer differences, not similarities.

Using databases for behavioral segmentation and lead management.

Creating strategic, effective communications-based initiatives.

Driving communications to a new level of customer and stakeholder fulfillment retention.

Achieving consumer satisfaction and bottom-line profitability.

Advantages Of The Integrated Marketing Approach

1. The customer becomes the primary focus of everyone.
2. There is no needless duplication of services. PR messages combine with advertising,
marketing and internal communicationseverything is congruent and clearer to
customers.
3. There is almost no likelihood of "the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing."
4. It fosters intra-departmental cooperation in your company. Workers experience more
harmonious working relationships with their peers and senior management.
5. Studies verify increased productivity, which positively impacts the bottom line.
6. Executive "oneness of focus" on mission and results; one missionone vision with all
the "parts" aligned with it.
7. The core processes of the organization become much clearer and people start pulling
together rather than in several directions at once.

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8. It takes fewer people, energized around a fewer number of central themes to get more
work done than before because human potential and energy is not wasted.
9. Marketing programs become more effective because they are focused and more efficient.
They are more powerful in delivering the key message without waste and overlap to no
effect.
10. Sales programs become more dynamic because the objectives become much clearer to the
existing sales force. The job of the salespeople is made more effective because the "home
office" is supporting their steps and making them look much better in the eyes of your
customers.

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PROCESS OF IMC

27

Characteristics of an IMC approach

Planning for an Integrated Communications program goes beyond merely using the right tool
under the right conditions. Strategic planning for IMC is distinguished from the traditional use of
multi-dimensional promotions by the following four factors:

An Outside-In approach is used to plan communications That essentially means that a

firm, designing communications, starts with the customer or prospect and looks backward,
identifying what the customer deems as important information. This approach helps to
deliver the information that the customer wants rather than in the form at a time that the firm
deems appropriate.

Similarly Tom Duncan suggests the use of Zero-based communication planning it involves
determining what tasks need to be done and which marketing communications function
should be used and to what extent.

IMC planning requires comprehensive and detailed knowledge about the customers,
prospects and other stakeholders.

An IMC plan is built around brand contacts like packaging, employee contacts, in-store
displays etc. Each contact must be evaluated for clarity and consistency with the overall
IMC program.

Control of the IMC plan is highly centralized. The effectiveness of the program is highly
increased by appointing a single person or team to control and evaluate all contacts with
targeted customers.

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Communications Mix Hierarchy

In the process of implementation of IMC, the marketer assumes a major responsibility for
developing the marketing program and making the final decisions regarding the advertising and
promotional program to be employed. The marketer typically brings to the process a marketing
plan, goals, objectives, and perhaps a database that will identify current and potential customers.

The agency on the other hand will help research the market, suggest creative strategies, and
produce IMC materials. Quite a few times the agency does not have all the internal expertise
necessary to develop and manage every marketing tool. Often the agency is an expert with the
development & Placement of mass media advertising, and hence is often criticized for their
tendency to push mass media as the best form of communication. When the marketers want other
communication options, they often hence turn to External facilitators to get the expertise they are
looking for. The hierarchy in this case is as shown on the next page.

Once the specialist agencies come into the picture, co-ordination and integration of a marketing
communications program becomes much more complex. These various agencies view each other
as competitors for the clients dollars and will most likely champion their particular specialty.
Thus instead of ending up in coordination and integration, it created a situation characterized by
conflict and disintegration.

Realizing these challenges, many advertising agencies attempted at redesign to add more internal
expertise to foster the goals of IMC.

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Marketing Organization

Marketing plan
Goals and objectives
Customer/ prospect databases

Advertising Agency

Research
Creative strategies
Production
Message placement

Specialized
marketing
communications
organizations

Media organizations
Event management firms
Web site designers
Sales promotion agencies
Direct marketing agencies
Public relations firms

Mass- media

Event

Internet

Sales

Direct

Advertising

participation

advertising

promotion

marketing
Publicity

Customer

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The Actual Process

Integrated Marketing Communications is a process and it involves the companies, the

communication design/creative agencies and the execution agencies. The first step in this process
is consumer research and planning followed by creative and Implementation.

The planning is at the strategic level. Generally it relates to the entire strategic framework as to
what does the product stand for, its attributes, the differentiation and then segments which it
wants to enter. As mentioned earlier, IMC is centered around the customer and has its essence of
understanding him to the fullest degree is a must. Thus the plans need to be based which must
answer:

What contact opportunities do I have (taking into consideration the costs and the
benefits)?

What depth do I want to gain in any media?

What is my media strategy i.e. whether I want to just ensure my presence in the medium
or I want to dominate that particular medium?

The marketing manager needs to provide the agency with information about the consumer
segments, product, positioning ideas, competition etc. This is the basic framework, based on
which all the communications are designed. This plan is briefed to the creative and the execution
agency and discussed

The promotional planner after reviewing all the information should see how IMC fits into the
marketing program and what are the objectives set for IMC to achieve. (Thus the objective
could either be only to communicate to the customer about the product or service to achieve a
certain market share or growth in sales)
31

The next step is to set objectives in terms of specific communications goals/ tasks for each tool.

The next step following is the designing of the creative which rests on the creative / advertising
agency. Nowadays increasingly most of the advertising agencies handle the entire account of a
brand single handedly (even including the consumer researches for media and advertising).
The creative here is designed for all the communications whether the tangibles or the intangibles
e.g. packaging, print ads, TV ads, interstitial etc. This also includes the coordination of the
events and PR based on a one-voice platform.

The final step in the process is the Implementation. This includes the actual communication and
the different activities communicating about the brand like promotions and events etc.

32

Model for Planning IMC

Tension, Stress, creativity, deadlines, collaboration, synergy, conflict, misunderstandings,

expertise, complexity, details, details, details.are all things that characterize the process of
preparing to launch an IMC campaign.

There are many different models that guide the process of planning an IMC campaign. One such
model

being

discussed

is

the

Strategic Planning Triangle

Prospect Definition

proposed by advertising researchers

Esther Thorson and Jeri Moore in
their

book

Communication:

Integrated
Synergy

of

Persuasive Voices.

Brands

Value

Proposition

Persuasion
Tools evaluation

Strategic Planning Triangle

As shown alongside, the apexes of

the planning triangle entail the segment(s) selected as targets for the IMC campaign, the brands
value proposition, and the array of persuasion tools that might be deployed to achieve campaign
objectives.

(a) The firm starts with customer, prospect, stakeholder definition, as identification and
specification of the target segment as a paramount apex of the triangle. Building a consensus
between the client and the agency about which customers will be targeted is essential to the
campaigns effectiveness. Complex IMC campaigns may end up targeting multiple segment.
In such a case it is critical to analyze if and how different target segments will interact to
33

support or disparage the campaign. The description of the target hence has to be both
Personal and Precise.

(b) The second important apex in the Planning triangle entails a specification of the Brands
Value Proposition. A brands value proposition is a statement of the functional, emotional,
and self-expressive benefits delivered by the brand that provide value to the customers in the
target segment. Factors like what the brand has stood for in the past, as well as what new
types of value or benefits one wants to claim for going forward need to be considered here.

(c) The final apex of the planning triangle considers the various persuasion tools that may be
deployed in executing the campaign. The mix of the various tools should depend on the
objectives that are set for the IMC campaign.

Collaboration between the agency and the client is the key to ensure that the approval process
proceeds in a timely fashion.

The Process of an Integrated Marketing Program thus:

Encourages the establishment of a marketing-team approach to discuss strengths and

weaknesses, mission and vision, and niche and quality, and to reach a consensus on the
primary messages to be delivered to priority audiences.

Involves working in teams, typically with members from other campus offices, to reach
prospective students, parents, donors, and community and government officials with
maximum impact.

34

Uses quantitative and qualitative research techniques, including focus groups and survey
research, to determine constituent attitudes and opinions, and effectiveness of various
communications messages and techniques.

Calls for a communications analysis to determine what messages are being sent to key
audiences, including the sequence and flow of these messages.

Calls for the examination of your existing message vehicles for clarity, consistency, and
effectiveness. Combines this assessment with the results of your research to provide your key
audiences with the information they need, in the ways they have asked to receive it.

Focuses on long-term advantages and incorporates interactive communication to develop

more personal relationships. May include the use of technology like email and the World
Wide Web to get feedback from key audiences.

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Issues In Co-Ordination Of An IMC Campaign

Issue I - Stages of Integration of Marketing Communications

The IMC program can be integrated at several Stages. The company needs to identify which
level is it at currently, and what does it seek to achieve in a specific campaign. The following
table details the various stages and explains them alongside.

Levels of Integration

Explanation

Awareness Stage Those responsible for communications realize that a fragmented approach
is not the optimum one.

Planning Integration

The co-ordination of activities. There are TWO broad approaches:

1. Functional Integration

- which co-ordinates

separate tools to create a single message where

appropriate.
2. Instrumental Integration combines tools in a
way that they reinforce one another.

Integration of Content

Ensuring that there are no contradictions in the basic brand or

corporate messages, integrating themes of communication to make same basic messages.

Formal Integration

Using same logo, corporate colours, graphic approach and house

style for all communications

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Integration between planning

periods

Basic content remains the same

from one campaign to next or the same executional approach is used in different

projects.

Intra-organizational integration Integration of activities of all involved in communication

functions.

Inter-organizational integration Integration of all outside agencies involved in the firms

communication activities.

Geographical Integration Integration of campaigns in different countries strongest in large

multinationals operating globally.

Integration of publics

All communication is targeted at a segment are

Integrated (Horizontal) or All communication
targeted to different segments are attuned (Vertical)

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Issue II - How many Stakeholders should be taken into Account:

A well-managed IM program identifies all key stakeholder groups and the impact, both positive
and negative, that each can have on an organization. As Tom Duncan and Sandra E. Morarity,
point out in Driving Brand Value, there are five reasons why all stakeholder groups must be
taken into consideration in integrated marketing:

1. A value field of interactions: A company exists within a value field (rather than a linear value
chain) of stakeholder interactions. Companies communicate directly with customers and retailers
at the same time retailers are talking with customers and customers are talking among
themselves. The interactions among suppliers, distributors, and even competitors can affect
brand value.

2. Stakeholders overlap: An example of the integrated nature of stakeholder relationships is the

employee stakeholder group where a person may also be a customer, an investor, and a voter in
the local community. These interacting and overlapping relationships demand that a company be
strategically consistent in its basic core values and brand messages. A company can't say one
thing to investors, something else to employees, and still another message to customers.

3. Integrity builds trust: Integration means unity of effort or purpose. When an organization
becomes more integrated, its interactions become more consistent, its reputation more distinct,
and its stakeholders more trustful. Integration produces integrity because an organization seen as
working together rather than as a collection of fragmented, autonomous functions is perceived as
being more sound and trustworthy-prerequisites for sustaining relationships.

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4. Brand equity equals support: Just as brand share is the result of a brand's customer
franchise, brand equity is the result of a company's stakeholder franchise. All stakeholders, not
just customers, choose to what extent they support a brand or company. People have a choice
where they work; investors have a choice of investment opportunities; and customers have an
ever-increasing choice of what they buy. In other words, people choose to be stakeholders. And
when they do, this gives them the right to understand and influence what a company does. A
brand exists in people's minds; it is owned by them, as much as by the company.

5. Profitability is the relationship bottom-line: Profits can be improved by increasing revenues

and/or decreasing costs. Therefore, all stakeholders can affect the bottom line as their actions can
have an impact on costs, as well as revenues. Both can increase or decrease depending on the
efforts, attitudes, ideas, and support of all stakeholders. Actions of groups such as the financial
community, government regulators, and employees can often affect profits more quickly and
significantly than can changes in customer behavior.

Issue III - Importance of teams

Creativity in the preparation of an IMC campaign can be fostered by trust and open
communication that are hallmarks of effective teams. The position of the creative director in an
agency becomes special as much like the maestro of the symphony orchestra, the creative
director must encourage personal excellence, but at the same time demand team accountability.

39

Principles to be relied on in orchestrating the teams:

Take care in assigning individuals to a team in the first place. It is important t be sensitive to
existing wok loads and keep in mind the proper mix of expertise required to do the job for the
client.

Take time to know the work style of each individual to ensure that you create the most
conducive environment.

Make teams responsible to the client empower them!

Beware of adversarial relationships between individuals and teams.

Rotate teams to foster fresh thinking.

Issue IV - Problems of coordination

As per the research by Beard in 1993, one of the major hurdles to IMC is the question of who
should coordinate the programs- the client or the agency? Who will handle the IMC programs
the client or the agency? Who should be primarily responsible for it?

The answer is provided by the research studies done by George S Low of Texas University
combined with the earlier researches done in this field. The results of their studies suggest that
the clients should be responsible for the strategic direction and planning which form a basis for
the IMC programs, while the agencies should be responsible for message consistency and
coordination of communications programs. Further the studies suggest that the clients have more
room for IMC improvement in their strategic planning role than do the agencies in their tactical
implementation role. Nevertheless the key word in the role of agencies is consistency.

As much lip service as advertisers give to pursuing the "one-voice" and "seamless
communication" that a well-designed IMC program can provide, there seems to be one major
roadblock to implementation: the advertisers themselves! According to John McLaughlin, a
marketing consultant, the reasons lie in:

40

Clients often don't see a clear-cut cost advantage in dealing exclusively with a primary
agency rather than several suppliers.

Clients often don't have confidence in the ability of advertising agencies to deliver
specialized services.

Clients have strategic concerns about putting all their eggs in one creative/ executional
basket.

Due to these concerns at times the firms not only hesitate to use the services of the newly
developed capabilities but in fact also delay the implementation of the IMC program itself.

41

EVALUATION AND BARRIERS

42

Evaluation IMC Audit

With today's marketplace conditions, emphasis must now be placed on retaining and growing the
value of existing customers, as much as on acquiring new ones. Consequently, companies are
setting up cross-functional processes and making other structural changes to better manage brand
relationships. This means there is an increasing need to audit these internal processes to make
sure that they are, in fact, integrated, and operating efficiently and effectively. Recognizing this,
Tom Duncan and Sandra M. designed the Integrated Marketing (IM) Audit.

IM Audit findings should be used in conjunction with customer satisfaction and other types of
output controls. In other words, an audit should not be used in place of, but in addition to,
traditional output controls.

Who should do it
An IM audit should be done by an outside, objective team and should be a census (not just a
sample) of the managers of all departments impacting on brand relationships. At the audit
orientation meeting with top management, the audit instruments are reviewed and customized to
fit the organization's structure and needs.

Audit Tools
The audit tools include three basic interviewing instruments, as well as a variety of optional tools
depending on the type of business and how in-depth the organization wants the audit to be.

1. Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Questionnaire This questionnaire determines the

respondents' knowledge of the marketing and marketing communication plans and targeted
audiences. Answers to these questions are then compared to what employees are actually

43

working to accomplish. Specifically, this instrument evaluates the following areas and
conditions:

Objectives. What are the target/stakeholder priorities? Which stakeholders are most
important? Is there agreement on communication objectives and the brand's positioning
among the various marketing groups/departments/ functions? Does the objective-setting
process include everyone who contributes to creating messages? What are the key messages
for each of the target audiences?

Organization. How much agreement exists among and within the groups on the
responsibilities of the various marketing communication departments/functions? How is
coordination managed? Who is responsible for coordinating communication efforts? To what
extent is managing brand relationships a cross-functional process?

Customer Databases. To what extent do customer databases exist within the organization?
How accessible are they, and how often are they used? What are the procedures for capturing
customer dialogue and other interactions? Is there sharing of databases, market research
findings, and other types of planning information?

Contact Points. Are these identified? What messages are being sent? Are they consistent?
Do they amount to a strategy? Are these experiences measured and analyzed? Who controls
them?

Integration. What's the brand's current level of integration? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of integration? What are the major barriers to being more integrated?

44

Outside Agencies. To what extent are marketing communication agencies involved in

strategic planning? How much communication/sharing of ideas is there among clients'
agencies?

Interactivity. How far has the company moved into interactive, two-way communication
with customers?

Planning. Does the organization use zero-based planning, especially for annual and shortterm programs? To what extent are objectives based on some kind of prioritized SWOT
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis? To whom are testing results
distributed, and to what extent are they used in planning?

2. Communication Network Survey This is a matrix of closed-ended questions to pinpoint the

following information: Who talks to whom, how often, and about what? Who drives planning
and decisions? Who influences them? How often are respondents involved in MC planning
(formal/informal)? What information sources do they read? How much and what kind of
information sharing is there (research, other information)? What are the patterns of internal
communication among departments? Is one department doing more talking than listening?

3. Content Analysis All marketing communication or planned messages used by the company
over at least a 12-month period are contently analyzed to determine whether they are
consistent with marketing communication objectives? Whether key messages are appropriate
for key audiences; and whether there is consistent portrayal of company/brand positioning
and image; and the amount of creative strategy and execution consistency.

45

Specifically, the analysis looks at the following elements: the objective of the piece, the
audience, key themes, the tone, brand/corporate image/position cues, use of response devices
(active and passive), and mission/vision cues. Content analysis findings are then compared with
interview findings to determine the organization's actual level of integration. The content
analysis also helps identify gaps in performance.

What Can Be Learned From an IM Audit?

The benefits of auditing the organization, and the processes that are responsible for acquiring,
retaining, and growing customer relationships, can uncover major inefficiencies and integration
gaps. These may include:

Confusion about objectives. In one company, managers gave nine different responses when
asked what the corporate marketing communication objectives were and ten different responses
for the brand marketing communication objectives. When people are working against different
message objectives, it is impossible to have message consistency; a facts subsequently proven by
a content analyses undertaken as part of the Audit.

Lack of agreement on message themes. A retail chain had begun advertising "Low Prices
Every Day." However, there was no agreement among managers on what this meant in the
context of the chain's pricing strategy. Interviewees offered a total of seven different
explanations of what this new strategy involved. None was given by more than 15 percent of
those interviewed.
Another example: In a national consumer goods company, one message theme was used in 100
percent of television advertising, but only 22 percent of other advertising; another theme was
used in 80 percent of television advertising, but only 20 percent of sales promotion materials and
collateral materials (of which there were more than 100).
46

Messages not targeted to primary stakeholder groups. In one company it was found that 24
percent of all printed messages were not targeted to any of the high priority stakeholder groups
identified by management, and only 1 percent were specifically directed to the target audience
rated most important.

Not enough information available. In almost all the audits conducted, the majority of
marketing managers say that half the time they do not receive enough information from other
departments to do their jobs effectively. The types of information frequently mentioned as
difficult to get were sales results, research results, and promotional and other special marketing
plans for specific events and programs.

Limited use of research results. One packaged-goods company was spending approximately
$150 million on marketing communication. Yet 37 percent of the managers said they did not
know of any market analysis being done by the company, 33 percent said some was being done
but didn't know if it was being used, and 15 percent said very little was used.

Little knowledge of annual planning. In one company, 60 percent of the managers did not
know how the budget was allocated among departments, and half of the managers did not know
to what extent each year's communication plan compared to the previous one.

Lack of agreement on which stakeholders are most important. In a health care facility,
patients/families received the third highest rating when all responses were averaged, but were
ranked eighth by top management responses. Political leaders were ranked ninth, but third by
public affairs/public relations. This was in response to the question: "What is the overall
importance to the whole organization of the organization's stakeholders?"

47

Limited use of computers for networking and consumer databases. One company had a
relatively small number of industrial customer; yet it did not capture customer buying behavior
information, although there were many opportunities for doing so.

Unexamined Assumptions An audit can identify problems a company doesn't even know it has.
For example, while auditing a high-tech manufacturer (annual sales over $300 million), the
auditors were told that the company was working hard to apply for the Baldridge Award and also
was getting ready for its ISO 9000 evaluation. Consequently, the manager of marketing services
was confident the company had maximized the integration of its processes and was doing
everything it could to integrate its marketing communication. The audit discovered, however,
that the marketing communication department had little knowledge of, and made little use of, the
company's databases even though the company had fewer than 200 customers. (Most of the
company's marketing communication messages were in the form of ads in industry trade
magazines.)

Thus although the IM Audit was designed to be an evaluation tool, it also provides a road map
for showing how a company can become more integrated. The audit provides an objective, welldocumented list of what must be changed in order to strengthen brand relationships.

48

BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION

IMC is indeed enjoying a growth in awareness, particularly among larger companies. Nearly
three fourths of the companies surveyed report using a database to better target their customersan essential part of implementing IMC; but only 30 percent say they are doing extensive
profiling and segmenting of customer buying habits using a database. This suggests that many
companies have not yet reached a full implementation of IMC.

The widespread attention paid to IMC is largely a function of its strong intuitive appeal - it
makes good sense. Despite its appeal, more than a decade has passed since the concept was first
introduced, and most major U.S. corporations have yet to fully implement the foundational ideas
contained in IMC. Proponents of IMC are left with a compelling question, a variation of a
rhetorical question: If IMC is so good, why isn't it being fully implemented in corporate
America?

Case in Point: Procter & Gamble - The World's Great Consumer Products Company
Procter & Gamble is considered by business scholars to be a world-class marketing company.
Like the Nike brand, Procter & Gamble possesses some of the most recognizable brands in the
world including: Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, Jiff peanut butter, Cover Girl cosmetics, and
Duncan Hines cake mix. It also has dominant market share with many of its premier brands. For
some time now P&G has been lauded for its efforts in implementing the Integrated Marketing
Communications. But is Procter & Gamble a perfect IMC exemplar? If beginning with
stakeholders and speaking to them with one voice across all communications channels is an
important criterion of IMC, the answer must be "NO."

Despite Procter & Gamble's marketing preeminence, it has a history of internal and external
communication blunders:

49

Procter & Gamble publicly mishandled both the Rely Tampon crisis and allegations that
their packaging symbol documented the company's satanic links.

Recently, Procter & Gamble lost face publicly and alienated employees when it was
revealed that the company had phone-tapped three employees they suspected of leaking
company information.

This was followed by a botched job of dealing with some of the physiological effects of its
new fat substitute, Olestra. Without considering public reaction, they allowed their scientists
to term the discharge of Olestra, "anal leakage" (Henkoff, 1996), raising another wave of
public controversy.

Lately Proctor & Gamble shot itself in the corporate reputational foot again. The Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) announced to the financial media that Proctor & Gamble fully
expected to meet its earnings forecast for the end of the quarter. Two weeks later, new CEO
Durk Jager was forced to announce to the same media that they had badly overestimated
their quarterly earnings and that the company would fall significantly short of its quarterly
earnings forecast. Over the following week, the company's stock fell precipitously as
shareholders and financial markets lost faith in the venerable company. The Proctor &
Gamble Board of Directors subsequently fired Mr. Jager.

Despite characterizations to the contrary, these examples illustrate just how far away Proctor &
Gamble has been operating from the necessary IMC condition of speaking to all stakeholders
with one voice.

50

The Problem with Implementing IMC

Companies like Nike and Procter & Gamble do an excellent job with the marketing side of
marketing communications without integrating their public and employee relations functions and
hence their corporate reputations have suffered. IMC theory has given short shift to the
organizational barriers that often prevent companies from implementing IMC completely or
effectively.

(a) Organizational Barriers

Companies like Procter and Gamble have comprehensively or effectively integrated their
many communications functions seamlessly or spoken to their stakeholders with one voice.
They are very strong in marketing, but remain weak in public relations, employee
communications, or both. The question remains, how do great companies like these miss the
IMC mark?
The answer to this important question lies, to a great extent, in their respective organizational
structures. Procter & Gamble is marketing organizations, organized around product
marketing.

Procter & Gamble exemplifies a "brand management" organization where both line and staff
functions are situated within a company's various products or brands. While Procter &
Gamble's organizational structure has evolved over the years, staff communication functions
such as public relations and employee communications are organized around and directly
support each brand or group of brands. Brands receive the greatest resources and exert huge
internal influence.

51

(b) Structure, Function and Culture

Schultz, et. al. (1992) argue that there are three organizational issues that must be resolved
before IMC can be implemented: marketing planning systems and basic marketing thinking,
organizational structure, and capabilities and control. They believe that because functional
specialists within an organization try to keep the various communications programs separate,
they are a major hindrance to IMC implementation. One of the authors' programmatic
solutions is to establish a "communications czar" who has control of all communication
functions and presumably would ensure that all communications programs are effectively
integrated. What promoters often fail to consider is how, structurally and functionally, a
communications czar could come into being in the modern organization.

Also, since in companies like Proctor & Gamble i.e. in strong marketing cultures, most
communications heads are subordinate to the chief marketing officer. So, an initiative
establishing a communications czar is very unlikely to come from any of the three or more
functional heads that risk losing authority and responsibility in the process of integration.
Perhaps the most logical and effective way for the position of a communications czar to be
established is by the CEO of the company. Unfortunately, the power of the CEO remains
neglected as a barrier or enabler to implementing IMC.

(c) The Importance of CEO Control

The importance of the CEO in implementing IMC has been largely ignored. There in fact are
numerous ways CEOs can undermine IMC. Without their active support or stewardship, IMC
will likely never get off the ground. But even when they support IMC, there are numerous
examples of CEOs acting against its principles. This is because many CEOs have a great deal
of power and control and egos that come along with these forces. CEOs often act in selfinterest or according to their predilections, instead of advice from their communications czar.

52

One of the more recent examples is the controversial series of full-page ads for CrossWorlds,
a Silicon Valley software company. These ads appeared in leading business publications such
as Fortune and the Wall Street Journal and showed CEO Katrina Garnett in a revealing black
dress, despite public relations advice to the contrary. While the ad garnered a great deal of
publicity, it also spawned critical articles like the one in Fortune titled: "Techno-Cleavage"
(Bass, 1998). This ad prompted a series of parodies by competitors including one by archrival Active Software, where its CEO pulls a CD-ROM from his pocket and says: "Software,
not evening wear." The fact is that CEOs have the power to market their companies any way
they want, with or without the guidance of IMC.

The fact is that many CEOs want commercials that get rave reviews among their close circle
of peers and notoriety from the public, no matter what effect they have on consumers or the
company's bottom line. To minimize the influence of the CEO on company marketing is
nave, but to exclude the CEO in any substantive discussion of IMC adoption and
implementation is simply deficient theory building.

(d) Putting Organization and Culture into IMC Theory

If structure, function and CEO support are given short shrift in IMC theory, culture is
virtually ignored. There are several important elements often missing from the IMC
implnetatators treatment of culture.

First, culture is treated as a determinant of organizational behavior. While we

know culture affects behavior, it is also true that behavior has a reciprocal impact on
culture. This mutual influence has been established between organizational culture
and organizational communication.

Second, some cultures are so strong and directed away from centralized control
of communication that implementing IMC would be impossible. For example,
53

regulated monopolies like AT&T (before the 1996 divestiture) and electrical utilities
have developed cultures where marketing has not been an important requirement
while public relations has been seen as critical. When AT&T was first divested in
1983, the biggest challenge was overcoming the "utility culture" and becoming a
market-driven company.

Most of the communication power and resources rest with the public relations
department and its chief, who likely has the ear and confidence of the CEO. Contrast
these cultures with those of Nike and Procter & Gamble, where public relations has
significantly less structural power and fewer resources than marketing. Whether a
company has a service or a marketing culture will have a great impact on how and
whether IMC gets implemented.

Third, in some organizations there is so much competition for resources that the
amount of cooperation and collaboration required by IMC is virtually impossible to
achieve. In the case of mergers and acquisitions, resources are scarce and competition
between departments great. The areas first to suffer are employee communications
and public relations.

Fourth, some cultures have very narrow views of the communications function.
For example, Microsoft, despite its size and influence on capital markets, did very
little public relations or government relations until the federal government indicted
them for unfair trade practices. Most high technology companies have a similarly
narrow view toward communications and are unlikely to spend much effort or
resources "experimenting" with IMC.

Finally, in companies where there is a strong or even egomaniacal CEO, IMC may be
either impossible or likely to be circumvented at the whim of the CEO. For example,

54

Sunbeam Corporation, under the leadership of Al Dunlap was unlikely to engage in

the IMC process given his desire for strong operational control.

Recommendations

The above explanation offers adequate rationale for the corporate neglect of IMC. The
recommendations that flow from the analysis are:

1. First, existing IMC theory gives considerably more emphasis to implementation than
adoption of IMC. For IMC to be a reality in a corporation, adoption must precede
implementation. This means the IMC proponent must negotiate his/her way through the
maze of corporate politics, get CEO and other top-level management buy-in before the first
implementation step can be taken.

2. Second, once top-level buy-in has been achieved, an implementation plan must be
developed that can be reconciled with the organization's existing structure and
functional realities. In some instances, a "communications czar" is out of the question, but a
team of structurally equal marketing and communications executives might work.

3. Third, organizational culture must be dealt with in a substantive way in future IMC adoption
models. This means placing the communication process itself alongside organizational
culture. It also means looking at organizations historically to see how they have developed
and evolved over time. Just as the IMC process must be built around the customer, so to an
IMC operation must reflect the culture of the organization in which it is being implemented.

55

Necessary Conditions for IMC Success

There are series of necessary conditions that must be present for IMC to be adopted effectively
by a company. Based on these conditions, six recommendations for optimal adoption of IMC are
offered:

IMC is a concept that must be implemented systemically and simultaneously at all levels
and functions of a company. One program in which the public relations and marketing
functions are integrated does not qualify the company as an IMC exemplar.

The CEO must voice direct support for adopting IMC, because without this critical
element, IMC efforts are doomed. Beware of companies with strong marketing cultures,
because issues like corporate reputation will take a back seat to the provincialism of
brand management.

Structural and functional issues must become a critical component of any effective IMC
program. Of particular importance is establishing a communications czar who will
become the evangelist and conscience of the IMC implementation effort.

Any IMC program must be adapted to the unique character of a particular organizational
culture. A "one-size-fits-all" IMC program does not exist. For an IMC program to work
effectively, it must reflect the unique culture in which it must operate.

We must look beyond narrow IMC successes in traditional businesses for exemplars.
Many of America's most venerable companies do a few aspects of IMC well, but fail to
exemplify company-wide integration. We would do well to look to e- commerce and high
technology companies and recognize that attorneys, accountants, and economists can be

56

as effective or even more effective at promoting IMC than the traditional roles of public
relations and marketing.

57

Conclusion

The New Economy is Integrated Marketing's Time to Shine!!

Ten years ago, the business world was not quite ready to embrace the principles of IMC. But as
the environment developed over the past decade, IMC grew in stature because it makes good
business sense, especially in today's fast-moving economy. IMC and the four major new
economy mega trends - technology, intangibles, globalization, and the war for talent - are made
for each other.

Technology has opened up numerous doors in terms of knowledge of the customer, speed to
market and connectivity. Globalization has increased the importance of a unified strategy while
highlighting the need to recognize and address cultural differences. The increasing value
assessed to intangibles such as brands, employees and customer/supplier relationships is
changing financial outlooks across the board. The war for talent has turned the recruiting tables
upside down, because an information economy cannot exist without human capital.

The corporate focus of integrated marketing must be on relationships and on more audiences
than just customers. Only in this way can an organization have a unified brand image and
eliminate the fragmentation that can destroy its brand/corporate reputation.

In a business environment where all four mega trends effect the way we go to market, following
the IMC principles of knowing your customers, building your brand and measuring effectiveness
will put companies one step ahead of the competition.

For companies that currently embrace IMC, the new economy mega trends translate into
opportunities. Placing the customer and other key stakeholders at the center of your business
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strategy has never been more important. The highly competitive marketplace has made
relationship building paramount in the quest for success. For companies who do not see IMC as
vital, it is time to reconsider.

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Annexure A

IMC in Global Arena

In the international marketplace Cross-cultural business communication is especially important.

In order to gain a competitive advantage, global marketers must have an understanding of the
underlying motives of buyer behavior, without regard to their geographic locations.
Organizations in the global arena must communicate their marketing strategy both internally to
their employees and externally to domestic and international customers. This integrated
marketing communications requires a vast array of strategic and tactical tools. The ability to
proactively respond to what motivates consumer demands, regardless of geographic allocation, is
vital to organizational success.

In international marketing, although language translations may be accurate, they are, after all
translations and have their limitations. The development of an IMC program in the international
arena focuses on long-term relationships with the consumer at the local level. This strategy
conflicts with the traditional product-driven, short-term focus at the corporate level.

There are several characteristics that need to be considered in the implementation of an

integrated communication plan in an international market. Some of these characteristics are
discussed in brief below.

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 Establishment of long-term relationship

The most important aspect of internationalization is that it will require long-term commitment on
the part of the product or service provider, the different nations involved in the business, and the
consumer in the domestic as well as the international market. The marketing communication
strategies should be developed based on the type of product that the company is trying to
introduce in the Market.
For example, pharmaceutical products such as Viagra that has been considered by many as a
'wonder drug,' may not perform as well in the Asian Market. In the U.S., Viagra is considered
as a 'lifestyle drug', which is used for treatment of a rarely deadly disease. Open discussion
regarding matters related to this product quite openly in the relatively conservative societies,
such as the Asian society, has the potential of backfiring.

Awareness of Cultural and Language Barriers

Multinational corporations should thoroughly explore cultural, language, and religious
differences that exist in the host countries. One common solution to manage the cultural
difference is by hiring locals as managers of the company to perform the local and day to day
operations. However, in order to maintain a close link of this remotely located unit, as compared
to the parent organization, the company should train the individual at the organization's central
location. Proper awareness of local language, sign, symbols, gestures, and other similar relatively
minor but extremely critical local characteristics would help in avoiding embarrassing situations
during the marketing communication process.

The Role of family

Multinational corporations should be aware of the significant roles that the family relationship
plays in many foreign, and particular in Asian societies. At times, many decisions made by the
employees and customers in Asia are often determined by the closeness that they have with their
family members. Awareness and acceptance of this closeness will benefit western companies in
establishing effective communication models in Asia. Most Asians would go to all lengths in
order to take care of their family and friends.
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 Language and Religious Sensitivity

Asia is a continent of many languages and religions. Despite the fact that English is perhaps the
most widely used language worldwide, in order to succeed in Asia, companies should make sure
that the language used in communicating with the customer as well as with employees in the
company is not disrespectful based on their language and religious beliefs. Even the product
names should be carefully analyzed to determine whether they are appropriate and are not
disrespecting to the customers. Discussion regarding certain topics relating to certain products
and services may not be as readily accepted as they are in the United States. For example, news
reports relating to sexual problems and functions are acceptable by the general consumer in the
U.S. and in many western countries. However, this may not be the case for many Asian
countries. In many Asian countries, talking about sex among family members is not common and
acceptable. Even sexual innuendoes in commercials are highly disregarded among many Asians
because television is usually watched by the whole family together. A good way of reducing this
potentially harmful situation is by having local employees and advertising agencies. Culturally
sensitive studies should also be conducted to avoid mishaps.

Culturally Sensitive Studies

Culturally sensitive strategies will have to be used by multinational products and services
providers, depending upon which country they are in. Care must be taken not to be
condescending on consumers. Appropriate copy editing must be carried out so that local opinionleaders, particularly politicians, are not offended. Public relations efforts to highlight significant
involvement in social programs and support for Asian cultural activities will help to build and
foster a sense of contribution to stakeholder welfare maximization.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Primary data:

Secondary data:
Magazines & Journals:
Journal of integrated marketing communication
Advertising Age, October 1993: Don Schultz, Maybe we should start all over with an IMC
organization,
1

Source: Council for the Advancement and Support of Education CURRENTS Magazine, 1998
Source: Sales & Marketing Management" September, 1996

Promotion Marketing Association - Publications, 1998.

Marketing News - Moriarty, Sandra (1997), "IMC needs PR's stakeholder focus,"
Communication World - Reich, Ken (1998) "IMC: Through the looking glass of the new millennium,"
Schultz, Don (1998), "Invest integration". Industry Week, 247:10, May 18, 20.
Schultz, Don E. & Kitchen, Philip J.1997. Integrated marketing communications in U.S.
Journal of Advertising Research, 37:5, September/October, 7-18.
Sales & Marketing Management - Yarbrough, John F. 1996. Putting the pieces together.

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