IMC

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

1    What is IMC and what does it mean for a company to follow IMC (is it a strategic or an operational tool)?

The American Association of Advertising Agencies defines IMC as a concept of marketing communication planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines, e.g., general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relations – and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact.

Tropicana's full-round integrated marketing communications campaign for ‘We bring brighter mornings’

§  Website, TV commercials: ‘brighter mornings develop into brighter days’ => healthiness of orange juice

§  Events: Trafalgar Square in London was on the same day that the TV campaign kicked off. A giant helium sun was installed which was 30 000 times bigger than a football produced the equivalent of 60 000 light bulbs rose an hour earlier than normal sunrise and set 3 hours later than normal sunset, giving people in London four additional hours of sunlight.

§  Additional digital and point-of-purchase communications, free samples, a PR campaign, a movie on YouTube, and a Facebook action.

Pelsmacker, P. d. 2014. Marketing communications: A European perspective. 5th ed. Harlow: Pearson.

Four types of IMC: 

§  External: This is in the event where a company outsources the task of marketing to a marketing firm or a public relations firm. The firms are then tasked to design and develop the most effective strategies for the contracting firm. 

§  Internal: Internal marketing integration involves the top level management ensuring that the employees are happy and excited about developed new products. This ensures that the workers leak the details prematurely hence exciting prospective customers even before the product hits the target market.

§  Horizontal: This contributes to a very crucial part in the development of a product or service. This demands a lot of efficiency between the team tasked to develop and the distribution team as well as the finance team. This open flow of information provides the requisite synergy required to make the strategy a success. 

§  Vertical: Under this, the strategy demands that the product developed to fit with the corporate policy as well as the structure of the company. This means that the product has to be within the breadth of the company’s mission and goals. 

Lake, L. 2017. Learn About Integrated Marketing Communication. The Balance. URL: https://www.thebalance.com/integrated-marketing-communication-imc-2295501. Viewed on: 27 February 2018.

In 2014 Coca-Cola launched an alternative drink for their original Coca-Cola drink. It was called Coca-Cola Life.

The campaign is being rolled out across 7,000 outdoor locations nationwide with billboards, bus, and digital screen ads; these are all being supported by print, digital, experiential, and point of sale activity. Although television is not being used, the buzz on social media since the drink's launch has been mainly positive.

Coca-Cola also launched a competition to promote their new Coca-Cola Life drink. On Saturday, September 20th, 2014, Coca-Cola put up a pop-up shop on South Molton Street in London. The shop not only offered samples of Coca-Cola Life, but, also offered prizes like a long weekend in New York. Implementing IMC Coca-Cola offered prizes to people who couldn't make it to the pop-up shop. In order to win people would have to take pictures of themselves drinking Coca-Cola Life and post them on Instagram with #cocacolalife or #comp.

Hughes, E. 2016. What are Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Strategies?. LinkedIn. URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-integrated-marketing-communications-imc-erin-hughes. Viewed on: 27 February 2018.

2    Who are in charge of IMC? What are the roles of the company and the different agencies    (such as marketing/brand/communication/advertising/media/research agencies)?

Advertising is non-personal mass communications using mass media (such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc.), the content of which is determined and paid for by a clearly identified sender (the company).

Brand activation is a tool used to build brands through interaction with target audiences increasing frequency, consumption and penetration of the brand. Sales promotions , as a part of brand activation, are sales-stimulating campaigns, such as price cuts, coupons, loyalty programmes, competitions, free samples, etc.

Sponsorship implies that the sponsor provides funds, goods, services and/or know-how. The sponsored organisation will help the sponsor with communications objectives such as building brand awareness or reinforcing brand or corporate image.

Public relations consist of all the communications a company instigates with its audiences or stakeholders. Stakeholders are groups of individuals or organisations with whom the company wants to create goodwill. Press releases and conferences, some of the major public relations tools, should generate publicity. Publicity is impersonal mass communications in mass media, but it is not paid for by a company and the content is written by journalists (which means that negative publicity is also possible).

Point-of-purchase communications includes several communications tools such as displays, advertising within the shop, merchandising, article presentations, store layout, etc. Exhibitions and trade fairs are, particularly in business-to-business and industrial markets, of great importance for contacting prospects, users and purchasers.

Direct marketing communications are a personal and direct way to communicate with customers and potential clients or prospects. Personalised brochures andleafl ets (with feedback potential), direct mailings, telemarketing actions, direct response advertising, etc., are possible ways of using direct marketing communications.

E-communications (E-commerce, mobile marketing, digital TV) offer new ways to communicate interactively with different stakeholders.

3    How does/should the client company follow IMC? What are the roles of its different agencies?

A US survey undertaken by Forbes in 2014 confirmed that relationships were breaking down with clients increasingly bringing strategic decisions in house and perceiving agencies less as partners and more as suppliers 

Dan, A. 2014. What Are 10 Great Ad Agencies of 2013 according to CMOs. Forbes/Leadership Blog. 

Customers now have more control over the customer relationship, including the three stages of pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase and are sharing data and information across the organization. This puts the clients in a stronger position which results in the advertising agency being less central to that decision-making process. Agencies are losing the fight because they are unsure what their role is and they are unable to build a business alliance with their client because of a lack of trust and commitment on both sides.

The findings suggest that advertising agencies are aware of their vulnerability caused by the power shift and recognise they need to put themselves forward as strategic partners, a role that is increasingly important to ensure long-term brand integration.

Kathleen Mortimer, K & Sally Laurie S. 2017. Partner or supplier: An examination of client/agency relationships in an IMC context. Journal of Marketing Communications. Taylor and Francis Online. URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527266.2017.1391861. Viewed on: 27 February 2018.