PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

Integrated Marketing Communications

The Module
Lectures
Seminars*
Videos
Case Studies
Exercises
Debates
Interaction
Examples
Texts
Kim Roberts 2015

Integrated Marketing Communications

Learning outcomes
Assessments 100% coursework
Assessment 1 INDIVIDUAL ESSAY 50% With turnitin
report
Assessment 2 (2 parts) 50%
A) Group oral presentation 15%
B) Individual campaign report 35% typo in module guide!
*Award Announcement 2014/15:

IMC : Best scholarly essay awarded by Wiley Publishers Prize 100.00

Seminars
Check the module guide for Seminar activities
Some require preparation
Some are formative sessions
All are interactive sessions

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

Key themes
Accountability
Change
Consumer behaviour
Media landscape and creative solutions
Technology

International & cultural aspects of IMC

Emerging theories and industry practice
Ethics
Reading lists ...

Integrated Marketing Communications

(IMC)

Marketing & the Marketing Mix

Communication tools
Integrated Marketing Communications
definitions
The marketing communications mix
Marketing communications planning
Why the need for IMC?
Benefits and barriers to IMC
The importance of IMC

Marketing & the Marketing Mix

Marketing: getting the right goods and services to the

right people at the right place at the right price with the right
communication and promotion
Or more simply put: marketing is selling goods that
dont come back to customers that do (Kotler)

Communication: to exchange information and convey

meaning to others

(Integrated) Marketing Communications

Coordination of all media and the full marketing
communications mix wherever the customer comes into
contact with the company (Dahlen, Lange & Smith (2010)

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

The marketing mix & IMC & tools

Product
Price
Place
Promotion

The Communications
Mix

People
Physical
Evidence
Process

Graffiti advertising, Street Art

Lipdubs, QR codes, branded content,
3D mapping, interactive billboards
.......

Communication Tools
Corporate Identity
Branding
Advertising
Sales Promotion
Direct Marketing
Publicity & P.R.
Sponsorship
Endorsements
Product Placement
Exhibitions
Packaging
POP & Merchandising
Word of Mouth
Digital Marketing
Experiential
Personal selling
Ambient

IMC definitions
Marketing communications

communications with target

audiences on all matters that affect
marketing and business performance.
Involves the management of the
marketing communications mix.
Marcoms - Marketing
communications abbreviated

Marketing communications
mix/tools The range of

activities/tools available to an
organisation to communicate with its
target audiences on all matters that
affect business performance.
Integrated marcoms the process
of integrating all elements of the
marcoms mix across all customer
contact points to achieve greater
brand coherence.
Centralized strategic planning is at the
very heart of IMC

Media In its widest sense anything

that is capable of carrying or

transmitting marcoms messages.
noun
1. a pl. of MEDIUM
2. ( usually used with a plural
verb) the means of
communication, as radio and
television, newspapers, and
magazines, that reach or influence
people widely: E.g. The media are
covering the speech tonight.
Medium A class of message
carriers such as TV, radio, newspapers
or magazines
Media Vehicle An individual
carrier within a medium. Within
magazines, media vehicles would
include Cosmopolitan, Time magazine,
Readers Digest, Now, Vogue etc.

The marketing communications mix

Changes in information highways

Historical information process

Client - Agency - Mass Media Consumer
Recent model of Interactive Communication
Client-Technology-Multi Media-Consumer
Emerging model of engagement communication
Paid media
Owned media
Earned media

Consumer
centric
communication

POEM
Fill 2013

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

The marketing communications mix

Above, through and below the line communications
Corporate Communications
ATL - Mass Media Advertising
Direct
TTL - interactive

Marketing

BTL - Sale Promotion, Public Relations,

Personal Selling ++++

Corporate communications
The key to IMC is a need to determine how to position
brands (products, services and the organisation itself ) in the
minds of customers and stakeholders, so that marketing
communications & corporate communications interface
effectively Kitchen & Proctor 2002.

Integration of Corporate Communications

Corporate strategy, culture, personality, identity, & components

Symbolism
Corporate Strategy

Corporate
personality

Corporate
identity

Communications

Corporate culture
Behaviour

Source: Pelsmacker et al (2010).

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

BRAND NARRATIVES
Brand Essence
Isklar = ice clear
Brand core values
Brand associations
Brand image
Brand meaning
Brand promise
Brand elements: Name, logo, slogan/strapline,
typeface, packaging, distribution are all implicit in all
communications encounters
Brand heritage
If successful = brand equity!
Should be a formal component of corporate strategy

Water is a commodity
Isklar created a brand:
How to ensure the target audience perceive the brand as the
superior alternative? a bottle of water = generally has become
A ritual-consumption, healthy, convenient and calorie-free = very
Competitive market!
What does the Isklar brand stand for? Brand positioning product
- Pure and invigorating; Heritage - (Norwegian Hardanger glacier
- natural beauty -a legend) Personification - (Glacier; ice clear, Ice
woman)
Which markets? Mass market premium consumers & retailers
Main competitors? Evian, Volvic, Buxton

Above-the-line communications
Known as mass media advertising (Passive)
Historically promotions that make use of commission paying mass media
high reach, controlled brand story
Any advertising where the space must be purchased = Paid for media:
TV advertising
Radio
Cinema
Outdoor
Posters/billboards
transport

Print

Magazines
Press

Digital

Online advertising
SMS

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

Through-the-line communications
Direct marketing (interactive)
a way of targeting individuals to build a one to one
relationship
Can be achieved using both above and below the
line communications
*Coupons - *Free phone numbers - Digital comms
*Web sites, SMS, *loyalty cards, *competitions
*Owned media

Below-the-line communications
Marcoms that make use of non-commission
paying media in all their forms, e.g. all forms of
promotions other than advertising.
Sponsorship,
Sales promotions,
Personal selling
WOM (earned or owned)
PR

Owned media

Social networks, blogs, UGC, online PR, viral (earned media)

Client-Agency Relations and IMC

Company plans IMC and seeks external
specialists
Company develops IMC plan and contracts
integrated agency
Company works with one integrated agency
Company develops plan with one agency and
agency contracts to specialists

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

The Integrated Marketing

Communications plan
S ITUATION ANALYSIS
O BJECTIVES
S TRATEGIES
T ACTICS
A CTION
C ONTROL

where are we now?

where would we like to be?
how will we get there?
how do we know we got
there?

See adapted planning SOSTAC model at back of handout!

Why the need for IMC?

Integrate = from the Latin word integrare

Meaning to combine parts into a whole (Oxford)
The most visual instruments of a marketing mix
involves all tools by which a company communicates with its
target groups and stake holders to promote A) its products &
B) the company as a whole
Change
Spiralling advertising costs
Globalisation
Competition = differentiation
To provide a consistent set of messages to all target groups by
means of ALL available forms of contact & message channels.
Increases awareness, recall, liking and prompts action.
Known as one sight, one sound

Benefits of IMC

Creative Integrity
Consistent messages
Unbiased marketing
recommendations
Greater marketing precision

Operational efficiency
Cost savings
Greater agency accountability
Better use of media
Synergy (2+2=5)

There is an interdependency between internal & external communication

Provides a positive corporate identity, image and positioning in the minds of
the audience. = BRAND EQUITY. Coca Cola is Number 1 globally!

Creates competitive advantage

Boosts sales and profits,
Saves time, money and stress
Wraps communications around consumers
Helps them through the stages of the buying process
Develops image and relationship marketing

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

Benefits of IMC synergy

4 Es of IMC:
Economic
Efficient
Effective
Enhancing

4 Cs of IMC:
Coherence
Consistency
Continuity
Complementary
communications

When integration is achieved the 4Es & 4Cs of IMC

create the synergistic benefits of integration 2+2=5
Pickton & Broderick (2009)

Barriers to effective IMC

Takes comprehensive planning
The usual resistance to change!
Organisational behaviour top down?
Functional silos
Stifled creativity
Timescale conflicts
Lack of management know-how
Low standing of marketing communication in
some organisations

Emerging theory/practice
Media Neutral Planning/Open Planning
A rigorous process for the selection of communications
options which combines facts and imagination in order to
drive continual improvement to overall ROI

Why the need for change?

It is not logical to define marcoms by the way the agency
gets paid. We should understand communications on the
basis of the way it operates
MNP Best Practice Group 2004

www.integratedmarketing.org.uk

PG IMC Lecture 1 HO

Whats wrong with IMC?

Theoretical foundations for research for marcomms were designed
around mass communications
IMC is about the creation and delivery of messages to consumers =
the old push
Most media choices are treated as separate entities
IMC models revolve around senders & receivers
IMC was centrally controlled top down & rigid
Media was centred around news and entertainment
Media was available in homes, offices & trains
Media content used to be controlled by major media organisations
Media as communications channels cannot be sustained = there are
too many of them!
It is still being taught and practised because we cannot keep up
with change
How do we measure synergy? No one has an answer = critical issue

What is really happening?

Digital evolution has altered the foundations that IMC was built on
Consumers choose what media content they want to consume,
when, how and with whom.
Information is no longer bundled. Consumers demand content
according to their own desires
Consumers are empowered to produce their own content text,
audio, visual & video to share
Advertising-supported advertising digitally and the blending of
commercial and non-commercial content
Computational advertising
Consumer insight research is evolving
Communications with all stakeholders is increasing
It is two way, participatory and uncontrollable blogs, wikis, social
networks etc

So?
The onus is on academics & practitioners to
develop theories, concepts & methods to
allow brands to successfully participate in this
new world (Mulhern 2009)
IMC needs reviewing and recasting
It aint happened yet!