THE INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is the practice of unifying all marketing communication tools and corporate and brand messages to communicate in a consistent way to and with stakeholder audiences (that is, those who have a stake or interest in the corporation). An IMC campaign plan is even more complex than a traditional advertising plan because it considers more message sources, more communication tools, and more audiences. IMC programs are designed to coordinate all the various communication messages and sources.

We can group these messages as planned (or controlled) messages by the company and unplanned (or uncontrolled) messages. In addition, unconsidered messages-those delivered by other aspects of the marketing mix (price, product, and distribution) and other contact points (such as the appearance of the parking lot outside the store)-communicate important information to stakeholders that can negate the advertising.

The Tools of IMC

The tools used in an IMC campaign include traditional marketing communication tools such as advertising and sales promotion. However, the IMC approach recognizes that other areas of the marketing mix too. The price of the product signals a level of quality. The cleanliness of the store and helpfulness of the customer service department send powerful messages. The product's reliability also communicates. IMC planners should consider all message sources and marketing communications that reach stakeholder audiences.

Stakeholder Audience

In addition to managing the total communication program, IMC campaigns also address a wide variety or stakeholder, all of whom have a different stake or interest in a company and its brand messages. The different stakeholder audiences are as follows:

Corporate Level

• Employees
• Investors
• Financial Community
• Government Regulators

Marketing Level

• Consumers
• Target markets
• Retailers
• Distributors
• Competition
• Suppliers
• Vendors

Marketing Communication Level

• Consumers
• Target audiences
• Trade audiences
• Local community
• Media
• Interest groups
• Activist groups
• General Public

Why is IMC concerned with all these audiences? The support (or lack of it) that each stakeholder group gives to the company can affect that company's brands positively or negatively. Maintaining consistent communications from all message sources to stakeholders is particularly difficult. It works only if a company or brand has a focused business philosophy or mission, clearly understood core values, and a strong corporate culture. Even though different areas of the company may be sending messages, the person the receiving end is an individual who has to make sense of all the messages, impressions and experiences. As IMC experts Don Schultz, Starley Tannenbaum, and Robert Lauterborn explain, IMC realigns marketing communication "to look at it the way the consumer sees it as a flow of information from indistinguishable sources. If the messages don’t reflect some central core values and deliver a consistent image, they may conflict and ate confusion.

Coordination

Coordinating all these messages is an organizational problem best solved through cross- functional management which means using teams of people who are from different parts of the company, outside agencies, or both. These teams manage the planning process and monitor the way the plan is implemented. Cross-functional management may even mean getting different agencies together who are producing the marketing communication.

The Structure of A Campaign Plan

A campaign, whether advertising or IMC, is a complex set of interlocking, coordinated activities. A campaign results from a comprehensive plan for a series of different but related marketing communication efforts that appear in different media and marketing communication areas across a specified time period. The campaign is designed strategically to meet a set of objectives and to solve some critical problem.

It is short-term plans that usually run for a year or less. Many advertisements are single-shot ads. In other words, they are free-standing ad unrelated to ads that preceded or followed them. Companies that create one ad at a time and constantly change the core message are not involved in a campaign process. However, a great deal of national advertising is developed as part of a campaign with an umbrella theme that extends across time, different stakeholder audiences, and different advertising vehicles or marketing communication opportunities. A campaign may focus or one specific product attribute or one audience, or it may cover a variety of attributes and reach all the audiences. A campaign plan summarizes the marketplace situation, the underlying campaign strategy, the main creative strategies and tactics, media, and the other marketing communication.