Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

The communication package consists of advertising, sales promotion, publicity and public relations. Don Schultz, Stan Tonnenbaum and Robert Lauterborn put forward the Integrated Marketing Communication model in a book titled Integrated Marketing Communication : Pulling It Together and Making It Work in 1997. It was a strategic problem-solving approach, and a new way of thinking. Marketing communication must have a unified approach to make it accountable for achieving the business objectives. The idea was soon interpreted as communication consistency, e.g. PR must be in sync with advertising. IMC supports a common idea of communication across all communication media. Grey calls it synchronized marketing. A core brand idea is extended across the media. In an agency, each division has its own business goals. They should emphasise the overall communication package. A single agency may not provide the whole communication package. The problem is that of the lead. Who will be the integrator ? If there is no proper integration, who will be blamed ? Advertisers tend to place the blame at the door of the agencies. However, the ultimate responsibility is that of the advertisers. It is the marketing manager’s responsibility to exericise control over the whole communication package.

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