Communication Strategy and IMC
MKT 460 (Strategic Marketing)
Taufique Hossain
The marketing communications mix
The internet and digital
technologies have
enabled new interactive
forms of communication,
where the receiver has
greater responsibility for
their part in the
communication process
A traditional model of the marketing communication mix
Figure 1.1 The tools and position of the marketing communications mix Fill 2009
Figure 1.2 Above-and below-the-line communications Fill 2009
Selection Criteria
 Degree of control required over delivery
 Financial resources available (cost)
 Level of credibility
 Ability to deliver message (communications)
 Size and geographic dispersion of target
audiences
Key Characteristics of Tools
ADVERTISING
 Non-personal mass communication
 High reach
 Impact
 High cost
 Low credibility?
 Difficult to measure
Key Characteristics of Tools
SALES PROMOTION
 Used tactically in short term
 Aim is often to increase sales
 High control and measurement
 Moderate cost
 Can be used throughout distribution channel
 Credibility may be questioned
Key Characteristics of Tools
PERSONAL SELLING
 Interpersonal communications tool (two way)
 Instantaneous feedback possible
 Message can be tailored
 High cost
 More suitable where message is complex
Key Characteristics of Tools
DIRECT MARKETING
 Any form of direct response communications
 Targets individual customers (database)
 Can deliver personalised message
 Builds relationships
 Facilitated by technological developments
 Moderate absolute cost but cost per contact high
Key Characteristics of Tools
PUBLIC RELATIONS
 Non-personal
 Wide range of tools available
 High credibility
 Low cost
Figure 1.3 The relative effectiveness of the tools of the marketing communications
mix Fill page 25
Table 1.4 The 4Cs Framework – a summary of the key characteristics of the tools
of marketing communications Fill
Major communication tools
Tool
Use
Examples
Advertising
Efficiently gets message
to large audience
Television and radio commercials and new paper ads;
paid search engine links; product and company
brochures; billboards; transit ads; ads delivered by
cell phone and emails
Sales promotion
Stimulate immediate
Samples, coupons, premiums, contests, games,
purchase; reward repeat incentives
purchase
Public relations
Build positive image,
strengthen ties with
stakeholders
Event sponsorship, news release, briefings, speeches
and blogs, public appearance
Direct marketing
Reach target audience,
encourage direct
response
Mail, email, telemarketing campaigns, printed and
online catalog, direct response tv and radio
Personal selling
Reach customers one to Sales appointment, sales meetings and presentation,
one to make sales,
online sales chat help
strengthen relationships
New Tools, New Media
Broadcast advertising (TV/radio)
Print advertising (newspaper/magazine)
Interactive/internet marketing
Website/on-line advertising
Outdoor/billboards
Mobile/Wap
Personal selling
Telemarketing
Packaging
Direct marketing
Publicity/PR
Point of purchase
Product placement
Sales promotion
Word of mouth
Events & sponsorship
Product Placement
The Marketing Communications Planning
Process
 Context analysis
 Communication objectives
 Marketing communications strategy
 Communications mix [tools and media]
 Scheduling and Implementation
 Resources
 Evaluation and control
 Feedback
Context Analysis
 Can relate to environmental analysis
undertaken by marketing>
SWOT PEST
 Should adopt a communications focus:
Customer -Segmentation
Business – Corporate and marketing strategy,
Competitor analysis
Internal – Financial, Culture, Value, Marketing
expertise
External – Stakeholders, PEST
Lucozade Sport: Award Winning
Campaign
Lucozade Sport: Understanding the market context
Non-alcoholic
Alcoholic
Water
Juice
Milk
Tea
Coffee
Other
Carbonated Lucozade Power
soft drink
ade
Energy
Non-energy
Lucozade Sport: Business Context
 Launched in 1990, by 2004 had grown to £50m





brand
Strong year on year growth
In 2004 sales and usage fell sharply
Pepsi’s Gatorade and Coca Cola’s Powerade are
main competitors
2005 Powerade redesigns packaging and attracts
market aggressively
Only 18% of sports participants drinking Lucozade
Sport by 2004
Determination of Objectives
 Value of objectives:
 Focus and coordination
 They help to orient everyone involved toward a common goal
 Guide for strategy formulation
 They serve as criteria for developing strategy and making
decisions
 Measurement & control
 They provide the standards and benchmarks for evaluating
results
Objectives
Objectives should consist of three main element:
Corporate objectives – business or marketing plan,
mission
Marketing Objectives – sales objectives, market
share, ROI
Marketing communication objectives – Current
context, Current Brand identity, Future context
Lucozade Sport: Campaign
Objectives
 Getting associated with sport preparation
so that the brand would be consumed
before sport [Before]
 Giving the product functionality and
scientific credentials to raise credibility
[Fuel]
 Reduce the claim and align the brand to
small but meaningful sport events [Edge]
Strategy
 Guides the direction, approach and
implementation of an organisation’s desired
marketing communications
>Push
>Pull
>Profile
 Planning is about the formalisation of the
strategy and ideas into a manageable sequence
of activities that can be resourced and
implemented.
Figure 12.5 Marketing communication strategic eclipse
Figure 12.2 The direction of communication in a pull strategy
Pull Strategy
 This will “pull” products through the distribution
channels
 Promote to consumers and users in order to
“create” demand
 Emphasis on mass media advertising
Figure 12.3 The direction of communication in a push strategy
Push Strategy
 Products “pushed” through the distribution
channel
 Promoting heavily to members of the distribution
channel eg retailers, wholesalers, agents
 It is assumed that they will in turn promote heavily
to the end consumer
 Emphasis on personal selling and sales promotion
Figure 12.4 The direction of communication in a profile strategy
Profile Strategy
 Communications to ‘stakeholder’ groups
 Focuses on development of corporate image and
reputation
 Awareness, perception and attitudes held by
stakeholders towards an organisation need to be
understood and acted upon
 Dialogue required which will normally lead to
development of trust and commitment
Product life cycle stage and
communication
 Introduction
 High initial expenditure
 Advertising to create awareness
 Sales promotion to create trial, retailer acceptance
 Growth
 Less intense communication activity
 Shifts away from awareness to brand equity
building
 Advertising as a prime means of image creation
Product life cycle stage and
communication
 Maturity
 Reminding and reassuring
 Decline
 Low levels of advertising and sales promotion
Coordinated communication mix
Figure 1.1 The tools and position of the marketing communications mix Fill 2009
Lucozade Sport: Communications
Mix
Advertising
Press/TV
Relationship
building
Sports Science
Academy
Sponsorship
Talksport
Product
Placement
Resources: Budget Planning
 Four commonly used approaches to setting the
budget:
 All you can afford
 Percentage of sales
 Competitive expenditure
 Objective & task
Scheduling/Implementation
 Agency v In-house
Creative
Copy
Production
Printing
Media planning and booking
Distribution
 Timescale?
 Competitors?
 Environment
Monitoring & Evaluation of performance
Feedback
Contingency
planning
Evaluation Techniques
 Complex especially in the case of integrated campaigns.
Each element of the mix may be measured in a different
way to capture individual contribution.
 Examples of some measurement techniques:
> Recall and recognition tests (TV advertising)
> Tracking studies (advertising)
> Column inches (PR)
> Coupon redemption (sales promotion)
> “hits” (online)
> Sales??????????
Lucozade Sport: Campaign
Evaluation
 Year on year sales
 Penetration level among sports
participants
 Credibility of essential role in sports
preparation
Integrated Marketing Communications
(IMC)
The triangulated use of combinations of media
emanating from the belief that image advertising, sales
promotion, direct response advertising and marketing
public relations are not mutually exclusive disciplines
and that incorporating elements of each into
communication materials may lead to a triangulation in
effects Nowak and Phelps, 1994
Integrated marketing communications is a strategic
business process used to plan, develop, execute and
evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand
communications programmes over time Schultz, 2004
Figure 11.1 Elements for integration
The Case for IMC
 Reduce costs
 Streamlines company/agency relationships
 Achieve synergy across mix
 Supports brand and brand positioning in crowded
market place
 Fosters customer focused
 Requires cultural shift and employee participation
The Case against IMC
 Encourages rigidity and inflexibility?
 Decision making becomes more centralised
 Loss of creativity
 Increased time and bureaucracy
 Internal resistance
 Need for global brands to be adapted?
 Could damage brand if one/some elements do
not fit effectively
Management Fashion?
“ IMC is a management fashion, apparent in its
lack of definition and transient influence and its
influence upon practice should be conceived
accordingly”
“ Despite its pervasive penetration in the
marketing and communication management
world, little has been said, however, about IMC’s
theoretical robustness as well as its actual
significance for marketing and advertising
thought and practice”
Cornelissen & Lock 2000
The marketing communications mix
An Integrated
Marketing
Communication Mix
A contemporary model of the marketing communication mix