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The second news item spoke about how the cola companies are shifting their focus from cricket to youth. The Youngstown campaign of Pepsi with Shah Rush Khan, Iranian Kapok and Dippier Podunk shows how the focus is shifting and with Coke using Writhe Reason in “Jason Man Lee” Campaign, the turnaround seems to be more or less complete. Here what we see is how different companies are approaching the same issue in efferent ways and much differently from how they had done earlier. All these companies have been major advertisers and have a war chest to spend on ads.
Maybe the Cola Companies have realized the risks of using cricket as a major means of promoting their products like risking the fortune of your campaign on the fortunes of the cricket team, and with the controversies bogging players one can never be sure But then why is HULL looking at cricket is it that it has realized that after all these years rather than risking your fortune on Plywood stars it might be safer to bet on cricket. Everything Sends a Message: What happened to the Cola companies and HULL dramatists the point that message consistency is a systemic problem, as well as strategic.
It has to be approached from the viewpoint of the whole company and its total business operations, not Just from how the company executes its marketing communication or corporate image programs. As The Wall Street Journal observed in recently reported, “Pepsin’s image is all over the map. ” The story explains that a grocery store in Hamburg uses red stripes, a bodega in Guatemala uses ‘ass-era lettering, a Shanghai restaurant splays a mainly white Pepsi sign, and a hodgepodge of commercials feature a variety of spokespeople, ranging from cartoons and babies to doddering butlers.
It’s not Just Pepsin’s marketing communication that sends different messages to different people. Consumers say the cola tastes different in different countries, so PepsiCo plans also call for revamping manufacturing and distribution to get a consistent-tasting drink marketed throughout the globe. And some of its European marketing communication partners were mixed in their support of the plan because hey felt they weren’t consulted about how it was to be implemented, so there’s work to be done there, too. Everything, sends a message. ” And that’s where Integrated Marketing Communications comes in.
Integrated marketing communications is a process that manages all of a company or brand’s interactions with customers and other key stakeholders. Its premise is that everything a company does, and sometimes what it doesn’t do, sends a message. In the marketplace of the 21st century the driving force is not a company with products to sell but customers controlling what, where, and how they want to buy. Thanks to the Internet, 24-hour toll-free phone numbers, credit cards, and express delivery services, consumers are accessing information on demand and seeking out the products and services that interest them.
Gone are the days when a company determined where, when, and how it sells its product. This new approach not only changes the way we make our purchasing decisions, it also revolutionizes how companies market to their customers. For most companies to win, they must replace outdated mass-marketing tactics with a targeted, customer-focused approach. Integrated marketing communications (MIMIC) is one such customer-centric, data- driven method of communicating with consumers. Nestle, MOM, Sprint, Microsoft, Apple computers, Nikkei and many other companies have adopted the MIMIC approach.
What is Integrated Marketing? Integrated marketing is a comprehensive approach to internal and external organizational communication. Definition of MIMIC: As per American Association of Advertising Agencies ‘The concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic role of a variety of immunization disciplines – for example, general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations – and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact’.
According to Don Schultz, Integrated marketing Communications is a new way of looking at the whole, where once we only saw parts such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, purchasing, employee communications, and so forth. It is realigning communications to look at it the way the customer sees it – as a flow of information from indistinguishable sources.
A successful MIMIC campaign requires that the firm find a right combination of promotion tools and techniques, defines their roles and the extent to which they can In the words of Duncan and Everett, Integrated Marketing Communications may be defined as “The strategic coordination of all the messages and media used by an organization to influence the perceived brand value” The focus here is on two aspects: 1) Being present at all the contact points 2) Managing the communications well that your brand speaks one language. As Knows and Phelps say – your brand should have ‘One voice’ reaching to your customers, may it be by any number of channels.
If this does not happen: a) You may miss out on some of the contact points where your customer awaits your communications but he does not find you and he abnegates the brand. B) You may reach different contact points but different communications (including the intangibles) speak differently, your customer gets confused as to what he should associate with your brand. Thus the first aspect creates awareness and the second aspect creates and maintains loyalty. “Integrated marketing unifies the core purpose, key goals and strategies and many-wide processes to create congruent messages and sufficient dialog with all stakeholder groups. Necessary conditions for an Effective MIMIC program: Today, MIMIC definitions are broader in application, as a brand is developed in stakeholders’ minds as a result of all interactions they have with a company, and not just as a result of a campaign they are exposed to. The premise is virtually the same ?? synergies are achieved when all brand contacts work in concert. While definitions differ, the practice of MIMIC involves the same success factors and alps organizations build and deepen relationships with their many stakeholders.
The following conditions should be considered “necessary,” but not sufficient conditions of MIMIC practice: Thus in the MIMIC approach, the different communications are in the form of arcs making up a 360-degree circle, at the center of which lies the customer. With too much communication surrounding the customer he gets confused, he being a center of many brand communications circles and still more if the communications from a single brand are not integrated. Thus the communications need to be spread and integrated on a holistic basis what forms the basis of MIMIC.
Integrated Marketing will require strategic combination of two or more of the following basic marketing elements/instruments used in concert to multiply the effectiveness of a campaign: Advertising (Print/ Television/Radio) – used to inform and entice a prospect about a company’s product or service, draw attention to the company Web site and stimulate trial use. Public Relations – also used to inform, but ads credibility by use of a third party endorsement. Web Site/ Internet – used by both existing customers and prospects to obtain product ND service information and, with the implementation of E-commerce, conveniently purchase online.
Sales Promotion – provides short-term incentives to buy. Best used when offered to prospects who are already familiar with the product or service. Direct Marketing – used today mostly to establish an ongoing relationship with a current customer or prospect in order to stimulate repurchase and build loyalty. Special events Video and audio presentations Multimedia presentations etc. There are TWO CRITICAL FACTORS that have the most influence on the effectiveness of an Integrated Marketing campaign.
The first is the strategic combination or “mix” of the basic elements. Achieving the most effective mix is usually the result of experience. The second critical factor is the consistency of the theme across all elements in the campaign. Logically, consistency is best achieved through the use of a single source responsible for defining the role of each element, creating the theme, and where most companies who believe they are already integrating their marketing efforts usually fall short. The following Research compiled from the U. S. Department of Commerce, the
American Management Association, and the Direct Marketing Association reiterates the fact that strategically combining the basic marketing elements with a consistent theme will impact results: Average stand-alone direct mail campaign generates 3. 3% response rate. One basic marketing element added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate increases to 5. 4%. Two basic marketing elements added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate increases to 6. 7%. Three basic marketing elements added to stand-alone direct mail campaign, response rate increases to 6. 9%. Factors contributing to Imp’s rising prominence.