Planning & Managing Integrated Marketing Communications Flashcards
Communicating successfully is difficult I
- Information overload – 1,500 ad messages per day
- Many, almost interchangeable products
- Fragmentation of media audiences across ever increasing choice of media outlet, e.g. live TV events with huge audience reach have become rare (Superbowl, Oscars)
⇒ Buying mass media is still expensive but reach has decreasedV
Communicating successfully is difficult II
Noise
“Traditional” advertising transmission models relying on linear cognitive information processing are showing clear limitations:
- Ever increasing role of noise!
- Ignore limited willingness for cognitive processing in low-involvement situations
- “One-way communication” not accurate depiction in times of social media
- Ignore socio-cultural aspects of advertising (e.g. ads can convey meaning rather than only a rational message)
Integrated Marketing Communications =
It is a process which involves the blending of different elements of the communications mix in mutually reinforcing ways.
Creating a unifying experience across different touchpoints and coordinating different media channels to optimize the effectiveness of communications programmes
The Communications Mix
- “Traditional” Advertising: Mass communication
- Public relations: Maintain good relationships with interest groups
- Sales promotion: Induce behaviour to reach short-term target
- Sponsorships: Create experiences for customers
- Product placement: Placing products and brands into cultural contexts, such as movies, TV-series, books, songs, and video games
- Direct and digital marketing: One-to-one relationships in mass markets
- Personal selling
- Word-of-Mouth marketing: Customer-to-customer communication seeded by marketers
- Guerrilla marketing: Use unconventional methods to surprise consumers and get their attention
- Social media marketing: Engaging customers in many-to-many communication online
(“Traditional”) Advertising:
Advantages
- Still comparatively wide reach (esp. for older target groups)
- Good for building awareness and image
- Can be targeted well
Disadvantages
- Difficult to induce behaviour
- Impact is relatively difficult to measure
- Expensive!
Sales promotion:
Short-term communication to encourage the purchase of a product/ service
- Can induce awareness & trial
- Come in many forms:
- Sale
- Samples
- Coupons
- Sales packs (e.g. BOGOF)
- Scarcity promotions
- Contests/ games
- (…)
Sales promotions: Welcome back, irrational consumer
Strikingly, we find that merely exposing consumers to a scarcity (vs. control) promotional ad can lead to increased aggressive behavior. We find that this outcome results after exposure to scarcity promotions that limit product quantity because consumers perceive a potential competitive threat of other people trying to obtain the desired product and experience a physiological change that prepares the body to aggress. In service of eliminating this perceived threat, consumers respond with aggression.
Guerrilla Marketing
Objectives:
- Using unconventional and surprising tools to communicate a message (often on ordinary objects/ in ordinary locations)
Advantages:
- Attention
- Positive association due to creativity and surprise
- Possible viral spread
- Cheap
Disadvantages:
- Small reach (but can get around that if can achieve viral spread)
- Recognition
Product Placement
Advantages:
- Usually less interruptive
- Transfer effect of positive association with movie (character)
- Multiple exposure through re-runs, Internet clips etc.
- Leverage effect through additional advertising
Disadvantages:
- Viewer might not notice placement
- Control over precise usage context?
- Can evoke reactance, especially if too many or too obvious placements in one movie/ series
What are the key features of IMC ?
IMC places the brand at the centre of communications strategy.
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Two dimensions of integration:
1. Integrating brand themes - Managing visible brand elements consistently (logo, font, colours…)
- Consistent thread of what the brand stands for and its brand personality
- Integrating media channels
- Appreciate that media channels are nowadays interlocked, audiences are dispersed and that consumers differentiate little between differing media
- Think of brand touchpoints rather than of separate channels
-
IMC integrates the customer
- Builds relationship with the customer
- Creates continuous two-way communication
The idea of IMC
GoPro – Be a hero
Example of a good integrated marketing campaign
Planning Integrated Communications
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Situation Analysis
- Who is your target audience?
-
Objectives (depending on: Type of brand and Buyer-readiness stage)
- Where are we now?
- Where do we want to be?
- How do we get there?
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Strategies
- Decide on message
- Decide on media (mix)
- Decide on timing
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Budgeting
- How much to spend? (Often: Based on determining objectives & tasks, then estimating costs)
- Implementation
- Evaluation
5 and 6 will be affected by budget constraints and power of certain individuals
Buyer readiness stages of the target audience and objectives
- Also often a mix of objectives
- Depending on type of brand, different stages are more/ less feasible or important
- E.g. remember: For low-involvement functional products, awareness and some degree of liking can be sufficient, strong levels of preference & conviction are hard to obtain
What do you think are the primary objectives behind these ads?
Decide on a message: Major types of appeals
Rational and Emotional
They are often combined
Why do so many advertising campaigns rely on emotional appeals?
- Insights from CB! Many purchases are not made based on deliberative, rational thinking
- Helps cut through the clutter
- Good for „liking“ objectives ⇒ Conditioning
- Research shows that emotions can assist information processing
Humour as emotional appeal
What is humour?
- Most theories assume that humour arises from incongruities (s.th. unexpected, illogical, inappropriate, exaggerated)
- Resulting reaction: Laughing and feeling entertained
- But also: Culture-dependent and specific
Use of humour in marketing communications
- One of the most popular appeals
- About every 5th TV spot entails humorous elements
What impact can humour in ads have?
Positive:
- Significantly enhances attitude towards the ad
- Triggers attention
- One of the fastest ways to create liking
Negative:
- Negative impact on source credibility
- Wear-out effect possible (Stage an advertisement reaches after being printed or aired so many times that its effect on the brand’s sale is zero or even negative.)
- Vampire effect possible (the humour draws attention away from the product)
- Customers can be offended
“Sadvertising” – Good idea?
What is sadness?
- Painful emotions, triggered by certain stimuli
The “SadvertisingTrend”
- Authentic stories, deeply emotional and sad music
- Use of negative emotions like sadness or fear to deeply move consumers and even make them cry
What impact can sadness in ads have?
Positive
- Can enhance feelings of authenticity
- Helps stand out from competition
Negative
- Fit with brand? Appropriate?
- Still little research about this type of emotional ad appeal!
Rossiter/ Percy Grid of choosing appropriate creative tactics
Decide on media mix and timing:
Decisions on:
Which media to use and how to mix them?
McKinsey approach: Compare and select media based on RCQ (Reach, Cost Quality)
- Reach: How many people in the target audience will be exposed to message?
- Cost: How much does it cost to produce and deliver (incl. agency fees)
- Quality: How well can it reach objectives (e.g. generate sales)
⇒ Calculate qualified cost per reach
How to time the different media (among media and over the relevant time frame)
- continuous schedule vs. pulsing
⇒Often companies hire a media agency to help and to buy the media!
Example: Evaluation – What Went Wrong?
Remember: Promotional activities alone cannot determine success!
