ng communications
and there are barriers of achieving
final success of IMC, these difficulties
and barriers will not be able to prevent
people from trying, as the rewards of
synergy and coherence are significant
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001). Smith (2002)
further illustrated the merits of implementing
IMC: IMC can create competitive
advantage and boost sales and profits,
while saving time, money, and stress. A
unified message has more impact than a
disjointed myriad of messages.
WHERE IMC IS NOW AND A RATIONALE
FOR ITS SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT
OR DECLINE
Taking Figure 2 as an example of where
IMC is, or could be located, if businesses
have stopped their IMC development at
stage 1, then this is stating no more than
Caywood, Schultz, and Wang (1991) or
Schultz, Tannenbaum, and Lauterborn
(1994) were saying at that point in time.
Moreover, a stage 1 focus is what can be
termed “inside-out marketing.” It requires
little or no focus on customers,
consumers, or their needs and is a relatively
simple matter of bundling promotional
mix elements together so “they
speak with one voice.” Moreover, if this
indeed what companies are doing, it is a
serious blow against the development of
marketing in the 20th century for stage 1
implies product, production, or sales
orientation—orientations long thought to
be receding into the sedimentary social
and economic strata of the past. Yet, paper
after paper has revealed that the majority
of client organizations and the
agencies who service their needs are located
at this level. What does this mean
from a communication perspective? Simply
that all communications, not matter
how neatly synergized, are driven by client
edict and control. Put another way,
they may not focus on customer and their
needs and may in fact be detrimental to
organizational development and growth.
Reiteration of messages that plainly contradict
business reality damage business
credibility in the long term. A recent U.K.
example developed by chocolate giant
Cadbury promises consumers free sporting
goods if they will save and submit
special wrappers from Cadbury products.
On the one hand, the campaign is
integrated in terms of advertising, sponsorship,
sales promotion, package design,
and marketing public relations. On
the other hand, there is a distinct unease
in the minds of customers, consumers,
and industry experts on the links between
chocolate and obesity, and between
chocolate and sporting prowess.
The entire campaign, while ostensibly offering
a consumer benefit, is inside-out
in its approach.
Stage 2 of Figure 2 is at least an attempt
by businesses to actively consider what
customers and consumers want to hear or
see, when, where, and through which media.
It represents “outside-in marketing.”
It is a major step in the direction toward
IMC being driven by customers and their
needs. Certainly few businesses or their
agencies would decry the need for market
research to underpin marketing and marketing
communication activities. Yet, it has
been estimated by Kitchen and Schultz
(1999) that only 25 percent of businesses
base their marketing communication activities
on a sound understanding of the
dynamics of their served segment. Yet,
stage 2 of IMC is an improvement. It
potentially avoids
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