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efinition, formal
theory construction, and research, the
hypothesis emerges that IMC is a management
fashion.
The idea behind the Cornelissen and Lock
(2000) argument is that because there is
no established academic or professional
definition of IMC, or recognized measurement
system in place to gauge the influence
and bearing of the various IMC
concepts, it must be a managerial fad.
While Schultz and Kitchen (2000a) agree
that IMC is not yet a theory and currently
lacks a formal agreed-upon definition, the
foundations are being laid on an international
level.
It is argued by Percy, Rossiter, and Elliott
(2001) that although some view IMC
as a valuable concept, there is a large
amount of evidence to suggest that “truly
integrated marketing communication is the
exception rather than the rule.” Frequently,
IMC is considered to be nothing
more than using several means of delivering
a message, although using a range
of different marketing communications
tools does not necessarily mean an IMC
program (Percy, Rossiter, and Elliott, 2001).
The definition of IMC is thus argued by
Percy, Rossiter, and Elliott (2001) as the
planning and execution of all types of
marketing communication needed for a
brand, service, or company to satisfy a
common set of communication objectives,
or put more specifically, to support a single
positioning.
In this brief review of the IMC development
process, it is evident that there
are some doubts and misgivings. Nonetheless,
IMC has become the dominant
mode or paradigm for explaining how
marketing communications works. Few
writers, in either article or textbook form,
could fail to mention integrated marketing
communications. Let us now consider
how this topic has impact upon marketing
communications.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
By using the sextant of hindsight, the
ideal of using various marketing communication
tools in unison has now become
an accepted concept within industry. And,
as IMC continues to evolve, a number of
texts have arisen discussing and arguing
the paradigm of IMC in its own right.
The previous theories discussed helped
define marketing communications and
IMC, clarify the ideas behind the concept,
and simultaneously show that many
new theories, practices, and principles
were beginning to emerge in the 1990s,
all of which impacted upon communications.
From an environmental perspective,
these included
THE EMERGENCE OF IMC
March 2004 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH 23
• the engine of information technology
allowing massive customer data holding
and manipulation (Clow and Baack,
2002; Duncan, 2002; Maddox, 2001)
• the use of the internet as information
source, communication channel, transaction
facilitator, and distribution tool
(Durkin and Lawlor, 2001; Gronstedt,
1997; Reich, 1998)
• development in agency practices—
internationalization, globalization, client
mirroring, organizational learning
and practice driven by client need, multicountry,
multioffice structures and networks
(Clow and Baack, 2002; Gould,
Lerman, and Grein, 1999; Kitchen and
Schultz, 1999)
• the need for brands to become global,
the pressure of advertising localization
(Fill and Yeshin, 2001; Grein and Gould,
1996; Kanso and Nelson, 2002; Terpstra
and Sarathy, 2