MKTG 408

An Introduction to
IMC

Chapter 1: An
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing
Communications
Dr. Dina
Bassiouni
 Learning Objectives
What is:
 Marketing
Value
Marketing Mix
Promotional Mix
IMC

2
 What is Marketing?
 Marketing: is a process by which
companies create value for
customers and build strong
customer relationships to capture
value from customers in return.

 AMA:
“The activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that
have value for customers, clients,
partners, and society at large”
3
 What is Value?
Customer’s perception of all
the benefits of a product or
service, weighed against costs
of acquiring and consuming it.

4
 A thought!
• In the case of charity and
donations, explain how and what
benefits are exchanged.

5
 So,
Benefits can be…
Functional (product/ service
itself)
Experiential (feelings associated
with its consumption or
purchase)
Psychological (the self-esteem or
status or gratification)

EXAMPLES!!
6
 Question!
• The cost of acquiring or
consuming a product or a
service is always in a monetary
form i.e. money (T/F)

7
 Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) &
Relationship Marketing:
 Relationship Marketing: involves
creating, maintaining and enhancing
long-term relationships with customers
and other stakeholders for
Customer lifetime value
 CRM: involves tracking customers’
preferences and behaviors and modifying
the product or service offer to meet
individual needs (mass customization)

8
 Marketing Mix (4Ps)

9
10
 Promotional Tools:
 Public Relations: involves building good
relations with the company’s various
publics by obtaining favorable publicity,
building up a good corporate image, and
handling unfavorable rumors, stories,
and events.

11
 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Personal Selling: is the personal
presentation by the firm’s sales
force for the purpose of making
sales and building customer
relationships.

 Salespeople are an effective link between

the company and its customers to produce
customer value and company profit by:
 Representing the company to customers
 Representing customers to the company
 Working closely with marketing
12
 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Direct Marketing: involves the
direct communication of
organizations with target
customers to generate a response
and/or a transaction. Fastest
growing tool. Direct
Direct
Direct Mail
Direct Mail Catalogs
Catalogs Response Ads
Response Ads
Direct
Direct
Telemarketing
Telemarketing Selling
Selling
Database
Database Shopping
Shopping Internet
Internet
13 Management
Management Channels
Channels Sales
Sales
 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Direct Marketing:
 Direct Response Advertising: a product is
promoted through an ad that encourages the
consumer to purchase directly from the
manufacturer.
Examples??
 Reasons for inclination towards DRA:
 Changing lifestyles
 Credit cards
 Toll-free numbers
 Internet growth

14
 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Sales Promotion: is the short-term
incentive to encourage the purchase
or sale of a product or service to
consumers and trade.
– Discounts, Coupons, contests, premiums
(Freemiums), in-Store Displays,
Demonstrations

 Sales promotion aim to

 attract consumer attention and
 offer strong incentives to purchase
 can be used to boost slowing down sales

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 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Sales Promotion:

16
 Promotional Tools: cont’d
 Advertising: is any paid form of
non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods, or
services by an identified sponsor.
 Advertising reaches masses of
geographically dispersed buyers at
a low cost per exposure, and it
enables the seller to repeat a
message many times

17
 Question!
‘Advertising’ is often regarded as a
paid-for element of the marketing
communications ‘mix’. (T/F)

18
 Question!
• What’s the difference between
Advertising and Publicity.

19
 The managerial and
economic importance of
Advertising:
 It has been claimed that
advertising and promotion are the
major source of competitive
advantage in brand marketing.
 Rates of economic growth and
advertising expenditure seem to be
directly linked.
 Advertising communicates offers,
facilitates competition, boosts
demand. It is essential to economic
growth.
20
 A thought!!
Is advertising only a managerial
topic??

21
 Advertising and Culture
 Advertising is not only a managerial
topic but a matter of considerable
interest for its social and cultural impact.

 Advertising and promotional

communication draw on non-commercial
culture and reflect it back at itself,
framed within brand values.
 This places advertising and promotional
communication at an intersection of
culture and commerce, a hybrid form of
communication which has become a
focus of public debate for its supposed
effects on social behaviour and values.
22
 Normalisation and
Valorisation
 Advertising and promotional
communication can work to make
brand consumption practices seem
normal and everyday
(Normalisation)
 It can also link non-commercial
values such as social status and
attractiveness with brands
(Valorisation)

Examples??
23
 Question!
• Brand identity is largely articulated
through advertising and promotion. How
so?
• Answer: In consumer marketing, the
brand is the key element in product
symbolism because it carries all the
symbolic meanings of the marketed
entity compressed into a simple logo,
design, image or combination of features.
• The brand can be understood as a system
of communication, conveying values,
eliciting consumer confidence and inciting
24 aspiration through advertising.
 Classification of
Advertising: book p. 21

25
 Activity 1:
• Make a list of all the forms of
advertising and promotion that
you have encountered or heard
of .

26
 1

[Link]
27 dN8DRMU
 The Advertising & Promotion Mix
(The New Marketing
Communications Mix)
• Above-the-Line (ATL) [Mass Communications
Activities]
– Advertising (TV – Print – Radio – Outdoors-
Transportation)
• Below-the-Line (BTL) [Direct Communications
Activities]
– Public Relations Activities, Events
Marketing, Sponsorships, & Personal Selling,
in-store promotion, direct marketing, sales
promotion, etc.
• On-the-Line (OTL) [Internet based activities]
– Internet, Company’s Website, Social Media,
SMS/Text Messages, Blogging, Email
Campaigns,
28 • Entertainment Marketing
 Question!
So what is the Line?

Answer: The Line is the difference

between using Mass Communications
Tools (non-personal communication)
where a MASS MEDIUM is involved vs
using direct (personal)
communications tools between the
company and its target customers
and its stakeholders.
29
 Question!
OTL tools are used to develop
and retain effective Customers
Relations (CRM). T/F

30
 Question!
What is through the line (T.T.L.)?

31
 32

Question!!
• What would happen if each of
these Promotional tools
communicate a different
message?

• Answer: Mixed communication

would result in blurred consumer
brand perceptions.
32
 Integrated Marketing
Communications (IMC):
 Integrated marketing communications
is the integration by the company of
its communication channels to deliver
a clear, consistent, and compelling
message about the organization and
its brands.

 Integrated marketing communications

calls for recognizing all contact points
(customer touch points) where the
customer may encounter the
company and its brands.
33
 34

IMC:

34
 IMC contact points:

35
 So what are the
benefits/value of IMC?

Value of IMC
Avoids duplication of marketing
efforts
Synergy among promotional tools
More efficient and effective
marketing

36
 Dove
Real Beauty Campaign

[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
37 [Link]
 IMC and Through the Line
(T.T.L.)
 IMC is sometimes referred to in
terms of ‘through-the-line’
communications solutions.
 Through the line solutions combine
mass media (‘above the line’) with
sales promotion, PR, direct
marketing etc (‘below the line’) and
try to apply a consistent
communications strategy through
differing media channels.
38
 The Growing Importance of
IMC:
 Question: Companies now are doing
less broadcasting (Mass Marketing) and
more narrowcasting (Segmented
Marketing) (T/F) Explain!

 Answer: True
 Media Environment is Rapidly changing
 Television, magazines, and other mass
media remain very important, yet their
dominance is declining.
 Advertisers are now adding a broad
selection of more-specialized and highly
targeted media to reach smaller customer
segments with more-personalized,
interactive messages
 Tiny billboards attached to shopping carts, Ads on
39 shopping bags, City truck, Parking-lot tickets.
Thank you
