Principles of Marketing, 17e, Global Edition (Kotler/Armstrong)
Chapter 14 Engaging Consumers and Communicating Customer Value: Integrated
Marketing Communications Strategy
1) A company’s total marketing communications mix consists of a specific blend of advertising,
sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct-marketing tools that the company
uses to communicate customer value and build customer relationships. Which of the following
terms best describes this set of communications tools?
A) the product mix
B) product line filling
C) the promotion mix
D) the price mix
E) horizontal diversification
2) Which of the following is one of the five major promotion tools?
A) market penetration
B) strategic positioning
C) product line filling
D) market diversification
E) direct and digital marketing
3) Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an
identified sponsor is called ________ and includes broadcast, mobile, print, and online forms.
A) sales promotion
B) advertising
C) direct and digital marketing
D) personal selling
E) public relations
4) The use of short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service is
called ________.
A) direct and digital marketing
B) sales promotion
C) personal selling
D) public relations
E) publicity
5) Which of the following promotion tools involves building up a good corporate image and
handling unfavorable stories and events?
A) sales promotion
B) personal selling
C) direct and digital marketing
D) public relations
E) advertising
6) Which of the following promotion categories is most likely to include the use of displays,
discounts, coupons, and demonstrations?
A) sales promotion
B) direct and digital marketing
C) horizontal diversification
D) public relations
E) advertising
7) ________ includes sales presentations, trade shows, and incentive programs.
A) Direct and digital marketing
B) Sales promotion
C) Personal selling
D) Public relations
E) Advertising
8) Extel Inc., a home appliance manufacturer, uses sales representatives to sell its products to
wholesalers and individual customers. This is an example of ________.
A) sales promotion
B) personal selling
C) public relations
D) direct and digital marketing
E) advertising
9) Which major promotion category uses catalogs, direct mail, e-mail, mobile marketing and
social media?
A) sales promotion
B) direct and digital marketing
C) horizontal diversification
D) public relations
E) advertising
10) Which of the following promotion categories is most likely to use the promotion tools of
press releases, sponsorships, events, and Web pages?
A) sales promotion
B) direct and digital marketing
C) advertising
D) public relations
E) horizontal diversification
11) In addition to the specific promotion tools, marketing communication requires ________
for greatest impact.
A) the engineering and manufacturing departments work together
B) the sales force lead the communication process
C) the advertising be developed with the manufacturers’ representatives
D) the pubic relations staff work closely with the sales force
E) the promotion, product, price, and place be coordinated
12) Advertising involves a personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of
making sales and building customer relationships.
13) Sales promotion involves building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading off
unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.
14) Direct and digital marketing involves engaging directly with carefully targeted individual
consumers and customer communities to both obtain an immediate response and build lasting
customer relationships.
15) Direct and digital marketing includes catalogs, e-mail, direct mail, social media, and mobile
marketing.
16) A company’s marketing communications mix—also called its promotion mix—blends five
different components. List and define these components.
17) Changes to the marketing communications model include that consumers are changing and
are better informed, that marketing strategies are changing and are moving from mass
marketing, and that ________.
A) manufacturing processes are becoming more efficient
B) distribution of products worldwide is more feasible and cost-effective
C) segmenting and targeting of consumers are more detailed than ever before
D) digital technologies are changing the ways companies and customers communicate
E) retailing is more competitive with more sources of products available for consumers
18) Today’s consumers do not need to rely on marketer-supplied information about products
and services because they can use ________ to seek out a wealth of information.
A) push strategies
B) direct and digital marketing
C) the Internet
D) personal selling
E) public relations
19) Which of the following statements is true regarding today’s marketing communications?
A) More marketers are shifting away from narrowly defined micromarkets and moving toward
mass marketing.
B) More customers have started relying on marketer-supplied information rather than finding
out information on their own.
C) Network television, magazines, newspapers, and other traditional mass media continue to
increase their dominance.
D) Focused marketing programs, which are designed to build closer relationships with
customers in more narrowly defined micromarkets, are no longer used by marketers.
E) Today’s consumers are better informed about products and services.
20) Shifting away from mass marketing, marketers are developing ________ which are
designed to build relationships with customers in more narrowly defined micromarkets.
A) focused marketing programs
B) horizontal diversification programs
C) backward integration strategies
D) new pull strategies
E) new push strategies
21) Which of the following is a specialized and highly targeted media selection that an
advertiser might use to reach smaller customer segments with personalized content?
A) radio
B) magazines
C) newspapers
D) network television
E) online social networks
22) Companies are doing less ________ and more ________ as a result of the explosive
developments in communication technologies to better target smaller customer segments.
A) personal selling; digital activities
B) public relations activities; digital activities
C) digital activities; mass marketing
D) mass marketing; digital marketing
E) viral marketing; word-of-mouth marketing
23) Which of the following statements is true regarding the old mass-media communications
model?
A) Mass-media costs are decreasing.
B) Mass-media audiences are increasing.
C) Many viewers are gaining control of message exposure through DVRs and video streaming.
D) Ad clutter is decreasing.
E) Internet ad spending has stagnated and more marketers are shifting toward TV advertising.
24) Of the various digital marketing categories, ________ is the fastest-growing category.
A) blogs
B) e-mail
C) social media
D) mobile
E) brand Web sites
25) The key is to ________ traditional mass media with online, mobile and social media to best
engage customers, communicate the brand message, and enhance the customer’s brand
experiences.
A) prioritize
B) integrate
C) utilize
D) design
E) spend on
26) Marketers now view themselves as ________ that create and share brand messages and
conversations with and among customers across a mix of paid, owned, earned, and shared
communication channels.
A) promotion managers
B) public relations managers
C) sales managers
D) content marketing managers
E) account managers
27) Companies often fail to integrate their various messages to consumers because ________.
A) historically, consumers have been able to distinguish between message sources
B) advertising departments are reluctant to work with public relations professionals
C) communications often come from different parts of the company
D) personal selling and sales promotion are in direct conflict
E) firms have overemphasized the concept of brand contact
28) Consumers today receive commercial messages from a broad range of sources. However,
consumers ________ the way marketers do.
A) don’t distinguish between message sources
B) never pay attention to sales promotions
C) don’t care about buzz marketing
D) are not able to block out messages
E) block out all media messages
29) Today, most companies are adopting the concept of ________, which carefully combines
and coordinates the company’s many communication channels to deliver a clear, consistent, and
compelling message about the organization and its brands.
A) integrated marketing communications
B) pull strategy
C) vertical diversification
D) nonpersonal communication channels
E) buzz marketing
30) Integrated marketing communications require a company’s mass-market advertisements,
Web site, e-mail, and personal selling communications to all ________.
A) have equal portions of the advertising budget
B) use independent communications directors
C) develop separate marketing objectives
D) engage the same target audience
E) deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling message
31) Delia’s is a clothing retailer that targets teenage girls. The company runs coordinated
promotions for its catalogs, Web site, and retail outlets. It uses the same models in its catalog,
print ads, and Web site. Delia’s works to make sure its public relations activities as well as its
sales promotions harmonize with its advertising in all aspects. From this information, we can
infer that Delia’s is using ________.
A) buzz marketing
B) experiential marketing
C) integrated marketing communication
D) word-of-mouth marketing
E) database marketing
32) Excel Enterprises uses a Web site, online social networks, and print advertisements to
promote its products. Since Excel Enterprises practices integrated marketing communications,
all these different brand contacts maintain ________ in design and tone.
A) variety
B) simplicity
C) creativity
D) consistency
E) flexibility
33) To carefully integrate and coordinate the company’s many communications channels and
produce greater sales impact, some companies appoint a(n) ________.
A) idea champion
B) marketing communications director
C) sales representative
D) business analyst
E) media planner
34) Direct marketing includes catalogs, direct-response TV, kiosks, the Internet, and mobile
marketing.
35) As mass markets have fragmented, marketers have shifted away from mass marketing.
36) Communications technologies such as cell phones and the Internet give companies new
media for interacting with targeted consumers, but these technologies also give consumers
more control over the advertising messages they receive.
37) Mass marketers can expect consumers to distinguish between commercial message sources
to maintain a clear image of a company and its brands.
38) The integrated marketing concept ties together all of the company’s messages and images.
39) Integrated marketing communications calls for recognizing all communications channels
where the customer may encounter the company and its brands.
40) The shift toward digital communication allows companies to keep control of message
exposure.
41) A marketing communications director has overall responsibility for the company’s
communications efforts.
42) Why should a company be concerned about integrating communications from different
sources within the company?
43) How do integrated marketing communications build brand identity?
44) Why are profound changes in marketing communications creating both exciting and scary
times for marketing communicators?
45) Explain the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC).
46) In order to avoid shortsightedness, today marketers are moving toward viewing
communications as managing the ________.
A) organizational culture
B) nonpersonal communication channels
C) word-of-mouth influence
D) ongoing customer relationships with the company
E) product life cycle
47) Communications programs need to be developed for specific niches, individuals, and
________.
A) genders
B) countries
C) departments
D) products
E) segments
48) While using integrated marketing communications, the communications process should
start with a(n) ________.
A) advertising strategy
B) competitive-parity analysis
C) long-term public relations plan
D) audit of all potential customer touch points
E) strategy for implementing a social media presence
49) Which of the following is one of the four major communication functions?
A) coordination
B) distribution
C) noise
D) response
E) preference
50) ________ refers to the process of putting thought into symbolic form.
A) Sending
B) Encoding
C) Decoding
D) Receiving
E) Feedback
51) HP’s advertising agency assembles words and illustrations into an advertisement that
conveys the company’s intended brand message. In the context of the communication process,
HP is ________.
A) messaging
B) decoding
C) sending
D) encoding
E) responding
52) The decision to use an NBA star player to communicate the desirability of Nike basketball
shoes represents the ________ process of the communication model.
A) sourcing
B) messaging
C) acknowledging
D) decoding
E) encoding
53) A(n) ________ is a set of symbols that the sender transmits.
A) encoder
B) feedback loop
C) message
D) media
E) decoder
54) In the communication process, an actual HP printer/fax machine advertisement would be
considered ________.
A) encoding
B) decoding
C) the product
D) the message
E) the medium
55) Which of the following terms best represents the communication channel that a company
uses to move its advertising messages from sender to receiver?
A) decoder
B) media
C) encoder
D) communicator
E) feedback loop
56) In a communication process, a receiver assigns meaning to the symbols encoded by a
company in its advertisements through a process known as ________.
A) integrating
B) reciprocating
C) acknowledging
D) decoding
E) coordinating
57) In the communication process, the reaction of the receiver after being exposed to a message
is called the ________.
A) response
B) disturbance
C) noise
D) code
E) distortion
58) When a customer lets a producer know something about its products or advertising, the
customer is providing ________.
A) decoding
B) noise
C) feedback
D) encoding
E) reverse marketing
59) A consumer is reading a magazine with an advertisement, but due to a loud sound he is
distracted from reading the advertisement and is not able to grasp its key points. In the context
of the communication process, this unplanned static or distortion is called ________.
A) noise
B) encoding
C) feedback
D) response
E) decoding
60) An ad for Maybelline age-minimizing makeup in Ladies’ Home Journal magazine featured
actress Gigi Hadid and offered readers a $2-off coupon when they tried the new makeup. In
terms of the communication model, the sender of this message is ________.
A) Gigi Hadid
B) Ladies’ Home Journal
C) readers who redeem the $2-off coupon
D) Maybelline
E) the target market to which Gigi Hadid appeals
61) An ad for Maybelline age-minimizing makeup in Ladies’ Home Journal magazine featured
actress Gigi Hadid and offered readers a $2-off coupon when they tried the new makeup. In
terms of the communication model, the medium of this ad is ________.
A) Gigi Hadid
B) Ladies’ Home Journal
C) readers who redeem the $2-off coupon
D) Maybelline
E) the target market to which Gigi Hadid appeals
62) An ad for Maybelline age-minimizing makeup in Ladies’ Home Journal magazine featured
actress Gigi Hadid and offered readers a $2-off coupon when they tried the new makeup. In the
context of the communication model, measuring which of the following would be the best way
for the source to measure feedback?
A) the number of subscribers to Ladies’ Home Journal
B) the number of people who make up the target market
C) the number of people who redeem the coupon
D) the number of people who have purchased Maybelline products in the past
E) the number of people to whom Gigi Hadid is an appealing spokesperson
63) In the communication process, the more the sender’s field of experience ________ that of
the receiver, the more ________ the message is likely to be.
A) varies from; distinguishable
B) overlaps with; effective
C) connects with; ineffective
D) coincides with; creative
E) departs from; direct
64) The AIDA model identifies the characteristics of an effective ________.
A) advertising budget
B) channel of communication
C) marketing message
D) marketing mix
E) marketing response
65) To communicate effectively, a marketing communicator should most likely ________.
A) ensure that the encoding and decoding processes are different
B) encode and decode the message personally and frequently
C) understand the consumer’s field of experience
D) foresee unplanned static or distortion
E) use familiar words and symbols