SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
It has been said integrated marketing communications will be the only sustainable competitive
advantage for marketers in the near future. The other elements of the marketing mix, product
development, pricing, and distribution, can be achieved at a very similar level, and in a similar
way, among companies competing in a particular industry. In addition, we know the customer
has taken on a completely new, powerful, role in the marketing process. Because it is largely
through promotion that a company speaks most directly to its customers, it seems appropriate
that a marketer’s promotional strategy must change to reflect the dynamics of today’s
marketplace.
Some of these changes include:
Changing technology, which has made it possible for media organizations to
identify, segment, select, and attract smaller audiences for their respective
vehicles.
The trend toward de-regulation that has allowed for increased competition within
many industries, such as air travel, banking, and utilities.
Globalization of the marketplace, which causes promotional efforts, including
advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling, to be
implemented throughout a worldwide market. Customization for different
cultures is key to competing successfully in this arena.
Changes in the demographic and Psychographic profiles of today’s consumers, that
have paved the way for new product category opportunities (such as health care
for the aging “baby boomers” and health food/clubs for nutrition conscious
consumers).
Money-rich, time-poor consumers are seeking control of their purchases.
Consumers have become adept at avoiding marketing communication, through
the use of VCRs, remote controls, radio push buttons, etc. When they are
listening, the message should be simply stated and easy to understand. Today’s
generation is also more visual than verbal, thus they rely on images, symbols,
and graphics more than any previous generation.
It is important also to note that a marketer can communicate with customers through means
other than formal marketing communications. Every element of a product’s marketing mix
helps to position that product in the minds of consumers. The result is that the elements of the
promotional mix should all present a consistent theme. The same is true of the other “Ps” of
marketing, namely product, price, and place that should support the theme:
Products communicate through size, shape, name, packaging, and various
features/benefits.
Price communicates to the consumer that the product is high quality, low quality,
prestigious, common, etc.
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Retail locations (place) where customers purchase the product will reflect upon the
product’s image as well. Stores are considered “high-class”, specialty, discount,
etc.
USING NEWSLETTERS FOR CUSTOMIZED COMMUNICATION
One of the newest and most effective ways to stimulate and maintain positive communication
with customers is through newsletters (print and online). Newsletters are useful for many
reasons, but one of the best reasons is that they cross the boundary between news and
advertising, providing a bit of both. Further, they bring back some much-needed credibility that
has been lost with many market segments. The newsletter can be delivered physically, but more
likely, it will be made available via the Internet or e-mail. Newsletters not only describe, in
detail, a company’s philosophy, goals, and objectives but also enhance its current marketing
program. In addition, newsletters can be utilized as communication tools for many other
purposes.
Some of the advantages of newsletters include:
manner.
Providing highly-targeted distribution through database utilization.
Acting as a form of personal calling, on paper, to prospects and clients.
Proving more economical than other forms of promotion.
Not obvious advertising, if done correctly.
Attention-getting.
Providing the ability to create demand.
Keeping mailing lists (or e-mail lists) accurate.
Announcements of new products and services.
Stories of products/services in application (from either the company or its
customers).
Answers to commonly asked questions/concerns.
Information on industry trends.
Updates on new or pending legislation.
Specialized news.
A newsletter also provides opportunities for customer feedback:
Brings the prospect to the marketer in the form of an inquiry.
May solicit response through use of a formal survey.
Enables experimentation with numerous formats/contents/ promotions through
small sample test mailings.
their interest.
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Bad news should not be ignored. Any problems that are occurring, as well as actions being
taken to solve these problems, need to be addressed. After all, relationships will have both ups
and downs.
sites to prove and/or disprove this point.
Background Articles
Issue: Integrating Marketing Communications
Source: Don E. Schultz, “Multichannel: New Term, Old
Challenges,” Marketing News, April 29, 2002, p. 10.
programs to use, for example, and how the company will organize those programs and
alternatives into a cohesive whole. In the 20th century—at least in the 1990s—we called those
efforts integrated marketing or integrated marketing communications. In reviewing what has
been written about multichannel marketing and listening to the discussions in seminars and
if the dotcoms will rise again.
The ample supply of questions and paucity of answers spawn the conferences, seminars and
scholarly papers. In the multichannel area of communications, the questions are much the
same: How much to invest in advertising? How much above-the-line and how much below it?
Where does PR fit? How about events? Sponsorships? Some experts advocate focusing efforts
challenges.
What all this multichannel conversation seems to ignore, however, and what I thought we
learned almost a decade ago is that much of the discussion and almost all the planning starts at
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want with the seller?
What multichannel marketing and communications advocates seem to ignore is the fact that
marketers no longer control the marketplace. They can’t decide what is best for customers and
foist it off on the channels and customers, no matter how sophisticated the software or how
elegant the marketing models. The customer decides what is best and pursues that course, and
Colgate and Nestle.
But over the last decade or so, marketplace power has shifted. Customers are now in control
because they have access to incredible amounts of market knowledge, and the traditional
restrictions of time and geography have disappeared. With access to a vast array of distribution
channels, they can shop and compare products, prices and formats and yes, even marketers,
from around the world.
customer wants to buy. So, what I hear missing in all these multichannel marketing dialogues is
a mention of the customer. That lesson seems to have been lost somewhere over the years.
By relying on software, analysis and market modeling, multichannel advocates believe they
can find the optimal approach to the marketplace. But customers decide how they would like to
enlightened 21st century.
Note: Don E. Schultz is a professor of integrated marketing communications at
Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and president of Agora Inc. in
Evanston, Ill.
Issue: Careers in IMC
Source: “Integrated Marketing,” Advertising Age, February 25,
2002, p. 22.
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client-side marketing strategists as opposed to agency employees (see charts below). There’s
no question that agencies, marketers and clients alike are driving toward integration. The
challenge is finding the right people to navigate the course.
KEEPING CURRENT
well-rounded, business-minded individuals.”
Digitas, which many industry insiders consider to be one of the few agencies successfully
delivering integrated marketing to clients, recruits and develops four categories of employees:
marketing technology experts, channel operations specialists, creatives, and relationship
managers.
gain market share simultaneously.”
The link between business strategy and marketing is clear and agencies are fighting to become
full partners with their clients. “For agencies to take a step up the food chain, they’re going to
have to be able to do a whole set of things that are traditionally consulting-like exercises,” said
Chris Lederer, partner at Helios Consulting, adding that simply building consulting
programs.”
IMC grads, for one, understand these economics, recognizing that integrated marketing is the
“commitment to measurable results,” said John Greening, VP-director of client services at
Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide, Chicago, and an associate professor at IMC.
Case
Cunard Line, Ltd: Managing Integrated Marketing Communications
HBS Case: 594-046 TN: 595-028
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Teaching Perspectives
Cunard—media advertising, direct marketing, etc.
Many corporations face a similar problem in how to integrate their various marketing
communications efforts. In most cases, this takes the form of standardizing messages and
creative approaches across different individual advertisements and diverse media. However, in
some, such as the Cunard case, the situation is more multi-faceted and difficult. Cunard is
Between strategic and tactical advertising.
Between a corporate name and subsidiary names.
Across different media.
Across different target markets.
Among different advertisements.
alignment of the firm.
The vice president for corporate and marketing communications at Cunard also faces
organizational changes that could undo the careful work accomplished in integrating the firm’s
marketing communications. A new layer of management with broad overall marketing
responsibilities for particular ship “groups” will be created. The firm appears to be moving
there are obvious differences in the advertisements, they appear to convey the same image.
Thus, the case can be used to show the effects of an integrated communications plan that
appears to have been well executed. The instructor/class can address how to maintain that
integration in light of organizational “realities.”
mind. In addition, there is a question as to why the company is concerned about having
integrated communications among the various ships under the Cunard umbrella.
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Questions
1. In light of the difficult economic and competitive conditions, should Cunard use a
advertising?
2. In better economic times, would your judgment differ regarding question 1?
3. What is your recommendation to Cunard regarding the balance in the focus of
marketing communications between the overall Cunard identity and image, and the
identity and image of the individual ships?
4. Which marketing communications elements do you believe should receive
marketing?
5. What effects would you expect the impending organizational change to have on
marketing communications at Cunard?
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