LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. In this chapter, we will address the following questions:
2. What is the role of marketing communications?
3. How marketing communications work?
4. What are the major steps in developing effective communications?
5. What is the communications mix and how should it be set?
6. What is an integrated marketing communications program?
CHAPTER SUMMARY
1. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it
2. The marketing communications mix consists of eight major modes of communication:
3. The communications process consists of nine elements: sender, receiver, message,
media, encoding, decoding, response, feedback, and noise. To get their messages through,
4. Developing effective communications involves eight steps: (1) Identify the target
audience, (2) determine the communications objectives, (3) design the communications,
(6) decide on the communications mix, (7) measure the communications results, and (8)
manage the integrated marketing communications process.
5. In identifying the target audience, the marketer needs to close any gap that exists
C H A P T E R
17
DESIGNING AND
MANAGING INTEGRATED
MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS
6. Formulating the communication requires solving three problems: what to say (message
7. Although other methods exist, the objective-and-task method of setting the promotion
8. In choosing the marketing communications mix, marketers must examine the distinct
9. Measuring the effectiveness of the marketing communications mix involves asking
10. Managing and coordinating the entire communications process calls for integrated
marketing communications (IMC): marketing communications planning that recognizes
consistency, and maximum impact through the seamless integration of discrete messages.
OPENING THOUGHT
Perhaps, the most challenging aspect of this chapter is the section on the nine elements of
the communications process: sender, receiver, message, media, encoding, decoding,
response, feedback, and noise. Students not previously exposed to these concepts in other
marketing or communications’ courses will find these concepts somewhat difficult to
fully understand and perceive without good use of examples and trial. The instructor is
encouraged to use examples gleaned from advertisers Web sites, advertisers, television or
print commercials to demonstrate via dissection these concepts, especially encoding and
decoding.
TEACHING STRATEGY AND CLASS ORGANIZATION
PROJECTS
1. At this point in the semester-long marketing plan project, students should have agreed
upon their integrated marketing communications matrix. The instructor is encouraged
2. With the instructor’s guidance and attendance, set up a field trip to a local advertising
agency in the community to gather from the agency’s management, their (ad agency)
views on the topic of integrated marketing communications. Especially, what services
3. Sonic PDA Marketing Plan: Every marketing plan must include a section showing
how the company will use marketing communications. The question is not whether to
communicate, but rather what to say, to whom, how to say it, how often, and which
communications to answer these questions:
• What audience(s) should Sonic target in its integrated marketing communications
plan?
• What image should Sonic seek to create for its first PDA product?
• What objectives are appropriate for Sonic’s initial communications campaign?
• What message design and communication channels are likely to be most effective
Summarize your answers in a written marketing plan or type them into the Marketing
Mix section of Marketing Plan Pro.
ASSIGNMENTS
The opening vignette of this chapter is about Dove’s advertising campaign featuring
The starting point in planning marketing communications is an audit of all the potential
interactions that customers in the target market may have with the brand and the
company. Students should select a brand of their choosing and in their papers “map” out
or create an audit of all the potential interactions that customers in the target market have
with the brand and company. Students should, for the purpose of this assignment, assume
that they are a member of the target market.
Have the students read the following sources listed in the Marketing Insight:
“Endorsements as a Strategy,” Irving Rein, Philip Kotler, and Martin Scoller, The Making
and Marketing of Professionals into Celebrities (Chicago: NTC Business Books, 1997);
Greg Johnson, “Woods Cautious Approach to the Green,” Los Angeles Times, July 26,
2000, p. A1; Bruce Horovitz, “Armstrong Rolls to Market Gold,” USA Today, May 4,
2000, p. 1B; Theresa Howard, “Pepsi Takes Some Fizz off Vanilla Rival,” USA Today,
November 16, 2003; Keith Naughton, “The Soft Sell,” Newsweek, February 2, 2004, pp.
END–OF–CHAPTER SUPPORT
MARKETING DEBATE—Has TV Advertising Lost Power?
Long deemed the most successful advertising medium, television advertising has received
increased criticism as being too expensive and, even worse, no longer as effective as it once
was.
Critics maintain that consumers tune out too many ads by zipping and zapping and that it’s
difficult to make a strong impression. The future, claim some, is with online advertising.
Supporters of TV advertising disagree, contending that the multisensory impact of TV is
unsurpassed and that no other media option offers the same potential impact.
Properly designed and executed TV programs can improve brand equity by vividly
demonstrating product attributes and persuasively explaining consumer benefits, portraying
user and usage imagery, brand personality, and other brand intangibles. Critics of TV
advertising may be focusing on the “messenger” rather than on the “message.”
MARKETING DISCUSSION
Pick a brand and go to the Web site. Locate as many forms of communications as you can
find. Conduct an informal communications audit. What do you notice? How consistent are the
different communications?
Student answers will differ depending upon their favorite Web sites.
Marketing Excellence: RED BULL
1) What are Red Bull’s greatest strengths and risks as more companies (like Coca–
Cola, Pepsi, and Monster) enter the energy drink category and gain market share?
Suggested Answer: Red Bull’s greatest strength has to be its integrated marketing
communications mix and their ability to reach a select target market with success. A
2) Should Red Bull do more traditional advertising? Why or why not?
Suggested Answer: Student answers will vary but good students will note that as a
and through traditional media and traditional marketplaces featuring traditional media.
3) Discuss the effectiveness of Red Bull’s sponsorships, for example Bull Stratos. Is
this a good use of Red Bull’s marketing budget? Where should the company draw
the line?
Suggested Answer: Student answers will vary by opinion and good students will not that it
Marketing Excellence: TARGET
1) What has Target done well over the years in terms of its integrated marketing
communications strategy? What should it do going forward?
Suggested Answer: Short answer is that Target has done everything well in terms of an
2) How does Target compete against mammoth Walmart? What are the distinct
differences in their IMC strategies?
Suggested Answer: The differences between Walmart and Target lie in their target
3) Did Target do the right thing by tweaking its message to focus more on value and
less on trends? Why or why not?
Suggested Answer: Student answers will vary, but good students will probably state that
DETAILED CHAPTER OUTLINE
Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively,
and making it accessible to target customers. Companies must also communicate with
present and potential stakeholders, and with the general public.
THE ROLE OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade,
and remind consumers—directly or indirectly—about the products and brands that they
sell.
A) Marketing communications represent the “voice” of the brand and are a means by
which it can establish a dialogue and build relationships with consumers.
The Changing Marketing Communication Environment
Technology and other factors have profoundly changed the way consumers process
communications and even whether they choose to process the information.
The rapid diffusion of multipurpose smart phones, broadband and wireless Internet
connections, and ad-skipping digital video recorders (DVRs) have eroded the effectiveness of
the mass media.
Two forces are to blame for the demise of TV:
A) The fragmentation of the U.S. audience
Marketing, Communications, Brand Equity, and Sales
In this new communications environment, advertising is a central element but not the most
important one.
Marketing Communications Mix
The marketing communications mix consists of eight major modes of communication:
A) Advertising
B) Promotion
Marketing Communication Effects
The way brand associations are formed does not matter.
Marketing communication activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message and
achieve the strategic positioning.
A) The starting point in planning marketing communications is a communication audit
that profiles all interactions customers in the target market may have with the
company and all its products and services.
much does it cost?).
The Communication Process Models
Marketers should understand the fundamental elements of effective communication. Two
models are useful: a macro model and a micro model.
Macro Model of the Communication Process
A) Two represent the major parties in a communication:
1) Sender
2) Receiver
D) The last element is noise.
E) The model emphasizes the key factors in effective communication:
1) Senders must know what audiences they want to reach and what response they
want to get.
2) They must encode their messages so that the target audience can decode them.
F) The more the sender’s field of experience overlaps with that of the receiver, the more
effective the message is likely to be.
Micro Model of Consumer Responses
Micro models of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific response
to communications.
A) All models assume that the buyer passes through a:
1) Cognitive stage
2) Affective stage
3) Behavioral stage (in that order)
B) This “learn–feel-do” sequence is appropriate when the audience has a high
involvement with a product category perceived to have high differentiation.
F) Here we will assume that the buyer has high involvement with the product category
and perceives high differentiation:
1) A hierarchy–of-effects model in the context of a marketing communication
campaign:
a. Awareness
b. Knowledge
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
There are eight steps in developing effective communications.
The five basic ones are:
1. identifying the target audience,
5. and establishing the budget.
Identifying the Target Audience
The process starts with a clear target audience in mind.
1) Potential buyers of the company’s products
A) The target audience is a critical influence on the communicator’s decisions on:
1) What to say
2) How to say it
B) Although we can profile the target audience in terms of any of the market segments
identified in Chapter 8,
1. It’s often useful to do so in terms of usage and loyalty.
2. Is the target new to the category or a current user?
Determine the Communication Objectives
Communication objectives can be set at any level of the hierarchy–of–effects model.
A) Rossiter and Percy identify four possible objectives:
1) Category need
B) The most effective communications can often achieve multiple objectives.
Design the Communication
Formulating the communication to achieve the desired response will require solving three
Message Strategy
In determining message strategy, management searches for appeals, themes, or ideas that will
tie into the brand positioning and help to establish points-of-parity or points-of–difference.
A) Some of these may be related directly to product or service performance:
1) Quality
3) Value of the brand
B) Where others may relate to more extrinsic considerations:
1) Contemporary
C) John Maloney saw buyers as expecting one of four types of reward from a product:
1) Rational
Creative Strategy
Communication effectiveness depends on how a message is being expressed as well as the
content of the message itself.
A) An ineffective communication may mean that the wrong message was used or the
right message was expressed poorly.
Informational Appeals
An informational appeal elaborates on product or service attributes or benefits.
A) Examples are:
1) Problem solving ads