Role of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) in the Brand Building Process

The advent of 21st century has marked a sharp change in almost all fields of life,

including business strategies. The old strategies, beliefs and tactics of marketing and selling a

product are no longer valid in today’s world. New techniques and technologies have

emerged on the surface of the business arena and have become eminent for effective

marketing strategies. In the following paragraphs, we will be highlighting one of these

strategies that is Integrated Marketing Communications which is currently in practice by all

big multinationals and the role it is playing in enhancing business approach.

Duncan defined IMC as a process of making good relationship with customers and

other stakeholders. This involves that all messages which are being sent to different groups

should be controlled and should encourage data driven technique (Duncan 2002, p.8).

In another instance, Duncan quoted that relationships that build brands are based on

IMC (Duncan, 2002). Thus from these two definitions, it can be concluded that IMC is that

component of business planning and marketing that is responsible for the organization of data

related to brands in such a way as to create a mutual relationship between customers and

stakeholders.

The following figure illustrates the characteristics associated with IMC process:

IMC PROCESS

(www.audiologyonline.com)

The above figure shows that the process of IMC is circular and uninterrupted, and

information in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database is used to interact

with target markets. Marketing Communication (MC) components mentioned in the box can

also be used by IMC.

Several advantages of IMC make it the choice of every industry. Customers have an

ease in buying due to IMC, thus making a good image and reputation of the organization. It

creates an everlasting bond between the customer and the organization. Moreover, this

relationship on one end secures a customer and on the other proves to be fruitful in making

profit since that customer will only trust that particular organization. Keller states that voice

of a brand is represented by marketing communications (2001, p. 823).

Discussion on IMC would remain incomplete without talking about brand. The goal

of all IMC processes relies on better understanding relationship between customer and

organization to meet its target objectives which is quite common to brand building process.

The strategies devised by IMC builds and create brands. Pam Danziger (2006) iterates that

the costumers’ happiness should be the focus of one’s attention and be paid prime importance

specially in the case when marketing messages are being developed and products are being

designed.

Let us now examine a company that has been able to build and maintain a positive

brand image by using a broad range of IMC tools. In this regard, we will discuss Canada’s

largest tobacco manufacturer ‘Imperial Tobacco Limited’ (ITL). The company has used three

key IMC processes vis-à-vis cross functional planning and monitoring, brand communication

and data driven targeting and communication (1970). In the preceding paragraphs, we will

see how these three processes of IMC have helped ITL build a successful brand.

One of the premier trademarks owned by ITL is Player’s. The organization’s structure

revealed that there was no position of ‘brand managers’. However, later the offices of public

relations, media relations and marketing departments were in place. In due course of time,

ITL’s market share rose making new records as compared to its progress in the past 30 years.

Premier trademark Player’s captured the market due to its strong brand strategy. The delivery

of a consistent and effective message was the result of a clear understanding of the market

being targeted. According to Ricard, ITL’s market share increased comprehensively during

the mid 1970s period primarily due to the fact that the organization transformed itself from a

brand management process to a brand planning process, thus focusing more on cross

functional approach and secondly, it adapted the techniques of positioning their products,

thus creating s better image for their products (Ricard, 2002).

Implementation of Psychographics was another important step used in the marketing

strategy of Player’s brand. It was revealed in the ITL’s documents that its management

decided that all the advertisement of Player's brand would make use of lifestyle imageries for

its marketing (1980a, p. 2). According to Mills, Bates & Spitzer, the key to the brand's

positioning is related to a relevant lifestyle (1977, p. 12).

ITL’s trademark Player's marketing plans revealed that its marketing strategy since

1971 was to label its products as a masculine trademark for young males. They used lifestyle

imageries to market their products in such a way so as to convey a feeling of freedom and

independence highlighting the individuality which is specific to mature young males (ITL

1983, p. 39472).

Thus, the company made full use of the components comprising of cross functional

planning and monitoring, brand communication and data driven targeting and communication

as illustrated above. These three aspects were crucial in company’s success and increase in

market share.

To conclude, all aspects of Marketing Communications are used by IMC’s strategic

marketing model for building a strong brand through reliable and interactive communication

between organizations and their target markets. As the relationships advance between

organizations and their customers, brand building activity continues by creating databases

that continuously monitor and respond to market needs. This in turn helps organizations in

maximizing their profits. The same is evident from the case study of ITL’s trademark

Player’s which captured the market through its interactive marketing strategies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Audiology Online. [Internet]. Available from <www.audiologyonline.com> Accessed March

16, 2010

Danziger, Pam (2006). [Internet]. Available from <www.unitymarketingonline.com>

[Accessed March 16, 2010]

Duncan, Tom (2002), IMC: Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands, New York:

McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Imperial Tobacco Ltd. (ITL) (1980a), "Alan--Creative Guidelines F'82," Exhibit AG-29,

RJR-Macdonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)

Imperial Tobacco Ltd. (ITL) (1983), "F'85 Marketing Plan for Player's," Exhibit AG-219,

RJR-Macdonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General).

Keller, Kevin Lane (1993), "Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based

Brand Equity," Journal of Marketing, 57 (January), 1-22.

Ricard, Ed (January 23/24, 2002), "Interrogatory in the Quebec Superior Court," JTI-

Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. v.

The Attorney General of Canada (500-05-031299-975, 500-05031306-974, 500-05-031332-

978), 7/8, 1278-1485, 1495-1713.

Spitzer, Mills & Bates Ltd. (March 25, 1977), "The Player's Family: A Working Paper,"

prepared for Imperial Tobacco Ltd., Exhibit AG-33, RJR-Macdonald Inc: v. Canada

(Attorney General).