Benefits and barriers to integrated communications
Is there anything really new in this? Isn't it what good managers have always done anyway? Not so, says Paul Smith. Here he looks at what integrated communications are all about - the benefits, the barriers and the golden rules for successful intergr
TOMORROW'S information-overloaded customer might be able to sell
his or her attention since customers will have the power to shut
out unwanted types of information. This is what Microsoft's Bill
Gates predicts in his recent book. Imagine Guinness offering you
a pound to watch their multimedia advertisement. Perhaps they
would offer a coupon, bottle or even free software to play with
their Internet web site. But how would they tell you that they
wanted to buy your attention in the first place? Other routes
would be required. A very integrated approach would be necessary.
That is all in the future, yet integrated marketing communications
(IMC) has been around for a while. But what exactly is it?
Whatever you call it - Ogilvy's 'Orchestration', Y&R's 'Whole
Egg', or 'Harvard's Hybrid' - IMC is a simple concept. It brings
together all forms of communications into a single, seamless solution.
At its most basic level, IMC integrates all promotional tools
so that they work together in harmony. The toolbox includes packaging,
point-of-sale, direct mail, advertising, sales promotions, sponsorship,
PR, the sales force, exhibitions, corporate identity, and new
tools like the Internet.
This communications mix works best when the tools work together
in synergy rather than in isolation. Creative synergy means the
sum is greater than the parts if the mix speaks with one voice
all the time, every time. IMC guides communications so they carefully
link together. This may seem perfectly obvious, but does not always
happen. It appears that many organisations still operate in a
conundrum of organisational structures and marketing philosophies
that just do not seize the initiative and subsequently forfeit
the advantages of integration.
Perfect IMC requires many different levels of integration beyond
the mainstream communications tools. For example, horizontal integration
creates integration across the marketing mix and across business
functions like production, finance and distribution. All the people
in these sections should work together and be conscious that decisions
made by any of them can send messages which ultimately influence
customers. Vertical integration requires that marketing and communications
objectives should fit neatly into the higher level corporate objectives
and corporate missions. Data integration uses a marketing information
system - collecting and sharing relevant data to help different
communications departments such as sales and direct mail. Internal
integration keeps staff abreast with relevant developments in
communications, particularly new advertising campaigns and new
corporate identities. External integration requires that external
partners such as advertising and PR agencies work closely together
to deliver a cohesive message in a single, seamless solution.
Although integrating marketing communications requires a lot of
effort it delivers many benefits. It helps to create competitive
advantage, boost profits and sales, help customers, while strengthening
relationships and simultaneously saving time, money and stress.
IMC helps to move customers through the various stages of their
buying process - before, during and after. It helps an organisation,
or a brand, to consolidate its image, develop a dialogue and nurture
a relationship which, ultimately, builds a bond between buyer
and seller. This bond can protect the customer from the inevitable
onslaught of competition, thereby keeping the customer for life
(not just Christmas) - a powerful competitive advantage.
IMC also increases profits through increased effectiveness. At
its most basic level, a unified message has more impact than a
disjointed myriad of messages. A consistent, consolidated and
crystal-clear communication strategy has a better chance of cutting
through the 'noise' of the several hundred commercial messages
which bombard individuals every day. At another level, initial
research suggests that images shared across advertising and direct
mail campaigns, boost advertising awareness, and, simultaneously,
response to the mailshot.
IMC can boost sales by stretching messages across both communications
tools and business functions to create more avenues for customers
to become aware, aroused and ultimately, buy a product or service
on a repeat basis. Carefully linked messages help buyers by providing
them with timely reminders, relevant information and, where necessary,
special offers which help them move comfortably through the stages
of their buying process, reducing the misery of choice in a complex
and busy world.
IMC also makes the range of messages more consistent and, in turn,
more credible. This reduces risk in the mind of the buyer which
then shortens the search process and helps to dictate the outcome
of brand comparisons.
Unintegrated, or disintegrated communications, on the other hand,
send disjointed messages which dilute message impact and sometimes
confuse, frustrate and arguably arouse anxiety in certain customers.
In contrast, integrated communications present a reassuring sense
of order. Consistent images and relevant, useful, messages help
nurture long-term relationships with customers. This is where
customer databases can identify which customers need what information,
and when - throughout their whole buying life.
IMC saves money as it can eliminate some duplication in areas
like graphics and photography, since they can be shared across,
say, advertising, exhibitions and sales literature. Agency fees
may also be reduced when using a single agency for all communications.
But even with several agencies, time can also be saved if meetings,
whether strategic, tactical or just briefings, bring all the disciplines
together. As well as fusing bright minds into synergistic sparks,
multidiscipline meetings reduce repetition which in turn reduces
workloads and subsequent stress levels.
Despite its many advantages, IMC has many barriers. As well as
the usual resistance to change, there are other obstacles, including
lack of know-how and lack of commitment to IMC; rigid organisational
structures infested with protected power bases; sensitive egos
and creative paranoia; timescale conflicts and the special problems
of communicating with a wide range of different target markets.
's 'Business Marketing 1995' survey of 270
marketers revealed that, despite the high interest in IMC, implementation
remains low - partly because most managers (58 per cent) lack
the expertise. But it is not just managers who lack this - it
is also agencies. There is a proliferation of single-discipline
agencies. There appear to be very few people who have real experience
of all the marketing communications disciplines. This lack of
know-how is then compounded by a lack of commitment, which may
be aggravated by turf wars or power battles where specific managers
resent and resist having some of their budgets and decisions shared
or, worse still, made, by someone from another department. This
will change. DMB&B chairman, John Farrell, says 'people have
got to be grown-ups'.
Despite this, some organisational structures isolate communications
tools, data, and even managers from each other. Do PR departments
report the quality and quantity of press coverage to marketing?
Are the PR people kept informed about possible new direct mail
or sales promotion campaigns? Do sales promotion people look at
potential promotional spin-offs from advertising campaigns? Does
the sales manager meet the advertising people and so on? These
questions lead towards a more difficult question - what should
a truly integrated marketing department look like? On top of an
organisation's structural restrictions, IMC can also restrict
creativity. No more wild and wacky sales promotions unless they
fit into the overall marketing communications strategy. The joy
of rampant creativity may be stifled, but arguably, this presents
a greater creative challenge when operating within a tighter creative
brief. In fact creative synergy opens up new levels of creativity
(see the Jurassic Park example at the end of this article). It
should not matter whose creative idea it is, but unfortunately,
it often does. An advertising agency may not be enamoured nor
enthusiastic about developing a creative idea generated by PR
or direct marketing people.
In addition to these barriers, wide-ranging product portfolios
and diverse markets add complications, particularly if operating
on a global scale. How do you communicate carefully linked messages
to diverse audiences who interpret similar symbols very differently?
Integration across different markets is normally brand-driven.
The brand remains the same while the specific messages surrounding
it are tailored to suit each audience.
Finally, time horizons provide one more barrier to IMC. Image
advertising, designed to nurture the brand over the longer-term,
may conflict with shorter-term advertising or sales promotions
which are designed to boost quarterly sales. The two objectives,
however, can be accommodated within an overall IMC if carefully
planned at an early stage. Understanding the barriers is the first
step in successfully implementing IMC.
Here are ten Golden Rules of Integration - how some managers become
integrated and stay integrated.
These are just a few ways to beat the barriers and enjoy the benefits
of integrated marketing communications. There is nothing really
new, just common sense - but how common is it? Does anyone integrate?
Some do, but most do not. Yes, a company like Tetley holds its
quarterly 'gang of four' meetings (when marketing staff meet with
the ad agency DMB&B, PR consultancy Biss Lancaster, and sales
promotion consultancy Geoff Howe and Associates). Yes, Procter
& Gamble, Unilever, Kodak, Black & Decker, Vauxhall, Walkers
and Adidas and many more do integrate to a certain degree, but
how many do not? Talking to top agencies reveals a majority of
clients that do not integrate.
There are, however, some new developments. The IMCI (Integrated
Marketing Communications Initiative) has emerged. It is backed
by the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), IPA (Institute of Practitioners
in Advertising), SPCA (Sales Promotion Consultants Association)
and the PRCA (Public Relations Consultants Association). Its goal
is to improve the quality of service which marketing agencies
give to clients by creating more integration. Over 60 agencies
have agreed to swap work placements, and offer places on their
training courses to people from other disciplines. IMCI founder
Quentin Bell says, 'The next generation of top cats will grow
up and see both the strengths and the weaknesses of all communications
disciplines and balance them accordingly.' Meanwhile, the Chartered
Institute of Marketing has included IMC in its Marketing Communications
Strategy Examination, thereby ensuring a huge surge of interest
from over 30,000 of tomorrow's marketing managers. The IPA want
to take IMC further and is now looking at how to really get people
to 'think integrated'.
Maybe the Internet and its rich potential for research, database
building, customer dialogue and brand enhancement using many communications
tools will be the carrot which drives integration. We are already
seeing advertising and packaging carry Internet addresses instead
of just 0800 phone numbers. One final thought: there is always
room for creative synergy, whether clever strategic alliances
or just deep communications synergy, that deliver new levels of
integration such as the book of the film of the book of the film
of the film of the book identified in Stephen Brown's 'Postmodern
Marketing':
'Occasionally, indeed, product placement and tie-in merchandising
are ingeniously combined, as for example in Jurassic Park which
contains a scene featuring a display of the fictional theme park's
associated merchandise. Not only is this identical to the film's
tie-in merchandise but, in a wonderful self-referential flourish,
the book of the making of the film features prominently in the
display. Thus, at this point in the film the audience is viewing
the film of the book of the film of the film of the book. What
is more, as the book of the making of the film also refers to
this scene, we are actually dealing with the book of the film
of the film of the book of the film of the film of the book.'
IMC is more than merely ingenious combinations of, say, a flash
web site linked to an ad linked to a video news release of the
making of the ad and so on. Although opportunities abound, up
to now they have been largely ignored by many seemingly successful
marketers who, maybe, have succeeded by default: ie, no real winners,
just lots of poor performers with some performing worse than others.
The worst performers lose heavily while the 'least worst' performers
win by default. Perhaps a score identifying the level of IMC,
along with customer retention scores, intentions-to-purchase scores,
customer satisfaction scores and quality scores will be key indicators
which separate future losers from future winners.