Recently,
ANA released its annual survey of senior marketers’ “hot buttons” – areas that
marketers wanted or needed to spend increasing amounts of time and attention in
the coming year. At the top of the list – for the second consecutive year – was
“Integrated
Marketing Communications”.
It’s not
like this subject is new. We’ve been talking IMC for decades – kicked off by
the groundbreaking book on the subject co-authored by Don Schultz and Bob Lauterborn.
What has people fascinated is that “integration” has become exponentially
complex – yet infinitely more effective. The complexity is born of the wider
array of emerging media vehicles available to marketers and the rapidly
changing demographic profile of consumers. With agencies and marketers
relatively “inexperienced” with what works / what doesn’t, the sands for
effective IMC shift very quickly.
· In the short term, the broader array of media gives marketers a broader portfolio of
tools to reach and target most, if not all, audiences – and to do so with
increasing frequency. Additionally, the cost of some new media are a fraction
of what marketers pay for “mass marketing” vehicles. That provides marketers
with an increasing level of “media productivity” – that, when effectively
“integrated”, can be a more powerful, focused, efficient arsenal than has ever
been available.
· In the long term, an integrated platform of wide ranging media gives marketers the
opportunity to build brands, grow revenues consistently, develop consumer
loyalty and keep competitors minimized. Brand building is the ultimate goal for
marketers. However, to do so, requires a consistent, effective connection
between marketer and the ultimate consumer / customer.
But getting
to such “nirvana” is the ultimate challenge for marketers and agencies. It will
always be a never ending challenge and here are some of the key areas of focus
that are at the top of their lists:
· Experience and Experimentation. All “players” need to be able to “play” and experiment to
insure there is a sufficient experiential base with emerging media – before
committing it to the marketing mix
· Evaluation and Measurement. Marketers need to understand how they will assess the
effectiveness of the media in this age of accountability
· Budgeting and Allocation. Ahhh, the real hard part is determining the cost
parameters and the amount of spending that is allocated to each media vehicle
· Integration.
Marketers must then weave all of the new media learning into the fabric of
traditional advertising and marketing support.
With such
challenges, it’s no wonder that Integrated Marketing Communications is at the
top of senior marketers’ list.
