The Hottest Button – Integrated Marketing Communications

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.