Imc Portfolio free essay sample

Social change and constantly evolving technology has introduced the IMC tools into the mix for successfully achieving growth of an organisation (Belch, et al. 2012). The IMC tools include advertising, direct marketing, interactive and internet marketing, sales promotion, public relations, sponsorship and personal selling. In developing an effective IMC program, marketers must decide which tools could be used, either individually or as a combination. Some tools have disadvantages that can be overcome by the advantages of the other tools. This decision will help them in considering the best way to use/combine them to engage the audience and achieve organisation objectives (Belch, et al. 2012). 1. Table of Articles Article | Source  | Next Generation Research – February 2013 | Bamp;T| Retailers lack big data skills – March 2013| WARC News   | The social TV race – October 2012 | Bamp;T| 1. 2 Summary of Articles Article 1 Next Generation Research (Appendix 1) Thi s article is about the IMC tools of internet/interactive marketing, traditional marketing and advertising. The fragmentation of media channels over the last five years has opened up vast oceans of data which both research companies and businesses are working to translate into actionable insights. Media fragmentation, in turn, means researchers have to be broader with their data collection. While the digital shift may provide the biggest opportunities for brands, it also presents some major hurdles. The article talks about the advent of social media and mobile channels in a big way and how this increases the work that needs to be done to understand the target audience. Article 2 Retailers lack big data skills (Appendix 2) This article is about the IMC tools of internet/interactive marketing and advertising, and how it is necessary to effectively use data collected from mobile mediums. According to Brian Lent, a leading industry figure, it is of great importance for retailers to develop predictive models to get the maximum benefits from having mobile customers. They also argue that there is a need to add data scientists to the mix of behavioural analysts if they wanted to benefit from the surplus amount of data available. Article 3 The social TV race (Appendix 3) This article is about the IMC tools of internet/interactive marketing and advertising through TV medium, and about how the two tools are being integrated. The key factor that is talked about here is the increase in usage of more than a single screen to consume media. Which implies of course, that there has to be an integration between tools and channels. 1. 3 Observations Observation| Comments| Challenges| The challenge with IMC tools is choosing the right mix of tools to reach the right audience. Especially in the case of new tools like ocial media and mobile and tablets, it is important to have a clear idea of the objective to use data collected efficiently. The user database is a goldmine, but only if used correctly and in conjunction with the IMC strategy plan. | Opportunities | The biggest opportunity for marketers is the emergence of new media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and the increased screen space they can capture with the current dual screeners. Marketers are only beginning to understand that the data generated from these sources can be used to the effect of the brand in many ways. They are beginning to apply this knowledge to their IMC strategies to integrate usage of IMC tools – both existing and new – as seamlessly as possible. Adherences/deviations from IMC concepts and principles| Adherence: Marketers are integrating new media with the traditional IMC tools to help understand the consumers and how they wish to interact with the brandDeviations: The tools must be understood and tested to prove that they are being used effectively to create the brands that consumers want, and not brands that the clients wish the consumers to want| Trends amp; future ramifications/ Likely outcomes amp; affects| The articles show that there is a w ider acceptance and adoption of new media over traditional media because the world is becoming more digital by the day. Though there is still the existence of traditional IMC tools, the way marketers choose to communicate with consumers is leaning towards digital, and they are more welcoming to this change. | Impact on industry/brand| The use of more data mining and data scientists will help narrow down the audience to a quite specific degree, thus ensuring less wastage for brands. Likelihood of development| With the emergence of new media and constant innovations in the way communications take place, IMC tools will definitely be further developed to build brands more effectively for the consumers. This can be done by actually listening to consumers and how they feel about the brands they interact with. | 1. 4 Conclusions The fundamental principle of IMC is getting the right message to the right audience. Determining the role of the IMC tools means understanding where and how each t ool fits into the IMC strategy. In selecting which tools to use marketers need to evaluate if the use of the tool, or combination of tools, will generate short -term financial returns while building long-term brand and shareholder value (Belch, et al. 2012). The articles show a trend towards online and interactive tools being used to better understand consumers. The use of new media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Social Gaming Platforms, is providing marketers with new avenues to use both existing IMC tools (i. e. Advertising) and emerging tools (i. e. Interactive Marketing). The articles highlight the use of data mining and the increasing need to use it so that the consumers and the clients get the full benefit of the actual brand. 2. 0 Establishing Objectives and Budgeting for the IMC Program IMC requires the setting of objectives for many reasons, the key one being what needs to be done to solve the marketing communication problem. They guide the development of the IMC plan and also set the benchmark for evaluating the performance of the IMC program (Belch, et al. 2012). There are many methods used for budgeting my marketers – ranging from economic modelling to objective and task methods. Budgeting is a major problem area in an IMC program. This is in part because there is a gap in understanding the relation between the measurement of effectiveness of budget appropriation to communications/behavioural objectives. Marketing managers need to understand the variety of factors that contribute to the allocation of the IMC budget (Belch, et al. 2012). 2. 1 Table of Articles Article | Source  | Don’t forget the objective is advertising – December 2010| Bamp;T| Creating the future – August 2011| Adweek| Down, down prices are down – December 2011| Bamp;T| 2. 2 Summary of Articles Article 1 Don’t forget the objective is advertising (Appendix 4) This article is about how there is a need to understand that the objectives being pursued by agencies are the wrong ones. The objectives being set by agencies had less to do with clients’ business objectives than they did with their ability to measure something. It is important to measure responses, but not only to do so. As much as ways of engaging with people has changed, their instinct hasn’t. They want to be involved and ad agencies need to make that a prime objective over any other. Article 2 Creating the future (Appendix 5) This article talks about the need to communicate with the consumer above all else, while setting objectives, when using the IMC tool of PR with the tool of internet/interactive marketing. Consumer desire to engage with the brand can only be ignited if opportunities created through new media are seized. This article also mentions the importance of client-agency relationships and how brands who know what they want are highly likely to achieve their objectives. Article 3 Down, down prices are down (Appendix 6) This article talks about the price cuts happening all around, within industry and otherwise. The importance of using the right combinations of media tools in the face of budget cuts is stressed on in this article. Agencies need to be rewarded for their ability to do this, rather than compromise on ease of the campaign execution. A huge percentage of a clients media value can be lost in areas such as poor briefing, incorrect objective setting, wrong media choices and non-aligned remuneration models. 1. 3 Observations Observation| Comments| Challenges| The challenge with establishing objectives is not understanding which ones are the right ones to follow, and which ones make the most sense at a certain point of time for agencies and clients alike| Opportunities| The biggest opportunity for marketers is the understanding that the consumer instinct to be connected to the brand can be built on, now more than ever. As marketers understand this and try to creatively pursue consumers, clients understand the need to revise budgeting models and structures as well| Adherences/deviations from IMC concepts and principles| Adherence: Return of Investment is a key goal of clients and agencies alikeDeviations: The approach to getting an ROI is different, with the focus being more on pulling consumers to the brand and keeping them, rather than ensuring one-off sales successes| Trends amp; future ramifications/ Likely outcomes amp; affects| The articles show a return of consumer is king in a big way. But they also show that consumers are keen on engaging with brands that listen. This in turn helps brands achieve their objectives, making it a complementary system. | Impact on industry/brand| Brands will be able to understand their core target audience much better than they ever could. Agencies will be able to channel their creativity into capturing the right consumers for the brands too, and will be rewarded based on their ability to do so| Likelihood of development| The way budgeting is done in industry will definitely be further developed to discover something that works. The objectives will be more closely evaluated too, for the agency as well as the brand| 1. 4 Conclusions The articles have shown the need for a revision of objective setting – for both clients and agencies. There is also an idea of how agencies need to be rewarded for expert use of IMC tools as a whole, rather than cutting costs on using a bulk of one tool. 3. 0 Investment Decisions The media strategy of an organisation must be designed in such a way that it supports the overall marketing and communication objectives, thus delivering the message developed in the IMC program. The basic task of developing an effective media strategy is to select the right media for the target audience, while staying within the budget provided (Belch, et al. 2012). 3. 1 Table of Articles Article| Source  | Marketing is dead – August 2012| Harvard Business Review| Data vs Creativity – April 2013| Marketing Week| Invest in your customers more than your brand – February 2013| Harvard Business Review| 3. 2 Summary of Articles Article 1 Marketing is dead (Appendix 7) This article talks about how traditional IMC tools are dead. There is a shift in the attention given by consumers, because of the internet takeover. Traditional marketing logic doesn’t make the same sense as when it is used in the online world. The article goes on to say how ineffectively the new marketing techniques are being used, and suggests ways to remedy this with effective management of resources used towards the brand. Article 2 Data vs Creativity (Appendix 8) This article is about how there is a growing importance of data in the marketing world which is stifling the creativity of ad agencies and marketing communication agencies. Clients want the ideas to work; they want the numbers to show effectiveness irrespective of anything else. And agencies cannot promise the ideas will work, and have to now convince clients to take the jump and give then a creative license. The nature of creatives is always to question convention and use that experience to help develop themselves, but sometimes that can be at the cost of what the brand needs there and then. Article 3 Invest in your customers more than your brand (Appendix 9) This article is about the need to place the investment from brands into developing the brand-consumer relationship. The challenge is redefining advertising as an investment that makes customers more valuable to the brand, instead of only the opposite being true. 3. 3 Observations Observation| Comments| Challenges| The challenge with investment decisions is that brands aren’t sure where their resources will be effectively used, so they always tend to invest in the wrong places| Opportunities| The biggest opportunity for marketers is the use of new media to generate data that can be used to understand which parts of the program need more resources focused on them| Adherences/deviations from IMC concepts and principles| Adherence: Marketers take the clients opinion into consideration to build brands, but also integrate the consumer into the grand design of the program tooDeviations: The investment decisions will shift from the brand development for the sake of it, to brand development for the sake of consumers| Trends amp; future ramifications/ Likely outcomes amp; affects| The articles signal towards a shift in where resources will be focused when creating an effective media plan and IMC program| Impact on industry/brand| There will be a smarter use of resources, therefore the re will be increased brand loyalty for most brands| Likelihood of development| There will be development for this area of decision making because there is a need to understand where the resources will be most optimally utilised, and where they will be wasted| 3. 4 Conclusions The articles suggest that investments during branding and communication processes need to be made towards the customers rather than just the brand. They also suggest the importance of understanding consumers through data generated and spending to gauge this, to effectively use resources. 4. 0 Message Strategy Decisions There is a need for a consistent message in IMC. No matter how creative the agency and its creative specialists choose to be, the client is the gatekeeper of the creative process. They are responsible, above all else, to ensure that the right messages reach their target audience (Belch, et al. 2012). 4. 1 Table of Articles Article| Source| BM: Australian companies message ‘gap’ – June 2011| Bamp;T| Subway asks youth to devise its expansion strategy February 2013| Bamp;T| Listen to your audience and tell them a story that says ‘I can help’ – February 2013| BRW| 4. 2 Summary of Articles Article 1 BM: Australian companies message ‘gap’ (Appendix 10) This article deals with the gap that exists between what messages Australian companies wish to convey to their audiences and the messages that actually come through the media. This is ineffective use of media, even when the audience is accepting of it. The Australian firms needed to have a clearer understanding of the changing media landscape, and how best to use it effectively. Article 2 Subway asks youth to devise its expansion strategy (Appendix 11) This article talks about how Subway has successfully engaged with its consumers to help build on the brand’s own objective of expansion, and at the same time feel as if they are a part of the core of the brand itself. Article 3 Listen to your audience and tell them a story that says ‘I can help’ (Appendix 12) This article talks about the shift in focus from technology to techniques required for a successful message strategy. The importance of optimising content for individual platforms is mentioned in this article as a key consideration towards reaching the target audience with the right message. 4. 3 Observations Observation| Comments| Challenges| The challenge with message strategy decisions is convincing clients to allow creatives to create something that works for their brand, even if it defies convention. There is also the manner in which companies use new media, more ineffectively than effectively. Opportunities| The biggest opportunity for marketers is the ability to engage with consumers with a brand’s message strategy and involve them through social media channels| Adherences/deviations from IMC concepts and principles| Adherence: The concept of building message strat egy that connects with the target audience is still in placeDeviations: The method with which to build an effective relationship between brand’s core and a consumer is different now, with the advent od social media. | Trends amp; future ramifications/ Likely outcomes amp; affects| The articles show that there is a more dynamic nature to the acceptance of a brand’s message, and an immediate feedback/mental block if there is something the audience strongly agrees/disagrees with. This dynamic nature will only be more so| Impact on industry/brand| The use of more interactive tools, such as Twitter and Facebook, will mean that the exact consumer reactions can me gauged. And the brand can be built around each consumer rather than the opposite being true. | Likelihood of development| There is not much scope of development of a message strategy formation. But rather, the development will be in how the IMC tools of new media can be effectively used to engage consumers| 4. 4 Conclusions The articles convey the general idea that the right message for a brand is one that has an appropriate emotionally connect with their target audience. The more clients engage with their consumers with the right messages, the better relationships they share with them. 5. 0 Measuring the effects of IMC All marketing managers want to know how well their IMC programs are working. If there is something wrong with what is being executed during an ongoing program, the only way to know what it is for sure is to evaluate current strategy. This information is critical to planning because it is the best way to make program adjustments and maintain them (Belch, et al. 2012). Different measures of effectiveness lead to different results. Clearly defined objectives and the use of multiple measures of effectiveness are critical in determining the true effects of an IMC program (Belch, et al. 2012). 5. 1 Table of Articles Article | Source  | Adobe and Facebook collaborate to prove monetary value of Likes – November 2011| Marketing Week| Focus groups are failing – February 2010| AdNews| Firms failing to monitor social media – May 2012| WARC News| 5. 2 Summary of Articles Article 1 Adobe and Facebook collaborate to prove monetary value of Likes (Appendix 13) This article talks about a new tool for measurement of effectiveness of a brand presence on Facebook through analysing the value of a ‘like’. Adobe’s SocialAnalytics tool aggregates brand conversations and measures them as brand values. Along with Facebook, Twitter and WordPress influences are also factored in, giving brands a bigger idea and a better picture of what an online presence could be like for them. Article 2 Focus groups are failing (Appendix 14) This article is about how focus groups are no longer an effective way to measure the effects of IMC tools, mainly because of the advent of technology that goes beyond this method. Neuromarketing is the new focus in this article, and that could be an emerging measurement tool. Article 3 Firms failing to monitor social media (Appendix 15) This article is about the inability of firms to maintain a healthy two-way communication with their consumers because they aren’t well-equipped to. This leaves the feedback loop incomplete, and leaves a hole in the brand building process. With a majority of these corporations failing to even quantify social media or monitor the statistics even, there is a huge data loss they suffer of potential and current customers, thus leading to an ultimate demise of brand awareness. 5. 3 Observations Observation| Comments| Challenges| The challenge with measuring the effectiveness of IMC tools and an IMC program is the diversity of measurement options available, and a lack of compliance as to which one needs to be usedAnother challenge is those companies that exist which don’t even understand the importance of measuring program effectiveness, or what they are missing out on| Opportunities| The opportunity here is the emergence of new tools like the SocialAnalytics tool of Adobe, that will give a comprehensive insight of all new media to the clients and their agencies, and help to analyse if media and spending are being effectively used| Adherences/deviations from IMC concepts and principles| Adherence: Marketers choose to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns, but go awry on judging them against objectivesDeviations: Considering the shift towards seeking a standardised method to evaluate program effectiveness, it will finally be apparent as to what works and what doesn’t. | Trends amp; future ramifications/ Likely outcomes amp; affects| The articles show that there is a renewed understanding of the need to evaluate campaigns and programs on their effectiveness. Impact on industry/brand| Companies that haven’t been doing this will begin to jump on the bandwagon too, because this will only increasingly become a part of their functioning | Likelihood of development| The measures of effectiveness are going to be greatly developed, just so that there will be lesser reasons for companies to point fingers at agencies if there is something to substantiate their claims| 5. 4 Conclusions There are many research methods that exist, but each one deems effectiveness of an ad in a certain way. The articles talk about a trend towards a standardised measure of effectiveness of IMC tools that will help to evaluate what works and what doesn’t, so as to reduce wastage for brands.