MKTG 420 Integrated Marketing Communications

Chapter 1 Integrated Marketing Communications

• Integrated marketing communications (IMC), also known as relationship marketing,
works to interactively engage a specific individual, using a specific message through
specific media outlets. The goal is to build a long-term relationship between buyer and
seller by involving the targeted individual in an interactive or two-way exchange of
information.
• Expertly placed media efforts and the use of computer databases play a big role in
getting the message to the right target audience, as does the development of a
consistent visual/verbal image for the product or service.
• The focus in IMC is on getting a coordinated message out to the right target via the best
media.
• Traditional mass media advertising methods (print and broadcast) send more
generalized messages.
• IMC, in contrast, focuses on the use of alternative or promotional media, such as direct
marketing and sales promotion, the Internet, and social media, to name just a few, to
reach individual consumers with a personalized message.
• Messages used in an IMC campaign must be tailor made to fit a specific target
audience’s needs, wants, and lifestyle.
• It is important that the product’s image matches the target’s image of himself, and the
advertised message must get and hold the target’s attention among the clutter of
competing brands.
• If it sounds like it’s more expensive to get a message to individual targets compared to a
mass audience, it is. IMC is often more expensive to employ than traditional advertising
methods, but the results can be worth the expense.
• Communicating with a target that has a known interest in the product or service
increases reach, or the number of interested people who will see the message, and
reduces frequency, or the number of times an ad or promotion will need to be used.

Basic Reasons for Growth

• Technology
• Internet
• Social media
• Consumer in control of what he buys, when he buys, and where and how he buys
• Databases
• Personalization
• Before IMC, traditional marketing efforts were simple, aimed at making a sale and
increasing profits.
• IMC is consumer-driven and understands that the consumer has many choices available
in any single product category.
What Drives IMC
• Research
• Database development
• Use of the Internet
• Employing correct media tactics
• Building brand-loyal consumers
• Creating an interactive relationship
• Brand development
• Projecting a consistent visual/verbal image
• The promotional and media mix
• Evaluation

RESEARCH
• IMC can’t work without an intimate knowledge of the intended target audience—those
individuals research has determined are most likely to buy the product or use the
service.

Database Development
• Database marketing uses a computer to store personal information about individuals
and their past purchase histories.
• Unlike traditional advertising methods, which focus communication efforts on a large
group of targeted members, IMC targets individuals.
• Databases help marketers:
• Answer the target’s question: “What’s in it for me?”
• Determine the best media and promotional mix
• Determine the most appropriate creative strategy
• Determine the overall message strategy

Internet Use
• Offers personalized communication between buyer and seller
• Can persuade and motivate consumers to take the next appropriate action

Employing Correct Media Tactics

IMC uses any type of communication vehicle to reach the intended target audience.
• Public relations
• Newspaper
• Magazine
• Radio
• Television
• Out-of-home
• Transit
• Direct marketing
• Internet
• Social media
 • Mobile
• Alternative media

Building Brand-Loyal Consumers

• Two-way dialogue
• Builds long-term relationships

Creating an Interactive Relationship

• Moving away from a one-way monologue to two-way dialogue with consumers
• Relationship building
• Consumers can give feedback
• Precursor to building a brand-loyal consumer
• IMC speaks to the consumer
• Advertising speaks at the consumer

Brand Development
• All communication efforts should work to anchor or position the brand’s identity and
image in the target’s mind.
• If the brand’s image mimics that of the consumer, it creates a tie that binds the brand to
the consumer’s lifestyle.

Projecting a Consistent Visual and Verbal Image

• Must promote the key consumer benefit
• Use media the target will see
• Use the same tone of voice
• Use the same layout style
• Use the same headline style
• Use the same typeface
• Use the same spokesperson or character representative if applicable
• The goal is to have every ad look and sound familiar.

Promotional and Media Mix

• The promotional mix includes:
• Public relations
• Advertising
• Direct marketing
• Sales promotion
• Out-of-home and transit
• Internet and social media
• Mobile
• Alternative media
• The media mix breaks the promotional mix down to specific media vehicles such as:
• Newspaper
• Magazine
 • Direct mail
• Facebook
• Guerrilla marketing
• Gaming
• A concentrated media mix places all advertising efforts into one medium.
• An assorted media mix employs more diverse media.
• Choice depends on:
• Budget
• Objectives
• Target audience
• Brand knowledge
• Brand loyalty

EVALUATION
• Return on investment (ROI) money spent vs. money gained
• Were all objectives for the campaign reached?
• Does campaign need alterations or can it continue on without changes?

Differences between Traditional Advertising and IMC

• Traditional advertising:
• Conventional print (newspaper and magazines) and broadcast media (radio and
television)
• Talks to a mass audience
• A one-way monologue
• Generalized messages
• Great at building awareness
• A bad choice for building relationships
• Uncoordinated messages
• Traditional advertising knows the target audience.
• IMC uses:
• The best media to reach the audience no matter what it is
• Databases to personalize messages
• Tailored messages
• Consistent and cohesive messages
• Coordinated messages
• IMC knows the targeted individual.

Creative Strategy Statement

• Determines the advertising direction
• Assists with accomplishing objectives
• Developed from the marketing plan
• Solves an advertising problem
• Does not define or describe any visual or verbal components
• Written from the consumer’s point of view
 • The creative strategy statement is developed by the agency account executive (AE).
• Short one-page document
• Components that make up a creative strategy statement:
• Communication objectives
• Creative strategy statement
• Primary and secondary target audience profiles
• Competition profile
• Key consumer benefit

Creative Strategy Statement Template

1. Communication objectives
2. Creative strategy statement. Each section should be answered with no more than one or
two sentences.
a. Primary and secondary target audience profiles
b. Competition
c. Key consumer benefit
d. Promotional mix

Chapter 2 IMC Marketing Plans

The Marketing Plan
• Dissects the overall environment in which the product or service will be used
• The client’s business plan
• Diagnoses the current market situation by looking at internal and external factors that
can affect a brand’s success

Research
• Qualitative data:
• Uses open-ended questions
• Interviews
• Polling
• Focus groups
• Quantitative data:
• Uses closed-ended questions or controlled surveys
• Formal surveys
• Informal surveys
• Primary data
• Secondary data

What Does A Marketing Plan Do?

• Takes a comprehensive look at a business’s place within its product category
• Details a business’s strengths and weaknesses as compared to the competition
• Reveals any opportunities or threats within the marketplace
 • Lays out sales objectives
• Defines the target to be addressed
• Dissects the competition
• Determines evaluation measures

The seven areas that make up a marketing plan

• Situation analysis (SWOT)
• Marketing objectives
• Marketing strategy
• Target market analysis
• Competitive strategies
• Implementation tactics
• Evaluation

Situation Analysis (SWOT)

• Looks at current marketing conditions and their possible effect on marketing efforts and
how factors in the marketplace can affect outcome
• Determines a company’s strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) as compared to the
competition and any opportunities (O) for and threats (T) to the product or service
within the marketplace

Marketing objectives
• Determined from the situation analysis, a set of marketing objectives will be devised to
determine what the company wants to accomplish through its marketing activities
• Over the next year, client objectives will concentrate on various financial outcomes such
as sales or profit issues

Marketing Strategy
• Determines what steps will need to be undertaken to accomplish the stated objectives
• It is here where the marketing mix will first be identified.
• The marketing mix is also known as the 4-Ps.
• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Distribution or Place
• Thanks to IMC efforts many would add a fifth P:
• People

Target Market Analysis

• Defines the target audience or those, research has determined are the most likely to
buy the product or use the service
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Geographics
 • Behavioristic profile

Target Market Segments include:

• Caucasian
• African American
• Hispanic American
• Asian American
• Subgroups:
• Baby Boomers
• Generation X (Baby Busters)
• Generation Y (Millennials)
• Generation Z (Centennials)
• Generation Alpha
• Niche markets
• A small number of mostly affluent targeted consumers, loyal to one
specific product

Competitive Strategies
• Knowing what competitors are doing with advertising and product development is the
difference between being a leader or a follower within a product category.
• Need to understand similarities and differences between brands to stand out

Implementation Tactics
• Determine if everything can come off on schedule and in the right order, with the right
materials in place, and with the proper people available to carry off the marketing
efforts.
• Additionally, items such as scheduling, budgetary items, timelines, and information on
enacting the marketing mix have to be discussed and developed.

EVALUATION
• Evaluation takes place before the marketing plan is put into effect and again after
implementation to determine whether results reflect corporate goals and whether
objectives were successfully met.
• Evaluation is critical to a successful IMC campaign.

MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

Include the following when completing a marketing plan:
Name:
Date:
Assignment:
Situation analysis:
Marketing objectives:
Marketing strategy:
Target market:
Competitive strategies:
Implementation tactics:
Evaluation:

Chapter 3 Branding and Positioning

Brand
• Name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the
goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those
of the competition
• A brand’s image is created through advertising.

Branding
• A product’s identity and its legacy
• A strong brand image gives the brand personality and a single voice or message.
• Branding ultimately determines how the consumer thinks about a product or service
and how it stands out from the competition.

Brand Equity
• A company’s or product’s reputation in the marketplace (assets)
• To succeed, must repeatedly deliver reliable results
• The target’s perception of quality based on experience

Brand Image
• Image is a brand’s personality and its status as compared with other brands of the same
or similar quality.
• Image must be built around the target’s needs and wants.
• Image development begins by asking:
• Is there anything holding back the brand?
• How much does the target already know about the brand versus the
competition?
• Is there any confusion surrounding the brand’s visual and verbal identity,
purchasing options, or life-cycle stage?

The Visual/Verbal Brand

• Before a brand can achieve equity or develop or maintain loyalty, its product must first
have a consistent brand image that can parallel the target audience members’ perceived
image of themselves.
• Consistent logo design
• Placement
• Typeface
• Color(s)
• Graphic symbol
 • All need to reflect the brand’s personality or use.
• Visual/verbal identity needs to represent a solution to the target’s problem.

Life-Cycle Phase
• New brand
• Mainstream/mature brands
• Reinvented brands
• A product’s creative message can focus on any one of or combination of the following
options when a product’s life-cycle stage will play an important role in advertising and
promotional efforts:
• Brand image
• Word of mouth
• Positioning
• Education
• Brand awareness
• Promotional offers
• Creating a reaction
• Direct comparison to the competition
• Use
• Product introduction

Brand Loyalty
• The relationship between the product and the target
• The target’s dependable repurchase of a brand based on reliable past experiences
• Brand loyal consumers require less advertising to remind them to repurchase.

Positioning
• How the consumer thinks about and rates a product or service against the competition
• Requires highlighting target-relevant benefits for the product’s features and benefits
• The difference between positioning and brand image:
• Positioning is created via advertising and promotion .
• Image is created based on experience.
• A strong position is a direct result of a strong brand.
• Built up over time

Luc Dupont’s seven ways to position a product or service:

• Originality
• Low price
• High price
• Sex of the consumer
• Age of the consumer
• Time of day the product should be used
• Distribution channels
Repositioning
• Used when there is a need to change the way it is viewed in the mind of the target
• Should work to define a new or special niche in the consumer’s mind

Chapter 4 Creative Briefs

Creative Brief
• Also known as a copy platform, creative work plan, or copy strategy
• The next step in the evolution of the creative strategy
• Information from the marketing plan is used to develop the brief.
• A small internal document
• Created by the account executive
• Used by the creative team: art directors and copywriters
• A business plan of attack
• Does not define the visual or verbal message

Sections That Make Up a Creative Brief

• Target audience profile
• Communication objectives
• Product features and benefits
• Positioning of the product
• Key consumer benefit
• Creative strategy
• Tone
• Support statement
• Slogan or tagline
• Logo

Target Audience Profile

• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Geographics
• Behavioristics

Communication Objectives
• What communication efforts need to accomplish. They should define:
• What do communication efforts want the target to THINK about the brand after
exposure to the message?
• What should the target FEEL after exposure to the message?
• What should the target DO after exposure to the message?

Product Features and Benefits

 • Looks at product attributes and attaches them to target needs and wants.
• Feature: Product attribute
• Benefit: Answers the target’s question “What’s in it for me?”
• Features alone do not sell a brand. What the feature(s) can offer the consumer sells.

Positioning of the Product

• Define the brand’s direct competitors
• Compare and contrast similarities and differences
• Keeps the creative team from duplicating efforts

Key Consumer Benefit

• The one feature/benefit combination that the target is sure to notice and engage with
• Can be either a big idea or unique selling proposition (USP)
• Big Idea: A creative solution that sets a product/service off from the competition
while at the same time solving a client’s advertising problem
• USP: A key consumer benefit that is unique to a client’s product or service or a
commonplace feature promoted as unique

Creative Strategy
• Outlines the creative approach and appeal needed to accomplish communication
objectives
• Product-oriented approaches:
• Generic claim
• Product feature
• Unique selling proposition
• Positioning
• Consumer-oriented approaches:
• Brand image
• Lifestyle
• Attitude
• Think, Feel, Do Approaches:
• Think Approach
• Brand identity
• Generic
• Positioning
• Feel Approach
o Brand image
o Association
o Lifestyle
o Attitude
o Respectability
o Significance
• Do Approach
 o Promotional response
o Memorable reaction
o Incentive programs
o Interactive
• Appeals
o Appeals are used to attract consumer attention and influence the perception of
need for a product.
 Rational appeals: best for life-sustaining products, such as food and
clothing
 Emotional appeals: best for life-enhancing products, such as jewelry
 Reminder appeals: used to maintain brand awareness
 Teaser appeals: used mostly for new product launches to increase
curiosity and build interest
 Informational appeals: used to tease consumer about the product
without showing it

Tone
• The tone of voice and/or style of the advertising message used in all advertising efforts
• It should reflect the key consumer benefit.
• Determine if the tone will be rational or emotional in nature.
• The technique chosen should be the tie that binds the approach and appeal together.

Support Statement
• One feature/benefit combination that directly supports or advances the key consumer
benefit

Slogan or Tagline
• Slogan
• Deals with the company or corporate philosophy
• Tagline
• Defines the campaign or ad philosophy

Logo
• Brand or corporate symbol

Creative Brief Template

1. Target Audience. (Whom are you talking to?) Define the target audience in terms of:
• Demographics:
• Psychographics:
• Geographics:
• Behavioristics:
2. Communication Objectives. (These are goals you want your advertising efforts to
accomplish. Be precise when answering the following three statements.)
• Think
 • Feel
• Do
3. Brand Features and Benefits. (List five to seven features and a corresponding benefit for
each.)
• Feature: Something inherent in the brand
• Benefit: What’s in it for the target?
4. Principal Competitor(s). (List only direct competitors.)
• Compare and contrast your brand against each competitor.
• Describe current competitor advertising.
5. Key Consumer Benefit (KCB). (Will you use a USP or Big Idea? Choose one only).
• Feature:
• Benefit:
6. Creative Strategy.
• Approach(es)
• Focus
• Appeal(s)
• Focus
7. Tone.
8. Support Statement.
• Feature:
• Benefit:
9. Slogan or Tagline. (If using one)
10. Logo.

Chapter 5 The Creative Process

• The creative brief is the inspiration behind creative ideas.
• Before any copy is written or concept laid out the creative team must first study the
creative brief.
• All creative efforts begin and end with the creative brief.
• Once the creative team has decided on a creative direction, the next step is determining
a visual/verbal solution.

Who are the Creatives?

• Creative directors
• Art directors
• Copywriters

It all Begins With Brainstorming

• The thought process creative teams go through to find multiple solutions to a creative
problem
• Also known as conceptual development
 • Successful ideas must be on-target and on-strategy and highlight the key consumer
benefit.
• Brainstorming helps to find the product’s inherent drama or what makes it tick.
• Word lists help with the brainstorming process.

Visual/Verbal Relationships
• Answers the question “Does what is being shown in the ad have anything to do with
what is being said in the ad?”
• Ads need a cohesive visual and verbal message.

Visual Cues
• Key consumer benefit
• Framing
• Placement
• Arrangement
• Lighting
• Color

Verbal Cues
• Logo
• Slogans and taglines
• Headline
• Body copy

The Image behind Layout Styles

• An ad’s visual/verbal persona
• How elements such as headlines and visuals are placed or featured in the design
• Think of layout styles as the clothes for the concept.

Types of Layout Styles

• Big type
• Circus
• Copy heavy
• Frame
• Mondrian
• Multipanel
• Picture window
• Rebus
• Silhouette

Readability and Legibility

• Readability: the ability to read the ad at a glance
• Legibility: the ability to understand the message within a short look
• Both affect layout style choice
Type Style is a Personality Thing
• The choice of typeface should reflect the personality of the brand or company.
• The typeface used should become a representative device for the brand or company.

Some Definitions
• Typeface: the name given to a specific style of type
• Type style: the form of a typeface used
• Serif: Has feet or delicate appendages
• Sans serif: Has no appendages
• Weight: Represents the thickness or thinness of the typeface’s body
• Type design reflects different images, moods, or even genders.
• No more than two typefaces per design
• There are no hard and fast rules about mixing serif and sans serif faces. It is best if only
one style is used throughout.

Type alignment
• The way type is aligned on the page
• Center on center
• Flush left, rag right
• Flush right, rag left
• Justified

Type Faux Pas

• All caps
• Reverse copy
• Italics
• Decorative faces

Stages of Design
• Thumbnails
• Roughs or layouts
• Super comprehensives

Visual Options
• Photographs
• Line art
• Illustrations
• Clip art
• Stock art
• Graphics

Color’s Representational Role

• Effective color choices can be used as design elements.
 • Certain colors evoke specific emotions and can be used to set a mood or attract the eye.
• In the unfortunate event the target should forget the product name, often the use of
unique color combinations on packaging can help with recall when determining which
product to purchase.

Chapter 6 Copywriting
• Writing copy is one of the first steps taken when moving from business thinking to
actual creative brainstorming and eventual execution.
• The copy’s voice is the direct result of the creative brief.

The Components of Copy

• Headline
• Subhead
• Body copy
• Detail copy
• Slogans or taglines

Headlines
• The headline screams out the key consumer benefit.
• It is the largest piece of copy on the page.
• Headline styles include:
• Direct
• Indirect or curiosity
• Major benefit promise
• Play on words
• Question
• Metaphors, similes, and analogies
• Headline styles include (cont. from previous slide):
• News or announcement
• The reason-why
• How-to
• Product name
• The testimonial
• The command
• Practical advice
• Problem/solution
• Flag
• Warning
• Personal benefits

Subheads
• A subhead’s job is to elaborate on the statement made in the headline.
 • Second largest piece of copy on the page
• Can appear above or below the headline and within body copy
• Types of subheads:
• Overline subheads
• Underline subheads

Body Copy
• The smaller paragraphs of text in an ad
• Body copy is essentially broken down into three areas:
• An opening paragraph:
• Finishes the thought introduced in the headline
• Interior paragraphs:
• This is where the actual selling takes place.
• Closing paragraphs:
• Tells the target what you want them to do
When to use longer copy:
• New product introductions
• Technical copy
• Repositioning or reinventing a brand’s image
• Expensive product purchases
When to use shorter copy:
• Mainstream products
• Emotional products
• Reminder advertising
• Inexpensive product purchases

Formats for Expressing Copy’s Tone of Voice

Emotional Tones:
• Fear
• Humor
• Sex
• Music
• Scarcity
• Slice of life
• Fantasy
• Animation
Rational Tones:
• Authoritative
• Factual message or straight-sell
• News event or educational
• Product feature or star
• Reminder
• Teaser
• Demonstration
 • Instructional
• Inherent drama
• Talking head
• Dialogue
• Lifestyle or narrative

Detail Copy
• The smallest copy placed near the logo or the bottom of the ad to inform the target
about locations, phone or fax number, web and/or social media addresses, or maps

Slogan and tagline

• Slogan
• Represents a company’s philosophy or a product’s image
• Tagline
• Represents a current strategy or concept

Logo
• The logo is the symbol and ultimately the image of a company or product.
• It should be prominently displayed in all advertised pieces.
• Can be a single graphic image
• Can be type only
• A combination of type and graphic image
In summary:
• Headlines promote the key consumer benefit.
• Subheads defend the key consumer benefit.
• Body copy develops and highlights its many virtues by telling a story.
• Detail copy tells the target ways to interact with the brand.
• The slogan or tagline represents the company or creative.
• The logo represents image.
• Creating a memorable visual/verbal message tied to the key consumer benefit is critical.
• What is talked about in the copy must have a corresponding visual.
• The product’s key consumer benefit should be screamed out in the headline.
• Developed in more detail in the copy, and
• Represented visually through either a photograph, an illustration, or a graphic
element
• By creating a strong visual/verbal relationship, the creative team can stimulate targets’
imaginations to envision themselves wearing the product or picking a particular size or
color as well as to see and understand safety instructions and/or warranties.

Promotional Devices
• Promotional devices give something back to the target or incentive to purchase.
• Coupons
• Freestanding inserts
• Order forms
 • Guarantees
Selling the Client on the Creative Idea
• The account executive will present anywhere from three to five ideas to the client for
approval.
• A member of the creative team may or may not be present.
• To ensure success, the creative team needs to educate the account team on the creative
direction and how it relates back to the creative brief.
• Once accepted by the client, the account and creative team will then sign off on the
creative.
• The next step is production.

COPY SHEET TEMPLATE

Your Name:
Assignment Number and/or Product Name Here:
Headline: The headline should appear here.
Main Subhead: The main subhead should appear here if applicable.
Body Copy A: Tell the product or service’s story here.
Subhead: Multiple subheads are great when making a transition or breaking up a copy-heavy
page.
Body Copy B: Continue the copy here.
Subhead: You need not use multiple subheads if the copy is short.
Body Copy C: Continue the copy here.
Tagline: This could also be a slogan and can either appear above or below the logo.
Logo: The full logo should appear here.
Body Copy D: Consider placing detail copy here.
Coupon Copy: Write all copy for coupon(s), including the need for the logo etc., here.
Coupon 1: If more than one coupon, place copy for the first coupon here.
Coupon 2: Place the copy for the second coupon here, and so on.
Order Form: Place all copy for order form here.