SM108 Introduction to Public Relations

Integrated Marketing Communications

Chapter 7

Asst. Prof. Dr. Vimala Govindasamy

 Chapter Objectives
• To discuss the synthesis of
advertising, marketing, and public
relations to yield an integrated
marketing approach in promoting
products, services, and brands.

• To explore the distinctions among

advertising, marketing, and public
relations.

• To discuss, in detail, the marketing

differentiators of public relations –
publicity and third-party
endorsement.
 Chapter Objectives
• To examine the various tactics and
techniques that distinguish
integrated marketing, from the
traditional – public relations
advertising, trade shows, cause-
related marketing to the 21st
century innovations – social media
marketing, brand integration, buzz
marketing and so forth.
 What is Integrated
Marketing
Communications (IMC)
• Integrated marketing is a strategy
for delivering a unified message
across all the marketing
channels your brand uses.

• Integrated marketing offers a
smooth, customer-focused
experience by incorporating all
marketing communication
elements, including public
relations, social media, and
advertising
 Introduction
• In these days' of 24/7 media, social
media networks, and uber-
competition among products and
services in every sector, it sure not
your mother’s marketing
environment.
• While traditional advertising and
marketing can build brand
awareness, public relations
establishes credibility and tells the
brand story more comprehensively.
• The integration of these marketing
techniques helps build a cohesive
presence for a brand.
 Introduction
• Some say advertising is dying and the
public relations is taking over.

• Advertising isn’t quite dead yet –

especially with Procter and Gamble
spending approximately 11 billion US dollar
a year in ads (65 brands), Unilever
spending $6 billion, and formerly bankrupt
General Motors spending $4 billion.

• But is the true that public relations and

publicity integrated with these other
disciplines are very much the rule in many
organizations today.
 Public Relations vs.
Marketing vs.
Advertising
• What is the difference between marketing,
advertising, and public relations?

• Marketing is defined, is the selling of a

service or product through pricing,
distribution, and promotion.

• Marketing ranges from concepts such free

samples in the hands of consumes to buzz
campaigns.

• Advertising, defined, is subset of marketing

that involves paying to place your message in
more traditional media formats, from
newspapers and magazines to radio and
television to the Internet and outdoors.
 Public Relations vs. Marketing vs.
Advertising

• Public Relations, defined, is the marketing

and of an organization and the use of
unbiased, objective, third-party
endorsement to relay information about
the organization’s products and practices.

• In the past, marketers treated public

relations as an ancillary part of marketing
mix – almost an afterthought.

• They were concerned primarily with

making sure that their products met the
needs and desires of customers and were
priced competitively, distributed widely,
and promoted heavily through advertising
and merchandising.
 Public Relations vs. Marketing vs.
Advertising
• Gradually, however, these traditional
notion among marketers began to change.

• The increased number of advertisements

in newspaper and on the airwaves caused
clutter and place a significant burden on
advertisers who were trying to make the
public aware of their products and
services.

• In the 1980s shorter television advertising

spots, in the 1990s, the spread of cable
television and in the 2000s, the
proliferation of cable TV and Internet
advertising intensified the noise and
clutter.
 Product Publicity
• Product publicity is the essence of the value of
integrated public relations and marketing and
can be effective element in the marketing mix.
For example:
1) Introducing a revolutionary new product.
2) Eliminating distribution problems with
retail outlets.
3) Small budgets and strong competition.
4) Explaining a complicated product.
5) Tying the product to a unique
representative.
6) Creating an identity.
 Third Party Endorsement
• In recent years, one practice that
has drawn journalistic scorn is that
of organizations – particularly
corporations – using well-known
spokespersons to promote product
without identifying that they are
paid for the endorsement.

• Journalists argue that such

presentations are patently unethical
paid endorsements designed to
appear objectives.
 Building A Brand
• The watchword in business today is
branding – creating a differentiable identify
or position for a company or product.

• In more traditional times, it took years for

brands such as Pepsi, Coke, McDonald’s,
Hertz, Fedex, and Walmart to establish
themselves.

• Today, with the advent of the world wide

web (www), thriving Internet companies
such as Apple, Google, Amazon, eBay have
become household words in a historical
nanosecond.
 Building A Brand
• Using integrating marketing
communications to establish a unique
brand adherence to the principles such as:
1. Be early
- It is better to be first than to the best
2. Be memorable
- Equally important is to fight through
the cutter by creating a memorable
brand.
3. Be aggressive
- A successful brand also requires to
constant drumbeat of publicity to keep
the company’s name before the
public.
 Building A Brand
4. Use heritage
- Baby boomers are old  (57-75 years
old). GenXers (41-56) are getting
older. And heritage is very much in
vogue. This means citing the
traditions and history of a product or
organizations as part of building the
brand.
5. Create a personality
- The best organizations are those that
create “personalities” for
themselves. Who is the number one
in rental cars? Hertz.
 What is Integrated
Marketing
Communication?
• Integrated marketing communications is
an approach used by organizations to
brand and coordinate their marketing
efforts across multiple communication
channels.

• As marketing efforts have shifted from

mass advertising to niche marketing,
companies have increasingly used IMC to
develop more cost-effective campaigns
that still deliver consumer value.

• Typically, communication tools for IMC

encompass both traditional and digital
media, such as blogs, webinars, search
engine optimization, radio, television,
billboards, and magazines.
Integrated Marketing
Communications Tools
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Traditionally, organizations used advertising to sell
products.
• In 1936, a company named Warner & Swasey
initiated an ad campaign that stressed the power of
American as a national and the importance of
American business in the nation’s future.
• This technique became known variously as
institutional advertising, image advertising, public
service advertising, issues advertising, and ultimately
public relations – or non-product advertising.
• In 1980s, image advertising became issues
advertising, which advocated positions from the
sponsor’s viewpoint.
• Often these concerned matters or some controversy.
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Traditional public relations advertising – as
opposed to image or issue positioning – is
still widely used.
• Such advertising can be appropriate for
several activities:
1) Mergers and diversifications
2) Personnel changes
3) Organizational resources
4) Manufacturing and service capabilities
5) Growth history
6) Financial strength and stability
7) Company customers
8) Organization name change
9) Trademark protection
10) Corporate emergencies
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Mergers and diversifications
• When one company merges with another, the
public need to be informed about the new business
lines and divisions
• Personnel changes
• A firm’s greatest assets is usually its managers,
employees, and its salespeople. The firm’s pride in
its workers but also helps build confidence among
employees themselves.
• Organizational resources
• A firm’s investment in research and development
implies that the organization is concerned about
meeting the future intelligently, an asset that
should be advertised. The scope of a company’s
services also says something positive about the
organization.
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Manufacturing and service capabilities
• A firm that deliver should advertise this
capability with qualified and attentive
servicing capability should let clients
and potential customers know about it.

• Growth history
• A growing firm, one that has developed
steadily over time and has taken
advantage of its environment, is the
kind of company with which people
want to deal. Growth history, therefore,
is a worthwhile subject for non-product
advertising.
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Financial strength and stability
• Advertisements that highlight the
company’s financial position earn
confidence and attract customers and
investors.

• Company customers
• Customers can serve as a marketing
tool. Well-known personalities who
use a certain product may be enough
to win additional customers.
• This strategy may be especially for
higher –priced products such as
expensive automobiles or sports
equipment.
 Public Relations
Advertising
• Organizational name change
• To furnish the new name in people’s mind,
a name change must be well promoted and
well advertised. Only through constant
repetition will people become familiar with
the new identity.
• Trademark protection
• Companies run periodic ads to remind
people of the proper status of their
trademarks.
• Corporate emergencies
• Companies occasionally face situations
such as labour strikes, plant disaster etc.
This is way to explain the firm’s position
without fear of distortion or
misinterpretation by the media.
 Traditional Integrated
Marketing
• Among the more traditional public
relations activities used to market
products are article reprints, trade show
participation, use of spokespersons,
cause-related marketing, and in-kind
promotions.

1) Marketing can be done through

article reprints aimed at the part of a
target audience – wholesalers,
retailers, or consumers – that might
not have seen the original article.
2) Reprints included on a Website and
direct mailed, also help reinforce the
reactions of those who read the
original article.
 Trade Show
Participation
• Trade show participation enables an
organization to display its products before
important target audiences.

• The decision to participate should be

considered with the following factors in mind:
1. Analyze the show carefully
2. Select a common theme
3. Emphasize what is new
4. Consider local promotional efforts
5. Emphasize what’s new
6. Consider local promotional efforts
7. Evaluate the worth.
 Spokespersons
• Spokespersons must be articulate,
fast on their feet, and thoroughly
knowledgeable about the subject.

• When these criteria are met, the use

of spokespersons as an integrated
marketing took can be more effective.

• In recent years, the use of

spokespersons to promote products
has become so crazed that in 2003,
Coca Cola signed high school
basketball player (LeBron James) to a
six-year, $12 million contract to
promote Sprite.
 Cause-Related
Marketing
• Public relations sponsorships tied to
philanthropy are another effective
integrated marketing device.
• Again, in an economy where advertising is
omnipresent and differentiation is at a
premium, companies turn to sponsorship of
the arts, education, music festivals,
anniversaries, sports, and charitable causes
for promotional and public relations
purposes.
• Cause-related marketing will continue to
grow in the 21st century.
• Middle-aged baby boomers, in particular,
are more concerned about issues that
effect their lives, such as protecting the
environment and aiding the less fortunate.
 In-Kind Promotions
• When a service, product, or other
consideration in exchange for publicity
exposure is offered, it is called an in-kind
promotion.
• Examples of in-kind promotions include the
following:
(1) Providing services or products as prizes
offered by a newspaper or charity in
exchange for being listed as a co-sponsor
in promotional materials.
(2) Providing services or products to a local
business in exchange for having fliers
inserted in shopping bags or as
statement stuffers.
(3) Providing services or products to doctors’
offices, auto repair.
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
• Beyond advertising, marketing and public
relations techniques, integrated marketing,
too must keep pace the ever-changing
world of promotional innovations to help
sell products and services.
• Among them are television brand
integration, infomercials, word-of-mouth
marketing, television and movie product
placement, and more.
• Once companies have developed products
and services.
• The companies must communicate the
value and benefits of the offerings to
current and potential customers in both
business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-
consumer (B2C) markets. 
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
• Integrated marketing communications
(IMC) provide an approach designed to
deliver one consistent message to
buyers.
• Through an organization’s promotions
that may span all different types of
media such as TV, radio, magazines, the
Internet, mobile- phones, professional
selling, and social media.
• For example, Campbell’s Soup Company
typically includes the “Mm, mm good”
slogan in the print ads it places in
newspapers and magazines, in ads on
the Internet, and in commercials on
television and radio.
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
Television Brand Integration

• The latest trend in television is to

integrate products into the fabric of
what is being presented on the
screen.

• As technology and clutter blunt the

effectiveness and reach of traditional
30-second commercials, more
advertisers are paying to integrate
their products directly into the action
of a show or film.
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
Word-of-Mouth Marketing

• Also know as “buzz marketing”, word-of-

mouth is another alternative to traditional
advertising that enlists “influencers” or
“trendsetters” to spread the word about a
particular product, brand or service.
• Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM
marketing) is when a consumer's interest
in a company's product or service is
reflected in their daily dialogues. 
• The word-of-mouth is the most honest
and ethical of advertising media, “People
don’t want to hurt their friends and family
and colleagues with bad information”.
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
Infomercials
• It was first introduced in 1980s.
An infomercial is a longer-form video or
television advertisement that acts as a
stand-alone program to pitch a good or
service with a call to action.

• The term infomercial is a combination of

the words’ "information" and
"commercial."

• Informercial remain strong.

• However, in Europe, they're referred to as

"paid programming" or "teleshopping.“
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
• Delivering consistent information about a
brand or an organization helps establish it
in the minds of consumers and potential
customers across target markets.
• Although the messages are very similar,
Campbell’s uses two variations of
commercials designed to target different
consumers.
• Watch the following two YouTube videos.
• You’ll notice that the message Campbell’s
gets across is consistent.
• But can you figure out who is in the two
target audiences?
Tatum McCann
Campbell Soup
Campbell
Soup
Commercial
 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
• Changes in communication
technology and instant access to
information through tools such as the
Internet and social media (online
communication among
interdependent and interconnected
networks of organizations, people,
and communities).

• Explain one of the reasons why

integrated marketing
communications have become so
important?

• Consumers are also changing.

 Twenty-First-Century
Integrated Marketing
• With access to many sources of
information and often an interest in
interactive media, consumers may
collect more product information on
their own.

• Marketers must organize and

assemble available information to
build a consistent brand message and
make it relevant.

• With IMC, organizations can

coordinate their messages to build the
brand and develop strong customer
relationships while also helping
customers satisfy their needs.
 Example
• FedEx’s two recent campaigns, the
“We Understand” tagline launched in
2009 and the “Solutions that Matter”
tagline launched in 2011.

• Illustrate examples of IMC campaigns

they used to deliver a consistent
message across all media channels
including television commercials, e-
mails, social media, mobile
marketing, direct mail, and the FedEx
channel on YouTube (Dilworth, 2010).

• Watch the following videos to see

examples of commercials in the FedEx
campaigns.
FedEx
international
shipping
commercial
 Changing Media
• Many consumers and business professionals
seek information and connect with other
people and businesses from their
computers and phones.
• The work and social environments are
changing, with more people having virtual
offices and texting on their cell phones or
communicating through social media sites
such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and
Twitter.
• As the media landscape changes, the money
that organizations spend on different types
of communication will change as well.
• Some forecasts indicate that companies will
spend almost 27 percent of their total
promotional budgets, or $160 billion, on
electronic or non-traditional media.
 Conclusion
• Perhaps more precisely stated what
is needed now is an integrated
approach to communications,
combining the best of marketing,
advertising, sales promotion, and
public relations with all forms of
media from online to print to
broadcast face-to-face.

• The clear marketing need for

organizations and those who serve
them is build lasting client
relationships.
 Conclusion
• A successful communications
professional must be
knowledgeable about all aspects
of the communications mix.

• Integrated Marketing
Communications, then, becomes
paramount in preparing public
relations professionals for the
challenges of the second decade
of the 21st century.
 ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION