What is integrated marketing communications?

Ask 10 marketers what integrated marketing communications is and you’ll most likely get ten different answers.  This became evident to me when I attended the PMA’s Integrated Marketing Conference last month.   It seemed like everyone had their own take on IMC and the process.  Here are my thoughts on integrated marketing communications and how it has evolved over the last 20 years:

9 Inch axiom – Integrated Marketing

‘The key to integrated marketing communications (IMC) is threefold:  

1. First is researching to find the appropriate idea / concept that is both relevant and sticky
2. Second is determining the right mix of traditional + social media
3. Last is determining the appropriate weight of each medium in order to reach the RIGHT3 . . the right people . . . in the right places . . . .  at the right times’

Here are my thoughts on how IMC has evolved:

                   IMC 1.0                                                           IMC 2.0

Consistency – Everything looks the same        Unified approach – One main idea 

Holistic – take down through all elements     Synergistic – only the appropriate mix

Concepting – Advertising driven                      Ideation – Media agnostic

Messaging – One way                                    Communication – Two way conversation 

Controlled – Traditional media                            Uncontrolled – Traditional + Social

Unbalanced – Logical appeals                               Balanced – Logical + Emotional

Budgeted – Paid mass media                           Mixed – Paid / earned media, niches

Online – An afterthought                                   Digital – A foundation

Micro focus – Promotion only                     Macro approach – all 4 P’s                                

Organization – Silos working alone           Cohesion – all departments buy in    

Case Studies

Here is a link to a great article by Jim Nichols in iMedia.  The article is entitled, “4 Masterfully Integrated Campaigns” and highlights the recent efforts of Ford, P+G, Axe and E*TRADE.     

Challenges                                   

IMC has its fair share of challenges.  Rohit Bhargava had a great post this week in his blog Influential Marketing.  He discussed how there is a marketing plague that can be attributed to the lack of integration.  Most of this is due to inherent conflicts by either separate departments or a combination of agencies.  This quote from his post sums it up,  ”Not only does the right hand of a marketing group often not know what the left hand is doing – most of the time they end up arm wrestling.”

Today’s Lagniappe  - The idea of integrated marketing is hardly new. Walt Disney was using what he called “synergy” in the 1950s and 1960s to drive the Disney company forward using coordinated marketing efforts in print, television, movies, merchandizing and his Anaheim theme park. Each part of the Disney marketing mix promoted other aspects of the mix that together built the Disney brand and revenue stream (Source: Marketing Profs, ”Striking at the Achilles Heel of Integrated Marketing”)