The Relationship Between Integrated Marketing Communication

The relationship between
Integrated Marketing
Communication, market
orientation, and brand
orientation.
Marketing communication plays an important role in building and maintaining
stakeholder relationships, and in leveraging these relationships in terms of brand
and channel equity (Dawar 2004; Duncan and Moriarty 1998; Lannon and Cooper
1983; Srivastava, Fahey, and Shervani 2000; White 1999). As Dawar states:
"Advertising and promotions of brands drive traffic and sales volume; marketing
efforts and outcomes are measured and managed at the brand level; and brands
are central to a firm's responses to short-term competitive moves. In effect,
brands have become the focal point of many a company's marketing efforts and
are seen as a source of market power, competitive leverage and higher returns"
(2004, p. 31).
In response to concerns about the impact of hostile marketing environments on

brand equity and increased management expectations related to marketing
performance and accountability, many organizations are considering how to
improve the management and integration of their marketing communication
programs using integrated marketing communication (IMC). Nevertheless, various
authors support the contention that there is ambiguity surrounding the definition
of IMC, with no consistent or mutually agreed upon meaning, and with many
areas in need of clarification (Baker and Mitchell 2000; Beard 1996; Cornelissen
2001; Duncan and Mulhern 2004; Kitchen and Schultz 1999; Low 2000; Phelps
1996). This ambiguity is likely to have an impact on the development of measures
to operationalize and assess IMC in organizations. Indeed, Pickton and Hartley
(1998, p. 450) state: "It is very difficult to conceptualize the big picture and to
muster all the organizational influences needed to achieve integration. There are
many levels and dimensions to integration which all pose their individual and
collective difficulties. To be implemented, IMC requires the involvement of the
whole organization and its agents from the chief executive downward. It needs
consideration from the highest corporate strategic level down to the day-to-day
implementation of individual tactical activity."
In recognizing this complexity, this paper attempts to explain the role of IMC in
organizations. The paper also attempts to delineate or establish a relationship
between IMC, market orientation (MO), and an emerging concept of brand
orientation (BO) by proposing that both MO and BO are necessary conditions for
successful IMC. We accept that IMC can be conceived at two distinct levels, that
is, strategic or tactical; however, we will emphasize the strategic component of
IMC, which takes into account the cultural and learning requirements of
positioning brands over time. The paper recognizes the complementarities
between IMC to MO and BO, and how each addresses a critical facet of achieving
a competitive advantage through building brand equity.
Figure 1 introduces our discussion and presents the relationship between the
three concepts. Briefly, market orientation represents the culture of the
organization through the adoption of the marketing concept and the systems and
processes that underlie being market oriented (Harris 1998). Brand orientation
represents the functional or business-unit focus on brands and brand strategies
that support strong customer and stakeholder relationships regardless of the
brand being at the corporate or product level, or being a service or a
manufactured good (Bridson and Evans 2004). IMC in this model represents the
development of integrated marketing communication to achieve stated brand and
communication objectives, and provides the bridge between brand strategy and
actions taken to build the necessary customer and stakeholder relationships. In
doing so, IMC draws on the cultural predisposition to work cooperatively,
leveraging the market-and customer-sensing mechanisms of the organization to
devise message and media strategies. Furthermore, it adopts an informed zero-
based approach to choosing the appropriate tools for the communication task and
is also linked to brand and target-market history through the learning
mechanisms of a market- and brand-oriented organization (Stewart 1996).
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
In justifying and presenting our model, we first present a background to the IMC,
MO, and BO concepts, highlighting various approaches to conceptualizing IMC and
the linkages to MO and BO. We then present a model that illustrates the testable
relationships between market orientation, brand orientation, and IMC, as well as
the linkages to performance outcomes. Finally, we discuss the managerial and
research implications of this paper.
THE CONCEPT AND DIMENSIONS OF IMC
In a recent white paper on IMC (Duncan and Mulhern 2004), it was stated that its
scope was expanding and the concept and process were still evolving. It was also
argued that IMC is generally considered to be a philosophy or process related to
strategically managing all brand messages in a way that contributes to the
building of strong brands. In attempting to achieve this aim, managers of the IMC
process are likely to draw on the cultural predisposition to work cooperatively,
leverage the market- and customer-sensing mechanisms of the organization to
devise message and media strategies, and adopt an informed approach to
choosing and orchestrating the right tools for the communication task.
In furthering the debate and development of the IMC concept, Kitchen, Joanne,
and Tao (2004) suggest that IMC is the major communications development of the
last decade, and that it is a potential driver of competitive advantage. The power
of IMC is said to counter a range of changes in the marketing communication
environment that are having an impact on the ability of companies to attract,
retain, and leverage customers. Kitchen, Joanne, and Tao (2004) also argue that
IMC seems to have passed through, and is still passing through, significant debate
over its meaning and purpose, and that it is struggling to emerge and distinguish
itself from other marketing concepts such as integrated marketing, CRM
(customer relationship management), and market orientation. From Kitchen,
Joanne, and Tao's (2004) perspective, IMC needs to be seen as a new paradigm
that will facilitate the management of marketing communication.
IMC is centered on building and leveraging customer and consumer interests and
relationships. This relationship orientation ties IMC to one-to-one marketing and
CRM, and challenges managers to deal with the integration, alignment,
measurement, and accountability of both traditional and new interactive
marketing approaches (Baker and Mitchell 2000). In further extending this notion
of customer-oriented communication, managers must realize that as long as IMC
provides the organization with a superior market advantage, on occasions, it can
be a market driver, and on others, it may be market driven (Carrillat, Jaramillo,
and Locander 2004; Duncan and Mulhern 2004; Jaworski, Kohli, and Sahay 2000).
Defining IMC and Philosophy

Since initial attempts to define IMC in the early 1990s, an abundance of
definitions have emerged, and have been discussed in detail in many recent
papers (Duncan 2002; Gould 2004; Kitchen, Joanne, and Tao 2004; Kliatchko
2005). In Duncan's representation, IMC is seen as "a process for managing the
customer relationships that drive brand value. More specifically, it is a cross-
functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with
customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all
messages sent to these groups and encouraging data driven, purposeful dialogue
with them" (2002, p. 8).
As an indication of ongoing conceptual and theoretical development, a recent IMC

white paper suggested that IMC should
* be more strategic than executional,
* be about more than just advertising and sales promotion messages,
* include two-way as well as one-way communication, and
* be results driven.
This has led to a redefinition of IMC as "an on-going, interactive, cross-functional

process of brand communication planning, execution, and evaluation that
integrates all parties in the exchange process in order to maximize mutual
satisfaction of each other's wants and needs" (Duncan and Mulhern 2004, p. 9).
This redefinition reflects a shift to view the management of marketing
communication more as an interweaving of processes that cross traditional
departmental boundaries, employing the knowledge and skills of specialists and
nonspecialists alike (Cornelissen 2001).
IMC is also regarded by some as a management philosophy to be incorporated
into the organization's approach to business (Cornelissen 2001; Duncan 1998),
whereas others regard it primarily as a process of campaign development
connected to a wider brand strategy (Nowak and Phelps 1994; Percy 1997). The
notion of IMC as a philosophy or concept was evident as early as 1991 in the
widely cited definition by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (see
Caywood, Schultz, and Wang 1991). Furthermore, Duncan and Everett, when
speaking of the experience in large U.S.-based organizations, suggested, "an
organization that has an IMC philosophy may or may not physically integrate into
one department the people responsible for the various marketing communication
functions, although the trend is to do so" (1993, p. 31).

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The relationship between

In response to concerns about the impact of hostile marketing environments on

THE CONCEPT AND DIMENSIONS OF IMC

Defining IMC and Philosophy

As an indication of ongoing conceptual and theoretical development, a recent IMC

This has led to a redefinition of IMC as "an on-going, interactive, cross-functional

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