International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 5, No.

5, October 2014

Integrated Marketing Communication to Increase Brand

Equity: The Case of a Thai Beverage Company
Kulachet Mongkol

 communication and the firm‟s brand equity.

Abstract—The objective of this research is to examine the
correlation between integrated marketing communication and
the brand equity of a Thai beverage company. The findings III. RELEVANT CONCEPTS AND THEORIES
contribute to a more effective marketing strategy plan for a
company. Many scholars such as Aaker [2], Ailawadi, Lehmann and
The sample for this study consisted of four hundred Neslin [3], and Aaker [4] views brand equity as the set of
participants who were customers of the company, and assets and liabilities linked to a brand‟s name and symbol that
questionnaires were used as a research instrument. In order to adds to or subtracts from the value provided by a product or
test the research’s hypotheses, Pearson’s correlation coefficient service to a firm and/or that firm‟s customers while Kotler
was conducted to investigate the correlation between the and Keller [5] puts forth a somewhat narrower perspective,
integrated marketing communication and the company’s brand
equity.
contending that a brand has positive customer-based brand
The results of the hypothesis reveal that there is a direct
equity when consumers react more favorably to a product
correlation between the integrated marketing communication and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified than
and brand equity. Therefore, it is recommended that different when it is not. In particular, Aaker [6] noted that brand equity
types of integrated marketing communication should be is composed of five dimensions which are brand awareness,
appropriately selected in order to efficiently improve brand brand‟s perceived quality, consumer association, and brand
equity. loyalty.
To enhance brand equity, the integrated marketing
Index Terms—Brand equity, integrated marketing communication concept from Kotler and Keller [5] can be
communication, beverage company
brought to use as a potential strategy that helps firms to have
or to increase their brand equity as confirmed by Schultz [7]
I. INTRODUCTION who contends that brand equity is not merely built through an
individual form of communication (such as promotion
The beverage industry in Thailand is a very competitive ,advertising, or direct marketing), but is created by managing
market. A report from Lief International, an export trading brand equity contacts by IMC. However, Kotler has recently
company, reveals that the younger generations are updated the model, and therein, several IMC tools have been
increasingly sophisticated consumers in this industry. Factors added. It appears that previous research studies on the
influencing their buying choices are an increasing urban relationship between IMC and brand equity have yet to be
lifestyle, an awareness of product alternatives, a preference further explored, since they only examined five marketing
for environmentally-friendly product, and a preference for tools, namely, advertising, promotion, direct marketing,
healthier beverage [1]. Each firm has tried to satisfy its personal selling and public relations (such as researches from
consumers by using different approaches. Brunello in 2013 [8], and from Stahl, Heitmann, Lehmann,
Effective strategic management from the management and Neslin, in 2012 [9]), when in the revised model, IMC is
level has proved a valuable instrument which helps firms to identified as consisting of advertising, promotion, event
achieve their objectives, and firms have tried to execute marketing, public relations, direct marketing, personal
different strategies in order to gain more competitive selling, word of mouth marketing and interactive marketing.
advantage. However, as important as effective strategic Moreover, in the literature, the beverage industry has been
management are marketing strategies to increase sales neglected. To fill the void, this research examines their
volume and market share. Integrated marketing relationship in a Thai beverage company by focusing on the
communication (IMC) has been used as tool of the marketing current IMC concept of Kotler and Keller.
strategies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the
correlation between IMC and a firm‟s brand equity in order
to help the firm to identify appropriate marketing strategies IV. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
which can create more competitive advantage.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study the correlation between integrated marketing

Manuscript received May 24, 2014; revised July 22, 2014.

Kulachet Mongkol is with the College of Graduate Study in Management, Fig. 1. Research framework.
Khon Kaen University, Thailand (e-mail: [email protected]). Source: Brand Equity [6]

DOI: 10.7763/IJTEF.2014.V5.413 445

 International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 5, No. 5, October 2014

V. DEFINITIONS asking generally demographic information of respondents

To illustrate the research framework (Fig. 1), several such as sex, age, marital status, education, types of work, and
significant words are defined as following: salary while questions in part two and three were arranged in
Integrate marketing communication is (IMC) is the an ordinal scale with five levels of rating scale: very high,
marketing tool of consistent brand messaging across both high, neutral, low, and very low.
traditional and non-traditional marketing channels and using Scoring criteria of respondents‟ perception on both
different methods to reinforce each other. In particular, it integrated marketing communication and brand equity is as
consisted of advertising, promotion, event marketing, public follows:
relations, direct marketing, personal selling, word of mouth Average score 4.21 - 5.00 means Very high
marketing and interactive marketing. Average score 3.41 - 4.20 means High
Brand equity is the commercial value which comes from Average score 2.61 - 3.40 means Neutral
perception of customers of the brand name of a particular Average score 1.81 - 2.60 means Low
service or product. In addition, brand equity generally does Average score 1.00 - 1.80 means Very low
not come from the service or product itself. It consists of Questionnaires were handed out to 5 specialists to verify
brand awareness, brand‟s perceived quality, consumer the content validity by identifying the Index of Item
association with the brand, and brand loyalty. Objective Congruence (IOC) by choosing questions with an
index of higher than 0.50 [11]. In relation to the reliability of
the research tool, a reliability analysis was done by
VI. METHODOLOGY determining Cronbach Alpha which equaled to 0.856.
This is essentially a survey research on Integrated
Marketing Communication and Brand Equity. Research data VII. DATA ANALYSIS
came from both primary and secondary sources.
All data were analyzed by both descriptive statistics and
A. Population and Samples inferential statistics. In particular, descriptive statistics is a
The study population included all the customers of the method used for general analysis on respondents, i.e.
beverage company in Thailand which were uncountable. percentage, measures of central tendency such as mean,
Thus, from the formula [10] measures of dispersion such as standard deviation while
Pearson‟s correlation coefficient was conducted as inferential
P(1  P) Z2 statistics in order to investigate the correlation between the
n (1)
integrated marketing communication plan and the company‟s
d2
brand equity.
n = Sample size
P = the population proportion (assumed to be .50 since this
would provide the maximum sample size) VIII. CONCLUSION
d = error acceptance Part 1: Demographic information
Z = the degree of accuracy expressed as a proportion (.05)
TABLE I: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ GENDER INFORMATION
0.5(1  0.5)(1.96) 2 Gender Percentage
n
(0.05) 2 Male 67.5
Female 32.5
n  385 Total 100

According to the formula, the samples were 385 TABLE II: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ AGE INFORMATION
respondents (Level of confidence = 95%). However, for Age Percentage
safety reason, four hundred respondents were conducted in
21-35 years 28
this study. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents
who lived in 4 different regions which were north, east, west, 36-40 years 32
and south. After that, non-probability sampling was done 41-55 years 22
using the convenience technique [11]. Over 55 years 18

B. Creating Research Tool Total 100

The research tool was created in the form of
TABLE III: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ MARITAL STATUS
questionnaires, and it was divided into three parts. INFORMATION
Part 1: The demographic information of respondents Marital Status Percentage
Part 2: Integrated marketing communication, adapted from
Single 25
theories by Kotler and Keller [5]
Married 65
Part 3: Brand equity, adapted from Aaker [6]
Divorce 8
Part 4: Respondents‟ comments on creating the brand
Others 2
equity
Questions in part one were arranged in an nominal scale, Total 100

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TABLE IV: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ EDUCATION INFORMATION Part 3: Respondents’ perception on brand equity of the
Education Percentage beverage company

Under Bachelor‟s Degree 10 TABLE VIII: RESPONDENTS‟ PERCEPTION ON BRAND EQUITY OF THE
Bachelor‟s Degree 64.5 BEVERAGE COMPANY

Master‟s Degree 18.5 Brand Equity X S.D. Meaning

Over Master‟s Degree 7 Brand awareness 3.76 0.604 Very high

Total 100 Brand‟s perceived quality 3.50 0.668 high
Consumer association with
TABLE V: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ OCCUPATION the brand
3.59 0.710 high
INFORMATION
Occupation Percentage Brand loyalty 3.23 0.796 Neutral

Student 12.2
Government Officer 8 As shown in Table VIII, brand awareness hit a very high
Private company officer 52.7 level. Similarly, customers‟ perception on the brand‟s
Business Owner 18.1 perceived quality and Consumer association with the brand
Others 9 appear at the same level, while their perception on brand
Total 100 loyalty was only in neutral level.

TABLE VI: THE CONCLUSION OF RESPONDENTS‟ INCOME INFORMATION Hypothesis Testing Results
Income (baht per month) Percentage Hypothesis: There was a correlation between integrated
Under 10,000 2
marketing communication and brand equity of the firm
H0: There was no correlation between integrated
10,000-20,000 9
marketing communication and brand equity of the firm
20,001-30,000 10.25 H1: There was a correlation between integrated marketing
30,001-40,000 15.25 communication and brand equity of the firm
40,001-50,000 59.5
TABLE IX: CORRELATION BETWEEN INTEGRATED MARKETING
Over 50,000 4 COMMUNICATION AND BRAND EQUITY OF THE FIRM
Total 100 Integrated Marketing
Correlation with the Brand Equity
Communication (IMC)
Advertising 0.233
According to Table I-Table VI, the findings revealed that
the majority of respondents were male (67.5 percent), aged Sales Promotion 0.052*
between 36-40 years old (32 percent), married (65 percent), Event Marketing 0.381*
holding bachelor‟s degrees (64.5 percent), working for Public Relations 0.015*
private companies (52.7 percent), and earning approximately
Interactive Marketing 0.330*
40,001-50,000 baht per month (59.5 percent).
Part 2: Respondents’ perception on integrated marketing Direct Marketing 0.121*

communication Personal Selling 0.091*

Word-of –Mouth Marketing 0.486*
TABLE VII: RESPONDENTS‟ PERCEPTION ON INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION The overall of IMC 0.290*
*significant level at .05
Types of IMC X S.D. Meaning

Advertising 2.88 1.063 Neutral The results shown in Table IX suggest that that sales
Promotion 2.81 0.693 Neutral promotion, event marketing, public relations, interactive
Event marketing 3.38 0.810 High marketing, direct marketing personal selling and word of
mouth marketing were directly related to brand equity. In
Public relation 3.30 0.810 Neutral
contrast, advertising was the only tool which was not related
Direct marketing 2.56 0.677 Low
to brand equity.
Personal Selling 3.83 0.831 High Part 4: Respondents’ comments on creating the brand
Word of mouth 3.05 0.890 Neutral equity
Interactive marketing 2.68 1.194 Neutral Most of respondents agreed that IMC can create the firm‟s
brand equity. Nevertheless, they essentially prefer personal
selling since they contend that staffs always have quick
Based on the findings in Table VII, only event marketing
response to their needs, and they feel secure to do business
and personal selling were highly recognized by customers.
with the firm.
Advertising, promotion, word of mouth and interactive
marketing were moderately effective, creating a neutral level
of perception, while direct marketing seemed to be an
IX. DISCUSSION
inefficient type of IMC since customers‟ perception were at a
low level. The results from hypothesis testing suggest that there was

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 International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 5, No. 5, October 2014

a correlation between integrated marketing communication addition, as we have realized that the advertising costs
and the brand equity. This is in line with Aaker [2], Kotler especially in television media or billboard are considerably
and Keller [5], Kumar [12], Raggio and Leone [13] and high; thus, reducing the advertising cost can definitely help
Aaker [4], who agreed that firms could create their brand firms to lower their total cost, and this leads firms to gain
equity by implementing IMC. They contended that IMC more competitive advantage.
encouraged customers to aware and perceive quality of
products and services. In particular, the results showed that
every IMC tool except advertising was related to the brand XI. RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE STUDY
equity in the same direction. Such an observation is also 1) Rather than IMC, different marketing tools should be
attested in Tanittanakorn [14], which shows word of mouth explored whether they could be able to create firms‟
was one of the most efficient tools of marketing since the cost brand equity.
of word of mouth was normally low. This in turn provided 2) The same conceptual framework of this study should be
more reliability than other types of IMC because word of examined with different industries in order to confirm if
mouth always came from people who perceived the quality of IMC really create brand equity.
the brand. Furthermore, the results can be also related to the 3) Since this study reveals that advertising somehow does
study of Tanittanakorn [14], where it is argued that event not create the firm‟s brand equity; therefore, future study
marketing was an efficient marketing tool that penetrated should pay more attention on this marketing tool.
targets, and to the study of Changchooto [15], which finds Furthermore, a qualitative study using in-depth study can
interactive marketing or online marketing plays an important help a researcher to have more understanding on brand
role in terms of introducing products‟ information. It is equity creation.
indeed a contemporary tool which could efficiently access
new customers in the digital age. REFERENCES
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X. RECOMMENDATION FROM THE STUDY
This study reveals that the perception of customers on Kulachet Mongkol is currently an assistant professor at
direct marketing of this beverage company is in the low level the College of Graduate Study in Management, Khon
Kaen University, Thailand. Dr. Kulachet received his
range; thus, the company should pay more attention on such Ph.D. degree in management from the University of
an IMC tool which consists of advertising, promotion, event Canberra, Australia and MSA degree in international
marketing, public relation, direct marketing, personal selling, administration from Central Michigan University,
U.S.A. Prior to his appointment at Khon Kaen
word of mouth, and interactive marketing. In particular, University, Dr. Kulachet was a deputy director at the Center for Logistics
personal selling should be more focused since the findings Education and Research, and was an economist at the Fiscal Policy Office,
show that it was highly recognized by customers. Ministry of Finance, Thailand. His research is primarily in the areas of
strategic management, and his work has been published in a number of
Nevertheless, because there seems to be no correlation international academic journals including Research Journal of Business
between advertising and the brand equity of the firm, Management and International Journal of Arts and Sciences.
marketers should revisit the issue of advertising budget. In

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