The integration of marketing communications 407
major retail chains is further evidence of the
desire to establish direct contact with the
customer base – for long-term advantage. The
encouragement of a ‘feedback’ loop is a facet of
marketing communications which is destined
to grow apace over the next few years and, as
companies perceive the benefits of encouraging
a positive relationship with their customers,
their consumers, their suppliers and others, so
we will witness the growth of developed two-
way marketing communications programmes.
It has to be recognized that contemporary
marketing is more complex than at any other
time in the past. No longer is it sufficient to rely
on the traditional marketing mix variables to
achieve differentiation between manufacturers.
Areas such as product design and develop-
ment, pricing policies, and distribution in
themselves are no longer capable of delivering
the long-term differentiation required. With an
increasing level of convergent technologies,
product innovation may be going on in parallel
between rival manufacturers, even without
their knowing what the other is doing. And,
even where this is not the case, any new feature
can rapidly be copied by the competition.
Where once a new feature, ingredient or other
product attribute would enable a manufacturer
to achieve a unique stance for an extended
period, today this is no longer the case. One has
only to look at the area of the rapid innovation
within the soap powder and detergent markets
to see just how speedily rival manufacturers
catch up with each other.
With the concentration of distribution into
relatively few hands, the opportunities for
achieving sole distribution of brands is mini-
mized. Indeed, the retailers themselves repre-
sent an increasing threat to the manufacturers’
brands as their packaging moves ever closer to
that of the manufacturers’ own.
Pricing, once a major area of differentia-
tion, similarly provides less scope. The pressure
on margins brought about by the increasingly
competitive nature of retailers’ own products
has restricted the scope to use price to differ-
entiate effectively. Clearly, this is particularly
true of fast-moving consumer goods, where
price dissimilarity can only operate over a very
narrow range. Other products, such as per-
fumes and toiletries, and luxury goods ranging
from hi-fis to cars, still have more flexibility in
the area of price.
We are left, therefore, with only one of the
four marketing mix variables which can be
utilized to achieve effective brand discrimina-
tion – marketing communications. Schultz et al.
(1992) argue that the area of marketing commu-
nications will, increasingly, be the only oppor-
tunity of achieving sustainable competitive
advantage.
If all other things are equal – or at least more
or less so – then it is what people think, feel and
believe about a product and its competitors
which will be important. Since products in many
areas will achieve parity or comparability in
purely functional terms, it will be the perceptual
differences which consumers will use to discrim-
inate between rival brands. Only through the use
of sustained and integrated marketing commu-
nications campaigns will manufacturers be able
to achieve the differentiation they require.
To appreciate the impact of this statement,
it is worth looking at a market which replicates
many of the features described above. In the
bottled water market, several brands coexist,
each with unique positionings in the minds of
the consumer. Yet, in repeated blind tastings,
few consumers can identify any functional
characteristics which could be used as the basis
for brand discrimination.The benefits of integrated marketing communications
Undeniably, the process of integration affords a
great number of benefits to the companies
which adopt it. Linton and Morley (1995)
suggest nine potential benefits of IMC:1 Creative integrity.
2 Consistent messages.