Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e

14. Promotion −
    Introduction to Integrated
    Marketing
    Communications

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

Promotion_Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications 401

The communication process is complicated even more because the receiver

knows the message is not only coming from a source but also through some message

channel—the carrier of the message. A source can use many message channels to

deliver a message. The salesperson does it in person with voice and action. Adver-

tising must do it with magazines, newspapers, radio, and TV, or with media such as

e-mail or Internet websites. A particular message channel may enhance or detract

from a message. A TV ad, for example, can showthat Dawn dishwashing detergent

“takes the grease away”; the same claim might not be very convincing—or might

be resented—if it arrived in a consumer’s e-mail. On the other hand, a receiver may

attach value to a product if the message comes in a well-respected newspaper or

magazine. Some consumers buy products advertised in Good Housekeepingmagazine,

for example, because they have faith in its seal, which carries a two-year limited

warranty to replace a product (or refund the purchase price) if the product is

defective.^6

Different audiences may see the same message in different ways or interpret the

same words differently. Such differences are common in international marketing

when cultural differences or translation are problems. In Taiwan, the translation of

the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will

bring your ancestors back from the dead.” When Frank Perdue said, “It takes a tough

man to make a tender chicken,” Spanish speakers heard “It takes a sexually stimu-

lated man to make a chicken affectionate.” Worse, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic

Water in Italy translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water. Many firms run

into problems like this.^7

Problems occur even when there is no translation. For example, a new children’s

cough syrup was advertised as extra strength. The advertising people thought they

were assuring parents that the product worked well. But Moms and Dads avoided

the product because they feared that it might be too strong for their children.

Promotion is one of the most often criticized areas of marketing, and many of

the criticisms focus on whether communications are honest and fair. Marketers must

sometimes make ethical judgments in considering these charges and in planning

their promotion.

Video publicity releases provide an interesting example. When a TV news pro-

gram broadcasts a video publicity release, consumers don’t know it was prepared to

Message channel is

important too

The same message

may be interpreted

differently

Ethical issues in

marketing

communications

Good Housekeeping is taking

advantage of consumer

confidence in its seal and has

developed a new program for

website certification.