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However, as indicated by the work of
Grein and Gould (1996), the level of inter-office
communications made the task of effective
integration difficult to achieve.
Integrated marketing communications – a summary
Using the analogy of Kitchen and Schultz
(1999), who considered the state and acceptance
of IMC against the product life cycle, it can be
reasonably concluded that IMC is a marketing
concept which is still emerging. As such, it
might be positioned somewhere between its
introduction and growth stage.
A point of issue is the difference between
academic understanding of the concept and its
role in the context of the practitioner. Kitchen
argues that IMC, from the academic standpoint,
is just over 10 years old, pointing to the work of
Caywoodet al. (1991) as the starting point for
academic study.
In practice, the notion of IMC – albeit not
the words – has been around for a considerably
longer period. The author of this paper was
responsible for the establishment of a market-
ing communications agency, The Above and
Below Group, in 1972, whose existence was
founded on the provision of integrated commu-
nications activities to its clients.
However, several important dimensions of
the practice of IMC can be recognized:
IMC is an increasingly important facet of the
practice of marketing communications.
An increasing number of client companies and
their agencies strive to achieve deeper and
better integration of their marketing
communications activities.
It reflects both an underlying conceptual as
well as a practical change in the way in which
marketing communications programmes are
developed and implemented.
The desire to achieve global presence for their
brands drives companies towards the
achievement of consistent imagery for their
brands, and coherent messages in their
communications programmes.
In contrast to the views of Cornellisen et al.
(2000), IMC is not a management fad.
A continued inhibition to the development of
IMC remains the internal structure of client
companies and the defence of departmental
independence.
IMC will require the emergence of a new
breed of communicators who can command a
generalistic overview of all the tools of
marketing communications from a brand
management perspective.
Whilst it remains true that some brands can
still achieve effective communications despite
disintegration, ‘all of the evidence points to the
fact that it will take longer and runs the risk of
confusing the very people you wish to sell to
along the way’ (Iddiols, 2000).The way forward is summarized in the paper
prepared by the American Productivity and
Quality Centre Study (1998). The study identifies
a series of key best practice issues which focus on
the achievement of excellence in terms of brand
development and communication. Those com-
panies which most exemplified best practice: concentrate on a few key brands and provide
streamlined and sophisticated brand support;
provide the leadership and support of senior
management in developing and sustaining
successful brands;
provide the consumer and customer-led
informational infrastructure to achieve an
all-round view of the brand network;
define their brands in terms of core values,
promise and personality that provide guidance,
meaning and focus for all brand-related
activities;
view communication as an opportunity to
project a unified image, not just of individual
brands, but also of the company itself;
have started to move towards the financial
measurement of brands and related
communications activities.