Integrated Marketing Communications

by Ethan Cole
 
 

All of us have heard of communications. It is the business that is probably using up the single largest chunk of our salaries year on year. It ranges from the movie business to the more insidious advertising and direct marketing business, which pummel us with messages on a daily basis in order to make us crave more goods and become willing slaves of materialism. But, with so many different messages flying around in all directions, have you ever wondered how people are able to keep track? Or even if all these messages are complementing rather than contradicting each other? Well, welcome to the world of integrated marketing communications.

Integrated marketing communications is nothing but getting the messaging in various kinds of communication to be the same. What this means in actual terms is that agencies which typically use above the line, below the line and web based channels to convey information to intended target audiences have so far enjoyed the luxury of crafting different messages. While it is good news for the agencies as they get to charge again and again for the creative development, it is not such good news for the clients as not only do they have to pay again and again for the work, the results of the work too are not akin to integrated marketing communications.
 

What is integrated about integrated marketing communications is the fact that the message, whether it is above the line, below the line or delivered through the web channel, remains consistent. This consistency in integrated marketing communications is what makes them exceptionally successful. Imagine this. You are reading the newspaper and you see the message for a service. You watch television and you see the same message for the same service, albeit in a different kind of execution. You go online to see a revision of the same thing. The next time you need that service, whom are you likely to call? This is where integrated marketing communications scores big!

Most conventional advertising and direct marketing agencies are nowadays turning towards integrated marketing communications. The trend is catching up so fast that most agencies today favor integrated marketing communications set ups as opposed to above the line and below the line and are dismantling or consolidating their older set ups. Integrated marketing communications is the wave of the future and the brands and the agencies that hop on and ride with it today are the ones that will be able to make a mark in the days to come.

Makes you think twice about what you see.....