Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications (PG 99 105)

84 Components of IMC
COBA media
How does COBA reach its target audience? Generally speaking, COBA is
placed in traditional mass media, because it can do the best job of creating
awareness of a brand, although there has been significant growth in the use
of ‘new media’. Mass media includes such things as television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, outdoor, and now the internet and mobile phones.
Of these, the best medium for driving brand awareness will usually be
television. Because of the intrusive nature of television and its ability to
sustain attention, as well as the dynamic nature of the medium (for example,
pictures, movement, seen and spoken words, music), it is also the strongest
medium for building brand attitude. Only when a complex message is
involved, requiring more information to be presented and processed (for
example, with high-involvement informational advertising, as we see later
in the chapter), will television not be the primary medium. Other mass media
may be part of the IMC plan, but for most COBA, television should be the
primary medium. We deal with all of this in much more detail when we
discuss media in Chapters 11 and 12, as well as brand awareness and brand
attitude strategies later in this chapter.
Television’s share of all advertising spending worldwide in 2012 was 40%,
over twice the share of newspaper at 19% and the internet at 18% (Figure
4.2). According to projections, by 2015 the internet’s share of advertising
spending is expected to increase to 23%, largely at the expense of newspaper
and magazines. Television’s share is expected to remain at 40%. The
dominant position of television is underscored by a study done in Australia
(reported in Rossiter and Bellman, 2005). When asked what media they
used, advertisers almost all say they use television, and most say they use
radio and print. When asked which medium they use most, over two-thirds
Copyright © 2014. Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.
Media Use %
Television 40.2
Newspaper 18.8
Internet 18.0
Magazine 8.8
Outdoor 7.2
Radio 7.0
Figure 4.2 Worldwide share of advertising media spending.

Source: Zenith Optimedia as reported in Advertising Age, 31 December 2012.
Percy, Larry. Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications, Taylor and Francis, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bibliotecaie-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1721034.
Created from bibliotecaie-ebooks on 2017-12-29 10:07:48.
Traditional advertising 85
said television, with less than a quarter replying newspapers, and only a
few magazines, radio, or outdoor.
COBA should be the dominant form of marketing communication in any
IMC campaign for a brand. The primary means of delivering the advertising
message in almost all cases should be television because of its unique ability
to reach large audiences and sustain attention. Other mass media, as well
as other non-traditional means, may also be used where appropriate.
Retail advertising
Retail advertising, as already pointed out, may focus on either the image of
the store itself, or on the products or services it offers. But even when the
advertising features products or services, it will influence the image of the
store. Anything connected with a retail store will be part of how that store
is perceived, because those things will be part of the associations in memory
linked to it. So, while retail image advertising has a direct effect on building
brand attitude for a store, advertisements for the products it sells will have
an indirect effect on attitudes towards the store.
If you were to see advertising for a new women’s clothing store and it
was featuring expensive designer labels in the advertisements, you will have
knowledge and assumptions about such clothing in memory, and this will
be associated with the new store as you form a perception of the store’s
image and initial attitudes towards it . On the other hand, if the new store
featured mass-market brands of women’s sportswear, your initial attitudes
will be much different. A retail store’s image will clearly be affected by the
products it sells.
In every sense, retail advertising is brand advertising, whether featuring
brands on offer or the store itself as a brand. But it should be pointed out
that most retail ‘advertising’ is not traditional advertising as we are defining

it. Most is promotion. In other words, for most of the ‘advertising’ run by
retailers the primary communication objective is immediate brand purchase
intention, not building brand attitude for the store. The retailer wants you
to come and visit the store. Even though most people, even marketing man-
agers, call this ‘advertising’, it is important to understand that strategically
unless the primary communication objective is brand awareness and brand
attitude, it is not advertising. Building positive awareness and attitude is
the role traditional advertising performs in IMC.
Retail advertising media

Most retail advertising is local in nature because the target audience for
any particular retail store will be drawn from its immediate geographic area.
This means media selection will be oriented to local media, as well as ‘new
media’. However, retailers with stores in many cities or even multinationally
(for example, large franchise operations like Benetton or McDonald’s, or
large retailers such as H&M) will, of course, use media with broader reach.
Regardless, the appropriate media device must reflect the advertising’s
strategic and communication objectives.
At the strategic level, when advertising is dealing with products or services
offered by the retailer, newspaper will generally be the primary medium.
An important aspect of the appropriateness of newspapers for retail product
advertising is that it relies on the fact that the products advertised also have
COBA support. Thus, retail advertisements are reinforcing brand awareness,
and alerting the consumer to where the brand may be purchased. Remember
that we are talking about retail advertising here, not retail promotion where
the emphasis will be on price. However, with steadily falling circulation,
various forums of ‘new media’ are playing a greater role.
When a retailer is advertising their own product or service, the same media
appropriate for COBA should be used. This means primarily local television,
with print in support. This should also be the choice for store image
advertising, again for the same reasons discussed for COBA. In all cases,
the media chosen must be appropriate for the specific brand awareness and
brand attitude strategies (which are discussed later in the chapter).
The role of channels marketing in IMC

This is a good place to introduce the idea of channels marketing because it
involves the use of advertising (as well as promotion) by a marketer in
conjunction with retailers and other areas of the trade.
Channels marketing is a term that refers to marketing communications
geared to assisting the marketer at all levels of trade. The term ‘channels
marketing’ evolved out of the importance of trade-oriented promotions. The
two principal components of channels marketing are co-op advertising and
tactical marketing. While co-operative or co-op advertising has been around
for a long time, tactical marketing is something relatively new. Co-op
advertising is an arrangement between a marketer and a retailer to co-operate
when selling the marketer’s brand or service. It consists of advertising
programmes that are nothing more than extensions of the marketer’s
basic marketing communication plan, funded in whole or part by the
advertiser, and designed to assist the retailer in selling the brand or service.
Unfortunately, marketers lack control over co-op and cannot be sure it will
be used as planned.
Tactical marketing, however, is a channel-oriented marketing communi-
cation system that is designed to alter the terms of marketing in favour of
the marketer and leverage incremental support from the retailers, and other
areas of the trade by offering them specific advertising and promotion paid
for by the advertiser on an earned basis. Simply put, the concept is to offer
the retailer comprehensive customized advertising and promotional support
in exchange for incremental sales features, distribution and/or store space.
Co-op advertising
Co-op advertising and tactical marketing may appear quite similar, as they
should; tactical marketing is an outgrowth of basic co-op principles, but
the difference lies in the nature of how these techniques are applied. Co-op
programmes are usually broad in scope and passive in nature. In a typical
co-op arrangement, a brand’s entire retailer base is eligible to participate,
with retailers earning a certain budget for advertising or promotion based
on sales volume. The marketer provides set material for use by the retailer,
and then reimburses the retailer for its use on a periodic basis up to the limits
of an established budget.
Generally, the retailer takes advantage of the money and marketing
communication as they see fit. To counter this, marketers should make a
special attempt to encourage greater retailer participation or a particular
strategic shift in retailer activity by manipulating allowances or methods of
allocating funds. For the most part, however, traditional co-op programmes
are straightforward.
Tactical marketing
Tactical marketing is always a proactive effort. When tactical marketing is
considered, a brand is looking for specific and incremental support from a
given retailer. In return for this support, the marketer will create a specific
programme tailored to the needs of that retailer, and will fund and implement
the programme. With tactical marketing the marketer controls the entire
process from beginning to end.
Tactical marketing concepts grew out of the need for brands to provide
a more individualized execution than was possible with most co-op pro-
grammes. In traditional co-op advertising, the marketer reimburses the
retailer or pays them all or part of the cost of the advertising or promotion.
As retailers became more and more powerful through consolidation and
the formation of buying groups and with the expansion of national chains
through mergers, they began using co-op advertising as a profit centre to
offset their operating costs. Frequently, funds went to increasing store
margins and other non-advertising functions. With an increasing power
advantage, retailers began forcing marketers to participate in retailer initiated
programmes which may or may not have been to the advantage of the
marketer or its brands. In effect, the marketer had lost control of co-op
programmes to the retailer.
As a result of this situation, the tactical marketing concept was developed
as an alternative retailer marketing system that could provide the marketer
a means of extending brand support at the retail level with control flexibility,
while providing complete coordination and production services to the
retailer. This means that a retailer could take advantage of marketing
communication provided by the marketer, but also in more of a partnership.
Tactical marketing also enlarges on the more traditional print orientation
of co-op programmes by providing the retailer access to television and radio
commercials, direct marketing, sponsorships, outdoor and other IMC
options. But perhaps most importantly in terms of IMC, a specific marketing
communication plan customized to particular retailers is used, one consistent
with the overall IMC strategy.
Overall, co-op advertising programmes tend to be general, passive and
standardized, whereas tactical marketing is specific, proactive, individu-
alized and highly participatory.
B2B advertising
B2B advertising is targeted to those who are part of the decision-making
process for purchasing products or services for a company, who may or
may not be the end-user. This is especially true for advertising targeted to
the trade (for example, wholesalers or distributors). In such cases, B2B
advertising is concerned with maintaining awareness and positive brand
attitude for a company’s products so that the trade will stock and sell them.
Given the nature of the market for B2B products, the target audience for
advertising tends to be much smaller than the target audience for most
COBA. While the target audience is likely to be small (relatively), the com-
position of that target audience tends to be more complex. IMC programmes
with B2B advertising will be targeted not only in terms of the decision-
makers involved, but also targeted to the type of product or service being
offered. The first step is to identify target companies, then the right people
in those companies involved in the decision process.
For most B2B purchase decisions, there will be more than one person
involved in the process. But while many people may be involved, it is
important to remember that advertising must be directed to individuals;
individuals in their role within the decision process. This is the case, of
course, for all advertising. But the likelihood of a number of different people
playing important yet different roles in the purchase decision process is
much greater in B2B marketing.
Consider Rolls-Royce jet engines. Their target market is obviously quite
small, comprised of only a handful of jet aircraft manufacturers. But within
that select market, they must maintain a high-brand salience (when the need
for jet aircraft engines arises, they want Rolls-Royce to come to mind), and
they need to build and nurture a positive brand attitude among all of those
in the target companies likely to be involved in the selection of a jet engine
supplier. This is likely to be a group decision at the target companies, but
the advertising must be strategically targeted to each individual within the
role they play in the decision process. There will be technical experts and
engineers who help influence the selection, there will be senior management
involved, and there may also be outside consultants advising the company.
The message to each group must reflect their role, yet be consistent in terms
of the overall approach.
IMC plays a key role in keeping images consistent over different messages
to different target audiences. It may make strategic sense to focus on different
benefit sets for each target, requiring different executions, however the ‘look
and feel’ must be the same, projecting a consistent overall image for the
company and brand. This is especially important for something that has
been called dual channel marketing, where a company sells virtually the
same product or service to both consumers and business (Biemans, 1998).
B2B media
Depending on the size of the target market, the appropriate media for B2B
advertising will vary. With very small target markets, traditional media
advertising as such may not make much sense, beyond advertising-like
messages in brochures or other aids for the sales force. With larger target
markets, direct mail targeted to appropriate decision-makers may be used,
and depending on their specific reach, certain trade publications or business

magazines will be appropriate.
As with most things, there are exceptions. If a company’s target market
is potentially very large, mass media would make sense. International
carriers such as DHL or UPS, for example, use television advertising
because of its broad reach. Their target would include anyone responsible
for shipping at any company with shipping needs. Think of advertising you
have seen for them. It is addressing individuals in their role as someone
responsible for deciding how things are to be shipped.
The influence of the internet on B2B marketing has been dramatic.
Advert-like messages on a company’s home page are also an option, as
well as other internet advertising at appropriate sites. There was a significant
movement by B2B marketers to internet advertising in the 1990s, and away
from more traditional print media. But now there is a notable return to
traditional print media, as well as the use of television (especially on
business-oriented programming). This follows a realization that while
business decision-makers do go to the internet for specific, targeted infor-
mation, there is a need to raise the salience of a company’s products before
they are looking for more targeted information. More traditional media
provides this opportunity.
Corporate image advertising

Corporate image advertising is traditionally defined as advertising that
promotes a company rather than a specific product or service. The decision
to include corporate image advertising as a part of an IMC programme in
addition to other brand-oriented advertising is an important strategic
decision. It is important because it helps in building and sustaining corporate
image, identity and reputation (as discussed in Chapter 3). Overall, it tends
to be used more by larger companies than smaller companies.
Many managers feel that corporate image advertising sends an important
message to other businesses, reinforcing its reputation within its market.
Studies have suggested that the more a company uses corporate image
advertising, the more it is ‘admired’ among B2B marketers (Clow and
Baack, 2004). In the USA in the early 1990s, 65% of service companies,
61% of business goods manufacturers, and 41% of consumer goods
companies included corporate image advertising as part of their marketing
communication programme (Schumann et al., 1991).
Because corporate image advertising does not promote any one product
or service, some consider it an extension of public relations (PR). But PR
relies on a company’s message being delivered by various media without
cost to the company, and with PR a company does not have control over
the final message that is delivered. For those reasons, we feel corporate
image advertising should be considered as a part of the advertising-like
component of IMC, and not as an extension of PR.
In addition to direct corporate image messages, there are two indirect
ways in which corporate image advertising may be used to help enhance
the image and reputation of a company: advocacy advertising and cause-
related advertising (Myer, 1999). Corporate advertising that deals with
important social, business or environmental issues is known as advocacy
advertising. To the extent that the issues addressed are salient and important
to a company’s target market, and the message succeeds in positively
associating the company with that issue, it will help build positive attitudes
towards the company. When a company is linked with a charity as part of
cause-related marketing, and that link is advertised, it is referred to as cause-
related advertising and part of social marketing. This too can help build

Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications (PG 99 105)

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications (PG 99 105)

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

84 Components of IMC

Figure 4.2 Worldwide share of advertising media spending.

that most retail ‘advertising’ is not traditional advertising as we are deﬁning

Retail advertising media

The role of channels marketing in IMC

and depending on their speciﬁc reach, certain trade publications or business

Corporate image advertising

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen