Using Means-End Analysis to Test Integrated Marketing Communications Effects

This article describes a study testing key aspects of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) concept, employing means-end analytical techniques. Although the hypothesized effects were not observed, the study is timely and ground-breaking because it contributes a new empirical approach to the IMC body of literature. It may also serve as a catalyst for additional research in the field.     

The Impact of Brand Equity and the Company's Reputation on Revenues

Abstract

This paper intends to establish the relationships among variables in corporate communications, especially between advertising and public relations, and to form an evaluation model for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation in the context of integrated marketing communications (IMC). A new approach for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation was introduced and the IMC evaluation model was specified for testing. The proposed model was tested with existing secondary data. The outcomes indicated that both brand equity and the company's reputation have significant impact on revenues and showed the positive relationship between brand equity and the company's reputation in the proposed model to justify the need of IMC in overall corporate communications.     

Integrated Marketing Communications and New Product Performance in International Markets

ABSTRACT

This research probes marketing communications for international product launch. Marketing communications is found to be more visible if the firm is more marketing proficient and the market is more turbulent. The communicated messages are less consistent when the firm is more proficient in marketing and the market is more hostile, but more consistent when the firm is more internationalized and the market is more turbulent. Both visibility and message consistency of marketing communications enhance new product performance. However, greater visibility lowers message consistency, implying that message and media strategies for international product launch need to be carefully formulated and handled.     

Allocating a Promotion Budget between Advertising and Sales Contest Prizes: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective

This paper develops and analyzes a normative model for allocating a fixed, short-term promotion budget between product advertising and prizes of a rank-order sales contest for a homogeneous sales force when sales are driven by both personal selling effort and advertising. The model provides insights into how the optimal budget allocations vary with the synergy between advertising and selling effort, sales force size, salesperson risk-tolerance, perceived cost of effort, selling effectiveness and sales response uncertainty. The analysis highlights the need for and value of close coordination between marketing and sales management in designing a promotion program involving both advertising and sales force incentives.     

An IMC Process Framework for a Communications-Based Services Marketing Model

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) has been presented and examined; and, it has been challenged recently by some researchers questioning its relevance. However, some practitioners and academics still embrace its use. Presented through a case study, this article complements and extends the work of others by showing the importance of attribute identification through comprehensive research. It suggests that the message may be the starting place for measurement of IMC. Senior managers should consider this study's proposed IMC process framework where the product focus or corporate mission statement is the first step for IMC brand message positioning to help improve both short-term and long-term sales and profits.     

Electronic Marketing Communications: An Evolving Environment,but Similar Story Regarding the Perception of Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail and Postal Direct Mail

The internet is still a relatively new mass communication tool for advertisers and marketers. When weighing the potential benefits of electronic techniques against the financial investment, spam seems particularly attractive to marketers for either for-profit or non-profit objectives. Since it is unlikely that marketers will decrease their efforts related to spam and postal direct mail as a form of communicating to mass consumers, it is important to track consumer attitudes so that audiences are not subjected to the backlash predicted by psychological reactance. The results of this study found that spam is more irritating than postal direct mail at both T₁ (2004) and T₂ (2006), and participants in T₂ found both direct marketing communication methods more intrusive than those in T₁.     

Defining and Understanding Communications Planning: A Current Assessment and an Exploratory Study

This article discusses the concept of communications planning (CP), an approach adopted by Procter & Gamble. One of the basic goals of CP is to make every consumer touch point a unique one so that messages are carefully and specifically targeted. Another goal of CP is to develop an industry-wide approach to measuring ROI so that advertisers have the ability to compare and contrast the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. This article introduces the topic of CP, assesses its role in the advertising and marketing environment and presents the results of an exploratory study. The findings suggest that although some agencies have heard of the concept and a few are actually applying it, CP is an approach that is currently limited in its use. Despite this finding, results also indicate that the basic idea of CP will be accepted and implemented in the future.     

Customer Testimonials and News Clips as Contextual Cues in the Consumer Cognitive Processing of Online Shopping

SUMMARY

This study examines to what extent degrees of nudity presented in advertising differ across five countries (Brazil, China, South Korea, Thailand, and the U.S.). Content is examined by media type (TV vs. magazine) and product category (congruent vs. others). Results show that Thai and U.S. ads employ the highest degrees of nudity, whereas Chinese ads present the lowest degrees. Across all the countries, magazine ads and congruent-product ads employ higher degrees of nudity than TV ads and non-congruent product ads. The effect of product type on degrees of nudity is stronger in TV ads than in magazine ads and the interaction effect between media type and product type also varies across the countries. Our study provides richer and more specific implications for global advertising strategy with respect to representation of models and use of sex appeals.     

Buffalo Bill' Wild West and John M. Burke

Abstract

Public relations and advertising textbooks either ignore or treat the old fashioned press agent with contempt. Yet the origin of modern day sports and entertainment promotion dates back to a group of press agents who made important contributions to the marketing communication tactics we take for granted. From 1884 to 1917, the promotion of Buffalo Bill' Wild West incorporated advertising, public relations, and integrated marketing communication strategies and tactics. Many of these tactics are still in use today. A case will be made to view Buffalo Bill as a ?brand“ By doing so, the promotion of the Wild West takes on a new meaning. Buffalo Bill' press agent, John M. Burke, for more than 30 years increased the ?brand equity“ of the Buffalo Bill product through effective and strategically sound advertising and public relations campaigns. For example, building upon the long circus tradition in American folk culture, Burke staged parade events headed by Buffalo Bill to generate major press coverage when the Wild West arrived in local communities. Although Burke might not have had the formal education and access to the latest in communication technology to promote the Wild West, he certainly had the brains and skills