IMC TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY

• Information processing model of

communication
• Overview of marketing communication
options
• Developing IMC programme
 Simple test for marketing communication effectiveness

Current Desired
Brand COMMUNICATION Brand
knowledge knowledge

1. What is our current brand knowledge? Have you created

a detailed mental map
2. What is our detailed brand knowledge? Have you
defined optimal P..O.P. & P.O.D. and brand values?
3. How does the communication option help the brand get
from current to desired knowledge with customers?
 Information processing model of
communication
William Mcguire’s 6 step communication process:
1. Exposure
2. Attention
3. Comprehension
4. Yielding
5. Intentions
6. Behaviour
If there is a breakdown or failure in any one step along the
way, then successful communication will not result.
Therefore, for successful IMC campaign, marketers must
attempt to increase the likelyhood that each step occurs.
 Overview of marketing communications
options
In designing & evaluating an ad campaign, it is important to
distinguish the message strategy or positioning of an ad
from its creative strategy

2 main concerns in devising an advertising strategy:

• Defining the proper positioning to maximise brand equity
• Identifying the best creative strategy to communicate or
convey the desired positioning
 Define positioning &
establish brand equity
• Create competitive frame of reference:
- nature of competition
- target markets
• Point of parity attributes or benefits:
- necessary
- competitive
• Point of difference attributes or benefits:
- desirable
- deliverable
 Identify creative strategy to communicate
positioning concept
Rossiter & Percy’s Grid
*Brand
recognition Established target audience
at point of
purchase Relief Reward
Low risk
purchase purchase
#Brand
Relief Reward
Recall High risk
prior to purchase purchase
purchase New target audience
Brand attitude
Informational Transformational
Motivation Negative Positive
*Brand leads to category requirements
#Category requirement leads to the brand
Identify creative strategy to communicate positioning concepts:
• Informational (benefit elaboration):
- problem solving
- demonstration
- product comparison
- testimonial (celebrity or unknown consumer)
• Transformational (imagery portrayal):
- typical or aspirational usage situation
- typical or aspirational usage of products
- brand personality or values
• Motivational (“borrowed interest” techniques):
Humour Sex appeal Fear
Warmth Music Special effects
 Alternative Communication Options
(Consumer)

• Media Advertising (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines)

• Direct Response Advertising
• Interactive (on-line) Advertising & Web Sites
• Outdoor Advertising (billboards, posters, cinema)
• Point-of-Purchase Advertising
• Trade Promotions
• Consumer Promotions
• Sponsorship of Event Marketing
• Publicity or Public Relations
 Radio ads

According to David Aaker four factors are

critical:
1. Identify your ad earlier in the commercial
2. Identify it often
3. Promise the listeners a benefit early in the
commercial
4. Repeat it often
 Print ads
Following questions must be answered affirmatively
concerning the execution elements:
1. Is the message clear at a glance?
2. Is the benefit in the headline?
3. Does the illustration support the headline?
4. Does the first line of the copy support or explain the
headline or illustration?
5. Is the ad easy to read & follow?
6. Is the product easily identifiable?
7. Is the brand or sponsor clearly identified?
 Ad Campaign Considerations
• Campaigns make brands -- not single ads
• Be creative and develop creative themes
– Avoid slavishly sticking to executional formulas
• Brand communications should sing like a choir
– Multiple voices
– Multiple notes
• Find fresh consumer insights & compelling brand
truths
• Productively conduct ad research
 Common Mistakes in
Developing Advertising
• Failure to distinguish ad positioning (what you
say) from ad creative (how you say it)
• Mistaken assumptions about consumer
knowledge
• Improperly positioned
• Failure to break through the clutter
• Distracting, overpowering creative in ads
 Common Mistakes in
Developing Advertising
(cont.)
• Under-branded ads
• Failure to use supporting media
• Changing campaigns too frequently
• Substituting ad frequency for ad quality
 Direct Marketing
3 critical ingredients:
1. Developing an up-to-date & informative
list of current & future potential cutomers
2. Putting forth the right offer in the right
manner
3. Tracking the effectiveness of the
marketing programme
 On-line

• Banner ads
• “Sky-scrapper” ads
• Personalized messages
 Sales promotion
Issues in deciding sales promotion:
1. Type: What type of promotion should be used? Immediate vs.
delayed value? Price vs. added value?
2. Product scope: To what pack sizes or models should promotion
apply? Multiple or selective?
3. Market scope: In which geographic market should the promotion be
offered?
4. Timing: When should promotion be offered & for how long?
5. Discount rate: What implicit or explicit discounts should be
attached to the promotion?
6. Terms: What terms of sale should be attached to the promotion?
 Event Marketing & Sponsorship
Reasons for sponsoring events:
1. To identify with a particular target market or lifestyle
2. To increase awareness of the company or product name
3. To create or reinforce consumer perceptions of the key
brand associations
4. To enhance corporate image dimensions
5. To create experience & evoke feelings
6. To express commitment to the community or on social
issues
7. To entertain key elements or reward key employees
8. To permit merchandise or promotional opportunities
 Public Relations & Publicity
MARKETERS NOW RECOGNISE THAT
ALTHOUGH PUBLIC RELATIONS IS INVALUABLE
DURING A MARKETING CRISIS,
IT ALSO NEEDS TO BE A ROUTINE PART OF ANY
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME.

EVEN COMPANIES THAT PRIMARILY USE

ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS CAN
BENEFIT FROM WELL-CONCEIVED &
WELL-EXECUTED PUBLICITY
 Buzz marketing
Occasionally, a product enters the market with a little fanfare
yet is still able to attract a strong consumer base:
• Something about the product attracts a core group of
consumers, who are eager to spread the word of the product
among their peers
• News travels in this fashion until enough tongues are
wagging to constitute a “buzz” about the brand
• Increasingly companies are attempting to create consumer
word-of-mouth through various techniques often caled buzz
marketing
 Developing Integrated Marketing
Communications Programme
• Strategies behind marketing communications programmes have
changed dramatically over the years
• Marketers should “mix & match” communications options to
build brand equity:
- choose a variety of different communication options
that share common meaning & content but also offer
different, complementary options
- establishing brand awareness & a positive brand image in
consumer’ minds produces the knowledge structures that can
affect consumer response & generate customer customer-
based brand equity
 Matching communication options
In assessing collective impact of an IMC programme,
the overriding goal is to create the most effective &
efficient communication programme possible
6 criteria identified to achieve this goal:
1. Coverage
2. Contribution
3. Commonality
4. Complementarity
5. Versatility
6. Cost
 Matching communication options (contd.)
1. Coverage: inherent communication ability of a marketing option, as
suggested by

2. Contribution: create the desired response & communication effect

from consumers in the absence of exposure in any other
communication option

3. Commonality: create consistent & coherent brand image

4. Complementary: extent to which different associations & linkages

are emphasized across communication options

5. Versatility: effect for different group of consumers

6. Cost
 Audience Communication Option Overlap

Communication Communication
Option A Option B

nc e
die
Au

Communication Option C

Note: Circles represent the market segments reached by various communication options.
Shaded portions represent areas of overlap in communication options.
 Evaluating IMC Programs
• Coverage - what proportion of the target
audience is reached by each communication
option employed, as well as how much overlap
exists among options
• Cost - what is the per capita expense
 Evaluating IMC Programs (cont.)
• Contribution - the collective effect on brand
equity in terms of
– enhancing depth & breadth of awareness
– improving strength, favorability, & uniqueness of
brand associations

• Commonality - the extent to which information

conveyed by different communication options
share meaning
 Evaluating IMC Programs (cont.)
• Complementarity - the extent to which
different associations and linkages are
emphasized across communication options
• Versatility - the extent to which information
contained in a communication option works
with different types of consumers
• Different communications history
• Different market segments
 “Keller Be’s”
• Be analytical: Use frameworks of consumer behavior and
managerial decision-making to develop well-reasoned
communication programs
• Be curious: Fully understand consumers by using all
forms of research and always be thinking of how you can
create added value for consumers
• Be single-minded: Focus message on well-defined target
markets (less can be more)
• Be integrative: reinforce your message through
consistency and cuing across all communications
 “Keller Be’s”
• Be creative: State your message in a unique fashion;
use alternative promotions and media to create
favorable, strong, and unique brand associations
• Be observant: Monitor competition, customers,
channel members, and employees through tracking
studies
• Be realistic: Understand the complexities involved
in marketing communications
• Be patient: Take a long-term view of
communication effectiveness to build and manage
brand equity
 Using IMC choice criteria

Can provide some guidance for designing &

implementing IMC programme.
It involves:
• Evaluating communications options
• Establishing priorities & tradeoffs
• Executing the final design & implementation
 Using the IMC choice criteria
• Commonality & complementarity will often be
inversely related

• Versatility & complementarity will often be

inversely related

• Commonality & versatility on the other hand, do not

share an obvious relationship