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Adrian BRUNELLO1
1. Assoc. Prof., PhD, Modern Languages Institute, “Apollonia” University of Iasi, Romania
Corresponding author: adrian_brunello@yahoo.com
deeds6,7. Therefore, it is very important for people The objectives of any marketing communication
understand the importance of integrated process are to create brand awareness, deliver
communications. information, educate the market, and advance a
The American Association of Advertising positive image of the product brand. In simpler
Agencies defines IMC as “a concept that terms, “IMC refers to speaking with one voice,
recognizes the added value of a comprehensive eliciting a response”. Therefore, “IMC is a return
plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety to building brand loyalty by building brands that
of communication disciplines, and combines deserve loyalty”.
these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency
and maximum communication impact”. Jones & 2. BRAND EQUITY
Schee, (2008) consider that integrated marketing
communication represents a combination of
direct marketing, general advertising, sales There are two opposing viewpoints regarding
promotion and public relations8. brand equity. Some specialists favor the
The eventual role of the IMC is to convey a consumer-oriented perspective while others
consistent message to customers9. Effective IMC consider that the market performance-oriented
approaches foster companies to effective usage perspective is best suited to conceptualize this
of promotional resource and to build longer term concept. Motomeni and Shahrokhi (1998)
sustainable consumer relationships. identified two opposing perspectives or schools
The concept of IMC is increasingly accepted of thought: the marketing perspective and the
by many firms due to a number of advantages. financial accounting perspective10.
The mass media advertising was initially thought The financial accounting perspective deals
of as viable and useful. However, nowadays with brand equity in terms of asset valuation for
specialists consider it ineffective because of high the balance sheet or for merger, acquisition or
cost involved and the unpredictable target divestiture purposes. One should also study
audience. Today, firms use precisely targeted brand equity because it helps improve marketing
promotional techniques such as direct mail, cable productivity. Due to higher costs, greater
TV, the Internet, etc. Today almost all companies competition, and flattening demand in many
seek for effective implementation of information markets, companies try to increase the efficiency
technology in promotional aspects. These new of their marketing expenses. Therefore, marketers
initiatives of information technology have foster need a more thorough understanding of
buyers and sellers to share and to promote an consumer behavior in order to improve the
effective customer relationship management. decision making process and the positioning of
Integrated marketing communication the firm’s products. It is believed that one of the
represents the reunion of all marketing tools, company’s most valuable assets for improving
approaches, and resources within a company marketing productivity is the knowledge that
which maximizes the impact on the consumer’s has been created about the brand in the minds of
mind and which leads to maximum profit at the consumers from the firm’s investment in
minimum cost. Generally marketing starts from previous marketing programs. Financial valua
the “Marketing Mix” and also includes internet tion issues have little relevance if no underlying
marketing, sponsorship, direct marketing, value for the brand has been created or if
database marketing and public relations. The managers do not know how to exploit that value
integration of all these promotional tools along by developing profitable brand strategies11.
with other components of the marketing mix to
gain edge over competitors is referred to as 2.1. The marketing perspective:
Integrated Marketing Communication. Using Customer-based brand equity
outside-in thinking, it is a data-driven approach Marketers start from the assumption that the
that focuses on identifying consumer insights power of a brand lies in the minds of consumers
and developing a strategy with the right (online and what they have experienced and learned
and offline combination) channels to forge a about the brand over time. The advantage of con
stronger brand-consumer relationship. ceptualizing brand equity from the consumer’s
surprising that many organizations devote Where they are strong, they can be reinforced.
considerable amounts of resources to developing The marketer can become proactive in developing
strategies that will allow them to build and/or lasting relationships with desirable customers
maintain strong brands. For Duncan (2002), and prospects by understanding the reciprocity
marketing communications is the glue that that must exist between the two28.
enables the connection between the firm’s efforts In order for companies to display an integrated
and customers’ favorable responses22. marketing communication which will enhance
As Schultz (2004b) notes, brand equity is not brand equity, they have to begin with a very
merely built through independent forms of well-defined and operationalized brand identity.
communication (such as advertising or public This is the reason why firms should focus on
relations), but is generated by managing brand efforts that define and develop brand identity.
equity contacts via IMC23. IMC, with synergy Next, the brand managers and firm employees
among the various communications vehicles as should concentrate on communicating the
its fundamental concept, could potentially create established brand identity to every individual
the greatest persuasion effect in consumers’ responsible for the firm’s marketing communica
encounters with brand contacts24. Indeed, based tions efforts. After brand managers clarify their
on their empirical study, Naik and Raman (2003) aspirations for the brand, and are able to clearly
conclude that by adopting an IMC perspective, and accurately communicate them to the brand
marketers harness synergy across multiple stewards, the IMC program should commence.
communication vehicles to build brand equity Whether internal or external to the marketing
across products and services25. firm, if the brand stewards have a clear and
Effective marketing communication enables accurate understanding of the brand identity,
the formation of brand awareness and a positive they are better able to develop a comprehensive,
brand image26. These then form the brand strategic IMC program that more clearly and
knowledge structures, which, in turn, trigger the accurately communicates that brand identity.
differentiated responses that constitute brand Finally, feedback from customers, prospects, and
equity. These researchers effectively argue that publics regarding brand awareness and brand
the IMC strategy is essential to the firm’s strategic image, along with feedback from other entities
brand development and that it strengthens the in the environment, including competitors, will
interface between the company’ s brand identity enable brand owners to adjust their brand image
strategy, and/or its IMC strategy. Therefore, the
strategy and its customer-based brand equity,
firm should pay particular attention to brand-
that is, brand awareness and brand image.
related market information from the environment.
Specifically, they propose a conceptual model of
brand equity in which the aspirational brand
References
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