Growth and Adoption of Integrated Marketing Communications

Growth and Adoption of Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications or IMC is a development that began in the 80’s as a way of encompassing all internal and external communications in an organisation. This process meant that all aspects of marketing communication were now able to work under one umbrella as a unified system where everyone communicate with each other instead of working in an isolated manner. Although IMC has its roots in the 1980’s it’s not until the 1990’s when the marketing process started changing, new technologies came into the market place and integration came into fruition more deeply. This essay is going to describe the changes in the marketplace that made it necessary and gave way to the adoption of IMC as well as the problems and different levels of adoption that led to the growth of IMC in the market place.

The development of digital technology, emphasis in branding and spreading of markets across the traditional geographical borders were the major drivers of IMC in the 1980’s (Schultz & Schultz; 2003:9). Traditional communication was one way of communication but it was IMC which made the company move from “telling and selling” to “listening and learning” (Duncan; 2002; p15). Thus more organisations were considering IMC to be a key competitive advantage of marketing (Kitchen and Schultz, 2001; Weilbacher, 2001). IMC was designed to incorporate all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. It was a new way of communication where organisations tried to find out the customer’s needs based on qualitative and quantitative research. There were quite a few changes in the environment that led to the birth and t...

... middle of paper ...

...anies are in different levels of adoption at any one given time. One thing is for sure; Integrated Marketing Communications is wider spread and better understood than ever before. The market place in this day and age is more sophisticated and better informed and organisations have realised that in order to maintain a strong hold in the market place integration is key to success. Due to the emergence of technologies such as the internet there are many options available in the market for the consumer to get information from about a firm or product therefore it is vital that the firm maintain information consistency both on the inside and on the outside. IMC has provoked intense, diverse discussion and criticism but every day IMC is becoming more widely accepted and recognized by practitioners and scholars alike as being a valid and vital movement for many years to come.