CHAPTER: 6

Integrating
Marketing
Communications to
Build Brand Equity
Marketing Communication
• Means by which firms attempt to create awareness,
inform, persuade, initiate action, remind consumers about
the brands they sell and create loyalty .
• Can contribute to brand equity by: (Brand resonance
model)
• Creating brand awareness
• Creating strong points-of-parity and points-of-difference
associations
• Eliciting positive brand judgments or feelings.
• Facilitating a stronger consumer-brand connection and brand
resonance.
The New Media Environment
• Has changed dramatically in recent years:

• Traditional advertising media seem to be losing their grip.

• Digital revolution has changed the way consumers learn and talk
about brands.
• Changing media landscape has forced marketers to re-evaluate
media strategy .
The New Media Environment

Designing Brand-Building Communications using

Information processing model of communications

Role of Multiple Communications

 Designing Brand-Building Communications

• Skilfully designed and implemented marketing

communications programs:

• Should be efficient and effective mix and match .

• Require careful planning and creative knack.

Information Processing Model of Communications

• For a person to be persuaded by any form of communication the following 6

steps must occur:

• Exposure : Seeing or hearing communication .

• Attention: Noticing communication.
• Comprehension: Understanding the intended message.
• Yielding: Responding favourably to the message (as relevant and
convincing product claims) .
• Intentions: Planning to act in the desired manner of communication (due
to immediate perceived need ).
• Behaviour: Actually acting in the desired manner

A very difficult task as breakdown at any step possible means failure of

communication process
At 50% success rate also 0.5 X 6 =1.5625%
An ideal advertisement campaign
• An ideal advertisement campaign would ensure:
• The right consumer is exposed to the right message at the right place and at the right time. ( eg
Vaayu for youth products )
• The creative strategy for the advertising causes the consumer to notice and attend to the ad but
does not distract from the intended message. ( eg nerolac Amitabh ad , one black coffee please )
• The ad properly reflects the consumer’s level of understanding about the product and the brand.(
gone for a smoke)
• The ad correctly positions the brand in terms of desirable and deliverable points-of-difference
and points-of-parity associations.
• The ad motivates consumers to consider purchase of the brand. (extreme fear? psychological
blocking)
• The ad creates strong brand image so that they can have continued effect (If you don’t have an
Apple ,well…….)
• The ad should be able to sustain brand relationship and loyalty ( Meri Maggie )
Figure 6.2: Simple Test for Marketing
Communication Effectiveness
Role/Advantages of Multiple Communications J&J
• Optimal utilization of monetary and other resources through proper mix
and match .
• Because each medium contributes differently to communication objectives
eg awareness vs purchase
• Different communication options also may target different market
segments.eg young vs old customers
• Different factors need to be considered for budget allocation or media mix
eg brand life cycle, brand mkt share, competitor media strategy, product
characteristics ,objectives of firm, consumer characteristics etc
 Where do brand communication ideas come
from

• Ideas for communication may come from creative thinking , from

other countries ( Pantene - hair so healthy it shines- came from
Taiwan),leveraging story eg Vicks , crowdsourcing ,customer
sweetspot ( see next slide )
 Customer sweet spot
• The problem is that often brand communication programs are ineffective
because it does not engage customers as the offering is inconsequential ,
tangential , detached from customer lifestyle, personality, values, their higher
purpose , beliefs ,opinions, issues and activities they enjoy . This is especially
true of digital strategies that hope to activate a community
• The best thing is look for customer sweetspot - ie find a shared interest idea
or program and connect the brand to it eg Dove real beauty campaign
• However important to find a natural fit
• A customer sweetspot program creates brand energy and interest, enhances
brand likeability , helps form brand relationships , stimulates a social network.
Marketing Communication Options
Marketing Communication

Advertising and Events and

Interactive Mobile
Sales Promotion Marketing Experiences Marketing

Of course there are others too eg personal selling

Advertising
• Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

• Powerful means of creating awareness, strong, favourable, and unique

brand associations and eliciting positive judgments and feelings.

• However difficult to quantify and predict as delayed effects .

Types of Advertising Media
Television

Radio

Print

Direct Response

Place
Television

• Advantages
• Allows demonstrating product attributes and benefits
• Dramatically portraying user and usage imagery, brand personality, emotions, and other brand intangibles.
• Disadvantages
• The large number of ads creates clutter so consumers ignore , skip ads
• Fleeting nature of the message so consumers may not understand or may forget brand messages
• Many channels creates fragmentation of customers
• High cost of production and placement
• Guidelines
• In designing and evaluating an ad campaign, marketers should distinguish between science and art of ad
• Message strategy-( Appeals) . What the ad wants to say about the brand and its positioning
• Creative strategy – ( Execution style)The way the ad expresses the brand claims.
Television ( contd)

• Creative strategies or appeals can be

• Informational/Rational ( elaborating product related attributes or benefits) ) or
• Transformational appeals are of two types (emotional or moral ) ( portraying non product
related benefit or image )
• Appeals can also be both positive ( love , care , happiness, etc) or negative ( fear , guilt,
shame )
• Also, many creative approaches ( you must have done in advtg subject in detail) available
under each appeal ( see next slide )
• Motivational or borrowed interest devices are also used to attract consumers attention eg
babies, music , animal ,celebrity, cartoons, humour, sex, cause . However sometimes be too
attention getting and distract from the brand eg Amitabh Bachchan in paint ad
• Testing can be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of TV ad message and creative
strategies.
Ad execution techniques /style
• The way the promotional appeal is presented
• Can be executed in any of the multiple ways as below
or combination
• Straight sell /Problem solution • Slice of life/common man
• Technical expertise • Life style
• Animation
• Scientific Evidence
• Personality symbol
• Demonstration • Fantasy
• Comparison • Dramatization
• Direct or indirect • Mood or Image/Imagery
• Testimonial • Musical
• Authority, celebrity, peer ,consumer • Mystery /teaser
• Candid camera • Consumer stories
• Celebrity endorsement • Vivid analogy
• Vivid metaphor
Radio
• Advantages
• Is flexible as stations are highly targeted.
• Enables companies to achieve a balance between broad and localized market coverage
• Ads are relatively inexpensive to produce and place.
• Effective medium in the morning and can effectively complement or reinforce TV ads.

• Disadvantage
• Lack of visual image.
• Relatively passive nature of consumer processing.
• Guidelines
• Identify your brand early in the commercial.
• Identify it often.
• Promise the listener a benefit early in the commercial.
• Repeat it often.
• Good radio ads are creative , see lack of visual images as plus through clever use of music, sounds
,humour etc that tap into listener’s imagination
Print

• Advantages
• Self-paced, provides detailed product information.
• Magazines effective at building user and usage imagery.
• Newspapers are more timely and pervasive
• Disadvantages
• Poor reproduction quality and short shelf life of newspaper advertising.
• Fairly passive medium as not interactive
• Guidelines
• Creative guidelines for print ads -clarity, consistency between all elements ( words
, pictures ) , and its placement are in line with brand image .
• Also research eg Starch test ( seen , noted , read , understood )
Direct response
Uses mail, telephone , internet, TV and other contact tools to communicate and solicit
response from customers and prospects
• Advantages
• Interactive so engaging , real time
• Easy today to setup eg toll free numbers ,websites
• Easy to measure effects – people respond or do not
• Disadvantages
• Clutter and intrusiveness
• Guidelines-
• Develop an up-to-date and informative list of current and potential future
customers.
• Precision marketing - Combining data analytics with right offer and strategic
messages
• Track the effectiveness of the marketing program through metrics
Data base marketing- Heart of Direct response Advtg

• Database mktg is a computer based relational database with real time

information that is comprehensive and contemporary
• Helps create tailored communications
• Database mktg is found to help retain customers than in attracting new
ones ( ?????? Neeta does not agree)
• Database mgt helps track Lifetime value of customers( and RFM)
• Database mktg techniques with help of LTV analysis includes predictive
modelling, multiple campaign mgt, targeted
promotions ,segmentation ,upselling , cross selling ,churn mgt,
multichannel mgt, product personalization, acquisition and retention mgt
Place Advertising

• Known as “non-traditional,” “alternative,” “support” or out- of- home advertising

• Marketers reach out to people in environments, where they work, play, and, of
course, shop
• Advantages
• Can reach a very precise and captive audience in a cost-effective and engaging manner.
• More effective at enhancing awareness or reinforcing existing brand associations than at
creating new ones.
• Guidelines
• As the audience must process out-of-home ads quickly, the message must be simple and
direct and also creative . Its called 15 second sell
• However challenge is reach and measuring effectiveness
Place advertising ( contd )

• Billboards and posters

Transformed over the years-digital technology allows to sync billboards with mobile
advertising , creative techniques like 3D, sound , backlights ,movement
-Transit ads- buses , trains ,subways
-Street furniture – bus shelters , kiosks , public area
-Billboard trucks
• Movies ,Airlines, Lounges , other places
• Product placements - In movies and TV , Branded entertainment
• Point of purchase – ads on shopping carts ,cart straps ,aisles ,shelves , instore
promotions ,point of purchase radio FM style ,live sampling
Sales Promotion
• While advertising provides reason to buy , sales promotions are
short term incentives to buy now
• Use of sales promotions grew after 1980s due to quarterly
evaluations and quickly observable impact on sales as against
delayed effects of advertising.
• Economics also worked against advtg due to media clutter,
fragmented audience ,instore consumer decisions ,less brand loyalty ,
less differentiated brands and also more retailer power
 Promotion

Consumer Promotions

Trade Promotions
 Sales Promotion
.
Consumer promotions
• Are designed to change the behavior of consumers so that they buy a brand for the first time, buy more qty,
or buy earlier or more often.
• Permit manufacturers to charge different prices to groups of consumers eg based on qty .
• Convey a sense of urgency to consumers eg last day ,lmtd period offer .
• Can build brand equity through actual product experience eg trials
• Type of consumer promotions:
• Customer franchise building promotions like samples, demonstrations, and educational material. Brand
managers prefer these as they contribute to brand awareness or knowledge or teaches consumers to
use product in different ways or creates excitement , engagement etc and hence brand equity
• Customer non-franchise building promotions detract from brand equity such as price-off packs,
premiums, sweepstakes, and refund offers.
Trade promotions
• Are designed to change the behavior of the trade so that they carry the brand and actively support it.
• Incentives to secure shelf space and distribution for a new brand, or to achieve more prominence on the
shelf and in the store. ,eg point-of-purchase displays
• Financial incentives given to channel members to facilitate the sale of a product through dealer qty
discounts , contests and dealer incentives, training programs, trade shows, and cooperative advertising.
Sales Promotions
• Disadvantages of consumer promotions
• Decreased brand loyalty and increased brand switching.
• Decreased quality perceptions, and increased price sensitivity.
• Inhibit the use of franchise building activities like advertising and
divert marketing funds to sales promotion.
• Increase the importance of price and sales promotion as a factor in consumer decisions.
• May subsidize buyers who would have bought the brand anyway.
• Encourages forward buying and zero ultimate sales impact

• Disadvantages of trade promotions

• Retailers may come to expect and demand trade discounts
• Retailers will engage in unproductive forward buying and zero ultimate sales impact
• Retailers may engage in unproductive diversion
Online Marketing Communication
Web Sites

On line Ads and Videos

Social Media and blogging

 Online marketing communication
• Advantages of marketing on the Web
• Engages ,as rich and deep content , garners trust
• Low cost, greater detail and higher degree of customization.
• Can accomplish almost any marketing communication objective .
• Especially valuable in terms of solid relationship building.
Digital strategy helps brand building in many ways
• Communicates the offering eg Subway deal of the day
• Augments the offering eg Nike + chip
• Provides credibility to the offering eg Walt Disney world’s mom panel , JC penny where customers
give reviews
• Helps make purchase process easier with information sharing – eg DeBeers 4 cs ( cut, colour,
clarity, carat )
• Encourage applications eg Cosmetics
• Engage customer in product development – My Starbucks idea , Heineken bottle redesign
challenge
• Create a highly impactful brand building communication platform eg. Online viral videos ( coke
happiness machine ) Red bull Stratos balloon ( 9 mins fall, $40 million garnered 40 million views )
Online marketing communication

1)Web sites
• Company website most important tool for communication
• Encourages the collaborative effort required for brand building,
between consumers and marketers. Interactive and engaging
• Marketers must carefully monitor different forums and Web site pages
that may include ratings, reviews, and feedback on brands.
Online marketing communication(contd)

2)Online ads, videos ,others

• Banner ads, rich media ads, and videos . Also emails
• Videos have become increasing popular eg coke happiness machine
• Emails today use permission mktg to send highly personalised and advanced features emails eg personalised
audio, video streaming. Emails have a response rate of 20 to 30 % at lesser cost than banner ads
• Search advertising through advanced search advtg strategies eg cost per click, bid for key words
• Advantages
• Accountable as software can track ads to sales
• Nondisruptive
• Targets most promising prospects.
• Highly engaging and generates WOM
Disadvantage
• Consumers may ignore banner ads and screen them out with pop-up filters
• The average click through rate for std banner ad was 0.08 and 0.14 for rich media banner
Online marketing communication (contd)

3)Social media-through message boards and forums , chat rooms , blogs , Facebook ,
Twitter ,YouTube
• Advantages
• Allows brands to establish a public voice and presence on the Web.
• Complements and reinforces other communication activities.
• Helps promote innovation and relevance for the brand.
• Provide an easy means for consumers to learn from and express attitudes and opinions to others, creates
sense of community and fosters active engagement
• Disadvantage
• Not everyone actively participates on every brand , all the time in social media.
• User generated content cannot be controlled so best strategy is to determine how best to participate
and be involved , so as to respond and manage

Many companies now have official twitter handles and Facebook pages .Twitter acts
as early warning system .Facebook is about long term relationship building
Putting it all together

• A successful digital media campaign for a brand skilfully blends three

different forms of media –
Paid media (eg TV and print )
Owned media- ( that which company controls eg website ,emails, social
media pages and
Earned media( what consumers themselves communicate via social
media and WOM)
• Paid media jump starts owned ,owned sustains earned and earned
drives costs down and effectiveness up
Events and Experiences
• Focus on engaging the consumers’ senses and imagination as
a part of brand building.

• Event marketing: Public sponsorship of events or activities

related to sports, art, entertainment, or social causes.

• Range from extravagant sponsorship events and experience

to a simple local in-store product demonstration and
sampling
Events and Experiences (contd)
Rationale
• To identify with a particular target market or lifestyle.
• To increase awareness, trials and thus precipitate/increase purchase/consumption.
• To create or reinforce brand associations.
• To enhance corporate image dimensions.
• To create experiences and evoke feelings.
• To express commitment to the community or on social issues.
• To entertain key clients or reward key employees.
• To permit merchandising or promotional opportunities
• To create engagement, involvement , excitement, WOM , co create
• To gain customer insights
eg Venky’s chicken
Events and Experiences (contd)
Guidelines for Choosing sponsorship events

• Must meet communication and mktg objectives for the brand.

• Should closely match the ideal target market in terms of the audience attending
the event and positioning .
• Should be unique but not encumbered with many sponsors.

• Marketing of a sponsorship ultimately determines its success

• Sponsor should strategically identify itself at an event through banners, signs, and
programs. Sponsors also supplement through samples, prizes ,advtg, publicity
• Budget for related mktg activities should be two to three times more than
sponsorship expenditure
• Measuring sponsorship activities
• Supply-side method- Focuses on potential exposure to the brand by assessing the
extent of media coverage.
• Demand-side method- Focuses on reported exposure from consumers.
Mobile Marketing
• Product advertising on various mobile platforms.

• Geotargeting: Marketers send messages to consumers based

on their location and the activities they are engaging in.

• Opt-in advertising: Users agree to allow advertisers to use

specific, personal information and send them targeted ads
and sales promotions.
Brand Amplifiers
• Efforts made to engage consumers and the public via
word-of-mouth and public relations and publicity.

• They amplify the effects created by other marketing

activities
Brand Amplifiers ( contd)
• Public relations and publicity
• Publicity: Nonpersonal communications such as press releases, media interviews, press conferences, feature
articles , newsletters , photos , films, and tapes.
• Public relations: Include annual reports, fund-raising and membership drives, lobbying, special event
management, and public affairs .
• Eg Tata Nano , Burson Marsteller - Skillful handling of J& J Tylenol product tampering incident
• Word-of-mouth
• Critical aspect of brand building.
• Consumers share likes, dislikes, and experiences with each other.
• Assures greater degree of credibility and relevance as seen as genuine
• Sometimes mrkter has no control but brand damage huge eg United broke my guitar by aggrieved customer
• Buzz marketing: Various techniques marketers apply to get people to notice and talk about the brand.
• However , buzz marketing works for only high involvement products and high involvement experiences eg
JJKN Mona singh mystery , don’t say hello , say cello
Developing integrated marketing communication program (IMC)

• Choosing the best set of marketing communication options from the

various alternatives and managing the relationships between them.
Criteria For IMC Program

Coverage Contribution Commonality

Complementarity Comformability Cost

Criteria For IMC Program( contd)
• Coverage
• Proportion of the audience reached by each communication option, as well as how much overlap
exists among communication options. Thus total coverage = proportion of target audience
covered by all media put together .
Contribution
• Inherent ability of a marketing communication to create the desired response and communication
effects from consumers in the absence of exposure to any other communication option. Thus
contribution of an individual medium to the coverage
Commonality
• Extent to which common information conveyed by different communication options shares
meaning across communication options as to create a coherent and cohesive brand message and
image . Thus ensure Commonality of information
Criteria For IMC Program(contd)
Complementarity
• Describes the extent to which different associations and linkages are emphasized across communication options
such that there are mutually compensatory eg TV advtg for awareness, press ad for detailed comparative info,
salespersons for persuasive communication, samples for trial, sales promotion for immediate purchase etc .
Conformability
• Extent that a marketing communication option is robust and effective for different groups of consumers.
• Types of conformability
• Communication conformability - Ability of the mode of communication to effectively communicate with the
diverse group of customers.
• Consumer conformability - Ability of the communication option to inform or persuade consumers who vary
on dimensions including and other than past communication history . Eg Events are simple hence
effective on this dimension
• Cost
• To arrive at the most effective and efficient communication program evaluations of marketing communications
on all of the preceding criteria must be weighed against their cost.
Using IMC Choice Criteria for

Evaluating Communication Options

Establishing Priorities and Trade-Offs

Using IMC Choice Criteria- for
• Evaluating communication options
• Because communication types vary in their:
• Breadth and depth of audience coverage.
• Commonality, complementarity and conformability
Establishing priorities and trade-offs
• To arrive at a final mix requires making decisions on priorities and
tradeoffs among the IMC choice criteria and vis a vis cost
What makes advertising effective ?- FCB
Ulka’s Cogito consulting general principles
• Television Ad effectiveness-
• In a cluttered TV environment , threshold levels of minimum 100 GRPs per week ( 35 % Reach x 3
OTS/frequency ).During festivals , and for major complex innovation , 300 GRPs
• Planning for frequency more imp than reach in highly competitive categories , complex products
• While advtg wear out depends on product or brand , generally 6 months without change is fine
• Media planning benchmarks are holistic combination of share of voice targets which are set up as
per share of mkt target , type of audience to be reached ,its resultant threshold and quality of
exposure required .Historically , 5% increase in Share of voice ( SOV ) can get upto a percent
increase in Share of mkt ( SOM)
• Southern states view regional channels ,have high consolidation of viewership and thus need
smaller mix of channels than larger basket for North and West .HD channels for premium brands
• Creative quality effectiveness – India is not homogenous hence customisation of ad to meet
regional differences ,multiple levels of testing, mature categories need to create powerful emotional
and social connect while new categories such as online shopping emphasize functional efficacy .Also
Indian ads have traditionally used jingle , humour , quirky characters, verbal currency ( Hinglish ,
Jingalala )is a trend
What makes advertising effective ? ( contd)
• Digital and Social media value
• Digital media has higher traction with urban and youth brands
• Indians in research study said that product knowledge adds to their
self esteem , as they like to appear knowledgeable and help others
• Social media augments strength of traditional medium and acts as
testing ground
• Brands use video games and simulations to engage with customers
What makes advertising effective ? ( contd)
• 360 degree brand connect is important
• Multiple media platforms can help improve reach and impact with
distinct roles for each eg southern states cinema
• Branded events important for experiential and lifestyle brands
• To quantify the impact of each medium on brand scores ,mkters are
using mktg mix modelling. These models use data from various
sources such as consumer panels ,consumer purchase data , brand
image score , media and mktg spend numbers and then develop
algorithms to create better communication strategies eg Britannia
khao, world cup jao, Samsung narial phodo offer