Visual Brand Identity

1. Developing visual brand identity

1.1 Translating brand identity into something visual

According to research on visual content gathered by Hubspot, visuals are transmitted to the brain 60,000 times faster than text—and inclusion of visual media in your material can generate up to 94 percent more views for your content.

A visual strategy for content marketing is more than just a few pictures thrown in as an afterthought though. A visual narrative can be an excellent format for telling the story of your brand, engaging with consumers on an emotional level, and spurring them to interact and engage with your content. And when it comes to engagement, visuals may no longer be optional—Socialbakers found that 93 % of the most engaging posts on Facebook contained photos.

1.2 Important factors and elements in creating a visual brand identity

According to Simon Manchipp, the CD & co-founder of Someone , there are ten things to consider when creating a new visual brand identity.


1. Make it coherent, not consistent.

A new logo is born useless. The media demands an approach that is instantly useful. Make your new logo useful. Create landscapes that can change and adapt. Information can and should fuel the design and pattern.A brand should be adaptive & coherent, not just consistent.

2. Do more than a logo.

The logo is dying so ask yourself how can you brand without badging?

3. Brand without badging

A rubber stamped logo is not a brand. Remember…

“A new logo should be a symbol of change, not a change of symbol.”

4. The big idea is not the big idea.

The big idea is not the big idea, but rather hundreds of ideas that form the brand. These ideas should be multi-channelled & multi-faceted.

5. Own moments

Find ownable moments that can be a spring point for the brand. eg. a color, season, taste, feature, etc.

6. Remove the fear

Branding is all fear & risk is attached to everything, but smart clients are those without the fear.

We are hired for our principles, so stick to them.

7. Weird works

Weird shit creates monopolies. Trust the risky weirdo called creativity.

8. Make it people-centric

We are not in design business but in the people business. Educated clients believe in coherent brand worlds. Winning companies are placing design at the heart of their business.

9. Create assets not costs

Design is often seen as a cost in the boardroom but it needs to be seen as an asset. The reason behind it being seen as a cost is that everyone considers themselves as a designer.

“No one trusts creativity because of the dolphin duvet.” (aka everyone is a designer, I chose this dolphin duvet cover for my home). The goal is to show that design is an asset.

10. Chase the opportunity.

Chase the opportunity, not the money. If you are doing interesting work and having fun, enough money will come.


In "No Plastic Sleeves: Complete Portfolio guide for Photographers and Designers" by Larry V, Danielle Currier, it was stated 3-must-do-things for a visual identity to be successful

• Distinctiveness "It must be distinct enough to stand out from the crowd- it must get you noticed. A successful visual brand identity should be unique enough to grand someone's attention and interests" 
• Meaningfulness. "It must be meaningful. A visual identity should communicate something that is real  
• Memorability. "It must be memorable. To do this, visual identity needs to be applied consistently to all aspects of comprehensive portfolio ... " 

1.3 How to keep your visual brand identity consistent in relation with time and place

(Time = up-to-date Space = new market, internationalization)


In the book "No Plastic Sleeves:Complete Portfolio guide for Photographers and Designers", it was also mentioned Style Guide, which is brand identity document, used as reference for all aspects of a brand's marketing materials. It should be really specific about how visual and verbal components of the brand should be used.









Personally, I think, if it's not illegally wrong, brand should not change the logo. It's good to keep up with what customers' opinions but it's more of a danger to do it. Or at least, the core thing like color, patterns, conveying of the brand statement, brand meaning, brand value should stay.

2. Touchpoints and consistency

How to keep the brand identity consistent over different touchpoints

A great way to design a holistic brand experience it to consider all customer touch points—the places the brand touches the customer. Planning a touchpoint strategy that reflects customer needs and brand positioning throughout the experience cycle is an important step toward building a consistently strong brand.


There are so many kind of touchpoints existing, basically, divided into Internal and External.




(panoramicbrands.com)






A fun and visual way of visualizing brand touchpoints







According to the graphic, touchpoints are managed to bridge PROMISE of the brand and PARTICIPATION of users.


According to B2B strategists DeSantis Breindel, there are good options to keep your touchpoints synchronized:

1. Keep the dialogue going and growing


“A dialogue about a company’s product or service on Facebook, for instance, can spill over to Twitter — and overnight lead to a far-ranging conversation with thousands of voices and lots of feedback. By understanding the dynamic and keeping the dialogue going, smart B2B companies can lead the prospect through the conversation to the sales sweet spot: consideration for his or her short-list.”

2. Connect multiple platforms


All touchpoints feed one another and become connected in a web of conversation.”A print or on-line ad with a URL can lead to a microsite where a corporate buyer can download a white paper or watch a YouTube video offering valued information and insight. Or an outdoor ad can invite corporate prospects to scan a QR code with their mobile device and take them to a microsite with more information.

3. Don’t forget employees!


Employees are a critical part of customer touchpoints.

“They are not only the face of the company in every interaction with clients and prospects, they are active in social media, business networking, and society in general. Today businesses who empower employees with a compelling brand messaging platform, and help them to understand their importance in their companies’ and their own prosperity, can activate a consistently strong brand identity at thousands of touchpoints. These companies understand that it is important to link brand strategy with brand behavior so that you not only talk the talk but walk the walk.”

3. How does the visual brand identity affect the relation to your audience

How does the public respond to the visual brand identity

As mentioned earlier, touchpoints in specific, visual brand identity generally plays a bridge between Brand (PROMISE) and users' PARTICIPATION.


Customer touchpoints shape a customer’s perception of a brand. These perceptions shape brand identity as much as the work of any designer or brand manager. After all, brand identity is all about what the customer thinks—not what you think. Customer perceptions are created by a series of touchpoints—the interactions customers have with a brand.


Customer experience planning is a powerful brand-management tool. It provides a framework not only for answering key questions but also for realizing better outcomes: How do customers currently experience a brand? What about competitive brands? How would you like them to experience the brand? Changing, adding, or removing touchpoints can reshape the customer’s perception of your brand.

Case studies

A very good list can be found from here with familiar ones and statistics how're they succeeding on different platforms
http://blog.visme.co/how-worlds-top-brands-rock-visual-content/

• Apple, will definitely be one of the top mentions. Apple uses simple and unique visuals in product design, support material and advertising which are clearly recognizable. The visual brand is based on the same simple visual expression carried through all their products, stores and website. The Apple logo is applied consistently on everything Apple. Support material, products, website and stores all use a distinct use of black, white, grey/silver and sometimes a blue accent. They incorporate glass or clear material wherever applicable. Colorful accent palettes are only used in accessories and to display on-screen content. The visual branding reinforces the simplicity and the humanness of Apple. 

• When it comes to brand visibility, no one does it better than Nike. They have re-defined the power of a brand image and are one of the best represented, culturally understood, and symbolic companies in the United States and in the history of sports. Nike’s logo has encompassed a brand that reflects aspects that people strive for in their lives: dominance, authenticity, innovation, winning, and performance. Nike’s ability have their brand image encompass these ideologies allows consumers to identity with Nike not for the production of their product, but for the image that the brand embodies 

• Besides, I was impressed by Go Pro with their excellence in content marketing, ultimate storytelling and visual branding. This brand of mounted cameras allows thrill-seekers to capture their adventures and save them as an action packed, point-of-view video. Instead of trying to market these cameras by their quality or features, GoPro took a visual approach, using consumer-submitted videos of snowboarding, surfing, and skydiving to demonstrate how their customers were using their products. To see its success, visit GoPro’s website or social media page to be greeted with hours of user-generated visual content that forms the backbone of the company’s visual marketing strategy. They realized that the best way to sell their product wasn’t to brag, but rather to offer a firsthand demonstration of the excitement and thrills that their customers experienced. To top it off, GoPro entrenched this narrative chain in the content found throughout their website, blogs, and social media. This is how you create a brand “blueprint” that is easy to identify and promotes traffic to a primary site.

Sources: http://blog.instantedgemarketing.com/blog/an-emotional-brand-the-impact-of-visual-storytelling-on-your-content Larry V, Danielle C. No Plastic Sleeves :Complete Portfolio guide for Photographers and Designers panoramicbrands.com  http://www.peopledesign.com/brand-touchpoints  http://blog.visme.co/how-worlds-top-brands-rock-visual-content/  http://conceptdrop.com/blog/27-the-importance-of-branding-how-nike-re-defined-the-power-of-brand-image/ http://blog.instantedgemarketing.com/blog/an-emotional-brand-the-impact-of-visual-storytelling-on-your-content http://www.slideshare.net/nicolasleonard986/gopro-brand-audit

Brand identity and image

Problem: Brand identity and image

Learning Objectives:

1. How to build a strong brand identity

Brand Identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer in 1986. Brand identity is made up of the core values, visions and key beliefs of the brand (Kapferer 2008, 171). As such, brand identity represents what the brand stands for and it communicates the purpose, principle, background and ambitions of the brand (van Gelder, 2005, 35). It is the outward expression of the brand including its name, trademark, communications and visual appearance.The brand’s identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand’s differentiation from competitors.

• What is the difference between brand identity and brand image?

	Brand Identity	Brand Image
1	Brand identity develops from the source or the company.	Brand image is perceived by the receiver or the consumer.
2	Brand message is tied together in terms of brand identity.	Brand message is untied by the consumer in the form of brand image.
3	The general meaning of brand identity is “who you really are?”	The general meaning of brand image is “How market perceives you?”
4	It’s nature is that it is substance oriented or strategic.	It’s nature is that it is appearance oriented or tactical.
5	Brand identity symbolizes firms’ reality.	Brand image symbolizes perception of consumers
6	Brand identity represents “your desire”.	Brand image represents “others view”
7	It is enduring.	It is superficial.
8	Identity is looking ahead.	Image is looking back.
9	Identity is active.	Image is passive.
10	It signifies “where you want to be”.	It signifies “what you have got”.
11	It is total promise that a company makes to consumers.	It is total consumers’ perception about the brand.

Focus on shaping your brand identity, brand image will follow.

Source: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/identity-vs-image.htm 

• How to manage brand identity?

Professor Jean-Noël Kapferer represents brand identity diagrammatically as a six sided prism:

These six aspects are divided into two dimensions:

• The constructed source vs. the constructed receiver: a well-presented brand has to be seen as a person (constructed source: physique and personality) and also as the stereotypical user (constructed receiver: reflection and self-image). 

• Externalisation vs. internalisation: a brand has social aspects that define its external expression (externalisation: physique, relationship and reflection) and aspects that are incorporated into the brand itself (internalisation: personality, culture and self-image).

Aspects of Brand Identity Prism 

• Physique: 

the set of the brand’s physical features, which are evoked in people’s minds when the brand name is mentioned. Kapferer states that this aspect has to be considered the basis of the brand. 

• Personality

brand’s character. This can be realized by using a specific style of writing, using specific design features or using specific colour schemes. Also a person can be used to vitalize a brand. 

• Culture

the system of values and basic principles on which a brand has to base its behaviour (products and communication). Many associations in this area are linked to the country of origin; Coca-Cola appeals to American values, Mercedes-Benz to German ones and Citroën to French ones. 

A brand can symbolize a certain relationship between people. 

• Relationship 

requires a brand manager to express the relationship his/her brand stands for. For example, Lexus differentiates itself from BMW by giving its customers the red carpet treatment. 

• Reflection (of the consumer) 

makes reference to the stereotypical user of the brand and is the source for identification. When thinking in terms of reflection, in the case of Coca-Cola you could describe the consumer base as 15 to 18 year olds (with values such as fun, sporty and friendship), while the actual target group of this brand is far broader. 

• Self-image

is kind of a mirror the target group holds up to itself. A Porsche driver who thinks others will think he is rich because he can afford such a flash car. Research has shown that Lacoste users see themselves as members of a sporty club, even if they do not actively play any sports. 

All in all, Brand Identity Prism enables brand managers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their brand using the six aspects of this prism. It also helps to find the ways of creating the brand loyalty and financial value.

For example:

2. How to follow your brand image and keep it consistent

Developing a brand identity is a five-step process that aims to clearly define what your brand stands for -- its goals, its personality, the emotions you want people to experience when they come into contact with your brand, and a clear conveyance of that identity through a positioning statement. Here's what you'll need to create to do that:

1) Vision Statement

A vision statement describes what you want your company to become in the future - hence the name "vision" statement! It should be aspirational and inspirational. Ideally, the statement should be one sentence in length and should not explain how the vision will be met. Don't worry, that'll come later. When developing your vision, keep these questions in mind:
What are your most important products and services?
What products and services will you never offer?
What is unique about doing business with your brand?
How would your customers describe your brand?
Where do you want your company to be in five years?

To give you an idea of what you should end up with, take a look at JetBlue's vision statement:

JetBlue Airways is dedicated to bringing humanity back to air travel.

2) Mission Statement

A mission statement defines the purpose of the company. It should be simple, straightforward, articulate, and consist of jargon-free language that's easy to grasp. It should be motivational to both employees and customers. When crafting your mission statement, keep these tips in mind:
What are the specific market needs the company exists to address?
What does the company do to address these needs?
What are the guiding principles that define the company's approach?
Why do customers buy from you and not your competition?

To give you an idea of what a good mission statement looks like, take a look at Mickey Mouse's. I mean, The Walt Disney Company:

The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.


3) Essence

Say, what? That's right, your essence. Talk about fluffy. But seriously, you need to develop an "essence." The essence of the company speaks to the intangible emotions you want your customers to feel when they experience the brand. A brand's essence is the representation of the company's heart, soul, and spirit, and is best described with one word. When defining the essence of your brand, consider these points:
When your customers experience your product or service, what emotions does the encounter elicit?
If your brand was a person, how would you describe their personality?
Check out this SlideShare, The 9 Criteria for Brand Essence.

Here are some great samples of brands' essences:
Volvo is "safe"
Disney is "magical"
Lamborghini is "exotic"

4) Personality

Just as with humans, a brand's personality describes the way a brand speaks, behaves, thinks, acts, and reacts. It is the personification of the brand -- the application of human characteristics to a business. To generalize an example, Apple is young and hip. IBM is old and stodgy. See what I mean? So, what personality do you want to put forth when people experience your brand?
Are you lighthearted and fun?
Are you serious and all-business?
Are you down-to-earth?
Are you playful or matter-of-fact?

5) Position or Value Proposition

A brand positioning statement is a one- or two-sentence statement that clearly articulates your product or service's unique value, and how it benefits customers. The positioning statement must define the audience, define the category in which the brand exists, cite a clear product or service benefit, set your brand apart from your competitors, and instill confidence the brand will deliver on its promise. When crafting a positioning statement, consider:
To whom are you speaking? (Target market, demographic, and persona)
Which market segment does your product or service serve?
What is your brand promise? (Both rational and emotional)
Why is your product or service different from the competition, and why should your customers care?

For instance, Zipcar has a great brand positioning statement: To urban-dwelling, educated techno-savvy consumers, when you use Zipcar car-sharing service instead of owning a car, you save money while reducing your carbon footprint.

3. Rebranding

While branding is concerned with creating a brand identity, rebranding is about recreating that identity. Companies adopting new names, slogans or visual identities, e.g. as a result of mergers and acquisitions or changes in corporate strategy, are frequently reported on in the business press, but have received less attention from the academic point of view (Muzellec et al. 2003, 31)

• Why companies rebrand?

The main drivers of rebranding are change in ownership structure, change in competitive position, change in corporate strategy and change in the external environment. Furthermore, in a study which researched 166 rebranded companies, Muzellec and Lambkin (2005) identified that a decision to rebrand is most often caused by mergers and acquisitions (33.1%), spin-offs (19.9%) and brand image related issues (17.5%). Proactive motivations are company-initiated motivations for rebranding. These motivations include, e.g. a need to consolidate the brand globally, to create appeal to a broader target market or to create a more recognizable master brand. Reactive motivations, on the other hand, represent a company’s response and adaptation to changes caused by the external environment. Reactive motivations can come about as a result of changes in, e.g. ownership structure or competitive position, similarly identified by Muzellec et al. (2003). Within the context of drivers of rebranding, the impetus for corporate rebranding, creating brand identity and brand repositioning are seen as reactive responses to external factors. With reactive change to the external environment and the idea of adapting to change, there is an intensifying need for companies to face challenges brought on by trends in globalization. For international companies with operations, products and services spanning different countries, brand strategy favors the idea of a united identity which conveys the appeal of size and stability, but at the same time the sense of a local presence to consumers. The implication is therefore that companies are seeking to align their brand architecture into a ‘branded house’. Regardless of the reason leading to rebranding, the goals of rebranding are always the same: to communicate a change to internal stakeholders, thus reflecting a new identity and communicating change to external stakeholders, thus creating a new brand image.

• Case studies 

http://www.slideshare.net/riechessocial/rebranding-case-studies-of-success-and-failure 

This author points out the winners and losers in Rebranding. More specifically, the ones who manage to rebrand:Apple, GE, FedEx ... and there are unfortunately some changes without bringing in postive results: Netflix, Tropicana. 

Or we can look from here as well 

http://www.businessinsider.com/14-brands-that-had-to-reverse-their-horrible-attempts-at-rebranding-2012-3?IR=T

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-successful-rebranding-campaigns-2011-2?op=1&IR=T 

The concrete lesson from all the cases above is "A successful rebranding involves overhauling a company's goals, message, and culture -- not just changing a name or a logo" (Bianca Male, Business Insider, 2010) 

A successful campaign requires more than a revamped logo. It demands a vision that inspires customers, investors, and others to see the company in a new light.

Sources:

Strategic brand management, Kapferer 2008
Global Brand strategy, van Gelder 2005 

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/identity-vs-image.htm 

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34238/The-Marketer-s-Guide-to-Developing-a-Strong-Brand-Identity.aspx

https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/51768/Kimberley_Tomasz.pdf 

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

Through real case of Mountain Dew- a brand that consumed by millions of young, active, outdoor oriented consumers and ranks 4th highest selling soft drink in US, they are known for successfully presenting a consistent message over time and across media. In contrary to Moutain Dew, a lot of other companies are struggling due to the imbalance  between  communication activities. For example, advertising, SP, PR...  are created but rather than achieving the same goal, they tend to separate from each other, more specifically, personnel in charge of advertising failed to coordinate with the ones from SP or publicity.

After the Opening, we came out with the problem:

How to keep messages about the brand consistent through different channels and tools? 

3 Learning Objectives:

1. Coordinating Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) 
• What is IMC
• Who participates in IMC and their roles 
• Successful coordination of their activities IMC
2. IMC tools and channels 
• Available tools and how to choose the right ones 
• how to successfully implement
3. Message
• How channels and coordination affect the message

Coordinating IMC 

To understand such a broad topic like Coordinating IMC, we firstly need to know 

1. What is IMC - Integrated Marketing IMC?

According to Kliatchko in his book "Revisiting IMC construct" (2008), being improved by the work of Schultz and Schultz (1998) and states the key difference in the use of ‘business process’ – phrase ‘audience-driven’ summons the centricity that IMC gives to relevant publics. The most up-to-date perfect definition is:

“IMC is audience-driven business process of strategically managing stakeholders, content, channels, and results of brand communication programs” (Kliatchko, 2008, p. 140)

I found this either academically standard yet very informative and concrete. 

                                                                                                                    (Kliatchko, 2008, p.145)

Another definition is brought by American Marketing Association:  Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is explained as “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.”

The IMC planning process has been compared to composing a musical score. In a piece of music, while every instrument has a specific task, the goal is to have them come together in a way that produces beautiful music. It’s the same in IMC, where advertising might be your violin, social media your piano, public relations your trumpet and so on.

     2. Who participates in IMC and their roles?

McGrawhill/Irvin, 2002

A.The organization (manufactures, services firms, retailers, suppliers, nonprofits) who want communicate with consumers about their brands 

Nike is an example of a firm that does both 

• B2B:  Nike’s Relationship with shoe retailers like Foot Locker
• B2C:  Niketown stores selling shoes directly to consumers

B. The agencies who help the companies prepare their marketing communications messages and help select the appropriate media to communicate the message 

More specifically, Advertising Agency: This is an outside firm that specializes in the creation, production, and/or placement of the communication message and that may provide other services to facilitate the marketing and promotions process. Many large advertisers retain the services of a number of agencies when they market a number of products.

C. The media (content providers, national/local media) who provide the channel of communication for the marketer’s messages 

Media Organizations: The primary function of media organizations is to provide information or entertainment to their subscribers, viewers or readers but from the point of view of the promotion planner, the purpose of the media is to provide an environment for the firm's marketing communication programs.

And Customers are placed centrally among all.

And  how they successfully coordinate in IMC 

is the next interesting to be discovered. According to Duncan, Principles of Advertising & IMC, 2005:17, IMC Process Model needs to be developed.

Smith (1996) put forward a summary of the guidelines for effective integration:

– Ensure senior management understanding & support for IMC implementation 

– Ensure IMC is implemented horizontally 

– Ensure common visual standards are maintained 

– Have clear communications objectives, clear positioning statements, & link core brand values into every communication 

– Start with a zero budget and build communications plan around objectives

– Design communications around the customer's buying process 

– Ensure all communications help to develop stronger relationships and brand values with customers – Develop a good marketing information system 

– Share artwork & other media 

– Be prepared to change it all 

IMC tools and channels

1. Available tools and how to choose a right ones

The tools for IMC: 

Marketing promotion has been defined by Belch and as the coordination of all seller initiated efforts to set-up channels of information and persuasion in order to sell goods and services or promote an idea. Kallmeyer and Abratt (2001) viewed it as marketing communication mix which the joint researchers called the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing that a firm uses in order to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. While, implicit communication occurs through the various elements of the marketing mix, most of an organization’s communication effort with the market place takes place as part of a carefully planned and controlled promotional programme.

In the words of Davies, he sees marketing communication mix as the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing that a company uses to pursue it advertising and marketing communication objectives. Fill (2006)goes further when he says, marketing communication is a management process through which an organization engages with its various audiences.

Traditionally, Wright (2000) believes that the promotional mix has included four elements: advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity; personal selling. However, most modern scholars agreed on the inclusion of the 5th element which is direct and interactive (internet) marketing. A company’s total marketing communication mix-called its promotional mix therefore, consists of the specific blend of:

• Advertising

• Personal selling

• Publicity and public relations

• Sales promotion

• Direct and interactive marketing tools that a firm uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives


Briefly, we can identify these promotional mix elements.

Advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal communication and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identifiable sponsor.

Personal selling: Oral presentation in a conversation form with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.

Sales promotion: The use of short-term incentives in order to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service.



Fig. 1: Marketing communications mix



Public relations: Building good relations with the company’s various publics by obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good corporate image and heading-off unfavourable rumours, stories and events about the firm.

Direct and internet marketing: Direct marketing communication is a process of communication directly with target customers to encourage responses by telephone, mail, electronic means or personal visit. Popular methods of direct marketing communication include direct mail, telemarketing, online computer shopping services, castle television shopping network, internet marketing, etc. All types of marketers including retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and service providers use direct marketing communications. The ultimate goal of marketing communication is to reach some audience to affect their behaviour. In Fig. 1, marketing communication mix elements with the objectives of marketing communication are shown.

Informative promotion:
• To inform the market about the arrival of a new product

• To increase the awareness of a new product, brand or product attribute

• To explain how the product works

• To suggest new uses for a product

• To build a company image


Persuasive promotion:
• To encourage brand switching

• To change customers’ perceptions of product attributes

• To influence customers to buy now

• To persuade customers to call back


Reminder promotion

• To remind consumers that the product may be needed in the near future

• To remind consumers where to buy the product

• To maintain consumer awareness


Differentiation promotion: The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), London in 2007-2008, Lecture manual added a fourth objective to the marketing communication objectives. CIM London in 2008, calls these marketing communication objectives with the acronym, Drip to, i.e.:

• Differentiate a seller’s products from other competing products (D)

• Remind customers on the company products/offers (R)

• Inform potential customers on the products’ availability (I)

• Persuade customers to buy (P)

      2. Choosing the correct marketing communication tools:

It is believed that choosing the correct marketing communications tools for a particular promotional task is not an easy one. Indeed, the process is still very much an art though it is becoming more scientific because of the access to consumer and media database. Computer can carry out matching consumer characteristics with media database very rapidly and promotional budgets can be evaluated for a variety of different mixes. In the final analysis however, the client’s wishes and the expertise of the promotion planner are decisive. In this regards, it is good to provide some guideline for choosing the correct promotion tools.

The choice should be exercised within the flowing top-down hierarchy of objectives. According to CIM London in 2008, the choice of the marketing promotional tool is largely influenced by a number of factors such as:



Fig. 2: Marketing matrix

How to implement 

Implementation of promotional strategies is very vital and this calls for a firm’s advertising agency to display a sense of creativity, professionalism and commitment to the client’s promotional objectives. Belch added that it is vital for advertising agencies to work closely with their clients as they have to develop the adverts and select media because it is the advertiser (client) that ultimately approves (and pay for) the creative work and media plan. The joint research added that a similar, process takes place for the other elements of the IMC programme as objectives are set, an overall strategy is developed, message and media strategies are determined and steps are taken by the firm to implement them.

Last but not least step in order to choose the most effective tools/channels or combination of them:

It is vital for firms to determine how well the promotional programme is meeting the communications objectives. Chisnall adds that the marketing promotions planners want to know how and why the promotion programme is performing. He wants to know if there are deviations from the plans or whether there is need for modification, Belch added that this last step is designed to provide managers with continued feedback concerning the effectiveness of the promotional programme which in turn can be used as input into the planning process. The integrated marketing communication model (Fig. 3) portrays the development of a marketing program which requires an in-depth analysis of the market. This analysis may make extensive use of marketing research as an input which in turn provides the basis for the development of marketing strategies with regard to product pricing, distribution and promotion decisions. Each of the steps requires a detailed analysis since, this plan serves as the road map to follow in achieving marketing goals.

Once the detailed market analysis has been completed and marketing objectives have been established, each of the marketing mixes must contribute to a comprehensive integrated marketing program. The above joint researchers added that the promotional program element which is the focus of the model must be combined with all other program elements in such a way as to achieve maximum impact. This view is also supported by Peltier et al. (2003) and Cornelissen and Lock (2000) amongst others. Kitchen et al. (2004)looked at IMC process model from the strategic point of view. The researchers believed that firms need to do a SWOT analysis of their operation as well as those of their competitors.

The firm is also to analyze its database and information technology network. The firm who intends to have sound integrated marketing communications need to review it brand relationships which leads to customer acquisition, retention and growth. Moreover, Kitchen et al. (2004) believed that IMC must show 5 significant features. These according to them are:

• The primary goal of IMC is to affect behaviour through direct communication

• The process should start with the customer or prospect and then work backward to the brand communicator

• IMC should use all forms of communication and all sources of brand or company contacts as prospects message delivery channels

• The need for synergy is paramount with coordination helping to achieve a strong brand image

• IMC requires that successful marketing communication needs to build a relationship between the brand and the customer

When deciding how to properly utilize the marketing communications mix to meet the marketing objectives, it is important to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of each component of the marketing communication mix.



Fig. 3: Marketing and promotions process model

Further, one must always define his/her total budget first (generally defined in the marketing and/or business plan) and then decide upon the best way to leverage the different elements of the mix to maximize the return on one’s investment. One has to balance the various mixes to create an integrated approach to one’s marketing communications effort and also devote enough resources for each component to be successful.

In order to achieve better results from use of IMC, the marketing communicator must take the following steps into consideration when designing the message. We now examine the steps involved in developing an effective integrated marketing communication programme.

• Identify the target audience: The marketing communicator must have a clear target audience in mind. The audience may be potential buyers or current users; those who make buying decisions or those who influence it.

• Determine the communication objectives: This is what the marketer wants to achieve. To do this, he needs to know where the target audience now stands and what stage/or state it needs to be moved to. The purpose of marketing communication is to move the customer along these stages and ultimately to achieve final purchase (Fig. 4).

Design the message: Having designed the communication objectives, the marketing communicator turns to develop an effective message. Ideally, the message should get attention; hold interest; arouse desire and obtain action (A framework known as AIDA model). In practice, few messages take the consumer all the way from awareness to purchase but the AIDA frame work suggests the desirable qualities of a good message.



Fig. 4:
Process of customer decision

      3. Message

In putting the message together the marketing communicator must decide what to say (message content) and how to say it (message structure and format).

Message content: Here, the marketing communicator has to figure out an appeal or theme that will produce the desired response. There are 3 types of appeal.

• Rational appeal: Message appeals that relate to the audience’s self interest and show that the product will produce the claimed benefits, i.e., appeals of product quality, economy, value or performance.

• Emotional appeal: Message appeals that attempt to stir up negative or positive emotions that will motivate purchase. Examples are fear, guilt, shame, love, humour, pride and joy appeal.

• Moral appeal: Message appeals that are directed to the audience’s sense of what is right and proper 

Message structure: Here, the communicator decides how to say the message. There are three issues that are involved here:

• The first is whether to draw conclusion or to leave it to the audience. Present researches show that the advertiser is better-off asking questions to stimulate involvement and motivate customers to think about the brand and then let them come to their own conclusions
• The second message structure is whether to present a one sided issue, i.e., whether to mention only the product’s strengths or whether to admit few shortcomings of the product. When dealing with highly sophisticated and enlightened customers, you have to present the two sides
• Whether to present strong arguments first or last. Presenting strong arguments first leads to strong attention but may lead to anti-climate ending

Message format: This has to do with the content of the message such as in print adverts the communicator has to decide on the headline, copy, illustration, colour, etc.

• Selecting the message source: Message source refers to the company, the brand name, the salesperson, the actor in the advert who endorses the product, i.e., today many firms are using celebrities and other drama artists to endorse their adverts s the message source, i.e., in Nigeria many companies are using footballers such as Kanu, Okocha or other world footballers such as Becham, Ronaldo, Ronaldiiho, etc.

• Choosing the media: The communicator must now select channels of communication. There are broad two communication channels. These are personal and non-personal communication channels.

• Personal communication channel: In personal communication channel, two or more people communicate directly with one another. They may communicate face-to-face or over the telephone or through mail, fax machine, internet, etc. Personal communication system is very effective as it gives room for quick feedback.

• Non-personal communication: These are media that carry messages without personal contact such as radio, television, newspapers, billboard, posters, etc.

Collecting feedback: After sending the message, the communicator must research its effects on the target audience. This involves asking the target audience whether they remember the message; how many times they saw the message. What points they recall, how they felt about the message and their past and present attitude towards the product and the company. The communicator would also like to measure behaviour resulting from the message. How many people bought the product. How may people visited their stores or shops after the adverts, etc.

How the channels and coordination affect the message: 

As all the points made above, if channels are suitably chosen (right target, right marketing objectives ...) and they successfully coordinate with each other, which simply means different departments, functions work towards a common goal as they know what exactly they want to achieve as a union, not separately, I think, partly of the message is successful. Because the message's gonna be delivered corporately.

Case studies:
Probably huge firms like Coca Cola would be the best classical example (Share a coke campaign), for example in India.
Besides, I found this Tesco campaign in South Korea quite interesting because they managed to take the largest  title from E-Mart with their integrated campaign of the virtual market in subway, after having in-depth research about SK's buying behavior, despite of their disadvantage of less presence compared to E-Mart, they didn't necessarily use considerable amount of money to build more stores to win.

Sources:

Kliatchko,. "Revisiting IMC construct" (2008)
Ducan, T., Principles of Advertising and IMC, 2nd edition 2005, Chapter 2 
http://imc.wvu.edu/about/what_is_imc
http://multimediamarketing.com/mkc/marketingcommunications/
http://pure.au.dk/portal-asb-student/files/45282492/Integrated_Marketing_Communications_and_Social_Media.pdf
http://www.medwelljournals.com/fulltext/?doi=sscience.2011.64.73
https://pure.ltu.se/ws/files/44188484/LTU-EX-2013-44152419.pdf
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/integrated-marketing-management-imc-4029166.html#ixzz1YSDt15Wf