Literature Review for Branding with IMC: Using IMC to Build, Sustain And Evolve Brands - Essay Example

?Literature Review for Branding with IMC: Using IMC to build, sustain, and evolve brands Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 Literature review 5 Factors influencing brand strategy 6 IMC and its influence on branding 8 Conclusion/Research question 15 Reference 17 Abstract The given project analyses the role of IMC in developing a strong brand image of a product or service. While conducting this research it has been found that the brand image of a product (or service) is influenced by several factors. Factors like age of consumers, influence of social-economic factors and the changing purchasing behaviour of the consumers directly influences the brand image. Taking all these factors under consideration, a company must develop its integrated marketing communication plan. It has been found that an IMC is effective enough to convey a common message to the target customer and developing strong brand image. Introduction In the prevailing age of globalisation, companies are facing immense competition from the local as well as the international competitors. Therefore, the companies are paying special attention towards their brand image to make the products and services popular among the target market segment. Management realised that they must use different communication options that share a common meaning and builds the brand equity. This concept was further developed as “Integrated Marketing Communication” (IMC)) (Keller, 2008, p.289). The aim of this project is to evaluate role of IMC in building, sustaining and evaluating brands. Brand can be defined as “a bundle of functional, economic and psychological benefits for the end users, more simply known as quality, price and the image” (Isaac, 2000, p.6). In the contemporary market companies use several communication and marketing tools to acquire a strong brand image. Thus, companies are eager to make aggressive investment for marketing activities. However, an aggressive advertisement and marketing does not guaranty strong brand equity in the market. This reflects the loopholes in the marketing strategy followed by the company. Some of the common reasons behind failure of marketing strategy are as follows: Management fail to integrate strategic planning in day to day activities carried out in the organisation: The management is more concerned with developing an impeccable marketing plan but are less concerned with the implementation and evaluation process. When such plans are implemented, the employees often resist because they may not find the plan realistic to match with the day to day activities. The planning committee does not understand the planning process: Planning requires step by step evaluation of all the external as well as internal factors influencing the brand image perceived by the customers. This often results in a time consuming and laborious process; however the management is often in hurry to finish the planning process and thus they skip some basic steps. Such marketing plan is based on incomplete information and may not assist the organisation to achieve the required goal. Lack of involvement of the line managers: The line managers are directly associated with the ground level employees and hence these managers possess in-depth information about the functions. The information provided by them can assist in developing a realistic and effective marketing plan. Marketing plan that heavily focuses on short term results: Such plans take into account short term profits but fails to achieve sustainable growth in long term. (Reid & Bojanic, 2009) These above given factors related to failure of marketing plans reflects poor coordination among the different marketing communication processes to be used to acquire high brand equity in the target market. Companies have realised that IMC not just result in a strong brand image but also provides a positive influence on the retailer’s expectations (Monga & John, 2007). To further understand the role of IMC in brand development, an in-depth literature review will be conducted. Literature review The concept of integrated marketing communication is nothing new for the firms. In the time of Second World War, US army used the concept of integrated marketing to attract youth for joining the army (Belch, 2003, p.3). The concept of IMC started gaining recognition from the early stage of twentieth century. At that time the main motto of marketing communication was to develop relationship with the customers. Therefore, organisations used print media, radio, posters and press releases to convey their message. Almost from 1980’s onwards organisations realised the need for integration among different communication tools used to convey the message and to develop brand; therefore they started investing more in the marketing activities (Luck & Patti, 2004). With time, more and more firms realised that the effort and the fund invested in the marketing activities are not providing the required outcome because of poor coordination. This made them think about the loopholes in the prevailing marketing strategy followed by them. Factors influencing brand strategy Time to time, several researchers conducted different researches to understand factors influencing brand strategy followed by the firms. Keller and Lehmann (2006) explained that brands are build to enhance the effectiveness of marketing activity (Keller and Lehmann, 2006). These two researchers conducted a conceptual research with a focus on brand integration, brand equity measurement and brand management. The outcome of the research reflects that brand positioning and brand valuation has different influence on various personalities that varies across the culture and countries. Therefore, customers can have different kind of relationship with the brands. No doubt, this research was successful in influencing people but it failed to explain impact of social, legal and financial factors over brand image perceived by the customers. Another researcher, Luck (2004) conducted a descriptive research to examine how brand communication through online influences the decision process of the customers. The outcome of the research explained that extrinsic cues influence the purchasing decision of the customers. Again, name, reputation and image of the E-tailer plays significant role in the success of brand communication (Luck, 2004). In 2005, Berens, Van Riel & Van Bruggen conducted empirical experimentation on 273 respondents from retail and wholesale financial industry operating in Europe and USA. From these respondents, quantitative data was collected to determine impact of corporate branding strategies on CA and CSR associations. After summarising the finding from this research, it was concluded that in general a monolithic branding strategy associated with CA, followed by the company has a strong influence on the customers. However, no such influence was found with CSR followed by the company. The major limitation of this research was its narrow focus over the single parental company. While conducting the research, the study does not considered the subsidiary brands while determining the CA and CSR association over corporate branding strategies (Berens, Riel & Bruggen, 2005). A similar empirical research was conducted by Volckner & Sattler in 2006 to study the success determinants of brand extension. Brand extension means managing portfolio of different products under a single brand. Companies use brand extension strategy to in-cash the brand image for introducing different products. The research by Volckner and Sattler (2006) found that factors like marketing support, retailer’s association, conviction of the parent brand, experience derived from the parent brand. Apart from the identified factors, there were several other factors that influence the success of brand extension (Volckner & Sattler (2006). Again, Monga and John (2006) conducted a qualitative as well as quantitative empirical research on 57 US people whose home language was English and 62 Indian with Indian language as their home language. The researchers were trying to explore influence of cultural differentiation in the process of brand extension. As per the finding of the research it was found that holistic thinking has a positive influence over brand extension fit. On the other hand, analytical thinking is responsible for decline in the brand extension fit. Among the western and eastern consumers, the eastern (Indian) demonstrated a more favourable brand extension fit over the other (Monga & John, 2006). All these above given researchers were conducted to study the factors that directly or indirectly influences branding strategy followed by the firm. IMC and its influence on branding There were many researchers who were more interested to know about the role of integrated marketing communication. Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan & McDonald (2005) conducted a descriptive research to analyse the importance of IMC and brand identity in brand equity strategy followed by the organisations. Initially IMC was considered as a mere tool for maintaining coordination in the marketing communication but with time people started accepting it as a strategic tool. Management uses IMC to achieve the required brand image in the target market. Through IMC, the organisation can maintain uniformity in the message conveyed to the customers. As for example, if a company want to reflect its customer specific strategy, it may reflect this in the advertisements to portrait “people come first” approach. This common strategy can be expressed through all the components of the marketing promotional mix. Therefore, through an integrated marketing communication, the company can easily gain required brand image. Basically, for companies, developing brand equity is the main priority. Keller in 1993 pointed the factors that influence the brand equity of a company. These are internal brand identity effort and integration in the whole communication programme. Even Killer agreed upon the vital role of IMC in developing brand equity. All the marketing components, such as product, price, distribution, advertisement and promotion should be used in integrated manner to create and maintain brand equity. The below given diagram explains the brand equity scheme followed in many of the firms. Figure 1: Brand Equity Strategy (Source: Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan & McDonald, 2005, p.72) The model of IMC and brand equity is based on certain common assumption; some of them are: Communication is one of the factors that influences brand equity. Brand communication is transmitted with help of some vehicles; it does not solely depend on the broadcasted advertisements. The process of band communication can either be planned or can be unplanned. However, the brand image cannot be controlled wholly. (Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan & McDonald, 2005). The research done by Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan & McDonald (2005), derived that personal integration with the customers play a vital role in brand equity strategy. However, this research does not consider other factors related to brand identity and characteristic of IMC were also ignored. In 2009, Winter and Sundqvist conducted a case study where three distinct companies providing telecommunication services in Finnish marketplace were analysed. The main aim of this research was to derive empirical evidence regarding use of IMC in new products of high technology launched by different companies. Though these companies were operating in different fields but all these succeeded in providing similar innovation to the same market (Winter & Sundqvist, 2008). In the case of high technology products, the most risky and poorly managed phase is the new product development. If a firm that can efficiently manage communication and positioning of the new product and services in the target market, the chances of profitable product acceptance enhances. Such planned and well controlled communication can be achieved with use of IMC. On an average, half of the new high technical products fail as soon as they are launched in the market. Basically, these products are produced by the engineers who pay more focus on the technical point. Even while launching the product, the marketing sector keeps the technical aspect as the main focus but the benefits achieved by the end users are simply ignored. However, such technology push marketing strategy is not much effective to attract the end users. Factors like poor customer knowledge and conflict between different launched products results in high rate of new product failure. Therefore, while developing the marketing plan these factors should be kept in mind and the management should try hard to coordinate different communication tools to convey a common message to the target customer. The results derived from the case study clearly explained that IMC is a valuable strategic tool for the high technology market. If the firm uses IMC while positioning the new technical product/service in the target market, it minimises the chance of failure. As the findings cannot be generalised; hence it was one of the major loophole of this case study (Winter & Sundqvist, 2009). Lazarevic & Petronic-Lazarevic (2007) examined brand loyalty among the Generation Y to understand the implication of brand marketing on them. It is quite essential to understand the factors which influence the brand image of the product among youngsters. This Generation Y represents the potential customer base for the future, thus they are of great importance for the companies. As per the research, IMC and branding are critical tools which can be used to increase the brand loyalty among Generation Y. The research also pointed out that the marketing communication and branding activity should be conducted after considering the market intelligence (Lazarevic & Petronic-Lazarevic, 2007). In 2008, Kliatchko conducted a conceptual research to re-examine the definition of IMC as provided by early scholars. Kliatchko explained with a help of a chart that who with time different concepts related to integrated marketing communication has been researched by scholars. The chart is given below: Figure 2: Research topics on IMC from 1990 to 2006 (Source: Kliatchko, 2008, p.139) Through this research, the four pillars of IMC were identified; these are stakeholders, content, channels and results. Figure 3: Four pillars of IMC (Source: Kliatchko, 2008, p.145) The above given diagram explain how the four pillars are connected to IMC as well as strategic management of brand communications programmes. The stakeholders comprises of both internal and external audience. IMC is effectively in managing the external audience. In IMC, the content means the brand concept and ideas that re communicated to the customers. The other component of content is the incentive and rewards given to the customers for doing something valuable for the firm. The marketing communication channels represent the third pillar of the IMC but this is quite different from the traditional view. In-spite of just radio, TV and print it also considers all other contact points where the customers/prospects comes in direct contact with the brand. The final and the fourth pillar is the result that is the effectiveness. As the process of marketing communication is getting complex, the challenge associated with effectiveness of communication process is increasing. Figure 4: Elements of IMC pillars (Source: : Kliatchko, 2008, p.152) The finding of the research were used to reveal the inter-relation among the four pillars and IMC but according to the critics the definition failed to cover all the required aspects of IMC while re-defining its definition (Kliatchko, 2008). Few years back, in 2003, Luck & Chapman conducted a similar research to describe in what way IMC is employed in the political arena. As per the result, it has been found that inconsistency in the communication within a political party should be avoided as this can adversely affect the brand image of the party (Luck & Chapman, 2003). In 2004, Luck and Patti did a research to understand how technology and new communication tools influences the marketplace. The research also pointed out that internet should evolve beyond the transactional stage so that it can be used as an innovative platform for communication (Luck & Patti, 2004). To understand how professional service marketing and IMC influences the branding, Moffatt and Luck (2007) conducted a research. It has been found that IMC usually influences product and consumer markets (Moffatt & Luck, 2007). Different scholars conducted researches on several areas to understand influence of IMC at different operational sectors. Vel & Sharma in 2010 did case study to explain how management consultancy houses used IMC for launching a music festival. The finding of the case study explained that well developed IMC assist in achieve the goal for proper marketing of the event (Vel & Sharma, 2010). Pitta, Weisgal & Lynagh in 2006 did a descriptive research to investigate development of IMC in the existing marketing activities followed in the market. The research explained that marketing activities are getting benefited with more and more use of IMC. The main limitation of this research was its excessive theoretical concepts. (Pitta, Weisgal & Lynagh, 2006). There were some other researchers who conducted the research to develop in-depth understanding regarding success of the branding. As for example Henkel, Tomczak, Heitmann & Herrmann (2007) did a research to describe how brand success can be influenced if he company shares its brand expectation with the audience and the employees participating in such communication. The results were positive as it was found that brand success depends on employees’ behaviour (Henkel, Tomczak, Heitmann & Herrmann, 2007). Kollman & Suckow (2007) did an empirical research to analyse whether classical branding concepts will assist e-entrepreneurs in achieving sustainable growth. This research was done in Germany where 319 e-entrepreneurs participated. As per the research it was found that one part of the respondents is still using the classical model of branding and the other has shifted towards new approach (Kollman & Suckow, 2007). Harradine & Ross (2007) conducted a quantitative research to analyse major differences between parents and children towards branding and its implication. They found that there is a considerable gap between parants and children regarding brand perception and children possess more sophisticated approach towards brand awareness (Harradine & Ross, 2007). To determine the factors that were made the SMEs more successful as compared to the large organisation. The result reflected that branding and market reputation are important resource for gaining long term success (Abimbola & Kocak, 2007). Conclusion/Research question The literature review explains that in 2000’s several researchers has done research to understand the concept of branding, the factors influencing it and impact of IMC over brand image of a firm. It can be concluded that branding is quite essential for success of a new product or service launched in the market. For example, companies make huge investment for developing high technical products but because of poor marketing strategy the product fails to attract the customers. The researchers also analyse how the demographic profile of the customers (age, gender, social norms, etc) affect the brand image of the product and service. Although ample researches have been conducted in past, yet there is scope for conducting further empirical research. A research can be based on factors like: what is the role of IMC in developing strategic management in the firm, or how organisation can use IT in developing effective IMS. These are some of the research question that my guide a researcher in conducting further empirical research. Reference Abimbola. T. and Kocak, A. (2007). Brand, organization identity and reputation: SMEs as expressive organizations: A resources-based perspective. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 10(4), 416-430. Retrieved December 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. Belch. (2003). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective. Tata McGraw-Hill. Berens, G., van Riel, C.B. and van Bruggen, G.H. (2005). Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses: The Moderating Role of Corporate Brand Dominance. Journal of Marketing, 69(3), 35-48. 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IMC strategies in new high technology product launches. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 27(2), 191-215. Retrieved December 30, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. Read More