Integrated Marketing Communication and Information Technology - Research Paper Example

Integrated Marketing Communication and Information Technology Case study: Samsung Galaxy Note “For marketers, in both academia and in practice, the power of the internet as a marketing tool within the postmodern consumer context needs to be continually evaluated and exploited” (Simmons, 2008: 306) Section 1: Introduction With the development of Internet technology consumer’s behavior, lifestyle and expectations have changed dramatically, thus making marketers and other professionals adjust to these changes. All these changes have been transformed into special subject known as Integrated Marketing Communication. Nowadays, in order to be successful many companies have successfully adopted the principles of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). The American Association of Advertising Agencies defines IMC as a “concept of marketing communication, which sees the added value in all-inclusive plan”, whereas strategic importance of various communication tools (such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing) taken into account (Završnik & Jerman, 2011). This approach allows marketers “to ensure clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact” (Završnik & Jerman, 2011:352). One of the companies who has adopted IMC to its strategy is global company Samsung. In October 2011 Samsung rolled out Galaxy Note – smartphone with a screen diagonal width of 5, 3-inches (Byeong-Wan, 2013). These sizes of the smartphone were quite unusual and made it be perceived as a hybrid between the smartphone and tablet. There were many skeptics who were doubtful about the success of this particular product due to its unusual sizes (Byeong-Wan, 2013). However, the company has achieved fabulous success having sold five million units of the Galaxy Note in the first five months (Byeong-Wan, 2013). Launch of the second version of the Galaxy Note with 5,5-inches screen also has proved to be successful, as global sales have reached 10 million in the second half of 2012 (Byeong-Wan, 2013). The success formula of the Galaxy Note was comprised of three main factors, including the following: technological advancement, global operations and branding of Samsung, and unique marketing strategy. The focus of this paper is made on the role of the Internet in the postmodern consumer environment, using examples from Samsung Galaxy Note. The remainder of this paper begins with section 2 - an overview of postmodernism development and its impact on the integrated marketing communication. Section 3 provides the analysis of the role Internet plays in the IMC followed with an overview of key online marketing tools/instruments. As the paper is focused on a particular case study related to the promotion of Samsung Galaxy Note, Section 4 provides analysis of this brand activity, followed by a discussion and critical evaluation of Samsung’s marketing activity with a focus made on online activity. Section2: Postmodernism and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Postmodernism has significantly influenced the way marketers should perform their job in the twenty-first century. With the trade liberalisation reforms and globalisation, an increasing number of companies have gained access to the global market (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). With the increased flow of information and information technologies development, greater number of consumers became more knowledgeable and well-educated (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). Nowadays, profile of the postmodern consumers might be comprised of the following adjectives: savvy, streetwise, and sophisticated. It is worth to note that these characteristics do not imply that practically every user of the Internet technology has higher education or is University/college student. Rather, it is a broad category of people of different ages, different backgrounds, different levels of educational background, and lifestyle, but who those who tend to use Internet technology to inform themselves about current trends and learn more about the things they are interested in (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). In business and marketing perspective, postmodern consumers tend to use Internet as a first source of information about certain product, brand or company, and based on this information, to make their judgments and decisions about the merits of products and services, as well as marketing communication accompanied it (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002:146). Thus, consumers have both greater access to information and control over this information. However, with an increased flow and sources of information, consumers might feel overloaded to make right decision (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). This feature of postmodernism makes people to choose among a broad variety of choices, where people often just do not know what they really want (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). Postmodern consumers are ready to live a perpetual present, accept state of chaos and disorder in greater extent, and put greater emphasis on style or form (Brown 1993a, 1993b, cited in Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). In result of the changes in consumer behavior combined with an increased market’s fragmentation and segmentation, traditional product-centered marketing approach has been replaced by more customer-centric, interactive, database-driven and measurable integrated marketing communication (Reinold&Tropp, 2012; Gurau, 2008). While companies were facing a variety of new challenges while communicating their messages to the potential consumers, integrated marketing communication approach provided greater communication efficiency and flexibility to marketing specialists (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002; Gurau, 2008). Integrated marketing communications, as a concept, was first introduced in 1980s (Reinold &Tropp, 2012). There were formulated various definitions and interpretations of the term of IMC, often contradictory (Gurau, 2008; Kitchen, Kim, & Schultz, 2008). One of the most recent definitions was given by Kliatchko (Reinol d& Tropp, 2012): “IMC is an audience-driven business process of strategically managing stakeholders, content, channels, and results of brand communication programs” (Kliatchko 2008:140). This definition is quite extensive as it covers four major elements of the marketing communication strategy: stakeholders, content, channels, and results. Stakeholders represent a broad category of people, varying from customers (both potential and current), intermediaries, external influencers to customer-facing employees and other employees (Hart, 1999). It is important to note that IMC has one obvious and important distinction comparing to traditional marketing approach – inclusion of multiple stakeholders in communication process (Mulhern, 2009). Thus, for example, corporate website of the company can be used not only by potential and existing customers, but also by investors, government representatives, media, employees, etc. (Mulhern, 2009). Content implies the message(s) that the company is trying to communicate to its target audience, while the channels are the tools or instruments that the company uses to convey its messages to stakeholders (Hart, 1999). There are many traditional channels available for communicating with the stakeholders, varying from TV and printed ads to outdoor and Public Relations. However, as Mulhern (2009:90) explains, current media “grew out of an era where audiences sat in front of televisions or sat at home or on trains perusing newspapers and magazines.” Nowadays, people spend with media technologies about 9,5 hours per day and consume the media simultaneously (TV viewing, reading newspaper, and/or being online) (Mulhern, 2009). Therefore, with the advance of IT, online marketing channels have gained much greater popularity among modern businesses. Section 3 provides a more detailed overview of the role the Internet plays in Integrated Marketing Communications. Section 3: The Role of the Internet in Integrated Marketing Communications The Internet and Integrated Marketing Communications The availability of high-speed internet access through improved mobile technologies such as 4G (Fourth Generation) and LTE technology (Long Term Evolution) and extensive Wi-Fi coverage, both have contributed to enhanced media consumption experience (Euromonitor International, 2013; Rogerson, n.d.). Internet access has enabled users from all over the world unite to a global community, with practically no boarders and limits of information sharing (with an exception of those countries with strict regimes). The global digital landscape has changed dramatically the behavior of people, transforming them to “touch screen generation” or “digital natives” (Euromonitor International, 2013). Electronic media and database technologies emerged in result of the Internet have enabled many companies to develop unique personalized communication with its target audiences, and thus to develop efficient relationship management strategy (Peltier, Schibrowsky, & Schultz, 2003). Internet offers such unique characteristics to the integrated marketing communication, which can be hardly gained from the traditional media. These characteristics are the following: freedom from temporal and spatial restrictions, many-to-many communication, interactivity, hypertextuality, and personalization (Jensen, & Jepsen, 2006). With the freedom from temporal and spatial restrictions consumers now have access to information 24/7, regardless their geographical and physical location (except the countries or places with no Internet coverage) (Jensen & Jepsen, 2006). Wireless phones and other handheld devices also have increased the extent of user’s freedom and accessibility (Mulhern, 2009). Due to the freedom from spatial and temporal distance, consumers can enjoy many-to-many communication. Internet technology enabled users to communicate directly with so many people they want, anytime they want (Jensen, & Jepsen, 2006). Interactivity is referred to the characteristics of the information, which users can get by using Internet technology. This information, also known as content, is often dependent on the input given to the computer (Jensen, & Jepsen, 2006: 25). Hypertextuality is another characteristics of the information, which users can update as often as they want and at minimum cost. Usually the content for users is supplemented with links, which enable users to “surf” easily and smoothly from one location to another one (Jensen, & Jepsen, 2006). The last one characteristics of online marketing tools is referred to personalization, which implies that users of Internet technology can get information about personality at sustainable cost, and/or set up individualized/selective communication (Jensen, & Jepsen, 2006). Due to all these characteristics, information can be shared and updated frequently, efficiently and at sustainable cost (Jensen & Jepsen, 2006). Nowadays, the internet is one of the advertising mediums, which offers a huge variety of marketing and advertising opportunities (Markova, Prajova, & Salgovicova, 2011). In addition to direct advertising, Internet offers instruments/tools for Public Relations’ activity and sales activity. Banners, sponsorships, push technologies, links - are some of the instruments used for advertising online (Markova, Prajova, & Salgovicova, 2011). Below is provided a more detailed overview of such Internet-based instruments as social media, platforms, and e-commerce. Social Media Social media instruments are the means of communicating to an audience and marketing particular brand, product/service, etc (Schlinke& Crain 2013). The social networking through the social media platforms is viewedas one of the most popular instrumentsof online communication (Euromonitor International, 2013).Among a variety of various goals for which businesses can utilize social media resources, there identified two key public relations functions: brand extension and reputation management (Schlinke & Crain 2013). Many brands tend to use social media as a source of updates and current news relevant to the specific brand/business activity (Schlinke & Crain 2013). Relatively recent evolution of information technology, mobile and social media has also enabled and encouraged consumers to be involved to the process of content production (Bacile, Hoffacker & White, 2014). Today, this content (also known as messages) may easily be spread globally with only one button pressed. Consumers are free to share their opinions, experiences, as well as negative/positive attitudes to a specific brand or product and thus form perception among other users regarding this brand/product or company (Bacile, Hoffacker & White, 2014). The main channel of such “unofficial” exchange of information is social media, including the main social networking platforms like Facebook, Google +, Google-owned YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, and Chinese platforms such as Qzone, SinaWeibo, Tencent and TencentWeibo (Bacile, Hoffacker & White, 2014; Euromonitor International, 2013). Despite the risks and challenges associated with brand-owned social media channels, increasing number of companies create brand social media pages, as it is an important IMC channel which helps to increase consumer engagement (Bacile, Hoffacker & White, 2014; Swani et al., 2013). E-commerce With the development and deployment of technological advancement, businesses have gained a great opportunity to use Internet not only for marketing communication but also for selling their products/services online. Such online sales activity has received the whole direction known as e-commerce (Schultz & Block, 2014). Nowadays, many companies tend to invest significant sums to development of applications, also known as “apps”, as these online software packages help to establish effective communication and interaction between the company and its customers (Schultz & Block, 2014). Section 4: Application (case study) Galaxy Note For advertising its product of Galaxy Note, Samsung has used a variety of marketing tools, both offline and online. Below are presented some of the key marketing communication tools the company has used by utilizing Internet and mobile technology. Corporate website Samsung has launched its own website, which serves as the main communication platform with its stakeholders. The website provides detailed information about the Galaxy Note story, benefits and specifications of the product, supplemented with images, videos and use cases (Samsung, n.d.). On the corporate website there are also provided interactive links to the social networking pages created for Samsung Galaxy Note. Social Media Samsung is active user of the social networking channels, such as Facebook, Twitter. and YouTube. As of October 2014, the company’s brand page on Facebook had more than 40 000 000 likes (Samsung Mobile Facebook, 2014). There are published news, information and photos of the company’s products. In addition to Facebook, Samsung Mobile is actively using Twitter as a platform for communicating with its stakeholders. This platform also serves as a communication tool between the company and its followers – existing and potential users of Samsung Galaxy Note (Samsung Mobile Twitter, 2014). As of October 2014, the number of readers of the Samsung Mobile page on Twitter has almost reached 10 mln (Samsung Mobile Twitter, 2014). Samsung has also used Twitter in order to bit his main competitor by posting the quote of Steve Jobs “No one is going to buy a big phone”, followed with the message “Guess who surprised themselves and changed their minds” (Ritson, 2014). Further, Samsung has posted several advertisements of its own product – Galaxy Note 4, accompanied with a critique of the latest launch of iPhone (Ritson, 2014). Using Internet as a communication channel, Samsung has launched the whole campaign, explaining to the readers about the four features which new Apple iPhone didn’t have (Campaign Brief, 2014). Samsung has also created its own page on the world known video channel, Youtube. Thus, the company posts the news, product reviews, interviews, advertisements, promotion videos and other relevant information (Samsung Mobile YouTube, 2014). The total number of subscribers to the brand-owned page on Youtube was more than 1 mln as of October 2014 (Samsung Mobile YouTube, 2014). SEO One of the ways Samsung has integrated Internet communication to its marketing strategy was search engine optimization. Moreover, the company has made quite aggressive steps towards its SEO promotion, attempting to reach the potential consumers through its direct competitors. Thus, for example, people who searched for the news about the 'iPhone 6’ were offered to read the first stories about Samsung (Ritson, 2014). Celebrity endorsement Samsung has involved many celebrities for participating in its advertising campaigns among whom were: David Backham (the British Footbal player), LeBron James (the American Backetbal player, NBA), Aamir Khan (Bollywood), Usain Bolt (the Jamaican athlete), Maria Sharapova (the Russian tennis player), and Li Na (the Chinese tennis star) (Celebrity Power and Its Influence on Global Consumer Behavior, 2014). In order to advertise its Galaxy Note 4, Samsung also has utilized a celebrity sponsorship technique integrated with the use of apps technology. Thus, for example, the company has bought temporary exclusivity on new album releases of Jay-Z in 2013. The company has successfully utilized internet technology, having distributed Jay-Z albums only to the owners of Galaxy smartphones through a special mobile application (Celebrity Power and Its Influence on Global Consumer Behavior, 2014). In return, the company has gained massive publicity of the Smartphone and strong sales generated through the fans eager to get the album as soon as possible (Celebrity Power and Its Influence on Global Consumer Behavior, 2014). Apps Samsung has used extensively apps developments in order to promote the launch of the Galaxy Note in the mobile world. Thus, for example, the company has publicized its new release on Galaxy Note to more than one million users of smartphones by utilizing the Hotmob’s mobile app network (Samsung Galaxy Note Launch Promotion, 2011). Thus, there appeared a banner ad, which redirected users to the interactive corporate landing page with the information and video about the product characteristics (Samsung Galaxy Note Launch Promotion, 2011). Section 5: Discussion Based on the theoretical review of the Integrated Marketing Communication theme and analysis of the role the Internet has played in the Samsung Galaxy Note case, it is possible to suggest that the company has effectively utilized various advertisement and marketing communication tools. Samsung has successfully integrated both offline and online marketing and advertisement instruments/tools in order to promote and advertise its product. In addition to direct advertising, the company has managed to prevent negative consumer’s perception towards large screen by manipulating and playing around its main competitor, Iphone. Significant number of followers and subscribers at the main social networking websites indicate that Samsung has established effective communication channel with its target audience at low cost. Having created and promoted Facebook and Twitter brand-owned pages, Samsung has gained a unique opportunity to share news, updates, and other relevant information with its customers (both existing and potential). In addition to social networking websites, the company has established strong presence on YouTube channel, which helped Samsung to facilitate its communication with its subscribers. Moreover, Samsung has successfully mixed traditional celebrity endorsement method with the information technology, having created special apps. Due to its activity in Search Optimization, the company also has managed to capture the leading positions in the Google Search, leaving behind its main competitor. While it is still difficult to measure the effectiveness of integrated marketing communication efforts undertaken by Samsung for launching and advertising Galaxy Note brand due to limited information available, the fact that the company’s sales have reached sales of 10 million in the second half of 2012 serves as a strong argument and support to the company’s online communication strategy (Byeong-Wan, 2013). Section 6: Conclusion Integrated Marketing Communication is an integral part practically of any marketing strategy of a successful brand. With the development of Internet technology consumer’s behavior, lifestyle and expectations have changed dramatically, thus making marketers and other professionals adjust to these changes. However, information technologies also have offered many great opportunities for businesses to communicate with and target their audiences in more personalized, selective and efficient way. Having integrated offline and online instruments, available for marketing and communication, many companies gained opportunity to reach their target audience and potential consumers/clients in more sophisticated ways. The case of Samsung Galaxy Note has illustrated effective implementation of integrated marketing communication strategy, with a focus made on the Internet-based and mobile technologies. The success of this strategy can be attributed to the online platforms, which the company has used for engaging its potential and existing customers. The company has created corporate brand pages for the Galaxy Note on each of the major social networking websites, enabling itself to communicate with its customers directly and at minimum costs. However, it is also important to note that the target audience of the Samsung Galaxy Note is the digitalized population, who already are active users of Internet and mobile applications. Therefore, the implementation of integrated online marketing communication is considered to be as quite effective, even though aggressive. References: Bacile, T, Hoffacker, C, & White, A. (2014), Emerging Challenges in Social Media, International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications, 6 (1), pp. 34-51. Brown, S. (1993a), Postmodern marketing: principles, practice and panaceas, Irish Marketing Review, 6, pp.91-100. Brown, S. (1993b), Postmodern marketing?, European Journal of Marketing, 27(4), pp.19-34. Byeong-Wan, K. (2013), Phablet Phenom: Samsung Galaxy Note Pens Best-Seller, SERI Quarterly, 6 (2), pp. 73-81. Campaign Brief (2014), Amusing new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 campaign mocks this week's Apple iPhone 6 launch’. Available at: http://www.campaignbrief.com/2014/09/amusing-new-samsung-galaxy-not.html Euromonitor International (2013), Mobile Cocooning: How Growing Reliance on Smart devices is Influencing Consumer Behavior.’ Euromonitor International (2014), Celebrity Power and Its Influence on Global Consumer Behavior.’ Gurau, C. (2008), Integrated online marketing communication: implementation and management, Journal of Communication Management, 12 (2), pp. 169-184. Hart, N. (1999), Implementing an Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy. Thorogood Publishing Ltd. Hot-mob.com (2011) ‘Samsung Galaxy Note Launch Promotion’. Available from http://www.hot-mob.com/wp/samsung-galaxy-note-launch-promotion/ Jensen, M, & Jepsen, A. (2006), Online Marketing Communications: Need for a New Typology for IMC? Journal Of Website Promotion, 2 (1/2), pp. 19-35. Kliatchko, J.G. (2005), Towards a new definition of integrated marketing communications (IMC), International Journal of Advertising, 24 (1), pp. 7 – 34 Kitchen, P, Kim, I, & Schultz, D (2008), Integrated Marketing Communications: Practice Leads Theory, Journal of Advertising Research, 48 (4), pp. 531-546. Markova, P, Prajova, V, & Salgovicova, J. (2011), The Internet and Integrated Marketing Communications, Annals Of DAAAM & Proceedings, pp. 271-272. Mulhern, F (2009), 'Integrated marketing communications: From media channels to digital connectivity', Journal of Marketing Communications, 15, 2/3, pp. 85-101. Peltier, J, Schibrowsky, J, & Schultz, D. (2003), Interactive integrated marketing communication: combining the power of IMC, the new media and database marketing, International Journal of Advertising, 22 (1), pp. 93-115. Proctor, T. and Kitchen, P. (2002), Communication in postmodern integrated marketing, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 7 (3), pp. 144 – 154. Reinold, T, & Tropp, J (2012), 'Integrated marketing communications: How can we measure its effectiveness?' Journal of Marketing Communications, 18 (2), pp. 113-132. Ritson, M. (2014), 'How Samsung took the wind out of Apple's sails', Marketing Week (Online Edition). Rogerson, J. (n.d,). ‘4G and LTE: everything you need to know’. Available from http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/4g-and-lte-everything-you-need-to-know-926835 Samsung, (n.d.). ‘Samsung Galaxy Note’ Available from http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote/note/index.html?type=find Samsung Mobile Facebook (2014). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/SamsungMobile Samsung Mobile Twitter (2014). Available at: https://twitter.com/SamsungMobile Samsung Mobile YouTube (2014). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SamsungMobile Schlinke, J, & Crain, S. (2013), 'Social Media from an Integrated Marketing and Compliance Perspective', Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 67(2), pp. 85-92. Schultz, D, & Block, M. (2014), 'What's Driving Online Commerce', International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications, 6(1), pp. 7-17. Simmons, G. (2008), ‘Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon’, European Journal of Marketing, 42 (3/4), p. 306. Swani, K, Milne, G, Cromer, C, & Brown, B. (2013), 'Fortune 500 Companies' Use of Twitter Communications: A Comparison between Product and Service Tweets', International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications, 5(2), pp. 47-56. Završnik, B, & Jerman, D 2011, ‘Measuring Integrated Marketing Communication’, Scientific Annals of The 'Alexandru Ioan Cuza' University Of Iasi: Economic Sciences Series, pp. 351-361 Read More