The Role of the Internet in the Current Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy: Nike, Inc - Case Study Example

The Role of the Internet in the Current Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy: Nike, Inc (Name) University Affiliation Abstract Today, the internet plays an integral role in the Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy. Many organisations are integrating their marketing activities into the internet (Keller, 2009). As such, this paper seeks to evaluate the role of the internet in the current Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy. The paper will start by giving a brief overview of Nike, Inc. and later on highlight its involvement in Internet marketing as a tool of IMC. To delineate this, the paper will look at the postmodern consumer, highlighting his or her characteristics, which in turn would affect the way firms need to design and promote their brands. Additionally, the report will discuss the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications. The paper will also focus on Nike’s use of the internet as one of the IMC important communication tools. 1.0 Introduction Apparently, company-marketing techniques are no longer a secret. People are familiar with the idea of organisations paying advertising agencies to conjure up the wittiest, most informational, most inspirational and hopefully funniest campaigns imaginable. Today, companies often use method such the press releases and the social media to reach out to both their existing and potential customers (Gurau, 2008). In that regard, marketing researchers have came up with a general concept referred to as Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), aimed at covering the marketing methods that a company uses. Accordingly, Integrated Marketing Communications ensures that all forms and designs of messages are linked together (Rowley, 2001). It involves integrating an organisation’s promotional tools thus making them to work together in harmony (Ebren et al., 2012). Moreover, when integrated, these marketing tools will speak consistently and in unison all the time, every time. 2.0 Companies Overview Incorporated in 1969, Nike is involved in the design and development of Athletic footwear, equipment, apparel and accessories. The company is also engaged in worldwide marketing and selling of products (Nike.com, 2014). The company’s focus product offering is based on seven main categories: Basketball, Soccer, Running, Men’s Training, Women’s Training, Action sports and Nike Sportswear.Apparently, the company transitioned its activity to E-Business in order to improve its services and added value to customers’ satisfaction. In order to cope up with the challenging marketing environment, Nike has been forced to integrate sixty-five percent of its marketing activities into online marketing (Smith, 2002). Ideally, customers are becoming sophisticated and as such, abhor traditional methods of communication, where the information transfer was one way. Accordingly, Nike has been forced to develop new ways of communicating with the burgeoning market. The company has been forced to integrate its promotional tools into integrated marketing communication. Shyan Fam (2000) argues that any Integrated Marketing Communication approach in the marketing environment should be a continuous process as the customers want to establish a relationship with the firm. Moreover, Shyan points out that marketing has changed from targeting the mass market to targeting a specific segment. Equally, Nike’s IMC approach is based on segmented markets. In order to have an effective Integrated Marketing Communication strategy, the organization has to have a planning model such as the one in the figure below: Nike’s Integrated Marketing Communications Planning Model Source: (Eagle et al., 2012) 3.0 Conceptual Framework 3.1 IMC Concept In the 20st century, the promotional function in many firms was done through mass-media advertising. Organisations relied heavily on their favored advertising agencies for guidance as far as marketing communication was concerned (Simmons, G. 2008). Later on in the 21st century, firms began to integrate onto the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). IMC is a concept that plays a significant role in the marketing world today and marketing researchers are digging into the concept. According Kitchen, (2002), IMC is a process where firms accelerate returns by ensuring that the communication objectives are side-by-side with corporate goals. Similarly, Duncan (2008) defined IMC as a concept that coordinates and directs a firm’s process of planning, supervising and implementing brand messages, whereby brand-customer relationship is developed and maintained. Though simple, the IMC ensures that all types of communication as well as messages have been linked appropriately. For the IMC to work effectively, it must have various significant components. First, it must have an organisational culture. Accordingly, vision, mission, attitudes as well as the behaviors of the employees guide a company, as far as communication with the organisation is concerned (Duncan, 2008). The second component is comprised of four C’s: consumer, cost, convenience and communication (Proctor and Kitchen, 2002). Third is advertising, which incorporates all kinds of broadcasts such as print, radio, television, billboards, and internet advertising. Other forms of advertising include banner ads, online classified, mobile advertising and newsletters. Fourth is direct marketing, which involves the use of catalogs, shopping channel as well as community marketing. Next is the internet or online marketing, which involves the use of E-commerce ventures, search engine optimization, content marketing and the social media marketing. Further, sales and customer service plays an important role in IMC as well. Through this component, an organisation can help customers with their complaints and even offer after sales service. Lastly is Public Relations, which involves publicity stunt, corporate social responsibility, news releases, press conferences as well as special events. Online marketing as it is commonly referred is vital in any organisation’s marketing strategy (Schibrowsky et al., 2007). Online marketing involves the company’s efforts to market its products, as well as services over the internet. During the online marketing process, the organisation establishes a relationship with the consumer (Kotler and Amstro, 2008). For an organization to carry out an effective online IMC, it has to make use of web families, emails as well as create websites and online ads. Ideally, the internet has a unique aspect as it can be used as a hybrid retail unit, where products and services can be sold (Mangold et al., 2009). Apparently, the objective of online marketing is not only for making sales, but also to create, develop as well as maintain long-term relationships with patrons (Jonathan, 2002). Thus, internet marketing is a two-way form of communication and as such enables, firms and customers to get to know each other, as well as build trust (Jonathan, 2002). 3.2 The postmodern consumer context Notably, today’s consumer cannot be equated to the 20th century consumer. Over the years, the needs and characteristics of the consumer have changed. Many marketers on the ground will contend that the postmodern era have come with a sonorous of new style and language. However, many academicians in the marketing discipline will argue against such claims (Proctor & Kitchen, 2002). Accordingly, the sonorous new language is proving hard to interpret. The postmodern consumers are no longer unified by a common institutional core or culture (Schibrowsky, 2007). Adam et al. (2002), argue that the postmodern consumers can be associated with an extremely complex warren of “cross-cutting discourses.” As the new language needs unique skills in order to interpret it as well as react to it proactively. This new language was founded on four C’s: change, Complexity, chaos and contradiction. Notably, the description given to the language clearly indicates its complexity. As such, practicing marketers as well as marketing academicians need to interpret it proactively for the discipline’s relevance to be in line with the postmodern epoch (Schibrowsky, 2007). They need to recognize or accept the dynamic nature of societal change and embrace its magnitude. Simmons (2008) addressed the concept of the postmodern consumer by attaching the consumer to some specific characteristics: First, the postmodern consumers tend to be virtually individual. These consumers’ cravings for crapulent carvings of succulent brand experiences are blended with the internet (Simmons, 2008). In effect, the internet has been used to customize products and present them in succulent and enticing manner that is in conformity with the postmodern consumers’ needs for introspective individualism (Proctor and Kitchen, 2002). Consequently, as Proctor and Kitchen (2002) posit, firms have realised that they need not to only integrate their marketing activities into E-marketing, but to initiate a one-to-one online marketing ideology. Further, Harridge (2004) contends that firms today need to develop individualized and tailored messages, which then can be broadcasted through the internet. Burton (2002) also asserts that postmodern consumers no longer subscribe to the relationship management culture, which is associated with pervading offline interactions. Burton says that postmodern consumers prefer personalised virtual brand interactions with their individualised selves in the online global village. For this reason, the Nike Company has necessitated the consumer to come up with his or her own designs of shoes and post them to the Nike’s website for manufacturing (Milo, 2014). Second, Simmons (2008) views the postmodern consumers as dystopian and alienating. Simmons argues that these consumers live in a world that is mediated by stimulation as hyperreall experiences. He adds that the postmodern consumer does not want to be transported into a nostalgic nirvana as the postmodern culture has brought forth a partly disinterested nostalgia. Moreover, the postmodern consumer wishes to experience a product that excites as well as titillates their senses (Proctor and Kitchen, 2002). In addition, Smith et al. (2002) describes the postmodern consumer as “touristic.” Smith contends that the postmodern consumer bases his or her consumption on the philosophy ‘right here, right now.” These consumers want to experience many sights, themes, sounds and themes right where he or she is. As such, organizations have to put their promotion messages on the social media sights such as Facebook and Twitter. Consequently, Nike posts its promotional messages on all the social media sites in order to capture the attention of the potential customer while he or she interacts with friends (Econsultancy, 2014). Similarly, Goulding (2003) depicts the vital nature of postmodernity as unfetter force associated with fragmentation essential to experience (Arias and Acebron, 2001). Goudling (2003) asserts that this significant fragmentation also has some interrelated concepts. First, is the fragmentation of markets, divided into small segments thus the propagation of a great deal of products, which can serve the small segments. Second, Goulding posits that the fragmentation has influenced the media, more so music and film into both presenting collages of fleeting moments, which its main purpose is to excite the senses. They do this instead of connecting the film and music to the central idea or theme. Accordingly, this fragmentation depicts a postmodern consumer who is confused, such that he fits any lifestyle that comes in hand. It depicts a consumer who does not stick with his philosophy or ideology. This nature or characteristic translates into “bricolage of markets” that are related to consumers who at one particular time present a united or rather a self-centered set of preferences. As far as the postmodern culture is concerned, the self is often decentred and prefers switching images to suit the situation. The postmodern culture is associated with utilizing consumption in order to construct powerful images, which liberate them monotony as well conformity (Proctor and Kitchen, 2002). Another important characteristic of the postmodern consumer is that he or she avoids commitment (Hamill, 2007). In effect, where the postmodern consumer needs to show loyalty to a firm or product, the consumer has freedom and as such, exercises it to use the product that he or she wishes to use (Hamill, 2002). 3.3 Impact of postmodernity characteristic on branding and communications According to Simmons (2008), branding has become complex and dynamic in the sense that companies have to develop new branding designs that are in conformity with the consumers’ ever-changing desires: individualism. The complex and dynamic branding environment has been pushed forth by the advent of the internet. The internet has made it necessary for firms to base their branding on creativity. The individualistic nature of the postmodern consumer has made it necessary for firms to come-up with brands that entice and appeal to the succulent desires of the consumer. The postmodern consumer tends to go for what is in the market thus not knowing what they want. Consumers accept all sorts of styles including fashions designs and lifestyle choices. However, it is worth noting that the postmodern consumers know what they do not want thus, firms cannot capitalize on their nature of accepting different styles by coming up with poor quality brands. The postmodern consumer is highly influenced by the corporate brand and as such, a firm must come up with different brands that appeal to different market segments. For instance, Nike came up with a popular brand called the Jordan Nike shoes typical of basketball lovers (News.nike.com, 2014). The “individual brand” will always influence the buying process of the consumers (NIKE, Inc., 2014). Although economic pressures characterize the postmodern consumer’s environment, affluence has remained the choice. Consumers would purchase products from brands that are associated with class and quality. Moreover, these consumers are well informed due to the various marketing information that are all over the media. The postmodern consumer is exposed to the herperreality world. Much of this heyperreality characteristic is due to the presence of the social media, which has always stimulated this hype. For instance, the branding and marketing messages about the Trafford Centre in Manchester creates a unique consumption experience as they allow the consumer to postmodern consumer to experience various times as well as spaces in the same place. This kind of experience makes the consumer to spend in a creative way (Visitmanchester.com, 2014). In addition, the production and consumption in the postmodern era can be reversed. For instance the, consumer can relate with the brand as such making it part of his or her lifestyle. A consumer who loves the Nike brand maybe will use the Nike brand as his or her background photo in his or her Facebook timeline. Moreover, consumers who subscribe to Nike’s brand will often share videos and photos of different brands on their Twitter handles and Facebook accounts thus establishing a long-term relationship will the marketer’s brand. 3.4 The role of the internet marketing in IMC 3.4.1Website Marketing Websites plays an important role in communicating with the customer. Thus, in addition to providing information about its products and programmes, Nike’s website has all links to all its activities(Econsultancy, 2014). In effect, its customers, business partners, investors and the media can use the firm’s website to launch a review as well as connect with Nike as a company. Ultimately, Nike’s website has a customer communications centre as well as an option for customers to post their comments and review(Milo, 2014). 3.4.2 Social Media The social media is a growing marketing channel. As such, Nike uses its social media profiles to engage their customer base. The firm uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to distribute product information (Econsultancy, 2014). Similarly, it uses these avenues to post business updates as well as product discount offers (Ebren et al., 2012). The firm often encourage its patrons to “follow” them on Twitter as well “like” their profile on Facebook. Moreover, Nike uses these sites to carry out its market research thus gauging the patrons’ perception on its products and services (Econsultancy, 2014). The firm often ensures that it is responsive to these sites by initiating prompt feedback in order to maintain a positive experience with the patrons. Like many international brands, Nike, Inc. has different Facebook pages for each of their product categories. Some of these pages include Golf, FuelBand, Snowboarding as well as various football pages. These sports dedicated pages are often updated daily with the latest products being used in the sports arena as well as informing the customer on various sports news as they come in.The firm use these pages to build its brand and keep in touch with its customers. Nike uses renowned athletes such as Christiano Ronaldo to promote its products on these Pages. Interestingly, the product related content appears to have more interaction than the firm’s posts that are associated with athletes. Like Facebook, Nike has different Twitter ‘handles’ that deals with specific feeds as far as its subsidiary brands are concerned. The firm uses these ‘handles’ to respond to ‘@mentions’ rather than advocating for marketing messages. Thus, the firm aims at responding to customers’ queries rather than communicating promotional messages. 4.0 Recommendations For firms to know how their internet marketing communication activities is doing, they should employ the search result on Google. Since Google is rated as the best and fastest search engine, a firm needs to use the Google website analytic tool to regularly enhance its activities on its website. Second, a firm should make use of referral marketing. Research shows that referred customers more often than not tend to buy quicker because of the faith they develop after being referred. Tentatively, firms should use Web Intelligent Tools to analyse the Net automatically, on a daily basis in order to provide the firm with the ever-emerging Social Networking opportunities. 5.0 Conclusion Summarily, this paper has reflected the internet as significant element in the postmodern consumer era. Accordingly, the internet enables a real-time individualised interaction with the postmodern consumer. Moreover, this paper has presented the internet’s ability to provide the postmodern consumers with the opportunity as well as the technology to express their desires, which are characterised by individualism. Marketers both in practice and in academia need to evaluate as well as exploit the power of the internet, as it is significant marketing element in the postmodern consumer context. Further, they should know to harness the internet in order to engage the postmodern consumers both individually and communally. Evidently, online marketing was the focal point in this paper; the online space provides a platform for marketers to serve patrons in the most effective way that other medium cannot. For an effective internet marketing strategy to be realised, firms must design effective websites and maintain them. In doing so, they will build a long-term relationship as customer value will be a realised. References Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A.2003. Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective. The McGraw− Hill. Burton, D. (2002), “Postmodernism, social relations and remote shopping”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36 Nos 7/8, pp. 792-810. Colliander, J. and Wien, A.H. 2013. “Trash talk rebuffed: consumers’ defense of companies criticized in online communities” European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, No. 10, pp 1733 – 1757 Duncan, Tom 2008. Principles of Advertising & IMC, 2nded. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Ebren, F., Kitchen, P. J., Aksoy, Ş., &Kaynak, E. 2012. Probing integrated marketing communications (IMC) in Turkey. Journal of Promotion Management, 11(1), 127-151. Econsultancy, 2014.How Nike uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. [online] Available at: https://econsultancy.com/blog/62412-how-nike-uses-facebook-twitter pinterest-and-google [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014]. Fam, K. S. 2000. Differing views and use of integrated marketing communications–findings from a survey of New Zealand small businesses. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 8(3), 205-214. Goulding, C. 2003, “Issues in representing the postmodern consumer”, Qualitative MarkeT Research: An International Journal, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 152-9. Gurau, C. 2008. Integrated online marketing communication: implementation and management. Journal of communication management, 12(2), 169-184. Hamill, J. 2007. The Internet and international marketing International Marketing Review, 14(5), 300-323. Harridge S. 2004, “Electronic marketing, the new kid on the block”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 22 Nos 2/3, p. 297. Keller, K. L. 2009. Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of marketing communications, 15(2-3), 139-155. Kitchen, P. J., Kim, I., & Schultz, D. E. 2008. Integrated marketing communication: Practice leads theory. Journal of advertising research, 48(4), 531. Kotler, Philip, and Armstrong, Gary. 2008. Principles of Marketing, 12thed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall) Mangold, W. G., &Faulds, D. J. 2009. Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365. Milo, G. (2014). Design your custom NIKEiD gear and send it to Australia or New Zealand. [online] Mynikeid.com.au. Available at: http://www.mynikeid.com.au/design [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014]. Monson, D.2013. “Gaming to Please,” Marketing News. News.nike.com, 2014.NIKE, Inc. - The official corporate website for Nike and its affiliate brands.[online] Available at: http://news.nike.com/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014]. NIKE, Inc., 2014. Nike Basketball Debuts the LeBron James “Together” Film. [online] Available at: http://news.nike.com/news/nike-basketball-debuts-the-lebron-james together-film [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014]. Rowley, J. 2001. Remodeling marketing communications in an Internet environment. Internet Research, 11(3), 203-212. Schibrowsky, J. A., Peltier, J. W., &Nill, A.2007. The state of internet marketing research: a review of the literature and future research directions. European Journal of Marketing, 41(7/8), 722-733. Schultz, Don E., 2013. “New Marketing Job Picture Ups Accountability,” Marketing News. Cormier, Kathleen A, .2012.Developing a Web Site. TMA Journal Vol. 19, ISSUE 2. Simmons, G. 2008. Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon. European Journal of Marketing, 42(3/4), 299-310. Smith, Paul R. & Taylor, Jonathan. 2002. Marketing communications: an integrated approach. 3rd edition. London; Milford: Kogan Page Ltd. Visitmanchester.com, 2014.Articles - Shopping - intu Trafford Centre - Visit Manchester - The official tourism website for Greater Manchester. [online] Available at: http://www.visitmanchester.com/articles/shopping/intu-trafford-centre/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014]. Read More