We talked of importance of PR campaigns, and their new strength when they are merged to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).
It is time for a closer look at IMCs.
IMC is a great way for PR and Advertising to strategically mix their content to reap bigger results for the brand rather than going the solo, ‘PR-only’ way.
With IMC, the PR campaign is no more a mere ‘PR job’ but is now a boosted, enriched approach at a higher level of engagement. IMC’s host of approaches and channels ensure that the messaging on the brand appears consistent on the multitude of channels the audience is engaging with. Content creation for IMC therefore is a unified effort.
The ‘unified effort’ needs an explanation.
Increasingly, marketing, communications and PR are converging. “The majority of companies (59%) now share common digital ad and marketing budgets, and use the SAME TEAMS to build campaigns” – Salesforce Report.
In an interview with the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication (a research center at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State, US), Richard Edelman, the President & Chief Executive Officer of world’s largest PR firm Edelman voiced of convergence-His take? Convergence is driven by digital realities and expectations of businesses.
In his own words…
“…convergence is (also) driven by a change in expectation of business. I think you see that it’s now business in society. The whole theory of Milton Friedman, which is that the sole responsibility of business is to make profit, is now being eclipsed by Indra Nooyi for instance of PepsiCo, talking about Performance with Purpose. It’s both. So business thinks of itself in a stakeholder mentality instead of just a shareholder..”
A ‘unified’ / converged messaging achieved through the ‘IMC Strategy’ of David Pickton and Amanda Broderick can bring results that are above average: Focused results.
Such targeted, focused results are a great message booster.
David Pickton and Amanda Broderick say that a good IMC strategy consists of four aspects – Complementary (Brand elements in sync with each other), Continuity (consistent communications without changing the message) Consistency (different messages reinforce the same idea) and Coherence (logically connected communications).
A word of caution: The idea that the use of IMC based on David Pickton and Amanda Broderick strategies etc “shall automatically unearth loads and loads of brand gold dust” should be done away with, especially when working in IMC. Why? IMC works when certain basic ‘requirements’ are fulfilled. If several conditions supporting the product/brand are not ready, even the most promising IMC strategy may not go anywhere.
What are these conditions?
Firstly -is the brand ready for IMC yet? Though this sounds like a small concern, it is not. Is the brand a ‘brand’ yet? Is it known? There are other important considerations too before gleefully embarking on an IMC Strategy; Many failed IMC campaigns carry the mark of not addressing the basic concerns below.
• 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅/𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅?
Levi’s campaign to sell jeans with the tagline “hotness comes in all shapes and sizes.”
However, instead of showing models of different sizes, the campaign showed all models in same, skinny sizes.
• 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒔/𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅-𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚?
Nestle’s Nesquik is a chocolate flavored milk. The brand made an effort with a “National Bunny Ears Day” campaign in which a non-existent, unknown to audience, “commemoration” was the campaign theme along with an app download. It failed unsurprisingly since such a day was unknown (i.e-not in real world, but just a fantasy) and people already overloaded with apps did not want to download another app.
• 𝑯𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆?
DiGiorno pizza- Its “#WhyIStayed” pizza advertising went haywire after they found that they resorted to a hashtag used for domestic violence. If even the minimum of research was done prior to the campaign, the “DiGiorno-pizza-getting-mixed-to-domestic-violence” disaster could have been avoided.
What do these ‘concerns’ mean for PR?
The value of message unification across channels, market research, audience research, and ‘real-world touch’ instead of a campaign based on a fantasy, are germane for an IMC campaign win. Integrating these aspects to a PR campaign is not a gigantic task and shall result in finding the elusive campaign win-and ‘brand gold.’
