case study on integrated marketing communication

Best Case Studies on Integrated Marketing Communication

Integrated marketing enables a unified and consistent experience for customers to interact with a brand or company.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the coordination and integration of all marketing communications tools, avenues, and sources in a company into a seamless program designed to maximize the impact on customers and other stakeholders. The program covers all of a firm’s business-to-business, market channel, and internally-directed communications -  James G. Hutton.

Previously we explained Integrated Marketing  &  Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) as concepts. In this series, we aim to further bolster your understanding of integrated marketing and IMC by evaluating case studies of companies that have taken an integrated marketing communication approach. 

Here are case-studies of different brands and companies that exhibit an integrated marketing communication approach.

Integrated Marketing Communication Case Study #1 - Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American technology company. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. 

Their mission is to ' empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. '

Microsoft's Integrated Marketing Communication Channels:  

Print and media are a pivotal part of Microsoft's marketing strategy. Microsoft spends upwards of $1.5 Billion for Print and media alone. 

One of its ingenious print advertising campaigns for Microsoft's Office 365 software includes the WiFi-enabled promotion on the Forbes magazine.

A sleek router with a battery placed within the magazine gave its subscribers free wifi for 15 days.  This gimmick ensured that readers had to retain the magazine him at all times and contributed multiple exposures of the ad to the reader. 

Currently, Microsoft is undertaking a slow shift from traditional media to social media and other online platforms.

Microsoft's Integrated Marketing Communication Approach:

Microsoft has been continuously taking up several Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects and has placed AI high up in its product portfolio. To promote its AI offerings, Microsoft teamed up with Carlsberg to use AI to speed up the process of brewing new flavors of the beer.

The company has marketed this project using the integrated marketing approach using a multitude of channels.

Video Promotions across - Facebook and Youtube

Press releases in popular newspapers such as Financial Times.

Integrated Marketing Communication Case Study #2 - Emirates

Emirates started with two leased aircraft in 1985 and have never looked back since then. The airline company currently operates 265 aircraft to over 155 destinations.

Emirates’ Integrated Marketing Communication Approach:

Traditional Media

Emirates' commercials and print advertisements in significant media highlight the airline’s new products, flying routes, and aircraft.

Event Sponsorship

The airline actively sponsors a bunch of sports events like soccer, horse racing, and tennis. In addition to that, it has signed a sponsorship deal with large football clubs like Arsenal. Its presence in the Asian Football Confederation has also ensured a high level of visibility across Asia.

Owned Media

The company publishes two in-flight magazines to reach its customers. A brilliant in-flight entertainment system allows the airline to publicize its latest offers, partners, and services. Furthermore, the company's official retail website enables customers to purchase branded merchandise.

Millennial Appeal

The airline is adopting a sustainable environmental strategy to protect natural resources and reduce air pollution. Being a step ahead and ensuring that their fleet is up-to-date with the latest, most fuel-efficient aircraft. Emirates uses a variety of marketing communication tools in an integrated way to deliver a unified message:

The high quality of its services

Emirates portrays the lofted quality of its airline services as an underlying theme for all its marketing activities.

Emirates' Integrated Marketing Communication Channels:  

• Television commercials  
• Print advertisements  
• Sponsorships  
• Charitable foundations  
• In-plane advertisements  
• Internet marketing  
• Trade Promotions.

The above communication tools have helped Emirates to appeal to a large number of travelers all over the world, and create a positive vibe all-around.

Here’s an example of one of their integrated marketing communications via print media:

Integrated Marketing Communication Case Study #3 - Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is a financial services giant and world's third-largest bank. Despite being ridden with scams, the company turned to integrated marketing and rebranding efforts to win back the trust of its customers and stakeholders.

The bank's latest integrated marketing campaign is called ‘ This is Wells Fargo .’

Wells Fargo's Integrated Marketing Communication Approach:

Ads themed around the development of Control Tower, a feature that provides customers with secure and centralized access to their account information. 

Another ad features Financial Health Bankers who provide financial advise targeted towards millennials. These ads are supplemented by tweets like the ones below that offer security tips to their customers.

The company offered a comprehensive description of the ‘ This is Wells Fargo ’ campaign through a 2-page print ad in the Wall Street Journal. 

Wells Fargo combined the above-integrated marketing communication channels to develop a well-rounded campaign that was very well received by its audience. 

All marketing communication highlights the confluence of people and technology, which is vital to transforming Wells Fargo’s customer experience.

Wells Fargo's Integrated Marketing Communication Channels

• Broadcast  

Integrated Marketing Communication Case Study #4 - Taco Bell

Taco Bell is one of the large restaurant chains under the Yum! Brands portfolio. A couple of other brands that fall under its ambit are KFC and Pizza Hut.

The Mexican-cuisine inspired fast-food chain, operates with over 6,650 restaurant chains and rings in ~46 million customers a week. 

Amongst the chains under the Yum! Brands portfolio, Taco Bell, was the most profitable. They had great advertising campaigns like the ' Yo Quiero Taco Bell ' campaign that starred a Chihuahua with an attitude who grew into a pop-culture icon. The ads created the highest advertising awareness for the chain and positioned Taco Bell as a cool place to eat. 

However, Taco Bell's marketing approach changed after the recession.  By 2011 Taco Bell was coming off its 3-year slump when the marketers at Taco Bell decided to change things up. 

DraftFCB, Taco Bell's advertising agency designed an integrated marketing campaign to position TB as a multicultural experience of food.

Taco Bell's Integrated Marketing Communication  Approach:

Taco Bell launched a new campaign slogan, 'Live Más' (más is Spanish for 'more'), to make the brand attractive and relevant to young, and cross-cultural consumers.

The company rolled out new products and an upscale menu to penetrate the market of health-conscious customers. It co-branded with Doritos to launch the famous DLTs (Doritos Locos Tacos).

A huge buzz created by the integrated marketing effort made DLTs responsible for nearly a quarter of the Taco Sales. They consequently posted an 8% increase in sales.

Taco Bell's Integrated Marketing Communication Activities included:

• A commercial based on a Youtube video of a customer who drove 900 miles to try the DLTs. A montage of Instagram posts in which customers were trying the DLTs for the first time.
• Influencers were identified amongst the fans and were invited to try the DLTs which motivated them to spread the word about DLTs through their social media channels.
• The company launched a 60-second Super Bown Ad on the Live Mas theme featuring a bunch of senior citizens sneaking out of their retirement home to party. After a long night of crazy pursuits, they finish at Taco Bell for a bite before heading back. This ad received a lot of attention on social media and drove a lot of traffic towards the brand.
• A Taco Bell Mobile Ordering and Payment App was launched. 
• Taco Bell tested platforms such as Periscope to live stream launch of a new product to catch the attention of Generation Z.

Taco Bell has now started the Taco Bell Live Mas Scholarship supports innovators, creators, and dreamers who want to make a difference in the world.

Taco Bell's Integrated Marketing Communication Channels  

• Social Media   
• Television  
• Advertising at high profile events  
• Influencer marketing.  

Taco Bell combed through their social media feeds to find user-generated content that they broadcasted on their TV spots. It seamlessly integrated two channels which were until then believed to be incompatible.  

From the above campaigns, we can conclude that traditional and digital channels are leveraged for their relative strengths. In a few situations, digital and traditional channels are also used to supplement each other through a campaign. 

The universal marketing mix  - Product, Price, Place, and Promotions. An integrated marketing communication plan executed by the above companies encapsulates all the above components of the marketing mix into a single well-ordered program.

• Integrated Marketing Communications

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The Plain-English Guide to Integrated Marketing Communications

Learn why integrated marketing is effective and how to build a campaign that improves brand loyalty, boosts revenue, and delights your customers

MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

Updated: 10/11/23

Published: 10/11/23

I fly Southwest Airlines almost exclusively. They offer reasonable prices, make racketing points easy, and always have fun and kind flight attendants.

One thing I’ve noticed about Southwest is their branding is on point .

Whether I’m booking a flight on their mobile application, being served my go-to in-flight ginger ale, or walking through the terminal at Midway Airport, I’m surrounded by Southwest’s consistent brand colors, messaging, and imagery.

This is an example of integrated marketing at work. If you’re interested in presenting a cohesive, consistent brand experience that leaves your products or services top-of-mind — like Southwest does — this guide is for you.

Read on to learn more about integrated marketing and how to create your own campaign.

What is Integrated Marketing?

How to Build an Integrated Marketing Campaign

Integrated marketing strategies and best practices.

Integrated Marketing Examples

Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications is aligning your marketing channels to promote your products or services in tandem, typically through a strategic campaign. Integrated marketing also works to align the primary brand message that’s deliverable through your marketing channels and assets.

Imagine discovering a new brand on Instagram and visiting the company’s website to purchase one of its products. If their website promoted a different message or campaign than the one you found on their Instagram account, you’d have a hard time understanding the gist of the brand, right?

Integrated marketing exists to eliminate these disparities and differences regardless of how or when a customer interacts with your brand. It’s similar to multi-channel marketing , except integrated marketing aligns the message you share on all those channels.

Regarding channels, integrated marketing doesn’t apply to just your inbound or digital marketing channels; it also includes traditional media channels. Many integrated marketing examples we’ll review below incorporate conventional marketing channels such as print, radio, and TV ads .

Now, let’s talk about integrated marketing campaigns.

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Why are integrated marketing campaigns effective?

While integrated marketing campaigns can differ in their goals (e.g., converting views, building brand awareness, etc.), they should all have one component in common: to align your marketing channels to present a united marketing “front”.

If your marketing channels are players, consider your integrated marketing campaign the coach in charge of running plays and helping your channels work as a unified system — not disparate ones.

It’s also more effective to run integrated marketing campaigns than campaigns on individual channels. Integrated marketing campaigns are impactful for a few reasons:

• They reach a wider audience than a single marketing channel.
• They have a greater chance of being seen on multiple channels, thus keeping your brand top-of-mind and pushing visitors closer to conversion.
• They build trust with visitors as they see a consistent message on multiple channels.
• They save you money since assets are shareable between and repurposed for different marketing channels. Depending on your campaign, customers can help you market your product or service for you.
• Establish your overarching campaign goal
• Choose your marketing channels and set goals for each one
• Define your buyer personas by channel
• Identify your channel managers
• Create adaptable marketing assets and messaging
• Establish your plan for collecting leads
• Launch, measure, and iterate your campaign

So, how can you build your integrated marketing campaign? Follow these steps to get started.

1. Establish your overarching campaign goal.

Before you consider what channels will be part of your integrated marketing campaign, you must consider the goal of the entire campaign.

Maybe you’ve launched a new product, service, or initiative and want to get it in front of customers — like Southwest’s Transfarency . Perhaps you’ve rebranded and wish to broadcast your new message — like Old Spice’s Smell Like a Man, Man . Maybe you’ve chosen a new positioning tagline and want your audience to start associating your brand with it — like Snickers’ You’re Not You When You’re Hungry .

(Don’t worry, we’ll dig deeper into these examples later.)

Whatever your campaign goal may be, always remember to make it SMART . This will help you stay focused, track your campaign success, and learn how to improve the next time.

These goals should also relate to at least one of the following key performance indicators (KPIs) and their subsequent metrics, which you can track when you launch your campaign.

Also, while increased engagement and new leads are always exciting, a multi-channel campaign should consider the bigger picture: how your campaign impacts sales opportunities and business revenue. Take a moment to map out how you want your campaign to impact your bottom line, too.

2. Choose your marketing channels and set goals for each one.

Now that you know your overarching integrated marketing campaign goal, you probably have a better idea of what channels (if not all of them) can help you reach that goal.

For example, if you want to roll out a new logo and branding suite, you don’t necessarily need to leverage radio ads. On the other hand, if you’re extending your audience to target a new geographic region or city, radio ads, billboard ads , TV ads, and other local channels may come in handy.

Choosing your channel(s) all boils down to what you’re trying to achieve through your integrated marketing campaign. There are 10 major marketing “channels” that you can use to distribute your campaign content .

• Advertising (both print and PPC )
• Direct marketing
• Email marketing
• Personal selling
• Sales promotions
• Digital marketing (e.g., website, content marketing , and SEO )
• Social media
• Events and sponsorships

Your integrated marketing campaign should include a variety of marketing channels to reach the widest audience and drive home your campaign message. If you see one or more channels plateau, don’t hesitate to add, remove, or test new ones.

3. Define your buyer personas by channel.

Every marketing channel targets its specific buyer persona . For this reason, instead of defining a broad persona for your campaign, you must define your audience by channel.

There will inevitably be some overlap, but it’s wise to understand exactly who you’re talking to on each medium and how to tailor those specific assets to be the most successful.

Note: With some campaigns, you may be targeting a specific audience. In this case, flip steps 2 and 3 — define your buyer persona(s) first and then decide which channels can help you reach that audience.

Download our free Persona Templates to organize your audience segments and quickly strengthen your marketing.

4. Identify your channel managers.

Depending on the size of your marketing team, you may have different people (or entire groups) in charge of other channels. When running a multi-channel marketing campaign, you must determine who specifically will ensure their channel(s) align with the campaign.

This is important for two reasons: 1) the manager is the expert on their channel (e.g., audience, posting cadence, optimization tactics, reporting strategies, etc.) and will know how to tailor the campaign content to be the most successful; and 2) putting one person in charge of all channels may be overwhelming and will cause the content and campaign to suffer.

You may have a more minor marketing team where one person handles multiple channels. Regardless of your team size, do your best to share channel management responsibilities across a few people — ideally, with one person running one or two channels.

5. Create adaptable marketing assets and messaging.

You have your campaign goal, target audience(s), and marketing channels. It’s now time to create your integrated marketing campaign content. This stage is where copywriting , graphic design , and other creative processes come into play.

Before I dive into how, let’s talk about an essential component of integrated marketing content: adaptability . To keep your campaign consistent (and ease your workload), you should be able to repurpose any content to use on different channels.

For example, let’s say your integrated marketing campaign focuses on the launch of a new 3-minute brand video. You could repurpose this video into:

• 30-second and one-minute “trailer” videos
• Still images

As you develop and repurpose these creative assets, keep them aligned with your brand guidelines and consistent with each other. Create your brand guidelines for your integrated marketing campaign to share with your team and any channel managers.

This documentation could include a few things:

• Visual guidelines (logo, color palette, typography, etc.)
• Any developed and repurposed assets in multiple file formats
• Voice and tone guidelines (taglines, preferred language, words to avoid, etc.)
• Messaging guidelines (pain points, goals, types of content, resources, etc.)
• Buyer persona information and guidelines

Integrated marketing is all about a consistent brand experience. Be sure your campaign assets reflect that, regardless of what channel your audience visits or sees.

6. Establish your plan for collecting leads.

Whether or not you intend your campaign to collect leads, you should always be ready to receive them. You don’t want to leave this as an afterthought once you launch your campaign. Even if you’re simply campaigning to raise awareness of your brand, consider how your visitors might convert to leads — and, eventually, customers.

First, consider how a visitor might convert to a lead. Would they subscribe to your newsletter? Or input their information to download a content offer? Or create an account on your website? Ensure these conversion aspects of your campaign are also on-brand with the rest of your visual and messaging assets.

Next, consider how your leads will be nurtured once they convert. Would they roll into an automated email workflow ? Would you pass them along to Sales? However you go about this step, make sure your leads aren’t forgotten once they willingly give over their information.

As always, communicate with Sales to confirm that they’re aware of your campaign and on board with your plan for new leads and customers.

7. Launch, measure, and iterate your campaign.

Ready to launch your integrated marketing campaign? It might be time to put your campaign to work — but it’s not time to rest.

Remember those KPIs and metrics from step one? Whichever KPIs relate to your overarching campaign goal (e.g., boosting brand awareness, rebranding, new product, etc.), start tracking those subsequent metrics each week, month, and quarter (depending on how long your campaign is running) to see how successful it is at reaching your goal.

As always, apply what you learn from each integrated marketing campaign to future campaigns. With the right strategies, managers, and tools, you can create a never-ending cycle of integrated marketing campaigns — and wins.

As you construct your integrated marketing campaign, there are a few key strategies and best practices to remember. We’ve detailed them here, and they apply regardless of your chosen media, channels, or goals.

Align behind the scenes.

For you to successfully implement an integrated marketing approach, it’s imperative that you not only choose marketing channel managers but that all your marketing managers also communicate often about projects and campaigns.

While not every integrated marketing campaign or promotion needs to be on all your channels, they should complement each other to avoid a fragmented brand experience for customers.

Consider the channel transition.

Integrated campaigns receive traffic from several sources — and pass along those sources like a game of Hot Potato . Consider how a visitor may view/experience each marketing channel: 1) if it was their first visit and 2) if they transitioned from another channel. Think about how each channel can help others convert.

For example, say a customer saw your new billboard on their way to work and, once they arrived, visited the website on the billboard. Imagine if, on your website, the customer couldn’t easily find whatever your billboard was marketing. How confusing would that be? That customer would likely drop off immediately.

Don’t neglect the small overlaps.

When preparing to launch your integrated marketing campaign, it’s tempting to think about each channel and its respective media assets. However, this thought process inherently goes against the ethos of integrated marketing. Integrated marketing exists to eradicate the silos of traditional marketing and bring together a cohesive campaign experience.

For this reason, don’t neglect the places in which your campaign overlaps. Here are a few examples:

• Your email signature , where you can plug your social media handles, website URL, or video links
• Your social media bios and posts, where you can include links to your website, blog posts , content offers, or other digital content
• Your blog and website, where you can incorporate social sharing buttons
• Your standalone landing pages, where you can optimize for relevant keywords and SEO
• Your PPC copy, where you can test subject lines to see what your audience responds to

While these overlaps might not directly support your campaign goals, they help your audience transition seamlessly between channels, enjoy that consistent, cohesive brand experience, and ultimately find their way to a page that converts them.

Examples of Integrated Marketing Communications

• Smell Like a Man, Man by Old Spice
• Transfarency by Southwest Airlines
• You’re Not You When You’re Hungry by Snickers
• Share a Coke by Coca-Cola
• Grow Better by HubSpot

Every marketer knows how much you can learn from those before you. In this section, we’ve pulled together a handful of well-executed integrated marketing campaigns to give you an example of this tactic's success.

1. Smell Like a Man, Man by Old Spice

For years, I associated Old Spice with something only my dad or grandfather would wear. I remember the old, white bottle of aftershave with the faded pirate ship that used to sit in my dad’s cabinet.

I don’t think I’m the only one who held this association, so it’s no surprise that, in 2010, Old Spice launched a major rebranding campaign to give its products a more youthful, playful feel — and ultimately attract a younger audience. Not only did Old Spice change the design of their packaging, but they also renamed their products and crafted a new tagline (“Smell Like a Man, Man”).

The initial campaign launch featured one 30-second TV spot, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like , that was so beloved that Old Spice launched a handful of others.

But Old Spice didn’t stop at the TV commercial. They also included their website, product pages, Instagram, YouTube, and other channels in their campaign.

No, they don’t all feature the specific characters or taglines from the original TV spots (remember, the campaign launched almost 10 years ago). Still, they reflect the same tone, theme, and brand, thus giving customers a consistent brand experience across all media.

2. Transfarency by Southwest Airlines

I discussed Southwest Airlines' consistent branding at the beginning of this article. One campaign that stands out is their Transfarency movement, which introduced a new word that marketed Southwest as an airline with straightforward pricing and no hidden fees.

The campaign initially launched in 2015 and remains an enduring airline brand staple. 

Southwest has used almost every possible marketing channel to broadcast this campaign: a dedicated landing page on which you can purchase tickets, print advertisements posted along airport walls and tucked behind airplane seats, a slew of video spots, and plenty of user-generated content on their social media.

3. You’re Not You When You’re Hungry by Snickers

Snickers is one of my favorite chocolate bars, so I paid close attention when I started to see commercials for their You’re Not You When You’re Hungry advertisements.

Launched at the 2010 Super Bowl, this Snickers campaign has remained top-of-mind for chocolate and candy lovers everywhere.

One reason for this is the campaign’s humor. Still, the other, more pertinent reason is that Snickers pasted this movement everywhere — on its website, social media, TV, print ads, and more- including plenty of celebrities. 

By presenting an aligned, cohesive, integrated marketing campaign, customers now think of Snickers when craving a sweet snack — and the company has benefitted .

4. Share a Coke by Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola's Share a Coke campaign was unique in that the company put its customers front and center by featuring names and fun phrases on its product. This created endless advertising angles and led to unlimited user-generated content from customers wanting to share products with their names. The #ShareaCoke hashtag was shared via 500,000+ customer photos .

When this campaign was at its height, I took pictures of and even bought Cokes featuring the names of my friends and family. It seems that others did the same — the campaign increased Coke consumption from 1.7 billion to 1.9 billion daily servings.

5. Grow Better by HubSpot

HubSpot has countless digital properties — its blog, website, social media channels, and SaaS products. This level of variety requires a lot of consistency in messaging and marketing.

HubSpot recently set its ultimate vision to help customers grow better — all customers on all channels. To promote this messaging, it updated all content to reflect this vision.

The message may be short, but the impact is significant. However, wherever customers interact with HubSpot, its integrated marketing has ensured that they know how HubSpot operates — and why they should become a customer.

Creating Your Marketing Plan

As you can see, planning is the key to successful integrated marketing. If you need extra guidance through the planning process, HubSpot offers a free marketing template to help set you off on the right track. 

The template includes: 

• A business summary 
• Business initiatives 
• Target marketing 
• Market strategy 
• Budget 
• Marketing channels 
• Marketing technology 

Budgeting a structuring your marketing plan is made simple with this template. 

Integrated Marketing Helps You Grow Better

Integrated marketing turns your marketing campaigns into multi-channel movements. In today’s omnichannel world — with consumers encountering your brand online, on social media, and on their daily commutes — integrated marketing is more important than ever to capture new customers and build brand recognition and loyalty.

Implement these steps and strategies for your next integrated marketing campaign, which will surely be successful.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Integrated Marketing Communication - case study

Table of Contents (Click to show/hide)

Monthly Active User Rate

Daily Campaign Budget

Increase Click-through Rate

Growth Return on Investment

Customer Segmentation

Prioritisation of Limited Resources

Competitive Responses

Consumer Change

I have been working in marketing in different industries (Mobile Gaming, Advertising, Foreign Trade) for five years. With that in mind, there is a urge inside for organising my experience. What's more, I need to build a foundation for better clarity and efficiency. After finishing the IMC specialisation from IE business school, I decided to take this opportunity and record what I have practised for the past five years.

The beginning of a market implementation 

Marketing is a comprehensive skill that requires various knowledge such as your sales technique, creativity and task management skill. The rest of it would be just like tools or frameworks to deliver the message. All you have to do is master those tools.

Regardless of the format of a product (brand, application or a physical subject) or promotion channel (online or offline), I would start with a framework to build a basic structure of my marketing strategy（I use ProcessOn - Create diagrams online in real-time as my drawing tool):

Understand Your Objective Value:

There are a few blocks that need to be identified in the first place:

• company status, 
• product market share, 
• product budget, 
• customer needs,
• executive framework.

Take  Dragon Blade,  a Mobvista mobile game published on South-east Asia, as an example. After a month of operation, <Dragon Blade>  achieved many good outcomes:  the CPI was 3 USD，there were about 4000-5000 installs per day, daily revenue was approximately 20,000 USD, the pay rate was around 4%, ARPU 30-40 USD and the 1-Day Retention was around 40% . This is a good sign for a promising market, and the company was making a profit in a short time (Company status). The  in-app community  feature increased social bonding among users. Online marketing like a Facebook event and in-game activities were no longer satisfying customers needs. So we decided to hold a medium-size player party to provide a natural area for players to meet up and reconnect in the real world (Objective).

‍ Create Value For Your Target Audiences:

A cross-functional meeting between operation team or R&D department is required. There are two critical components in creating value: 

• Positioning

Targeting means evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness. Positioning means occupying a clear, distinctive place relative to competing products. Still, take the dragon blade’s mini party, for example, I have several base questions:

• What is the demographic profile of players in Singapore and Malaysia?
• How should I attract more people to attend the party?
• How should I attract more potential users to download the game and top up? 
• How should I retain more players to keeping playing and top up?
• How should I spread my brand through this offline event?
• How should I measure the effect of this event?

I will begin with the following steps to identify the unique selling points:

As a conclusion, I need to increase loyalty for the old players and need to be more informative and educational for potential customers.

Deliver Value To Your Target Audiences：

The rest of the actions will be the implementation process.

Usually, for the consumer information processing procedure as the following:

First, I ran some online survey for qualitative research on the Facebook fan page. I also asked our operation team to set up an in-game notification and questionnaire to cross-check whether the needs of the players match with the result as we predicted. We mixed with the Facebook and Google campaigns to improve the awareness of our event and the brand. Thanks to the cooperation with local partner Gtoken , we have the manpower to hand out leaflets. As such, we reach the active & potential users (which is selective exposure), and those who are interested and willing to respond were rewarded. For the selective attention process, our customer service team will make a phone call to confirm their attendance.

 Second，people will choose what they want to involve with during selective comprehension stage. So at the party, we have several highly-interactivegames, top-up event, and physical prizes to engage the audiences.

Capture Value:

At last, we are in the final stage. Capture value is closely related to selective retention in customer information processing. Users will decide whether to stick to the product or just toss it away and leave. In my position, I need to measure the effect of every campaigns and promotion. AIDA model and Hierarchy effect model are great tools for measuring.

Take the mini-event, for example.

• For the cognitive stage, we can collect the data about how many impressions conducted in the online campaigns and offline promotion. 
• In the affective stage, we can have a real number like campaigns clicks, likes & share, comments, questionnaires responses and actual attendance number. 
• Final in behaviour stage we can calculate the period change in retention rate, pay rate, top-up amount and purchase orders.

For the best scenario, it would be great to have some interviews and the survey to collect feedback from the users who participated.

An excellent feedback report can help you find the problems and tackle the issues, besides, it’s a unique performance report to your boss. And with a full assessment of the whole campaign, you can gain more experience in refining your marketing strategy that will be the most effective to attract customers.

Clcik here to check more details of my events:

• Vstargame—Gtoken Mini Party 2015
• Vstargame—Mimopay Mini Party 2016

Thank you for reading.

Dean Long is a Sydney-based performance marketing and communication professional with expertise in paid search, paid social, affiliate, and digital advertising. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems and Management and is also a distinguished MBA graduate from Western Sydney University.

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Case Studies in Strategic Communication

An online, peer-reviewed, open access journal.

Case Studies in Strategic Communication (CSSC) is dedicated to the study of strategic communication through the case study form. Case studies illustrate the strategies, tactics, and execution of communication campaigns through in-depth coverage of a single situation. CSSC is a peer-reviewed online publication housed at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

Case studies have long been central to the study of strategic communication, but these cases have been scattered across textbooks and websites, are quickly outdated, are not fully representative of the many facets of strategic communication, and lack a common format useful for teachers and scholars. Through the ongoing publication of strategic communication case studies online, CSSC aims to develop a living resource of diverse case materials for teachers, scholars, and practitioners.

As technological convergence and industry trends demand the integration of several branches of strategic communication in everyday practice, it is necessary to consider the approach to strategic communication holistically. Thus, CSSC welcomes case studies dealing with any number of the following disciplines: public relations, marketing, advertising, integrated marketing communication, social media campaigns, crisis communication, special events planning, development and fundraising, internal or employee communication, investor relations, community relations, media relations, online community management, publicity, and more.

There is no limit to topical coverage, and CSSC hopes to develop a resource that touches on as many industries, tactics, geographic regions, and diverse populations as possible. CSSC seeks case studies concerning all sectors, too: private companies (large and small), publicly traded corporations, non-profit organizations (large and small), political campaigns, government agencies (local and national), and educational institutions.

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Cunard Line Ltd.: Managing Integrated Marketing Communications

• Format: Print
• | Pages: 25

About The Author

Stephen A. Greyser

More from the author.

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Integrated Marketing Communication

Table of Contents

What is Integrated Marketing Communication?

Integrated Marketing Communication or IMC is a marketing strategy that aligns and interconnects the various platforms and communication channels to create a singular branding message. Through the use of an IMC approach towards marketing, a brand can achieve a variety of competitive advantages.

The IMC approach is targeted towards achieving maximum brand awareness through marketing channels such as advertising and content creation. Larger brands use it to retain their business persona. While smaller businesses use it to create an impact in the market.

Importance of IMC

Let’s discuss the importance of an IMC approach towards marketing and its various tools and challenges as well.

Larger Audience

It allows for tapping into a larger audience base by creating a singular brand message through various mediums. And, all marketing platforms can integrate this singular message in their own content.

Brand Awareness

IMC is the best way to increase brand awareness among target groups. Blending of multiple tools to create effective messages is an effective way to achieve this. Moreover, there is a huge range of IMC based campaign tools that a brand can use.

Long-Term Relationships

Integrated marketing messages can provide a long-term relationship between the customer psyche and the brand. So, this can be immensely helpful for beginner brands in creating a solid and loyal customer base.

Time Saving

Using this type marketing campaign is the most budget-friendly method of achieving maximum brand awareness and branding success. Moreover, it is very fast and integrates into any marketing process .

Integrated Marketing Communication Tools

The following are the integrated marketing communication tools that can be integrated into any marketing campaign to give it a 360 degree approach .

Advertising

Advertising makes use of multiple platforms and media channels to present the brand message. Thus, by using the IMC approach in advertising, you can advertise a singular brand message across different classes and social groups to achieve maximum reach. Since this is one of the most expensive forms of marketing, an IMC approach can provide the best ROI as well.

Sales Promotion

For any form of sales promotion, such as a giveaway or a contest run through an IMC approach, you can achieve a greater short term branding success. The sole purpose of sales promotions is to draw attention towards a particular product or brand. Thus, you can add this with a singular branding message that provides insight into the brand values.

Personal Selling

With the help of personal selling, you can highly customize customer and salesperson interactions to provide maximum customer satisfaction . Later stages of marketing make heavy use of personal selling techniques. So, an IMC campaign can help plan these techniques as well.

Public Relations

A brand often conducts workshops, competitions, and other events to promote their presence. In such cases, the usage of a singular communication platform that incorporates all the aspects of the brand is the best means of reaching out to the target markets.

Direct Marketing

An IMC based email marketing campaign can generate brand awareness alongside leads. This holds true for other forms of direct marketing such as telecalling as well. So, with the help of an IMC based approach in targeted marketing, you will be able to generate brand awareness regardless of lead quality.

Social Media Marketing

Social media based communication is one of the primary ways through which a brand should reach out to its target markets. An IMC strategy will ensure that all social media based content carries the core branding message.

Mobile Marketing

Smartphones and other smart devices are a perfect way to market a brand to the new generations. Thus, by creating an integrated approach you can present core brand values through mobile marketing.

Barriers to Integrated Marketing Communication

There are many barriers you might face when implementing an integrated campaign.

Lack of Resources

The primary reason businesses are unable to pull off an integrated marketing campaign is the lack of resources. We need marketing experts and managers to pull off such a process, which most businesses do not possess or are unlikely to train for. Moreover, the entire process needs to be based on a highly accurate calendar. And, a central communication will need to be managed by trained executives.

Upper Management

The upper management needs to ensure proper planning of all the resources and support based services for the marketing campaigns. An IMC based marketing approach is only possible when the brand has a strong upper management layer.

Corporate Culture

Many firms and businesses need to be in sync in order to run an integrated campaign. However, since the current corporate culture does not promote such efficient levels of communication, most campaigns are more than likely to fail.

Restrict Creativity

Sometimes companies need to simplify their message and turn down the creativity levels in order to launch and integrated marketing campaign.

Examples of IMC

These two successful IMC campaign examples will surely boost up your decision:

Always #LikeAGirl

The hashtag is perhaps one of the strongest modern tools of marketing. The Canadian clothing brand Leo Brunnet used it to its maximum effectivity through an IMC approach. The hashtag #LikeAGirl opposes the common sexist slur used towards women and they presented it primarily through a marketing video the brand made.

However, each piece of product they made henceforth carried the slogan in one way or another and it was also a part of all their marketing campaigns. And, this provided the brand with an awareness boost like no other. This integrated campaign not only also received generated 85 million views across the globe and won the D&D award under several categories.

Domino’s AnyWare

Domino’s took the concept of fast food to another level with this integrated marketing campaign. This allowed people to order from their closest Domino’s outlet even via a text message or a tweet. They set up a webpage anyware.dominos.com that provided all details regarding the campaign. And, this served as their primary communication node. All of their products and campaigns were to lead people towards this website and it received over 500,000 hits. Various advertisements followed it, and the brand was able to digitalize almost 50% of its orders.

About The Author

Umar Farooq

BUS2 134B: Integrated Marketing Communication

• Getting Started
• Case Studies
• Industry Information
• Company Information
• Interdisciplinary Databases & Business Plans
• Other Resources and Support

Researching a Particular Company Using Case Studies

Finding Case Studies

A great way to study individual companies is to find case studies about them.

Here are some tips to do that:

Try exploring library databases

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• Last Updated: Oct 12, 2023 9:52 AM
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

This article is part of the research topic.

Destination Advertising in the Digital Age

A Study on the Construction of Destination Image for China's County-Level Integrated Media Centers: A Case Study of Four Counties in Fuzhou Provisionally Accepted

• 1 Communication University of China, China
• 2 South China University of Technology, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Today, as social media plays an increasingly important role in disseminating destination images, short videos have emerged as the primary channel through which tourists obtain information about their desired destinations. In comparison to traditional methods of using text and pictures, the new media accounts of local government agencies offer a means to convey more comprehensive local news and shape destination images that are more accurate and diverse, leveraging the potential of the short video platform. This study utilizes a combination of manual analysis (subject terms classification) and computer-assisted techniques (key-frame extraction and text mining) to examine the short videos posted on the TikTok (Douyin) platform by the integrated media centers of Minhou County, Yongtai County, Minqing County, and Lianjiang County in Fuzhou City, China. The objective is to explore the shared characteristics and variations in the dimensional aspects of destination images. The findings reveal that the short video contents released by the governmental new media accounts in these four locations primarily highlight three dimensions: stakeholders, urban infrastructures, and regional landscapes. These dimensions are evident in both descriptive texts and visual symbols.However, in terms of the presented destination image, a notable degree of homogeneity is observed, and there is a lack of emphasis on uncovering and presenting the cultural dimensions, thus failing to fully reflect the distinctive local characteristics.Consequently, it is essential for local integrated media centers to thoroughly explore the cultural uniqueness of their respective regions and enhance the development of thematic dimensions in creating short video content. This approach will effectively strengthen tourists' association with and perception of destination images.

Keywords: Short videos, Destination images, TikTok Platform, Governmental New Media, visual symbol

Received: 29 Nov 2023; Accepted: 23 Apr 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Lin, Wen and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mx. Hanzheng Lin, Communication University of China, Beijing, China

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