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1 Assist. Prof. Dr. İzzet Bozkurt Eastern Mediterranean University Faculty of Communication and Media Studies A New Public Relations Based Model in Integrated Marketing Communications The Concept of Integrated Marketing Communications There is no definition, which describe the concept of IMC that has been decided upon by the experts within the area. The studies on the concept contain differences due to the fact that the practitioners and the academics, carrying out studies in the area, base their findings on the data coming from their particular disciplines. As the academic based definitions of IMC continue to develop, at the same time, these definitions share a number of characteristics. IMC, in these definitions, start from the customer and sets out the necessary forms and methods based on the effective communications programs. The aim is to affect behavior, either directly or indirectly. IMC is continuum, as well as a concept. Therefore, IMC has also been defined as the ‘discipline,’ ‘orchestration,’ ‘single voice,’ ‘coordination’ and ‘integration’ of all the different efforts made in relation to area of marketing communications. The Definitions of Integrated Marketing Communications IMC requires an approach that aims to reach the target audiences of all the different parts in the marketing efforts, through their coordination into a single voice, together with an integrated image and message. This new approach is defined as the period of the management and carrying out of all the information resources that the customers and the probable consumers are faced in the formation of the motivation for the buying act and the creation of loyal customers. The American Advertising Agencies Association defines IMC as an integrating concept in achieving communication on the most effective level that analyzes the strategic roles of the different communication methods like advertising, public relations, direct marketing and sales management together with leaving these methods open as being based on a wide content. Therefore, IMC can be defined in the most general sense as follows: IMC is the period of the orchestration of all the different decisions made by the organizations about their products and/or services, with the consideration of the communication level of these decisions to prove them effective in motivating consumer behavior, on the basis of a strategic planning approach as resulting in a synergy. 2 The characteristics common to all the descriptions aiming at the definition of IMC can be summarized as follows: - The planning and integration of all communication tools with the marketing mix - The most effective use of technology - Focus on the customers and the consumers - A structure based on the individual buying behaviors of the target audience - To directly affect not the awareness level, but the buying behavior - To be measurable - To create an interactive communication period - Planning and implementation on the basis of a database - The strategic planning of all the communication outputs of the organization In IMC, a strategy putting the customers at the center is used, instead of sales centered communication strategies. The realization of a two-way communication with the consumers lies at the basis of the communication approach. IMC is both a continuum and a concept. It is a continuum since it requires an approach that uses communication in the managerial sense and that can make a contribution to the organization’s identity in the long run. It is a concept, since it creates a general synergy for all the creative marketing communications activities that can result in superiority and salience in the market that can integrate with the marketing mix. The History of the Development of the Integrated Marketing Communications Since the beginning of the first marketing activities to the present, many different marketing approaches, some of which did not even put into practice, have been developed. The changes in the marketing approaches, during the course of history, paralleled the changes in the political, social, cultural, economic and technological developments. Especially, the intense competition and the technological developments that took place after the 1980’s, created their own dynamics in the field of marketing. Communication lies in the heart of today’s marketing activities as a valuable and fundamental element. Thus, as a result of the communication based additions to the marketing mix (power, public relations, protection of environment, politics etc.) the ‘4 Ps’ have been sometimes increased to ‘5,6 and even 7Ps’ to find solutions, even if temporary, for the problems of marketing, during the course of history. If all the stages of the development of marketing are analyzed, it is realized that, communication took its place at the heart of marketing, paralleling the societal change. The fact that no marketing model that does not rely on communication as a basic criterion can be successful during the 2000’s, gave way to the development of the IMC approach. The integration of the communication element to marketing plans is possible through public relations. Up until the developments of IMC, many theories with similar premises have been developed. However, at the periods when these theories have been developed, they could 3 not break out from their rules, until the decreasing effect of mass marketing on buying behavior, has been realized by the advertisers and the communication experts. It is possible to list the variables affecting the IMC approach as follows: 123456789- The changes in the power relations within the market The intense competition environment The changes in the consumer tendencies Globalization and the changes in the economic field The changes and developments in technological field The decreasing effect of the traditional advertising environment The changing expectations of the advertisers The increasing cost of the traditional marketing environments The ease of the creation of databases and decreasing costs The Messages Created by Organizations as a Source The consumers perceive the various activities of the message source with a single perception method, thus developing their acts, tendencies and buying behavior within this framework. The consumers get the messages of different marketing communications activities like advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, packaging and trade fairs and the messages related to the marketing mix like the distribution channels or the messages related to the product or service itself from different sources, and base their decisions on them in creating their tendencies. The creation of messages by different sources that do not compliment each other, negatively affects the buying decisions of the consumers. The organizations are in a constant relationship with their surrounding target audiences. There are numerous messages that are sent to target audiences from the organizations in this relationship. The rate of the messages that the organizations are unable to control, are significantly higher than the controllable ones. In the most general sense, the message that the organizations create can be defined under four categories: 1-Planned Messages: Covers all the communication activities that an organization is willing to involve in with its target audience. The marketing communications messages like advertising, public relations, sales promotion, trade fairs, direct marketing, the product or the service itself and the place where the product meets the consumer can be listed under the category of planned messages. 2- Perceived Messages: These are the effects of the messages that are sent to the target audience from the organizations or brand creators. In other words, this is the inability to create the desired perception of the planned messages by the consumers due to wrong timing, wrong media, wrong target audience or wrong message content. For example, the emphasis on cheap price can create the image of lack of quality. The perceived messages are explained by, the efficiency and the effects of the planned messages on the target audience. In IMC everything has an influence. Every encounter of the target audience 4 with the elements of the marketing mix and the units comprising the organization is a message for the consumers. 3- Carried Messages: The messages that are carried out by the employees in their interactions of the customers. These messages explain how the planned and perceived messages are realized during the consumers’ communications with the organizations’ employees. The behaviors of the managers and their appearance on the media, the positive and negative behaviors of the vehicles of the organization in the traffic, the behaviors of the receptionists or the secretaries, the behaviors of the secondary organizations that provide services for the finished products, the behaviors of the salespeople and the service providers after the sale took place can be given as examples to these kinds of messages. 4- Unplanned Messages: The events occurring outside the control of the organizations and the messages that are the outcomes of these events can be listed within this group. The researches in the media about the organizations or their brands, the announcements of the NGO’s about consumer rights, the organized acts of the environmental groups about the organization and its products, relations with the trade unions and the reflections of these in the media, the juridical cases about the organization or its products and the publicity created by these, messages about the relationships with local governments and the law makers about licenses and permissions can be given as examples. The organizations try to control these messages like the planned messages as described above, by public relations management, crisis planning and the planning of their attitudes toward the relationships with the employees. The organizations that work on this intensely competitive environment, place the hardest work in classical marketing and marketing communications, on the shoulders of the consumers. This is because, it is expected from the consumer to take a positive decision about the product or the brand, after being subjected to numerous messages related to them, perceiving and synthesizing these messages. However, today’s consumers have neither sufficient time for this process of careful analysis, nor, the necessary environments to make this kind of an analysis possible. In other words, today, the brand creators have to realize that, they have a relationship with their consumers not only through their products and services, but also, all the decisions they take about their organization have a meaning for their consumers. It is necessary to look at the classical marketing communications processes in order to understand the working of the integrated marketing communications public relations model. As it can be seen on Table-1, organizations are in a constant relationship with their surrounding target audiences. In this relationship, there are numerous messages that are sent to the target audiences by the organizations. The organizations control all of these messages depending on their general aims and goals. In this sense, it is possible to divide the messages sent by the organization into two general categories as controllable and uncontrollable messages. 5 As it can be seen on Table-2, the organizations A-B and C, constantly send messages o their target audiences, based on the relationships as described above. If we think of that there thousands of producers and brands in the market for a single product or service, the difficulty on the side of the consumers to take decisions about a product or label becomes obvious. If we look at Table-2 on which only three firms operate, while taking the process of the transmission of the messages produced by a single firm into consideration, we can realize that the intensity of messages sent to the target audience doubles by tens as the number of firms in the same market is increasing. This situation resulting from the classical marketing communications approach creates various difficulties, both for the organizations and the target audiences. This situation arises due to the fact that, even for a single product or brand, numerous messages with independent, united or even conflicting meanings, come from the different sections of the same firm, as well as from outside sources, are sent to the target audiences. When it is taken into consideration that this intense booming of messages is repeated for each firm in the market, it can be realized that how difficult it is for the consumers to choose one product or brand, becomes obvious. At the same time, the possibility creating a product or brand difference for the firms becomes equally desperate. This mess created as a result of the classical marketing communications and the mass marketing approach, made possible the emergence of the IMC approach. The messages resulting from the decisions taken in the structures of the firms, that directly affect the consumers, have to be united under a general concept to make the disappearance of the above difficulties possible. When the problems arising at the implementation process in IMC are taken into consideration, the need for a management function that will take place at the center of the organization to create the basic strategies for the coordination of these messages becomes visible. The idea that public relations can perform this task became the most supported idea in the researches conducted on the subject. The Obstacles to Integration and the Solutions of Public Relations The fact that all the decisions taken in the organization are, at the same time, messages for the target audiences, creates a need for a centralized strategic planning of these messages, starting from the highest level of the management of the organization. The need for this centralized strategic planning raises the question of by whom and under whose responsibility this process is going to be conducted. The reformation of public relations as a function of management depends of the changes it goes though in structural and functional terms. These changes that public relations went through, allowed it to undertake a central position in the strategic planning process in IMC. Since, both the integration for the organizations’ internal dynamics and the adaptation of the IMC approach by organizations to their own structures under the hardening market conditions are difficult tasks, a new model in which public relations play the role of the communications coordinator has been developed. The idea that the communication level of the marketing process is a task to be performed by the public relations experts in the firm emerges as the most widely supported idea in today’s marketing conditions, when 6 the structural and functional changes that public relations went through are taken into consideration. On the other hand the fact that the growing intensity and increasingly difficult conditions of the marketing and marketing communications activities for the firms an the idea that anything is appropriate to be successful in the market, may have given way to the preference of the IMC approach in order only for profit and success. Even though this kind of understanding is in conflict with the IMC approach that puts the customer satisfaction at the center, it emerges as a factor that cannot be disregarded within the dynamics of the liberal economy. The starting point of suggestion public relations model for the IMC approach in this study has to be taken into consideration form the above angle. The condition of the 100% honesty of the decisions related to the organizations and their implementation on the basis of the social responsibilities that the organization has to take within which environment it operates, can be reached only through the public relations approach. In other words, under the conditions of today’s market, in which even the most aggressive marketing methods are used in order to sell and gain profit within the context of global competition, the creation of messages in accordance with the national responsibility and sensitivity principles can only be achieved by public relations that accepts these claims as its basic principles, and never gives up. Thus, the necessity of the strategic planning of IMC by the public relations experts does not arise merely due to the their new functions in management and their valuable knowledge about the communication disciplines and their implementation techniques. Since, the integration of the social responsibility based ideas into marketing plans, and the reconsideration of the idea that ‘anything is appropriate to exist in the market’ on the basis of national interests, is possible only through the public relations approach. Public Relation’s Role in the Process of Integration The public relations model offered for IMC approach in this study, is based on the criteria below: 1- All the problems emerge as obstacles to the process of integration, results from the lack of strategic planning and coordination. Public relations can solve this problem in the institutional structure. 2- The new structures, that can perform the task of the implementation process of IMC, will face difficulties like resistances to organizational change, budget expenditure, rotation of authority and the worries about the loss of expertise within the organization. Public relations, that is tied to the higher levels of management within the organization, with its communication and management infrastructure (MPR, pro-active, re-active and CPR), can dissolve all these resistances without the need for new structural formations. 3- There can be weaknesses of organizations in the context of intense competition, about performing only profit oriented marketing activities, while disregarding the 7 social responsibility and the creation of social benefits principles. The basic criteria of public relations in developing the organizations’ internal and external relations can solve this problem. 4- Public relations, starting from the principles of social benefit and transparency, accept ethical criteria as a basis in marketing communications, as well as in other organizational activities. The national and international public relations organizations constantly set standards concerning this issue and check the obedience to these standards. 5- According to the IMC approach, all the decisions made in relation to the structure of the organization are messages for the target audiences. Thus there is a necessity to carry public relations to the higher levels of the management of the organization in the process of the making of these decisions in a consumer centered way, because of the communications knowledge and skills it has. 6- In the IMC approach where the organization is perceived in general as a source of communication, the realization of the consumers attitudes and behaviors toward the organization and its brand, is possible only through the techniques and methods of public relations. 7- Public relations, by evolving structurally and functionally, became one of the basic functions of management. Public relations became the communications unit closest to the top on the basis of its aims and activities. Therefore, public relations lye at the starting point of the strategic planning of IMC. 8- IMC defines the visions of the organization related to its future by looking at the organization from a general perspective. As the all decisions of the organization related to marketing and marketing communication has to be agreed upon by all the functions making up the organization, public relations makes possible and develops the communication channels within the organization. 9- All the aims, goal, strategies, tactics, budgeting and analysis decisions in the process of the strategic planning of IMC are either directly realized by public relations, or made by external independent agencies with the coordination of public relations on the basis of the detailed briefings organized by the latter. 10- The achievements of public relations activities in the organizational structure about, total quality, institutional culture, institutional image, human resources management and crisis management, constitute the framework of IMC activities. Integrated Marketing Communications Public Relations Model As it can be seen on Table-3, public relations and the higher management of organization that are places in the first step of the IMC model, make all the decisions within the organization in consideration with the communication level and generate the strategic approaches that can create behavioral changes in both the inner and outer consumers of the organization, to make the IMC process work simultaneously. This is the first step taken toward integration. The presence of the public relations expertise with marketing talent at the higher management level, together with the need for integration, are internalized by the highest levels of management. The direct relationship of public relations with the higher management of organizational structure, make possible the 8 integration of communications skills and knowledge, into the management of the organization. Target audience research and the databases constructed on the basis of these researches constitute the second stage in the model. IMC requires external marketing and marketing communications planning made toward the organization. However, this approach that can also be defined as consumer centered planning, can only be achieved by gathering data about all the target audiences the organization has, including the probable ones that the organization has a relationship with. The data about consumers, customers, the market and the target audiences should include demographic, sociological, psychological information, together with information related to the buying behavior and buying habits. The other information includes data about the changing trends in the market, competitors and the attitudes and behaviors of the target audience toward the organization and its brands. Moreover, to know the ways in which the conceptual categories that affect the attitudes of the target audience about the brand and the institutional image are situated by the consumers and the positioning on the scale of brand and organization values are extremely important for marketing and the development of marketing communications messages. In the development process of the conceptual categories in the minds of the consumers, the brand and the consumers’ knowledge about the organization and their rating of importance in this process are important factors in shaping these categories that have to be researched for the creation of a database that is at the heart of IMC activities. At the third stage of the IMC public relations model, is the database, created through the gathering of information from the target audiences. The creation of a database using the infinite possibilities that technology provides, lie at the heart of the segmented marketing as well as direct marketing and IMC logics. The making of the strategic IMC plans through the creation of a database by analyzing the information gathered from the target audiences, makes possible the assessment of all the consumer groups in the market. The target audiences of the IMC messages include the loyal customers of the firm, loyal customers of competitors, groups with changing attitudes (people who are not loyal customers of a brand but change their buying behavior with respect to promotions or other selling tactics at different times) and people who do not use or buy any brand. This grouping is shaped on the basis of information gathered through target audience research. While the making of the strategic plans of the decisions related to the firms, databases based on the information about various buying behaviors of the target audiences that have different attitudes and behaviors related to the institutional image and its brands, are being used. At the fourth stage of the model is the strategic planning of IMC. All the communication processes of the organizational decisions come together in order to create a common concept and synergy on the basis of the databases, before they meet the target audiences. According to the IMC approach, all the research, observation and analysis that are 9 necessary to plan the strategies, make up the first steps toward creating a motivation and cooperation within the organization. 1- Decisions Related to Goals: Goal, in the most general sense, is the final point that an organization is willing to reach. Decisions related to goals are, mostly taken by the higher management. These kinds of decisions are taken to define the visions of the organization about the future of the organization. The future of the mission of the organization is pictured by the decisions about the goals of the organization as defined by the higher management. For example, to be the leader of the market or to be innovative can be the aims of the organization. 2- Decisions Related to Objectives: These are the more concretely and specifically defined forms of the decisions, being taken by the participation of all of the functions of the organization, supplementing the goals defined by the higher management about the future visions of the organization. The decisions related to objectives, are, in other words, the decisions taken by the higher management about goals, with priority. In the decisions about the objectives, the goal to be reached at the first place, the timing of this process and a measurable criterion has to be decided upon. For example, the objective of a firm whose goal is to be the leader of the market should be to achieve this goal in five years, by growing 5% each year. Therefore, in decisions related to objectives, the priority, the measurement criterion and the timing of the goals are important. 3- Decisions Related to Strategies: The definition of how the decisions taken about the goals and the objectives are in the context of the strategic decisions. In other words, strategy is the definition of the techniques and means by which the goals and aims are going to be achieved. In the model, the strategic decisions are defined as the transmission of the goals and objectives decided upon by the higher management, to the managers that will work in the process of implementation. Strategic decisions present an order and an abstract definition of a mental process about a plan. The planning of the means to achieve the implementation of the qualitative goals and objectives decided upon by the higher management, and the internalization of those by the lower levels of the employees is defined as goal, objective and strategy. For example, the objective of a firm whose goal is to be the leader of the market should be to achieve this goal in five years, by growing 5% each year. The strategies of the same organization to achieve its goals and objectives can be to increase its share in the market by creating new products, to give importance to the advertising, selling and promotion activities, or, to selectively plan the marketing communications techniques (advertising, public relations, promotion etc.) that are going to be directly used. 4- Decisions Related to Tactics: The tactical decisions that are defined as the specific techniques of the strategies, are more detailed and concrete than the strategies. While the strategic decisions act as the means through which the 10 objectives can be achieved, the tactical decisions present the details of the strategic decisions, the implementation plans and the implementation centers in a detailed form. Tactic is comprised of more specific and simple ideas and the art of implementation. Tactics include the definitions of the objectives that are implemented. In the integrated marketing communications public relations model, the tactical decisions mostly include the detailed and innovative plans related to the goals, objectives and strategies defined by the higher management, as well as concrete recommendations. If we use the same example, the tactical decisions of a firm whose goal is to become the leader of the market, with the objective of achieving this goal in five years by growing 5% each year, with the strategies of introducing new products to the market and conducting public relations and advertising to raise the sales in a permanent way, will be to take concrete steps toward the development of the communication quality of the firm in relation to the new products to be introduced to the marked and to emphasize with its advertisings and public relations messages that it plans to become the leader of the market. Another importance of the tactical decisions in IMC is the internalization and the concrete definition of the decisions related to goals, objectives and aims, taken by the higher management, by especially the internal consumers of the organization. In order to become the leader of the market, all the employees, regardless of the position they occupy in the firm, have to share the same goal on the basis of the defined objectives and strategic formulae. 5- Decisions Related to Budget: At the fifth organizational decisions stage of the integrated marketing communication public relations model are the decisions related to budget. The approach of IMC requires the centralized strategic planning of the communication outcomes of the organization. This is a significant advantage for the organization to control to the costs of all the communication outcomes. With this method that is also referred to as ‘zero based planning,’ not the budgets related to the last year or the former years, but the costs for all the required integrated communication activities and the activities that will affect the buying behaviors are calculated. 6- Measurement: At the last stage of the strategic planning of the decisions of the IMC process, is the measurement and evaluation of these decisions. Measurement, which is the requirement as well as strength of the IMC approach, allows the consideration of all the decisions related to goals, objectives and strategies, on the basis the communication dimension. The evaluation of the budgets required for the success of integration, the efficient working of the process, the solution to problems and for the integrated communications messages, is done in this step. At the sixth and seventh stages of the integrated marketing communications public relations model are the systematic definition of all the decisions taken in 11 the organizational structure and their stages of implementation. The various elements of the integrated marketing mix are developed for specific causes. The organizational process can be seen as the hierarchy of all the processes. At each phase of the hierarchical process, there is the integration of the elements of the process. To focus on one of the elements of this process mix allows the definition of the forthcoming elements. The integrated marketing communications public relations model looks at the organizational decisions from a systematic approach. The decisions making up the organizational communication are taken at different management levels, while each decision define the implementation and the contents of the next decision. With this approach, it is possible to define the decisions making up the organization, in three groups. If the organizations can take these numerous decisions in a way that they are integrated and support each other, the most important obstacle in front of integration will be removed. The Decisions Making up the Organization The integrated marketing communications public relations model proves that all the organizational processes are hierarchically organized. Therefore, the planning of marketing communications can be defined as the phases of a continuous process that contains at least three stages. The interactions of these stages that can be defined as organizational, marketing and marketing communications decision lies at the heart of creating integrated messages and the dissolving of the weaknesses of traditional marketing communications. Especially the decisions related to goals, objectives and strategies that are taken by the higher management have to be supported by all the units making up the organization. The decisions grouped under these stages can be presented as follows: Organizational Decisions: The most definite decisions taken by the organization are organizational decisions. All the other decisions are based on the organizational decisions. The organizational decisions taken by the higher management define the visions of the organization, because they indicate the general goals. In other words, the organizational decisions contain the decisions that picture the organization in the next 510 years. Some of the organizational decisions are: the development goals of the organization, the investments that are going to be made for human resources, new employees, tendencies about new investment areas, buying new machines, total quality or production and marketing based on national and international standards, decisions about institutional identity, institutional image and institutional culture, entrance into new markets, opening up to public etc. Marketing Decisions: Contains the decisions about the implementation of the decisions taken by the higher management about general development and market shares. The marketing decisions of an organization with the goal of becoming the leader of the 12 market define the decisions that can realize the decisions that have to be taken for the achievement of this goal. The marketing decisions, in the most common sense, contain the marketing mix. To decide upon the marketing mix for the realization of the goals and aims defined by the higher management is situated in the context of marketing decisions. These are the decisions related to the definition of what kind of products and services to be provided, the decisions about the channels of distribution and marketing, decisions about pricing, promotion or sales management. Marketing Communications Decisions: The marketing communications decisions take place after the decisions about the marketing decisions taken in order for the realization of goals and objectives as defined by the higher management. The marketing communications decisions contain the transmission of the communication messages that can create the positive attitudinal changes on the target audiences about the organization. The marketing communication decisions are the most concrete, visible and measurable supplements of all the organizational and marketing decisions, since all the decisions taken in the organization are targeted toward the internal and external environment of the organization. All the decisions related to the transmission of these decisions to the internal and external environments surrounding the organizations are contained within the marketing communications decisions. Some of the marketing communications decisions are: advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, mailing, trade fairs, and promotions related to sales management, etc. In conclusions, this approach, in which consumers are defined as customers, placing the customer at the heart of all marketing decisions, motivates behavior of the consumer toward buying and plans to create brand loyalty. The IMC approach, which is different from the formerly developed marketing models with direct marketing, consumer based thinking, zero based planning, the control and measurement of all the communication outcomes, the creation of databases and the taking of all decisions by placing the consumers at the center, creates the maximum advantage in the making of consumer choices and the efficient use of the resources of the organization. The integrated marketing communications public relations model, starts from the idea that all the decisions taken in the organization have to be in harmony, since they all affect each other. All the decisions about the organization, marketing and marketing communications are implemented in accordance with the goals, objectives, strategic and tactical decisions that make up the model. Integrated marketing communications public relations model, that approaches the organization from a systematic point of view, defines all the decisions taken by the organization in three basic categories and stages. The internalization of IMC as an approach, both by the professionals and academics is, due to the fact that, it approaches the organization from a general perspective, its visions about the future, it defines its goals and objectives, and all the decisions about the organization are taken by placing the consumer at the center. The IMC approach is based 13 on the centralized strategic planning of all the decisions about the goals and objectives of the organization and the implementation of these by professionals. This approach allows the control and measurement of all the messages, produced either consciously or unconsciously, in a way lacking from all the other marketing approaches.