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CHAPTER 5
OBJECTIVES OF THE IMC PLAN
Chapter Overview
This chapter examines the role of objectives in the planning and evaluation of the IMC program. Many
managers use sales as the basis for setting objectives. However, many promotional planners believe the
role of advertising and other promotional mix elements is to communicate because of the various
problems associated with sales-based objectives. The chapter reviews three approaches to communication
objectives: the DAGMAR model, an application of more comprehensive response hierarchies, and new
IMC approaches. The chapter then discusses in detail the Rossiter and Percy perspective of
communication objectives.
Learning Objectives
1. To recognize the value of setting specific objectives for advertising and promotion.
2. To know the differences between marketing and communication objectives and the issues
regarding the use of each.
3. To know the historical approaches for setting communication objectives for advertising.
4. To understand a comprehensive framework for setting communication and behavioural objectives for
all aspects of the IMC plan.
Chapter and Lecture Outline
I.
INTRODUCTION
Many companies have difficulty setting realistic objectives that will guide the development of the IMC
program. Many companies either fail to use specific marketing communications objectives or set ones
that are inadequate for guiding the development of the promotional plan or measuring its effectiveness.
Part of the problem stems from the fact that many marketers are uncertain as to what advertising and
promotion can or should do and/or prefer to use sales as an objective.
II.
THE VALUE OF OBJECTIVES
One of the reasons many companies fail to set specific objectives for their advertising and promotional
programs is that they fail to recognize the value of doing so. There are several important reasons for
setting advertising and promotional objectives:
A.
B.
Communication—Specific objectives serve as communication devices and facilitate the
coordination of the various groups working on the campaign on both the agency and the client
side. Problems can be avoided if all parties involved have a set of written and approved objectives
to guide their decisions and actions.
Planning and Decision Making—Specific objectives can be useful as a guide or criterion for
decision making. Advertising and promotion planners are often faced with a number of strategic
and tactical options in areas such as creative, media, budgeting and sales promotion. Choices
among these options should be made on the basis of how well a strategy or tactic matches the
promotional objective.
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56
C.
Measurement and Evaluation of Results—A very important reason for setting specific objectives
is that they provide a benchmark or standard against which success or failure of the campaign can
be measured. When specific objectives are set it becomes easier for management to measure what
has been accomplished by the campaign.
III.
TYPES OF OBJECTIVES
A.
Marketing Objectives—Marketing objectives are generally stated in the firms marketing plan and
are statements of what is to be accomplished by the overall marketing program within a given
time period. Marketing objectives are usually defined in terms of specific, measurable outcomes
such as sales volume, market share, profits, or return on investment. The achievement of
marketing objectives will depend upon the proper coordination and execution of all the marketing
mix elements, not just promotion.
Sales-Oriented Objectives—many marketing managers view their advertising and promotional
programs from a sales perspective and argue that sales or some related measure such as market
share is the only meaningful goal for advertising and thus should be the basis for setting
objectives. They take the position that the basic reason a firm spends money on advertising and
promotion is to sell its products or services. Thus they argue that any monies spent on advertising
should produce measurable sales results.
1. Problems with sales objectives—Problems with this approach include:
 problems in achieving sales could be a function of other marketing mix variables such as
product design or quality, packaging, distribution, or price.
 the carryover effect which suggests that the effects of advertising on sales are not always
immediate and occur over an extended time period.
 sales objectives offer little guidance or direction to those responsible for planning,
developing and executing the promotional program.
2. Where sales objectives are appropriate—while there are problems in attempting to use sales
as objectives for an advertising and promotional campaign, there are situations where they
may be appropriate such as:
 when the promotional efforts are direct action in nature and are designed to induce a
more immediate response. For example many sales promotion programs have sales
objectives since their goal is often to generate trial or a short-term sales increases.
 direct response advertising which measures success of a campaign in terms of the sales
response generated by an ad.
B.
C.
Communication Objectives—many marketers take the perspective that the primary role of
promotional mix elements such as advertising is to communicate and effects should be based on
communication objectives. Advocates of communication objectives generally use some form of
the hierarchical models discussed in Chapter 4 as a basis for setting advertising objectives.
Communications objectives should be based on the particular communication tasks that are
required to deliver the appropriate message to the target audience. This requires the translation of
general marketing goals into communication goals and specific objectives.
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57
IV.
DAGMAR—AN APPROACH TO SETTING OBJECTIVES
DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) is a model developed by
Russell Colley in 1961 for setting advertising objectives and measuring the results of a campaign against
these objectives. Under DAGMAR an advertising goal involves a communications task that is specific
and measurable. A communications task involves something that can be performed by and attributed to
advertising. Communication tasks in DAGMAR are based on a hierarchical model similar to those
discussed in Chapter 4. While hierarchical communication effects form the basis of DAGMAR, there are
other specific communication tasks that advertising might be expected to perform or help accomplish.
A.
Characteristics of Objectives—a major contribution of DAGMAR was Colley’s specification of
what constitutes a good objective. Four requirements or characteristics of good objectives were
noted:
1. Target audience—a good objective should specify a well-defined target audience. The target
audience is usually identified in the situation analysis.
2. Concrete and measurable—the communications task or objective should be a precise
statement of what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target
audience. The objective should be measurable in that the method and criteria used for
determining if it has been properly communicated should be specified.
3. Benchmark and degree of change sought—another important part of setting objectives is
having benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the beginning
of the campaign with respect to various communication response variables such as awareness,
knowledge, attitudes, image, etc. The objectives should also specify how much change or
movement is being sought such as increase in awareness levels, creation of favourable
attitudes or number of consumers intending to purchase the brand, etc.
4. Specified time period—a final characteristic of good objectives is the specification of the
time period during which the objective is to be accomplished. The time period should be
appropriate for the communication objective as simple tasks such as increasing awareness
levels can be accomplished much faster than a complex goal such as repositioning a brand.
B.
Assessment of DAGMAR—There are certain problems and limitations to DAGMAR which
should be discussed. These include:
 Problems with the response hierarchy—reliance on traditional hierarchical type response
models is a problem in the original version of DAGMAR. However, the updated version of
the model, DAGMAR MOD II, recognizes the need for a modified response hierarchy that is
appropriate to the buying situation such as in high- versus low-involvement purchases.
 Practicality and costs—DAGMAR is criticized for being difficult to implement and practical
only for big companies with large marketing and advertising research budgets who can afford
to establish quantitative benchmarks and measure communication results.
 Inhibits creativity—DAGMAR is also criticized on the grounds that it can inhibit creativity
by imposing too much influence or structure on creatives. The creative department may
become too concerned with “passing the numbers test” rather than developing great ideas that
result in unique and effective advertising. Many advertising people have blamed the lack of
great creative ideas and campaigns in the US. in recent years on an over quantification of
advertising objectives.
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V.
COMPREHENSIVE RESPONSE MODEL APPLICATIONS
The Lavidge and Steiner hierarchy of effect model shown in Figure 5-3 is more specific than the
DAGMAR model and provides a better way to establish and measure results. This particular model has
been used as a basis for analyzing the communication response processes of consumers and has been the
foremost application for setting communication objectives.
Setting communication objectives with a model like this is the same way that a pyramid is built, by first
accomplishing lower-level objectives such as awareness and knowledge or comprehension. See Figure 54.
VI.
A NEW IMC APPROACH
Advocates of IMC are calling for new approaches to promotional planning and IMC. For example,
Professor Don Schultz of Northwestern University advocates the use of an outside in planning process to
IMC that starts with the customer and builds backwards to the brand rather than inside-out planning
(Figure 5-6). Professor Tom Duncan of the University of Colorado argues that IMC should use zerobased communications planning which involves determining what tasks need to be done and which
marketing communications functions should be used and to what extent. This approach focuses on the
task to be accomplished and searches for the best ideas and ways of accomplishing it. Duncan suggests
that an effective IMC program leads with the marketing communication function that most effectively
addresses the company’s problem or opportunity.
VII.
SETTING IMC OBJECTIVES
The Rossiter and Percy (R&P) perspective of communication objectives has three main characteristics:

It provides unique guidelines for target audience identification and selection.

It provides unique guidelines for behavioural or action objectives that are not specified
completely in the previous approaches.

It provides guidelines for communication objectives that are more managerially useful and do not
completely rely on a set hierarchy of effects.
A.
Target Audience—R&P state that the primary and most logical factor for initially defining a
target audience is the current behaviour of consumers. R&P identified customer groups as
follows:

For customer groups, the manager has the opportunity to direct communications to brand loyal
customers who regularly buy their firm’s product.

Favourable brand switchers are a second customer group highlighted by R&P. For some
product categories, consumers habitually purchase from a few favourites or those brands within
their evoked set.

New category users are those customers that are not yet purchasing within a product category.

Other brand switchers purchase a few different brands within a category.

Other brand loyals purchase only one brand and are completely loyal.
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B. Behavioural Objectives—A second part of R&P’s approach is to have a clear behavioural objective
for each target audience. The various types of behavioural objectives are as follows:
1. Trial—A brand trial purchase is defined as a consumer’s first purchase of a focal brand.
2. Repeat Purchase—A repeat purchase is defined as a consumer’s continued purchase of a focal
brand within a specified time period.
3. Purchase-related Behaviour—is an action that consumers take that will lead to a higher
probability of purchasing the brand. For example, most people find it imperative to visit a car
dealership prior to buying a car.
4. Repeat Consumption—is defined as the continued consumption of the brand once purchased.
C. Communication Objectives—R&P summarize five communication effects that an ad, advertising
campaign, or IMC plan may have on consumers. They are as follows:
1. Category need pertains to whether the target audience feels the need to purchase within the
actual product category.
2. Brand awareness is a universal communication objective. This means that every single point of
communication should contribute to a target audience’s understanding and knowledge of the
brand name.
3. Brand attitude is another universal communication objective. Like brand awareness, every
aspect of a firm’s IMC program should contribute to some aspect of the overall evaluation of the
brand from the perspective of the target audience.
4. Brand purchase intention consists of two options:

Brand purchase intention is assumed.

Brand purchase intention is generated.
5. Purchase facilitation consists of two options:

Purchase facilitation is included

Purchase facilitation is omitted.
D. Communication Objectives for Buyer Decision Stages—One important role of marketing
communications is to help the target audience move through the steps of the consumer decision
making process. This process is assessed for each target audience and a conclusion is made as to
which communication objectives are most relevant for each stage. Refer to Figure 5-7 as an
illustration of how this works.
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60
Teaching Suggestions
We feel that from an integrated marketing communications planning perspective, this is one of the most
important chapters in the text. It is very important for students to understand the importance of setting
good objectives to guide the planning and development of an advertising campaign as well as for
providing a benchmark or standard against which performance can be measured and evaluated. This
chapter stresses the difference between marketing and sales versus communication objectives and the role
of advertising in influencing sales. The DAGMAR model relies heavily on the response hierarchy models
discussed in Chapter 4. Students should recognize that the specific communication objectives that are
appropriate will vary depending on the buying situation.
The DAGMAR model is discussed in detail as a viable approach to setting advertising objectives. A very
valuable aspect of Colley’s work on DAGMAR is the specification of characteristics of good objectives
which are discussed in the text. While most companies are not going to meet all of the criteria set forth in
DAGMAR, it is important that students recognize the characteristics of good objectives. Another
important issue to address in discussing this material is the difference between sales versus
communication objectives. We discuss the basic characteristics of each, when they are appropriate and
problems with using sales and communication objectives. The instructor may want to find some examples
of campaigns which have won awards and/or have been very effective from a communications
perspective but not in terms of sales. The discussion can focus on the role of advertising and whether
there are other problems or factors which may be inhibiting sales.
Answers To Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the value of setting objectives for the integrated marketing communications program? What
important functions do they serve?
Specific goals and objectives are the foundation upon which integrated marketing communications
decisions involving advertising and other promotional tools should be made. There are several
reasons why specific advertising and promotional objectives are needed. They serve as
communication devices and facilitate the coordination of activities of the various groups working on
the campaign. They also serve as a guide to promotional planning and decision making and provide a
benchmark or standard against which success or failure of the campaign can be measured and
evaluated.
2. In meeting with your new boss, he informs you that the only goal of advertising and promotion is to
generate sales. Present your argument as to why communications objectives must also be considered.
The bottom line for for-profit organizations is to increase market share, sales or both. Thus, for many
managers, the goal of advertising is to generate sales. Managers frequently ask the question, “If I
increase my advertising budget by X%, what will the impact be on sales?”
While the ultimate goal of the promotional program may be to increase sales, there are a number of
reasons communications objectives must be considered as well:

Communications objectives are intermediary objectives often required to generate sales.
Creating brand awareness, interest and favorable attitudes may be required before the
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


consumer purchases. The hierarchy models discussed in Chapter 4 demonstrate that
purchases are not always spontaneous, and that consumers must be moved through a
hierarchy of goals.
Communications objectives are measurable, while the relationship between advertising and
sales is often not. It is often very difficult to demonstrate the direct impact of advertising on
sales. It’s not that we can’t measure sales, but rather that establishing a measurable impact is
very difficult.
Other factors beyond advertising contribute to sales. There is an old saying that nothing will
kill a poor product faster than good advertising. In other words, if a company has a good
advertising program but the product is not good, then sales will not increase. Likewise, if the
product is not available due to distribution problems, then the impact of advertising will not
be known, or if the price is too high, sales will not be affected. Finally, an excellent
marketing program may be negatively impacted by market conditions. Weather, recessions,
and other factors may result in a loss or no change in sales even though the advertising
program is effective.
Not all advertising is designed to increase sales. Creating brand or corporate image,
generating awareness, appeasing stockholders, etc. are just some of the reasons why
companies advertise. Cause related marketing and advocacy advertising are additional
reasons why companies may advertise other than directly influencing sales.
3. What are some of the problems associated with using sales objectives as the only measure of
advertising performance? Can you think of any situation where it may be the best and only measure?
The most obvious problem with sales objectives is that sales are a function of other marketing
variables like product, price and distribution. Since advertising and promotion have a primary
communication effect on consumers prior to their purchasing a product, it is important to have the
communication specified as objectives in order to assess whether it is effective or not. The other most
significant concern is the fact that advertising has a carry-over effect where its effects could lead to
sales well after the exposure. The second part of the question is open-ended to spark a debate as to
whether sales are ever the only measure of advertising success. A couple of scenarios presented in the
chapter can be evaluated as to whether these are realistic possibilities.
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of using traditional hierarchy models for setting
communication objectives?
The traditional hierarchy models have a couple of key strengths. They provide an understanding of
consumer’s response to advertising. They also guide the steps for planning advertising objectives.
Firms could focus on certain stages for making communication objectives (i.e. awareness). However,
there are two important limitations. It is difficult to believe that consumers go through the steps in the
prescribed cognitive-affective behaviour process for all purchases. Furthermore, it is difficult also to
believe that consumers could not be having both affective and cognitive responses at the same time.
5. In what situations is the target audience and the target market the same? In what situations is the size
of the target audience larger or smaller than the target market?
The target market is the focus of the entire marketing mix while the target audience is the focus of a
particular communication tool or part of a communication program. In many instances, the target
audience is smaller than the target market. For example, if a firm runs an ad and promotion to entice
consumers to switch to their brand, they are not reaching the complete target market since this would
include its own customers. For small firms or firms with a brand new product, both the target market
and target audience may be exactly the same. In this case, the firm is not trying to advertise to a
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particular target audience to increase their usage or alter their purchasing behaviour. The target
audience is often larger than the target market for a product in many public relations activities. By
their very nature, public relations oftentimes attempt to influence a broad community, of which many
of the people would not be actual purchasers of the product.
6. When defining a target audience for communications, why is it a good idea to use consumer
behaviour with respect to your brand as the primary variable before using variables such as
demographics or lifestyle?
The behavioural variable is considered first for two reasons. First, it links the communication plan to
the marketing plan more specifically. Secondly, actual behaviour signals or leads to sales, something
to which most advertising campaigns hope to achieve as an end result. Most good advertising reflects
the underlying purchase motive of the target audience. The purchase motive is related to behaviour
because consumers act upon their needs during a goal seeking decision process. Thus, the expected
behaviour of the target audience is a prime consideration.
7. Some claim that promotion is all about communication, so we should only focus on communication
objectives and not worry about behavioural objectives. Convince them otherwise.
This question is an application similar to question 6. Behavioural objectives are required if one
accepts that the target audience’s current behaviour is prime factor in constructing the message.
Behavioural objectives help define the target audience further and they provide a bridge between
communication objectives of the promotion plan and the marketing and the marketing objectives of
the marketing plan.
8. If a firm cannot afford large market research studies to quantitatively assess whether communication
objectives have been achieved, why should the firm bother setting communication objectives?
Communication objectives are still valuable because they guide the rest of the communication
decisions. They provide the criteria for managers and agencies to make the appropriate stratdgic and
tactical creative decisions. They can also provide guidance for media and sales promotion decisions.
There is also some literature on doing market research very inexpensively that goes beyond
traditional sources that large firms use, so tracking of campaigns can be feasible even without
resources.
9. How is the framework discussed in the last section similar to and different from setting
communications objectives based on the traditional hierarchy models?
Discussion of the hierarchy models often implied that this represented how consumers purchased
products, especially with the concluding behavioural stage. So marketers are left with reconciling the
consumer purchase decision process discussed in Chapter 3 with the traditional hierarchy models. The
communication models that followed in Chapter 3 tried to account for variations in consumer
purchasing behaviour and account for communication effects. As an alternative, the model at the end
of this chapter applies the communication framework on the traditional consumer purchase decision
model. It recognizes that firms have unique attitudinal objectives depending upon where a target
audience is in the process.
10. In what situations would brand awareness be the only communication objective for an advertising
campaign?
Chapter 5 – Objectives for the IMC Plan
63
This is a bit of a trick question and sets up a debate that you may like to pursue. The model presented
argues that all communications should contribute to awareness and attitude. If it does not contribute
in some manner, then it is by definition, not effective. If this is true, then there are no situations where
a firm would spend money on ads only for awareness. Often we hear in news reports that a firm or
organization is running an awareness campaign. This is, in fact probably a short way of saying that
yes, we are trying to increase awareness and influence attitudes. If students propose situations where
some attitudinal component is not addressed, it is fairly certain that they have not thought hard
enough to see that the ad could be contributing to the overall liking of the brand by the target
audience – the heart of brand attitude.
11. A firm is running a campaign with advertising, sales promotion, and public relations. Why might it
have communication objectives for each IMC tool?
This is an application of the model presented at the end of the chapter and picks up on the Rogers
example where every part of IMC has some effect. Since consumers go through the decision-making
process, at each stage they may be influenced by communications from various sources (i.e. ads, sales
promotions, public relation). Ads could generate awareness and initial favourable attitude about a car.
Upon researching the vehicle, ratings and reviews from car publications may solidify the attitude and
and lead to sales. Sales promotions like financing or rebates could lead to a stronger purchase
intention.
12. Find a print ad and explain what its communication objectives are. Look at the company’s website
and determine whether the communication objectives are similar or different.
This is an application exercise. It is intended to show students that firms could have different target
audiences across different IMC tools or it could show that the firm is using these two tools to reach
the same target audience. In some cases, the advertising is directed to one target audience through
selective media purchases, but since the web is universally accessed it could have sections directing
various target audiences.
Additional Discussion Question (not in text)
13. What are the differences between marketing objectives and communications objectives? Why do so
many managers confuse the two?
Marketing objectives are statements of what is to be accomplished by an organization’s overall
marketing program within a given time period. They are usually stated in terms of specific,
measurable outcomes such as sales volume, market share, profits or return on investment.
Communication objectives are statements of specific communication tasks that are to be
accomplished such as creating awareness, brand knowledge and interest, favourable attitudes and
image, purchase intentions and the like.
Many managers confuse the two types of objectives because they approach their advertising and
promotional programs from a sales perspective and tend to view sales or some related measure as the
only meaningful objective of advertising. They tend to think in terms of how the promotional
program will influence sales and end up reducing communication objectives to sales-related
measures.
14. What is meant by an advertising carryover effect? Discuss the problems carryover creates for
managers who are trying to determine the impact of their advertising on sales.
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64
Many experts agree that advertising may have a lagged or carryover effect. That is, the results of the
advertising may not be immediately felt. For example, many ads are stored to memory, and acted
upon at a later time. This effect may cause problems for marketers who are trying to assess the impact
of these ads in the short run. If the ad is run now, but effects are not felt until later, it may be difficult
to show that the advertising had an impact. Management, impatient as they sometimes may be, may
not wish to consider to spend waiting for the effects to happen. When the carryover effect is added to
the other problems associated with using sales objectives, it makes the job of proving the impact of
advertising’s effect n sales even more difficult for the ad manager.
15. What is the difference between outside in planning for IMC versus inside out planning?
According to professor Don Schultz, inside out planning occurs when marketers plan their
promotional programs by considering how they can develop promotional messages that will move
consumers along an effects path such as the response hierarchy. Under this with approach, marketers
focus on what they want to say, when they want to say it and in the media forms the marketer wants
to use. Outside in planning, on the other hand, starts with the customer and builds backwards to the
brand. Under this approach promotional planners study the various media customers and prospects
use, when the marketer’s messages might be most relevant to customers, and when they are likely to
be most receptive to the message.
16. You are in a meeting to discuss plans for a new advertising and promotional program for your
company. The vice president of marketing opens the meeting by stating there is only one objective for
the new campaign—to increase sales. How would you respond to this statement?
Obviously the vice president of marketing is viewing the role of advertising and promotion as that of
generating sales. Some managers take the position that the reason a firm spends money on advertising
and promotion is to sell its product or service. They believe that monies spent on advertising should
produce measurable results such as increases in sales volume or market share. The problem with this
perspective is that the manager is ignoring all of the other factors that may influence sales such as
competition, the state of the economy, product quality, service, price and channels of distribution. The
manager must recognize that it is often very difficult to show a direct relationship between advertising
and sales. Moreover, the impact of sales are not always immediate as there may be some lagged or
carryover effect operating. The manager must be made to realize that advertising and promotion can
be working quite well and there still may be some problem with sales. Thus, consideration should be
given to evaluating the effectiveness of the promotional program in terms of other measures such as
the accomplishment of communication objectives.
17. Discuss three situations where sales are an appropriate measure of the effects of advertising or other
marketing communications element.
While there can be problems in attempting to use sales as objectives for a promotional campaign,
there are situations where sales objectives are appropriate. Certain types of advertising and
promotional efforts are direct action in nature and try to induce a more immediate behavioural
response from a prospective customer. For example, a major objective of most sales promotion
programs is to generate a short-term increase in sales. Marketers use sales objectives to determine
how many units of a brand were sold during a promotional period or through the use of coupons.
Direct response advertising is another example of a situation where sales are an appropriate measure
of effectiveness. The goal of a direct response ad delivered through various media such as television,
magazines, newspapers or through direct mail is to generate sales. Thus sales is an appropriate
measure of effectiveness. Direct action retail advertising is another example of a situation where sales
many be an appropriate measure of effectiveness. When sales or special events are being promoted,
retailers evaluate the effectiveness of their ads in the amount of store traffic generated and increases
in sales volume. Finally, sales-oriented objectives may be appropriate when advertising plays a
Chapter 5 – Objectives for the IMC Plan
65
dominant role in a firm’s marketing program and other factors such as price, product quality and
distribution are relatively stable and equal.
18. You are the advertising manager for an established brand of laundry detergent and have just fought
hard to have the promotional budget for the brand increased by 10 percent. You have just received a
report for the latest quarter that shows sales did not change despite the increase in advertising
spending. The marketing vice president is concerned about the lack of increase in sales and wants you
to explain the problem. How might you respond?
The marketing vice president appears to be concerned because the increase in advertising spending
did not result in an immediate increase in sales. The advertising manager’s response should note that
it may be unrealistic to expect an immediate impact on sales since it may take a little time for the
increased spending to have an impact in the marketplace. S/he might note that advertising for laundry
detergent is likely to have some type of lagged or carryover effect such that the effects of the
increased spending may not be realized immediately. It would also be important to consider what
other developments may have occurred during the latest quarter and how they may have affected sales
of the detergent. For example, did competitors increase their level of advertising or sales promotion
activity? Were any new brands introduced during this period. The advertising manager may also want
to stress the need to look at the increased spending from a communications perspectives as well as
just a sales perspective.
IMC Exercise
Professor Tom Duncan suggests that promotional planners should use zero-based communications
planning when developing their integrated marketing communications programs. This approach involves
determining what tasks need to be done and which marketing communications functions should be used
and to what extent in accomplishing them. He suggests that in addition to advertising, various other
promotional tools such as publicity/public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing or even packaging
may be the basis for the “big idea” around which the IMC program will be developed.
Find an example of how a marketer has used a specific promotional mix tool other than advertising as the
basis for the “big idea” for an IMC program. For example, you might find an example where a company
has used innovative packaging, sales promotion or publicity as the lead element of their IMC program.
Why do you think the company chose to lead with this specific promotional mix element? Discuss how
other promotional mix tools were used in developing the overall IMC program.
IMC Comprehensive Project
At this point, students should be prepared to develop specific advertising and promotional objectives that
will guide the development of their IMC projects.
IMC Project Assignment for Chapter 5
Specify the objectives for your IMC program. Describe how your objectives have evolved from the
marketing and promotional situation analysis you conducted for your product or service. Explain whether
you are using sales or communication objectives and the rationale for your choice. Do your objectives
satisfy the criteria specified by the DAGMAR model. Which promotional mix element will be used as the
source of the “big idea” around which your IMC program will be developed? Why have you chosen to
lead with this marketing communication tool? How will other promotional mix tools be used to help you
achieve your IMC objectives?
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