SOLUTIONS MANUAL
Advertising and Promotion 13th Edition George Belch
An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective
CHAPTER 1 : AN INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter Overview
The purpose of this opening chapter is to provide the student with an overview of the field of
advertising and promotion and its role in the marketing process. We introduce the concept of
integrated marketing communications (IMC), its evolution, and examine how various marketing and
promotional elements must be coordinated to communicate effectively. We also discuss the reasons for
the increasing importance of the IMC perspective in planning and executing advertising and
promotional programs. Marketers understand the value of strategically integrating the various
communication functions rather than having them operate autonomously. The move to integrated
marketing communications also reflects an adaptation by marketers to a changing environment,
particularly with respect to consumers, technology, and media. The various elements of the promotional
mix are introduced in this chapter along with a brief discussion of these basic tools of IMC. We discuss
how many companies are taking an audience contact or touch point perspective in developing their IMC
programs and consider four basic categories of touch points. This chapter also examines the various
tasks and responsibilities involved in advertising and promotion management and a model of the
integrated marketing communications planning process is presented. Lastly, we give an overview of
the perspective and organization of the rest of the text.
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the role of advertising and other promotional elements in marketing.
2. Discuss the evolution of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) concept.
3. Explain the increasing value of the IMC perspective in advertising and promotional programs.
4. Identify the elements of the promotional mix.
5. Identify the contact points between marketers and their target audiences.
6. Describe the steps in the IMC planning process.
,Chapter and Lecture Outline
I. INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION
The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the changing roles of advertising and promotional strategy in
modern marketing. Specifically, it offers a case study about marketing approaches in the energy drink
category. The case discusses first-mover Red Bull’s alignment with extreme sports to position itself as the
beverage for times of increased physical and mental stress. A new market entrant, Celsius, positioned itself
as a healthier energy drink, relying heavily on influencer marketing. Its tactics attract new users to the
energy drink category and convert consumers from other brands. Instructors should discuss how the roles
of advertising and other forms of marketing communication are changing. Increases in audience
fragmentation and a shift to digital media have spearheaded this change in brand/consumer communication.
Consumers are no longer passive message recipients who wait to receive unfiltered advertising messages.
They want more control of the content they receive, and actively seek out more information. Brands must
be willing to adapt their strategies, moving away from solely an advertising focus to a holistic approach
that attempts to engage consumers in a conversation: an IMC approach. Instructors should also stress the
difference between IMC, advertising, and public relations.
II. THE GROWTH OF ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION
Advertising and promotion are integral parts of our social and economic systems. Advertising has evolved
into a vital communication system for both consumers and businesses. In market-based economies,
consumers rely on advertising and other forms of promotion to provide them with information they can use
in making purchase decisions. Corporations rely on advertising and promotion to help them market their
products and services.
Evidence of the increasing importance of advertising and promotion in the marketing process comes from
the growth in expenditures in these areas over the past decade. In 1980, advertising expenditures in the U.S.
were $53 billion and $49 billion was spent on sale promotion. In 2022, $330 billion was spent on
advertising. Of that, $129 billion was spent on traditional advertising media such as TV, radio, magazines,
newspaper, and OOH. Digital/online advertising accounted for the other $201 billion. Billions more are
spent by both domestic and foreign companies in other promotional areas such as direct marketing, event
sponsorship, interactive marketing, sponsorships, consumer and trade promotions, and public relations
efforts. The tremendous growth in expenditures for advertising and promotion reflect the growth of the U.S.
and global economies. Expansion-minded marketers are taking advantage of growth opportunities in
various regions of the world and taking advantage of integrated marketing opportunities through methods
such as event sponsorship and the use of the Internet.
Particularly noteworthy is the increase in the amount of marketing communications dollars being spent
online. For the first time ever, in 2019, digital ad dollars in the U.S. surpassed those dollars spent on
traditional advertising media. Specifically, 54 percent of advertising dollars in the U.S. went to digital
advertising efforts while 46 percent went to traditional advertising media. By 2022, digital advertising
accounted for nearly two-thirds of all advertising spending. The increase in digital advertising comes from
declines in spending in print versions of magazines and newspapers as well direct mail—with the largest
digital ad category being paid search on search engines. These upward trends in ad spending, and
particularly digital ad spending, are seen globally, although U.S. advertising spending accounts for nearly
40 percent of the world’s advertising expenditures.
,III. THE ROLE OF MARKETING
Many students may already have had a marketing course; however, it is still helpful to define marketing
and stress that it involves more than just selling or other promotion functions. For more than two decades,
the American Marketing Association, the association that represents marketing professionals in the United
States and Canada, defined marketing as:
the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of
ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational
objectives.
This definition of marketing focused on exchange as a central concept in the various activities involved in
the marketing process. Many experts argue that exchange is the core phenomenon or domain for study in
marketing. The discussion can focus on the nature of exchange and what is needed for this process to occur
including: two or more parties with something of value to one another; a desire and ability to give up their
something of value to the other party; and a way for the parties to communicate with one another.
In 2007, the AMA adopted a revised definition of marketing:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, and
delivering exchange offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.
This definition of marketing is more reflective of the role of nonmarketers to the marketing process. It also
focuses on the important role marketing plays in developing and sustaining relationships with customers
and delivering value to them.
Value is the customer’s perception of all of the benefits of a product or service weighed against all the costs
of acquiring and using it. Benefits can be functional (focusing on the performance of the product),
experiential (focusing on what it feels like to use the product), or psychological (feelings that result from
owning a particular brand). Costs include the money paid for the product or service as well as other factors
such as acquiring information, making the purchase, learning how to use a product/service, maintaining the
product, and disposing of it.
A. The Marketing Mix—The four elements of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and
promotion) can be introduced and the task of combining these elements into an effective marketing
program for facilitating exchange with a target audience should be noted. The instructor should
point out that while this course focuses on the promotion element of the marketing mix, the
promotional program must be part of a viable marketing strategy and coordinated with other
marketing mix variables. This leads into a discussion of the concept of integrated marketing
communications.
, IV. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
A. The Evolution of IMC—In the past, many marketers built strong barriers around the various
marketing and promotional functions, planning and managing them separately with different
budgets, different views of the market and different goals and objectives. In the 1980s, however,
many companies began moving toward the concept of integrated marketing communications
(IMC), and a more strategic integration of their promotional tools. As marketers embraced the
concept of IMC, they began asking their ad agencies to coordinate the use of a variety of
promotional tools rather than relying primarily upon media advertising. A number of companies
began looking beyond traditional advertising agencies, using other types of promotional specialists
to develop and implement various components of their promotional plans. As the advertising
industry recognized that IMC was more than just a fad, terms such as new advertising,
orchestration, and seamless communication were used to describe the concept of integration.
In 1989, a task force from the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) developed one
of the first definitions of integrated marketing communications (MC) defining it as:
a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication
disciplines—for example, general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and
public relations—and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and
maximum communications impact.
Integrated marketing communications calls for a “big picture” approach to planning marketing and
promotion programs and coordinating various communication functions. With an integrated
approach, all of a company’s marketing and promotional activities should project a consistent and
unified image to the marketplace. However, advocates of IMC have argued for an even broader
perspective that considers all sources of brand or company contact that a customer or prospect has
with a company, product, or service.
An example of this unified communication approach is provided of Montblanc, a luxury leather
goods, tech, watch, and other accessory brand. The brand recognized that each interaction
consumers have with their brand serves as an opportunity for the brand to deliver on their brand
promise of quality products, to strengthen relationships with their customers, and deepen loyalty.
For example, Montblanc’s IMC approach in its global “Mark Makers” campaign is designed to
laud those who live their lives by intuition rather than rules. The campaign emphasizes the core
belief that everyone can leave a mark by enjoying the journey along the way and pursuing
inspiration. It features celebrities associated with artistry and creativity as brand ambassadors, and
utilizes print, digital, and social media to communicate the brand’s message. This example
highlights the advertising industry’s recognition that a broader perspective of the advertising
discipline was needed to involve a more strategic perspective that would open up more
opportunities for brands to engage with consumers.
B. A Contemporary Perspective of IMC—As IMC evolves and marketers develop a better
understanding of the concept, they are recognizing that it involves more than just coordinating the
various elements of the marketing and communications program to reflect “one look, one voice.”
