IMC - Capturing Consumers & Brand Value Co-Creation

This weeks lecture was focused on IMCs and more specifically IMCs in the form of Digital Marketing. Something I found really interesting is just how important the involvement of consumers in IMCs can be, in terms of the success of a campaign.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a process for managing the customer relationships that drive brand value (Duncan,2002). This means integrating all the promotional tools, so that they work cohesively.

The American Marketing Association also defines IMC as “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organisation are relevant to that person and consistent over time”.

A great tactic for selling products/services is to get the consumers’ contribution in the marketing process. An easy way to do this is by utilising digital marketing. Brands are using ‘co-creation’ more and more in their marketing strategies, in an effort to further enhance their brand value for the consumers by gaining customer insights, and more often than not, makes for a successful campaign.

Brand value co-creation addresses FOUR Key Issues:

1. Community-centric orientation - making the customers the main priority

2. Emergent strategy - a set of consistent actions that form an unintended pattern that was not initially anticipated.

3. Hybrid communication mix - utilising multiple communication channels to listen to consumers and their wants.

4. Reciprocity-based assessment - the evaluation of reciprocal results.

A perfect example of the emergent strategy and co-creation is Fanta’s own creative campaign, the ‘Fanta Flavour Lab’, which was initially launched in 2013, and has been used again in 2014, 2017 and 2019. The campaign encouraged Australians to ‘Mix, Name, and Share’ their own Fanta concoctions. It was the app that had mixing challenges where consumers could earn ‘FANTAtokens’ to compete for prizes, such as Samsung Galaxy Tablets with Fanta branding, that made the campaign such a success. By involving consumers and rewarding them for their submissions, more and more consumers wanted to get involved.

You probably remember seeing the Flavour Lab ad on TV:

https://vimeo.com/65136627

Another focus of this weeks lecture was the factors for media selections, and these were also vital for Fanta’s Flavour Lab and digital strategy. Placement of out-of-home advertising, digital, social media, cinema and samplings at shopping centres, and interactive digital games on the app was what was able to bring a lot of awareness and exposure to Fanta’s new flavours.

The effectiveness of this IMC campaign and campaigns alike is its ability to fulfil the FOUR C’s:

• Coherence: the types of communications are logically connected

• Consistency: messages support and reinforce the IMC, not contradictory

• Continuity: communications are linked and consistent over time

• Complementary: synergistic, sum of part is greater than the whole

It all comes down to combining all of the above into an IMC strategy that will make it successful. By establishing an IMC strategy that incorporates consumer’s input and opinions, as well as selection of communication, including digital communications across the right channels, that are of a high level of consistency, will drive more and more consumers to want to get involved and support the new product or service that is being offered.

So, What Integrated Marketing campaigns have you liked or disliked in the past? Have you ever been a part of a co-creation? Let me know in the comments :)