Brand
Essays

Introduction The breadth and depth of traditional and online marketing channels continues to proliferate. The greater the growth of these traditional and online channels, the more urgent the need to synchronize them all to a common objective corporate-wide (Caemmerer, 2009). The foundational elements of marketing including advertising, public relations, sales promotion and a myriad of other marketing activities all must integrate to a common objective to ensure consistency and focus (Kliatchko, 2005) As the characteristics, depth and extent of marketing strategies continue to become more complex and focused, the need for an integrated marketing communications (IMC) program and strategy become critical to the success of any firm. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the components of an IMC, identify strategies that evaluate the effectiveness of an IMC, and analysis and provide recommendations on the value of each component of an IMC strategy. Defining Integrated Marketing Campaign Components From the most complex consumer-focused IMC strategies to those that are oriented from one business to another all share seven core components. These include the foundation or the specific definition of the product and market, including an assessment of consumer behavior and market dynamics (McArthur, Griffin, 1997). Additional components include the corporate culture, brand focus, consumer experience, communication tools, promotional tools and integration tools. Each of these seven components must be aligned across traditional or offline and digital online ones as well if an IMC strategy is going to attain tis objectives (McArthur, Griffin, 1997). Of these seven components of an IMC, the most critical is the corporate culture, as that will determine the extent to which an organization will willingly embrace change or not (Gonring, 1994). The influence of a transformational leader is critical for ensuring cultural alignment within an organization (Caemmerer, 2009). Transformational leaders have the ability to orchestrate the many aspects of an IMC strategy while also ensuring everyone responsible for its execution has a very strong sense of ownership and accountability of results (Howard, 2002) Studies of exceptional customer experiences also underscore how critical it is for a company to cultivate a strong customer-driven culture, as it serves as the foundation of successful integration of marketing strategies and tactics (McArthur, Griffin, 1997). Companies who excel at IMC strategies successfully combine foundational elements of marketing, galvanizing them with strong leadership and a culture that is strongly customer-driven. All of these factors together combine to also create a very strong brand focus, as exemplified by Disney's execution of IMC strategies and the resulting high levels of brand equity produced and maintained (Broadcasting & Cable, 2012). Additional IMC components include communication tools, promotional tools and integration tools. Taken together these are the unifying elements of any successful IMC strategy (McArthur, Griffin, 1997). They also act to galvanize strategies across offline and online communications and marketing channels. The communications tools are the most visible component of any IMC strategy, encompassing both offline or traditional media and online media channels (Gonring, 1994). The orchestration of these tools is essential for the development of a cohesive IMC strategy that is galvanized around the unique value proposition (UVP) of the company as well. Promotional tools are used for initiating a conversation or dialogue with prospective and existing customers, in addition to driving the initial public relations (PR), direct and e-mail campaigns, and personal selling strategies (McArthur, Griffin, 1997). Increasingly marketers are turning to smartphone-based advertising and messaging as well, using mobility-based platforms as part of their promotional initiatives within broader IMC-based strategies (Hongcharu, Eiamkanchanalai, 2009). Lastly, the unifying element of integration tools are more critical than ever, as traditional media, online and mobility strategies all must resonate around a common, galvanizing unique value proposition and series of communications objectives to achieve optimal performance (Kliatchko, 2005). In the next section of this analysis, strategies are defined to evaluate the effectiveness of an IMC strategy. Next, an analysis and series of recommendations are provided as to the value of each component of an IMC strategy.

There are many varieties of Christianity, some of them very old, and some of them of quite recent origin. The Roman Catholic Church boasts an uninterrupted existence of two thousand years.

¶ … Photographer and his Images: how Herb Ritts' art of celebrity photography and celebrity reflect modern times

The author of "The Case for Cannibalism," Theodore Dalymple, presents a rather convincing argument that cannibalism, nor any other action, for that matter, is neither morally nor legally incorrect when it takes place…

Accounting may be considered as a business language through which the statistical results can be acquired which help in analyzing how well the firm is functioning. They give out timely statements of these statistics and…

This paper discusses the complete process of manufacturing of a product till it reaches the end customer. There are many factors involved in this procedure which are elaborated and discussed with respect to the chosen product "pencil". Not only the manufacturing but also the part played by human resource of a company in the marketing of this product is highlighted.This paper discusses the complete process of manufacturing of a product till it reaches the end customer. There are many factors involved in this procedure which are elaborated and discussed with respect to the chosen product "pencil". Not only the manufacturing but also the part played by human resource of a company in the marketing of this product is highlighted.

Johnson & Johnson has been successful in introducing new and unique products to its consumers throughout the century. One of such famous product is Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages that was invented in 1921 by Johnson & Johnson's employee Earle Dickson. This gave Johnson & Johnson the opportunity of introducing the first commercial dressings of small wounds that consumers could use themselves.

This article examines the use of social networking sites in the business environment as these tools are increasingly being used for communication. The analysis begins with a discussion of the recent trends of the use of social media in business and the effects of this practice. The other issues addressed in the article are the types or forms of businesses that can use these sites for competitive advantage and ways of bolting up these sites to make them attractive for business users.

Analyzing the Live Nation brand needs to start with the experience customers have when they purchase tickets and attend concerts. The value of live events is in how effectively there are promoted and how easily customers can quickly gain access to tickets, ticket packages and entire entertainment packages. Live Nation's branding has concentrated more on the performers, less on the experience, and have also not paid attention to the mobility factors including having a solid smartphone and table strategy (Tabitha, Hede, Rentschler, 2009). While the actual events the company produces and delivers are exceptional, the experiences of booking them are often problematic and require personal assistance from telephone service centers and customer service representatives. The more complex the event, the more manual the process becomes within Live Nation. After analyzing their financial statement, this fact became clear; the more gross margin they generate the higher their costs of sales. The hard reality for Live Nation is that the more attractive or exclusive the event, the more challenging they become to buy from. From a branding perspective, this is exactly the opposite of what they want to achieve. The essence of entertainment branding is a solid foundation of setting accurate, realistic customer expectations and then deliberately exceeding them on every fact of the experience, beginning with ticket purchased, through getting to and attending the event and the memories that have been formed as a result (Pihlström, Brush, 2008). Entertainment brands grapple with a particularly challenging set of circumstances, as the brand must reflect the overall experience and identity of the business while also managing to define and execute against expectations effectively (Hemphill, 2003). Nowhere is this shift more apparent than in the areas of mobility platforms and support for multiple marketing and selling channels (Verkasalo, 2011). Live Nation has failed to capture the full value of mobility platforms for entertainment, and as a result is in danger of seeing their entire business model become obsolete. The advent of mobility-based branding that supersedes and becomes even more strategically important than off-line (print) and online presence via websites was predicted six years ago and is today gathering momentum quickly (Vlachos, Vrechopoulos, Pateli, 2006). For Live Nation to retain and grow its customer base and also fend off competitors, it will need to concentrate on its mobility strategy not at the event level as it does today, but from a platform perspective, just as the company has done with the Web in the past (Okazaki, Barwise, 2011). For Live Nation the future requires that they make the brand part of the experience itself; today they are disjointed in a very competitive, turbulent market.

¶ … Nellie McClung's book In Times Like These chronicles the struggles of common, Canadian women on the frontier in a series of speeches and essays by the author that were intended for the public at large or the…