Lynne Eagle

IMC, brand communications, and corporate cultures: Client/advertising agency co‐ordination and cohesion

The concept of integrated marketing communication (IMC) has received considerable coverage in the literature, but even its most ardent supporters have noted problems in translating the concept into reality. Reports on an extensive two‐phase study of the New Zealand advertising and marketing industry, undertaken as part of an international series of studies of IMC implementation and usage, which was conducted over the 1997‐1998 period. The findings of the first phase, conducted in mid 1997, reveal a strong commitment to the integration of marketing communications (marcoms) by both marketers and advertising agencies. The study also revealed substantive differences in perception between these two groups as to how integrated marcom processes should be managed and/or outcomes evaluated. The second phase of the study was conducted in mid 1998. This focuses on an analysis of the extent to which leading organizations have implemented IMC. It also identifies and evaluates barriers and obstacles that have impeded progress in developing and implementing IMC programmes, and reviews ways in which such problems have been tackled.

Balancing Marketing Education and Information Technology: Matching Needs or Needing a Better Match?:

The use of new information technology in marketing education has been widely, and often uncritically, accepted as both inevitable and beneficial with little in-depth analysis of this phenomenon, which is both a new mode of teaching (and learning) and a competency domain in its own right. This article examines both the potential advantages and dangers of information technology in the context of creating knowledge workers for the marketing industry. Research findings are presented to illustrate that students have distinctively different learning profiles and experiences, and these affect how students respond to traditional and new technological modes of teaching. The authors suggest that acceptance of new technologies in education by students will rely heavily on the ability of educational institutions to manage the change process.

Insights into interpreting integrated marketing communications: A two‐nation qualitative comparison

Purpose – This research paper aims to examine the theoretical and practical applicability of integrated marketing communications.Design/methodology/approach – Presents the findings from a two‐country qualitative study concerning the phenomenon. The research used survey methodology to assess the views of advertising agency members of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners (UK) and the Communications Agencies Association of New Zealand (CAANZ)Findings – The findings show that practitioners appear to be constructing and applying IMC concepts that are situation‐specific. Nonetheless, a search for a single empirically testable theory of IMC ignores evidence that practitioners are committed to IMC concepts while at the same time resisting the development of “rigid rules”. Additionally, external factors may be forcing reconsideration of marketing communications and accountability.Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to a study of ad agency perceptions in two countries. While implicatio...

Commercial Media Literacy: What Does It Do, to Whom—and Does It Matter?

Commercially sponsored media literacy initiatives aimed at educating children about the persuasive nature of advertising are evaluated against implicit theories underlying their use, criticisms of the motivation behind their implementation, and effectiveness evidence. Media literacy intervention analysis should be situated more explicitly within the context of the age-related development of cognitive skills and also within the debate regarding possible negative impacts of persuasive communication. In addition, the debate, the development of future interventions, and research into the complex combination of factors influencing dietary and lifestyle choices should incorporate evolving media forms, media convergence, and the blurring of advertising, information, and entertainment. Recommendations for addressing the dearth of empirical data conclude the paper.

Brand equity and brand vulnerability: The impact of gray marketing/parallel importing on brand equity and values

Brand equity has received significant academic attention since the mid‐1990s. This has been driven partly by changes in international accounting standards as they relate to the reporting of the financial value of intangible assets. A more prominent driver concerns the impact of marketing, and of marketing communication activity in particular, on brand performance. Much of the academic debate, however, has centered on conflicting definitions of brand equity and on seeking ways of measuring or quantifying the value of equity. Attention is now turning to examining the nature of equity and of factors that may threaten it. This paper examines the potential impact of parallel importing on brand equity and provides a substantive theoretical background. The paper then reports the findings from an exploratory study involving depth interviews with New Zealand brand managers whose brands have been affected by this activity.

Analysing Advergames: Active Diversions or Actually Deception

We review the nature of advergames and the rhetoric versus reality of their claimed effects and effectiveness, focussing specifically on their use by children. We use consumer behaviour theories such as the persuasion knowledge model to provide a theoretically-grounded framework for understanding the effect of advergames and other forms of interactive marketing communication on consumer groups that are perceived as being more vulnerable to commercial pressures than the wider population. Existing broadcasting codes of practice for mainstream advertising are used to evaluate the content of websites that are likely to have particular appeal to children in order to determine whether the material contained in these sites would be permitted if similar codes of practice were applied to electronic communications. Managerial and policy maker implications conclude the paper.

Perceptions of integrated marketing communications among marketers & ad agency executives in New Zealand

From the early 1990s, marketing literature began to feature a number of articles suggesting that integrated marketing communications (IMC) would have a major impact on advertising as we know it, and on client—advertising agency relationships. A counter-view appeared at that time in the literature suggesting that IMC was nothing more than co-ordinated promotion and that many companies had been doing ‘it’ for some considerable time. More recent articles have lamented that the concept has not been embraced by marketing communications specialists and that implementation has proven difficult. A common definition of IMC—and how it differs from traditional advertising, both in philosophy and in implementation—has not evolved despite considerable academic discussion on the subject. This paper reviews the most comprehensive definitions of IMC and the competing paradigms—‘new’ versus ‘nothing new’—and summarises the results of a recent two-part study that compares the perceptions of clients with those of senior ad ...

Building brands or bolstering egos? A comparative review of the impact and measurement of advertising on brand equity

Brand equity is now receiving significant attention, both as a result of changes to international accounting standards relating to intangible assets and as a result of the renewed focus on the impact of marketing communications on brand performance. This paper reports on an investigation of the perceptions of senior marketing and advertising agency personnel regarding (1) the importance of brand equity as a valuation and performance measurement tool and (2) whether financially based brand equity measures and marketing-oriented measures can be translated into a single composite measure of brand equity/value. The findings reported herein indicate that, although financially based brand equity valuations have been a low priority in the past, there is increasing interest in this area and in the evaluation of the long-term impact of promotional activity as part of a wider drive for marketing accountability.

Reassessing the value of work‐experience placements in the context of widening participation in higher education

A questionnaire was distributed to the heads of graduate recruitment in 900 British firms querying the recipients’ views on (1) the main benefits alleged to accrue to students on vocational degrees who complete work experience periods; (2) the value for graduate employability of paid work undertaken during term time and vacations; and (3) the contributions to employability of academic group work within vocational degrees. A conjoint analysis examined the participants’ evaluations of the relative importance of a job applicant having graduated from a programme that included a work placement, compared with the candidate possessing a ‘good’ class of degree, a qualification from a pre‐1992 university rather than a post‐1992 institution, and a degree with substantial group‐work content. It emerged that (despite the many changes in the British higher education environment occurring over the last couple of decades [top‐up fees, widening participation, students engaging extensively in term‐time employment, etc.]) most of the respondents held generally positive opinions regarding the usefulness of work placements. Sample members also tended to favour job applicants whose degrees had contained elements of group work. The class of degree a person had obtained and the type of university attended were seen as substantially less important for employability than whether the individual had completed a work placement.

Exploring the link between obesity and advertising in New Zealand

This paper reviews the debate on the causes and potential solutions to growing obesity and whether there is a proven correlation with advertising, particularly among children. The paper first considers this debate from the context of the burgeoning literature on this topic. The findings from an empirical study with parents of primary‐age children in New Zealand are then presented. However, any kind of proposed relationship between obesity and advertising tends to be as much emotive as evidential, with for‐and‐against camps lined up to defend entrenched positions. However, it does seem fair to argue that, while advertising does present a problem in relation to food selection choice, many other issues, such as peer pressure, quality of life, in‐school food services, nearby retail outlets and social class criteria, exacerbate the problem. Thus, easy solutions based on insufficient evidence that have failed to substantiate causal effects between advertising (ostensibly) directed at children and nutrition can be seen as inequitable and, thus, ineffective in their intended aims. Although here the paper considers the problem from a New Zealand perspective, the findings may have implications for research elsewhere in the world.