Sandy Bulmer

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...

Visual Rhetoric and Global Advertising Imagery

Highly visual global advertising is deployed by many advertisers and yet there are few studies in the literature that help explain variations in visual advertising interpretations and little theory for adequately accounting for the interpretation of visuals or the role of visual rhetoric in a global context. The purpose of this review paper is to extend current thinking about global advertising imagery and to propose how a visual rhetoric approach might enrich our understanding of advertising imagery interpretation in the global context. The paper reviews the literature regarding the interpretation of visuals as related to global advertisements and identifies gaps in knowledge, theoretical conflicts and paradoxes in the literature. It concludes by identifying research priorities and provides a research agenda that suggests how a visual rhetoric approach might provide a theoretically useful contribution in this important area.

Meaningless or meaningful? Interpretation and intentionality in post‐modern communication

Contemporary television advertising is more sophisticated than ever, employing subtle and complex visual imagery. Nevertheless, critics suggest that highly imagistic advertisements fail because they do not communicate basic information. Qualitative methods were used for investigating the interpretation and intentionality in a highly imagistic television advertisement for perfume. The results suggest that consumers recover intended meanings and generate a variety of idiosyncratic responses to advertisements. Consumer interpretation of advertisements depends on contexts and individual, social and cultural structures. Overall, this study demonstrates that complex television advertising imagery is meaningful and leaves the viewer with a sense of what the brand stands for.

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.

Evidence of IMC in social marketing

– The purpose of this paper is to argue that integrated marketing communications (IMC) must be used in social marketing, like it is in commercial marketing, by illustrating that IMC principles are effective in social marketing contexts within an education setting. Specifically, the paper provides evidence of IMC being successfully used in the communication of school‐based health promotion activities within health promoting schools (HPS)., – Depth interviews with principals and teachers at three case schools were conducted to investigate the communication of health promotion programmes within HPS. In total, 19 people participated in this study., – A key finding was that IMC principles are evident in the HPS philosophy of health promotion. That is, the extent to which health concepts are customer focused and integrated into school life; and, communication which is synergistic and based on stakeholder needs, has a significant impact upon achieving desired health promotion outcomes., – This research explored communication within the specific context of HPS. To further explore the application of IMC in social marketing, the authors recommend that other social marketing contexts or cases be investigated., – The fact that IMC principles are relevant and effective when facilitating school‐based health promotion programmes implies that IMC would offer value to other social marketing contexts too., – The paper is unique in that we provide evidence of IMC used in a school‐based social marketing context. The context of an education setting for this research broadens existing understanding of how IMC can and should be used in social marketing. The research offers insights for social marketing practitioners seeking to improve their communications efforts.

Marketing communications implications of children's new electronic media use: a survey of parental opinions and perceptions

Currently new electronic media, the Internet in particular, are poised to become a major part of the marketing and communications mix, not only for adults but also children. This poses challenges and heralds a new debate on both protection of the young vis‐à‐vis more equitable access and the need, nature and forms of regulation warranted. This paper reviews the literature on this debate and related issues. It reports on a New Zealand empirical study of parental perceptions of their childrens electronic media use and examines the findings and the insights obtained on the use of the Internet and its role as a marketing communications medium. It also reports on what these parents consider to be the key concerns in this area and their Internet site preferences. The issues relating to children, the Internet and the link between violence and video games are examined and implications for marketing communications are discussed.

Violence, values, and the electronic media environment

This article originated as a contribution to informed debate on public policy issues surrounding a review of New Zealand broadcasting policy. The issue, however, has implications well beyond the New Zealand market. Public debate on broadcasting has frequently centered on calls to: improve the quality of programming overall; improve children’s programming in particular; and ban advertising in children’s television programmes. This narrow focus ignores the impact of the wider viewing environment. A major focus of this article is on the potential detrimental effects on children of exposure to violence and negative values in the electronic media environment. The literature relating to this is reviewed; the presumed linkages between exposure to violence and the propensity for children to act aggressively are examined; the findings of a study of parental perceptions regarding the impact of violence and of negative values on their children are then reported. Concludes with a discussion of the role of marketing communication in this environment.

Contextualising brand consumption experiences: a multi-modal enabling technique

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on a novel multi-modal enabling technique for contextualising brand consumption experiences. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-modal interpretive narrative approach is presented as a means of investigating brands as experiential entities for use in consumer identity projects. It reports the strategic use of different modes of data collection: autobiographical narratives generated by solo participants to create a benchmark of identity and subsequent friendship pair guided discussion interviews. This offers a faster, cheaper and more convenient means of gaining access to consumer experiences of brands than traditional ethnographic methods, which require prolonged engagements within a community. Findings – Consumer narratives of actual brand consumption and of mediated brand consumption are enhanced using this method. The consumer narratives generated provided rich insights into the role of brands in contributing to national identity. The contextualised...

Advertising and children: issues and policy options

Abstract This article reviews the debate regarding the issue of growing obesity in society in terms of issues and possible policy options. The issue is most focused on children though having obvious ramifications for adults in many economies around the world. Policy solutions such as advertising bans or taxes that have been proposed in several countries seem to be based on insufficient evidence—i.e., there is no empirical evidence to substantiate the claimed causal effect between marketing communication practices directed at children and nutrition. These solutions, if enacted in policy, could be both inequitable and ineffective. While the study is couched and framed from a New Zealand context, nonetheless it serves to illuminate issues and policies of wider relevance.

Integrated strategic partnerships between business and not-for-profit organisations: A case study from New Zealand

This paper examines strategic partnerships between businesses and a not-for-profit organisation using an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) theoretical lens. The case study method is used to generate insights into a successful partnership between an internationally branded B2B organisation and a not-for-profit community service organisation. In-depth insights from the case suggest that such a partnership operates at an integrative and strategic level for both organisations. Rather than being conceptualised as a tactical sponsorship arrangement we suggest that such partnerships are worthy of more research to understand their role in generating competitive advantage and brand value within an overarching IMC programme.