《Combining the power of IMC new media and database marketing》.pdf

Interactive integrated marketing communication: combining the power of IMC, the new media and database marketing James W. Peltier University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, USA John A. Schibrowsky University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA Don E. Schultz Northwestern University, USA The interactivity of the new electronic media requires that a database-driven segmentation approach to communication strategy be employed to take advantage of its uniqueness. To accomplish this, firms must develop ways of collecting information at the individual level by traditional and/or electronic means, and of using that data to create information- intensive customer communication strategies. These strategies should then employ the new media to generate interaction with customers. We term this approach ‘Interactive IMC’. In this article we propose and illustrate an interactive IMC process model. INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, understanding the conceptual and strategic ramifications of integrated marketing communication (IMC) has become an increasingly important topic in both the academic and advertising communities. Broadly defined, IMC is a concept of marketing communication planning that recognises the added value of using a comprehensive plan to evaluate the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines. It combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact (Schultz et al. International Journal of Advertising, 22, pp. 93–115 © 2003 Advertising Association Published by the World Advertising Research Center, Farm Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EJ, UK 93 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING, 2003, 22(1) 1993