Nike and the Concept of Integrated Marketing Communications

Secondly, in the integrated marketing communication, many marketing communication materials including advertisement should establish or develop an image and it could reflect customers’ behaviors directly. In the term of integrated marketing communication, the brand/image advertising, consumer sales promotion, direct response advertising and public relation may maximize their special strength and minimize their weakness. Lastly Nowak, and Phelps (1994), mentioned that coordinated marketing communication could build up better coordination between advertising, sales promotion, direct response and public relation. According to Phelps and Johnson (1996), Caywood stated that marketing communication planning could be recognized by added value of a comprehensive plan with variety of communications disciplines such as general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relation and these could provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact.

Nike is the well-known supplier of athletic sport shoes and sport apparels. Nike provides good design, brands, packaging and features such as warranty and after sales service for their products. They also provide customization service wherein customers are able to design their product based on their preferences. The customization service is available on Nike’s website. Nike provide one year warranty for their products and after sales service that offer an option for replacement if the products are damaged or contain defect caused by the manufacturer. Other than that, Nike also cooperation with other brands such as Apple iPod with their Nike+ sport shoes for jogging.

In today's multi-media world driven by computer and Internet technologies, communications has changed drastically. Today's communications landscape is a multitude of media and tools wherein messages can be communicated in real time, making message reception and sending occur almost simultaneously, within a period of seconds or even milliseconds. Thus, the communications landscape has become a dynamic realm wherein people from different parts of the world can communicate and share information instantaneously. It is in this context that integrated marketing communications thrives and flourishes in the fields of marketing studies and strategic planning today. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the synergistic combination of different media and communication tools, developing a marketing program that aims to reach target consumers most effectively and efficiently. It involves development of different marketing strategies such as advertising campaigns, public relations, and sales promotion, among many others.

The aim of this paper is to use the “Nike - The art of selling air.” case study and concepts from strategic marketing theory to identify marketing challenges and how those challenges could be best addressed using marketing principles. The paper will:

Marketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities are informed or persuaded that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others....

In relation to promotions we believe an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy would be the best way to proceed. Through IMC the brand will be able to maintain a personality and attitude that communicates effectively with the target segment. It will also help to build a desirable ‘brand image’ and relationships with consumers and distributors. The marketing activities will be very specific. It will involve a range of communication mediums including advertising, media, public relations and sales promotion.

Reaching the target audience is a major factor to achieving company strategic objectives. Marketers are key to the organization’s strategic planning especially as they sit down to align marketing objectives

Prior research has revealed numerous topics relevant in the study of integrated marketing communications and how marketer should best handle the IMC process in order to develop truly integrated communication programs (Cook 1997; Kitchen and Schultz 1999; Schultz and Kitchen 1997).

Integrated marketing communication is combination of all marketing tools, resources and approaches within a corporation which capitalize on impact on consumer mind and results into maximum profit at low minimum cost. In general marketing starts from "Marketing Mix". Promotion is one part of Marketing Mix. Promotional activities consist of Advertising, sales and trade promotion and personal/ direct selling activities. It also includes sponsorship marketing, internet marketing, direct marketing, public relations and database marketing. And incorporation of all these promotional tools along with the other components of marketing mix to achieve edge over rivals is called Integrated Marketing

Marketing is an important area in any company. Integrated marketing is an area of the marketing world. This type of marketing can increase brand value and this allows for a high turnover on the company’s investments. We will review a company and describe the purpose and value of integrated marketing, as well as showing what value the plan adds to the company.

The company I am presenting is Nike which was founded in 1965 by the athlete Phil Knight. Nike is a well known brand which is selling its products worldwide and has 36% of the market share.

“One of the most talked about ideas in marketing during the 1990s was the notion of integrated marketing communications (IMC). And while marketing managers still clearly feel that it is a valuable concept and one that will play an increasingly important role in their companies, there is unfortunately a great deal of evidence to suggest that truly integrated marketing communications is the exception rather than a rule”

Several facts are changing in today’s marketing communications. Owing to the growing numbers of alternative communication media and promotion, marketing communication does not just primarily focus on advertising and promotion. Organizations and entrepreneurs begin moving toward the process of integrated marketing communication (IMC), which has emerged as a new concept and the major communication development in marketing in the 21th century. More and more companies adopt IMC to convey a consistent message about their brand and products to derive competitive advantage and brand value. In addition, IMC has developed into a beneficial strategy for companies to reach more customers as well as build good customer relationships. Smith et al.

To ensure an effective marketing campaign an Integrated Marketing Strategy must be developed to communicate the brand and work collectively with various tactics to deliver a seamless message to consumers that stand out amongst competition. The objective is to make certain all elements of the marketing communication including, public relations, advertising, online communication, direct marketing, social media, and sales promotions are a collaboration of a unified campaign to effectively promote a product, rather than each tactic working independently, and would not have a maximize effectiveness. Csikósová (2014).

Integration can be viewed from five aspects. The first aspect involves the integration of media which comprises a mix of traditional media and digital media. The second integration is based on the communication methods; these are the promotional methods used and include the traditional methods, digital methods and word of mouth interactions and communications. The third integration is based on the time the communication happens and interaction possibilities. This further accounts for static and dynamic communications. The fourth integration seeks to explain the actors and their roles in the IMC process, these actors are the consumers as well as the organizations. The fifth integration is based on content creation, seeks to explain that IMC is based on communications which are consumer generated versus marketing content created by the organizations.