02/09/2012
IMC TREND IS OVER!
EMC IS HERE 'ALIVE AND KICKING'
ENGAGEMENT MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS in its 'plurality' and/or 'singularity' is now rapidly 'affecting' and 'connecting.' MOVE OVER Integrated Marketing Communications which is popularly known as IMC.
ENGAGEMENT MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS reinvents INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS. IMC as a trend seems over. In the Feb-April 2011, Vol. 7, No. 1 issue of AdEDGE, the quarterly publication of PANA /Philippine Association of National Advertisers/, the publication carried the theme, THE DECADE NEXT, which included my "Points of View" on the same theme. I harped on what's in store for Philippine marketing communications as an industry 10 years and beyond. I posed 10 futuristics on the basis of objective realities observed in the recent past.
THE STARTING POINT OF 'IDEA GENERATION'
In a huddle with PANA FOUNDATION trustees in 2010 when our term as TRUSTEES were about to end, we were casually brainstorming what's happening in Philippine advertising. Hence, I raised the issue that maybe, it was about time to reinvent new models. IMC has now become a misnomer. Only GIANT advertisers like P&G, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, J&J and some other multi-national companies could and can afford to "mix and match" above-the-line" and "below-the- line" media with a multi-billion budget. In other words, it was and/or it is so expensive to advertise that you can only INTEGRATE a few and some others. It defeats the purpose of integrating when only "a dozen" could now do it and conform to the original intentions of the IMC FRAMEWORK popularized by the advertising industry a decade back and echoed in the graduate schools. In fact, UA&P was the most pro-active then and offered a Master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, a 5-year undergraduate/graduate course and became so successful most advertising agencies right now give the 'select' graduates a preferential treatment. At DLSU when I was then Director for Graduate Studies, we from the initiatives of the faculty of Marketing proposed a new, progressive curriculum, a Master of Marketing Communications (MMC), just a few years after a successful introduction of Master of Science in Marketing (MSM). The point then was a vertical articulation of offering graduate programs since the then DLSU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS (now just College of Business) was accredited as LEVEL 4 by PAASCU, a 'global University.' The Graduate School of Business had to stay independent to cater to 'PRAGMATICS' and enterprising BUSINESSMEN who will reel off the economy; while we in the College of Business are compelled to offer Master of Science programs to become the future SCIENTISTS of BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, and will, over time, be acclaimed as SCHOLARS and GURUS as future PhD holders in Business (to quote the late Brother Andrew Gonzales, himself a visionary).
FAST FORWARD 2010 and beyond:
Debates have long been going on whether to alter, change, develop, or propose new MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MODELS. And modesty aside, we (some retired faculty but continues to practice its craft, and current faculty that inspire young ones at La Salle) seemed right when we all agreed that our kind of Masters' degrees should be more CLASSIC, longer-lasting, and principles-based as our courses are neither a fad nor a trend. Ours can endure the test of times /look DLSU has sticked to BSC when everybody else offers BSBA/.
In our class at IMC during its first few years of offering the course, the first intro subject gave due respect to the TREND IMC. However, as 'would-be scholars,' we always debated, what would be the next trend. Terms evolved by the MMC/MSM students were quite provocative although some were not original but likewise strategic for advertising content to linger on. To name a few (illustrated diagrams no longer shown for lack of space):
Singleminded Marketing Communications (very
Saatchi!)
Wholistic Marketing Communications
Simplistic Marketing Communications
Big Idea Marketing Communications
Stimulus-Response Marketing Communications
(Campaigns)
Key Response Marketing Communications (very JWT)
At the end of the evening session, all of us are always in agreement it is still IMC. We will wait until a 'new order' comes to play.
THE INTERNET AND MOBILE REVOLUTION
JUST A FEW YEARS BACK, we were talking of IMC. But now it is SNS, smart phones, laptop, tablets, and all in-home media have now become mobile. It is now THRU THE LINE: a medium that will cross borders. In fact there is no more line! IMMAP is in AdBoard! So fast a growth you have to be on yahoo or gmail and read e-magazine, e-newspapers, even e-books. But at the end of day, what is crucial is to ENGAGE the consumer 'cost efficiently' in Client's projects and activities for your respective brands. In fact, if I remember it right, ENGAGEMENT MARKETING was an 'insightful' word that came into being during that PANAF HUDDLE of 2010 when our term as TRUSTEES of the Foundation were about to end. And it hit me RIGHT ON SPOT as I was contemplating which model to use in my next AdEdge article. And which framework will I present when I mentor, coach, and lecture in speaking engagements attended by practitioners who have to be convinced that I'm not bookish but interactive, I'm not a traditional academics but a Certified Professional Marketer-Asia Pacific. I need to be ENGAGING just like Bill Gates, or a THOUGHT LEADER like the gurus of yesteryears whose models and frameworks are discussed up until this very minute when my students are waiting for new ideas when IDLE or EATING at wifi-generated SM food courts on a Sunday! And may LIKE my blog-article to earn "quality business points" hence, reaching 100 QBPs to assure them of Perfect 1 in Class Participation by mid-term period*
My original choice of replacement is Interactive Marketing Communications. But this may 'water down' a new model since it sounds like INTEGRATED and will be similarly titled IMC. It is not 'wizardly' at all! But ENGAGEMENT, hey, we are connecting!
And what more if you have no affordable means of communications? Thanks to IMMAP, one of the trailblazers of EMC. They call it the birth of SOCIAL MEDIA thru SNS or Social Networking Sites. For instance, the unbelievable growth of FACEBOOK after the inception of FRIENDSTER. And now, TWITTER is leveling up and may even overtake FB if the latter does not keep on reformatting -- or exercise controls for abuse of site. And there are others like: Link-in to connect yourselves with various professionals on the basis of your credentials. Stumble to continue stocking my knowledge and be relevant to my students who are fast learners and admittedly more techie than me. Now, I'm looking at Pinterest, Instagram, you ask for if, and the netizen executives of Apple, Google, Samsung, as well as the insighters on 'market intelligence' will get back to you in a few seconds as if they know your story from beginning to end and will make a 'profitable' proposal'!
IN OTHER, OTHER WORDS, EMC has invaded the nation and is PROPELLING our business and economy!
*Side comment: Sorry to my previous undergrad students of different Metro Manila schools where I taught in more than 2 decades: my 'STAR SYSTEM' as you use to associate me with is over. It has MATURED and DECLINED in impact. "Marami nang gumaya at nakakaaliw naman malaman na nag-adopt sila sa aking style of teaching. But I need to REINVENT. But for some who adopted "case points," you are still right on! Very relevant in graduate schools! Welcome to the MOTIVATORS' CLUB!
To be continued . . .
GlobERA Insights by Dr. Nards Garcia, CPM, AMEd
September 2012
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