The transformation of a company's key process into strong capabilities that not only are relevant to customer's needs but also provide him with better value for money is what becomes CA for the company. It is all about paying closer attention to the core inner strengths of a firm and these strengths can be given various terms like "resources," "invisible assets," strategic assets," "firm resources," "capabilities," "competency" and "core competencies" (Juttner and Wehrli 1994, 43)
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1989, IMC was concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added values of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines-general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations -- and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact. (Schultz, 1993, p
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1989, IMC was concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added values of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines-general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations -- and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact. (Schultz, 1993, p
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1989, IMC was concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added values of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines-general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations -- and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact. (Schultz, 1993, p
Thus we can safely announce that marketing capabilities lead to sustainable competitive advantage. (Weerawardena 2003, 22)
Moreover, more often than not, advertising leads to impulse buying, which is not a good habit for any individual. It also creates a desire in some individuals for products that they may not really need (Seng et al
However, public relation is difficult to control since the company running it, in most cases, control of the process is not availed. Moreover, public relations require dealing with a variety of audiences who may have differing needs and preferences and also the effect of public relations to customer behavior is difficult to weigh since it does not target the consumer directly (Sexton, 2010)
Advertising Advertising seems to be everywhere we go and in all aspects of human lives today. Starting from the moment someone turns on the TV set, or tunes in into a favorite radio station, to the bill boards on the street and posters informing the audiences of the next block buster and so on, it is a constant bombardment by the advertisements of different products (Shah & D'Souza, 2009)
These promotions are always temporary and meant to induce urgency in the consumer to buy their products. It is apparent, therefore, that the aim of sales promotion is short-term and involves aggressive encouragement of the consumer to buy a product due to some advantage they accrue by doing so (Shimp, 2008)
Moreover, in most cases, in the low-involvement decision making there are a wide range of similar products to choose from, and most customers never mind too much which brand they choose to buy. However, it is at this level of decision-making that advertising's effects seem to be most effective while at the same time hardest to realize (Sutherland, 2009)
Moreover, promotions help increase sales during off-peak periods, and finally, sales promotion can be used to create a desirable image of the products being promoted. However, sales promotion has been blamed for encouraging impulse buying in consumers and also works only for short-term (Yeshin, 2006)
Its iTunes represent various genres of music, and its advertising campaigns feature a diverse silhouette of age-levels and types. It is the brand values of innovations, individuality, and quality that Apple, ultimately, adheres to (Goodstein, 8/20/2007)
I was also struck by the fact that Apple, knowing all the rules, occasionally breaks them. Markets, for instance, are advised to center on a targeted audience (Hisrich, 2000)
Jobs has repeatedly said that Apple makes little or no profit from each song downloaded, the company said last week that its iPod sales were crucial to Apple's financial resurgence." (Markof, Jan, 19, 2004)
Structured around famous people such as Einstein, Gandhi and so forth, 'Think Different' has remained the basis, ethos, and guide of the Apple culture, although the phrase, itself, has been extracted from circulation. 'Think Different' epitomizes Apple's message to perfection and is characterized by its pithy sonnet which concludes: The people who are crazy enough to think They can change the world, are the one who do (Rosenbaltt, 2001, p
Staying with this targeted market, the latest 'Get a Mac' commercials show Apple as painting Mac users as 'young and carefree' because they employ computers that work in contradistinction to PC users who are well-meaning, but idiotic for working with faulty systems. (Stevve, (June 15, 2010) Apple is also inspirational in its remaining focused on all aspects of the product, straining to produce a product that is holistically pleasing and satisfying to the customer in all aspects
Criticism Apple has been criticized for plagiarizing the works of modern artists and, indeed Apple's history has been characterized by a string of law suits by artists and cooperations who have claimed that Apple had entered into contract with them to use their work, only to later pull out and use it anyway. Apple has also been criticized for, occasionally, exaggerating its claims, (such as in August 2006, where it claimed that its computers were crash-free) (Wright, (2006-08-01)
This focus on brand longevity is seen in how effective the company is at creating and maintaining integrated marketing campaigns including the flash mob sequence events now going on in Asia, and the continual Delivering Happiness across the many cultures globally the company operates in. Coca-Cola takes an exciting, successful marketing campaign and expands on it across non-English speaking nations, turning the promotional campaign into a foundation for future product introductions and growth of sales on a seasonal basis (Bashford, 2010)
Coca-Cola's integrated marketing communications programs are specifically designed to infuse events with energy and positive emotion, leading consumers to be even more loyal (Crimmins, Horn, 1996). A third example is how effective Coca-Cola is being in using its social media channels to keep its loyal customers informed of promotional programs and innovate advertising worldwide (Bernoff, Li, 2008)
Coca-Cola is one of the most accomplished companies at measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives and programs. The Coca-Cola approach to integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategies served as a the foundation for many of the concepts Disney relies on to cross-promote and integrate marketing programs for their movies, parks, rides and massive catalog of products (Cook, 1997)