Warc, 5 June 2014
NEW YORK: Brands must ensure "integration"
strategies go beyond simply achieving consistency across channels and focus on
delivering timely and useful information to shoppers, a paper from Warc argues.
What we know about integrating media suggests that
integrated campaigns traditionally employed multiple forms of media to
reinforce one another, an approach thought to enhance effectiveness.
Digital and social media – and the swathe of accompanying
data – have, however, revolutionised what the notion of integration means to
marketers, as well as the potential it holds for them.
The Warc paper notes, "Successful marketers understand
that smart, integrated marketing communications are insight-driven programs
that not only align multiple channels, but also offer connections to customers
that are timely and useful."
An example of how this transformation can work in practice
concerns the path to purchase, where there are now ways to segment shoppers
with extreme precision depending on their current needs and interests.
Kellogg's, the cereal manufacturer, offers one illustration
of this trend in action, with an initiative based around dividing the purchase
journey into three phases: "before store", "in store" and
"after store".
"In this context, 'integration' becomes a much bigger
idea than aligning the messaging across a certain number of communications
channels," the paper says.
"It is also becoming more common to find media other
than TV taking the lead – as with the rise of 'mobile-first' strategies."
Given that consumers are utilising a growing range of
devices and channels, marketers must imbue brands with the ability to resonate
everywhere from a store to a TV screen to a social network.
"All marketing efforts need to encourage a positive
consumer experience that, in turn, will enable the brand to build (and
maintain) a consistent message across all devices that may deliver that
message," the paper says.
"New models of integration will reflect the way
consumers access different media, and the role different devices play at
different times."
Case studies from Pepsi and Purex offer examples of just how
this can be achieved.
Data sourced from Warc
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