Brands with Successful IMC Campaigns

Integrated marketing communications (IMC)... we hear that term so much in the marketing world, but do we really know what it is all about?

With reference to the Journal of Advertising Research, integrated marketing communication is defined as "an audience-driven business process of strategically managing stakeholders, content, channels, and results of brand communication programs" (Ots & Nyilasy, 2015, p.132).

Instead of only relying on traditional approaches such as television, print ads and radio, companies are now supplementing existing traditional approaches with digital technology - via social media, web-based and paid search engine advertisements.

Using a combination of traditional & digital advertising, IMC is utilized by many brands who aim to create a cohesive marketing campaign across multiple mediums. With IMC, they hope to effectively persuade their audience, while maintaining consistency throughout all of their advertisements.

Let's have a look at some successful IMC campaigns :-)

1) Nike: Breaking2

To promote their latest product, the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite, Nike enlisted 3 influencers to complete a marathon under 2 hours and live-streamed the whole process on Facebook & Twitter, even providing behind-the-scenes photos that was shared onto Instagram. The hashtag #Breaking2 was created for viewers to easily follow the live feed and pictures. Nike even came up a custom Vaporfly Elite shoe emoji for this campaign!

This campaign inspired thousands, even attracting those who were not fans of Nike, as viewers just needed to have internet access to watch how human ability is being pushed to its limit through watching the live feed of these influencers aiming to complete the marathon.

With the seamless combination of influencer and content marketing, Nike's Breaking2 campaign became a HUGE success, garnering 584,000 mentions on their social media with their hashtag being used over 400,000 times. Great thinking, Nike!

2) Dove: Real Beauty Campaign

Over a decade ago, Dove came up with a "Real Beauty" campaign, to tackle the stigma of how the media and beauty industry sets the wrong standards on what it means to be "beautiful" - portraying the idea of a "beautiful woman" as someone who looks like they came out of a magazine or commercial ad.

One literally HAS to be flawless to be considered beautiful, when really, let's face it, THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE! Almost every woman we see on magazines/ commercials have been photo-shopped or modified to some extent.

Some of campaign videos below:

This campaign initially started out as TV ads and garnered positive buzz about the brand. Eventually with the rise of the Internet, Dove started incorporating their campaign into their social media accounts as well. Through integrated marketing communication, Dove was able to create a consistent brand message and spread awareness for their brand, while expanding their consumer basis.

With Dove's consistent message of spreading positivity and self-acceptance, they impacted their audience greatly, with many perceiving Dove as a brand who is aware and concerned about social issues.

What are some great IMC campaigns you have come across? Share them with me in your comments section down below!