Liodice and jaffe on Integrated Marketing Communications

In part 2 of his 4 part expanded commentary on reinventing marketing, Bob Liodice hones in on integrated marketing communications.

He asks the following questions, which no doubt are on every marketer’s minds:

1)     What is the right marketing mix to support brand building efforts?

2)     How much should be invested and over what time?

3)     How do you tie the marketing messages together across media?

4)     What are the core measurements?

5)     What is the effectiveness of each medium individually and overall?

To help answer these questions, Liodice calls for a reinvented marketing model based on two fundamental principles:

a)     A completely agnostic approach

b)     A far more disciplined strategic approach

It sounds simple on paper, but in reality this is unbelievably challenging for so many reasons – not the least of which are overarching barriers to integration which are deep-set and firmly ingrained in the cultural and organizational DNA of pretty much most organizations. Organic inertia, resistance (and fear) of change, not to mention bitter political opposition present a formidable challenge to anyone intent on embracing a new way of working.

Furthermore, working together and “playing nicely” are virtually impossible when there is no process in place to facilitate “agnostic” collaboration.

Clients ultimately have to settle somewhere on a catch-22 spectrum in order to be best placed to strike on the plethora of choices and alternatives. On one hand is the one-stop-shop and on the other is the array of best of breed specialists. The former is fraught with the reality that the 800-pound heavyweights are for the most part jack of all trades, and master of television, radio and print. The latter is encumbered with scalability and complexity issues. When last I check P&G had more agencies than year I’ve been alive. There just aren’t tables big enough to physically fit everyone around…

In chapter 10 of my book, I write about re:thinking the agency, and part of this discussion focuses on integration. You can download the chapter for free by clicking on this link.