No, not really. What is really going on here?

The emphasis keeps shifting from one media platform to another, with different experts claiming they are on the right path, they know The Right Way.

Should Brands focus on Above-The-Line marketing? BTL? Through-the-line? Beyond-the-line? The terms expand as do specialized agencies, claiming they can benefit the Brand better this way. Brands are subject to believe in the myth of specialization: hire separate organizations to do what they do best. That makes sense, right?

Yes, sure. It does—if you somehow find a time machine and go back into the future. The previous future, that is.

More terms are thrown around, such as the famous ‘Integrated Marketing Communications’--- considered something of a Utopia in the marketing industry. IMC is the ideal, should work, but how does a Brand achieve this? Can one agency really serve the Brand’s needs best, when a Brand could just as easily fragment its needs and hire different brand doctors/ specialists for different brand needs? Confusion abounds, more so than ever in a country like Pakistan, where—as usual, just like in every other walk of life—we catch on late. Moreover, the creativity and adaptability required to represent each brand according to its different consumers, is something that is undervalued in itself. Our thinking is, if it wears a suit, walks a suit, talks a suit and looks like Mad Men, then give him the job. Brand doctors abound--- all experts in various fields, ready to fix the physiology of the Brand, if we are going with the analogy of the Human body to represent a brand.

Let me suggest an amendment.

This isn’t a new era. For quite a while now, ever since the web explosion, globalization and the advent of the Nuclear Bomb and social media, brand needs and consumer requirements haven’t changed. Consumers change—they always did. Their requirements though, are another matter; just like the beginning, middle and end, they will only buy a brand they can relate to. We all need but one solution:

A Brand Psychotherapist. Understand, prescribe, execute.

Marketing is no longer about the 4 Ps, some wise people have been heard saying. No longer are things just about how your brand looks, how much it costs. Who has the time to even stop for a full minute to window shop your brand, on TV, on a billboard? Life has been moving into the fast lane, and the physiology (outer appearance) of the brand is a redundant concept. Now it’s about the psychology--- the message and brand identification with its target market.

The final change is here. It’s time for marketers to realize what’s really important: what audience are you playing to? Start with consumer ID.

Out with the 4 Ps, in with the 6 Cs of marketing: Consumer, Consistency, Creativity, Culture and Communication.

Consumer – with consumers taking center stage, marketing strategies are now focused on understanding the consumers as individual people, considering their wants, needs and desires. Knowing the consumer is crucial to affecting a change in their behavior and triggering the buying cycle.

Consistency – is of utmost importance, ensuring that all elements of the brand are consistent with the central message. This reinforces the brand in the minds of the consumer, in other words, what is known as Integrated Marketing Communications.

Creativity – through imaginative marketing consumer attention can be captured, and in a world tangled with messages and the bombarding media this is imperative. Innovation is a necessity in a world with an increasing number of competitors for your consumer’s attention.

Culture – to reach the consumer one must speak their language, this is where the marketing communicator’s ‘cross-culture’ research comes into play. A strategy that works anywhere else in the world may not work in Pakistan. And even within the country, there are different geographic divisions and psychographics to consider.

Communication – consumers don’t want to be marketed to, but rather communicated with, building long term, profitable relationships. Talk to your target audience in a way that they find themselves wanting to listen to you – this builds brand value. This can be achieved by using the principles of brand activation, which allows brands to get inside consumers heads irrespective of what media channel/medium you use. Engage consumers on an emotional level – a level where their hearts make their heads understand your message.

Change – The only consistent in marketing today is change – be in the position to adapt accordingly. Nothing is worse than a stale marketing strategy. Courage could almost be added here as a 7th C as marketers should never be afraid or too cautious to try something new.

CONSUMER ID BIG IDEA --> BRANCHING OUT INTO DIFFERENT STRATEGIES

It’s obvious that market research and analysis is a pivotal part of an integrated marketing communication. Consumer identification forms the base for every big idea--- the big idea must, above all, speak to and be instantly understood by the target market. This instant click is the basis for brand equity and sales generation.

Once the consumer is known and understood, the “HOW” becomes important. Only a specialist who specializes in the WHAT, WHO and WHY is capable of prescribing and executing the best HOW. So how does a brand reach out? Should a brand spend more on ATL, or BTL? How much TV does your target market watch every day? How much social media do they use? Where, even, do they ‘hang out’? What could make them willing to stop for a minute in their busy lives and absorb your message?

The habits, lifestyles and aspirations of consumers vary. The masses are no longer just the masses—no longer a uniform, large block of people. With the advent of social media, more than ever before, individuality has to be catered to--- more often than you’d think, an ordinary consumer’s genuine testimonial can appeal to the target market more than celebrity endorsement in a TV ad.

Across the board, uniformity in the brand message is a must. To increase the impact of your message, amplification on all touch points is necessary.

The time for fragmenting the brand needs is long gone. The only strategy that makes sense is a strategy of unification across all mediums.

To that end, we propose the Integrated Communication Environment--- an environment that boasts of genuine Integrated Marketing Communications that includes experiential marketing. Marketing is no longer a scattered effort—in today’s world, what brands need to tap into is the Marketing Eco-system, where one platform feeds off another, and eventually all strengthen and nurture each other. Only in this manner can the Brand presence be fortified and strengthened.

A marketing eco-system induces synchronization between media platforms--- that is the Integrated Communication Environment. Every consumer at every touch point receives the brand message in a uniform manner, tailored to their needs and to the requirements of that media platform. An integrated marketing approach caters to the needs of the brand in the short term as well as long term, impacting immediate sales as well as building brand equity—all with one Big Idea.

A marketing campaign should focus on “the big idea” and a graphic look that threads through all elements including general advertising, direct marketing as well as experiential marketing, sales promotions and public relations. This maximizes the chances that consumers will get the message and then have the message reinforced and layered in their memories without the “cognitive dissonance” that arises from mixed messages or incongruous graphic elements.

A brand requires one specialist who can understand their target market--- and then facilitate communications across all platforms, adapting but not changing the central message, in order to communicate the message in the strongest manner possible.

The term “One Stop Shop Solution” can be used to describe what we are aiming at. The point to note though—is that this is not just for time-saving and convenience, but also to reach today’s consumer in the most coherent manner possible. When we can, then why not? In essence, an Integrated Communications Environment is necessary for the new age marketer, and the new age brand.

Compare this to the human body. For optimum health and activity, all organs need to be in synchronization. Everything should be aiming in one direction--- the big idea. Only then is there the maximum impact that is absolutely required in today’s world, otherwise a brand is lost in the ever diversifying market. Brand presence needs to be strong and sure of itself.