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The purpose of this paper is to show the diversity within integrated communication and to demonstrate how its scope has been broadened to include virtually everything an organization says and does and everyone who is affected by the organization's existence and activities. In the most ambitious interpretations of the concept the integration endeavour extends from the external integration of visual design to the internal integration of the organization's culture and “soul”.

The paper is based on a critical and thematic reading of the integrated marketing communication (IMC) field. The review covers both theorists and practitioners and those who are in between: theoretical practitioners and practical theorists, since all parties contribute to the creation of the field and the phenomenon that are the object of analysis in this paper. The focus is on semantic and conceptual development in relation to the range and scope of integrated communication.

The ideal of integration in connection with marketing communication is not new. The analysis shows that the IMC field is marked by great diversity and disagreement. The ideal scope of integration has expanded. An attempt is made to “map” various approaches and perspectives within the IMC field, based on the distinctions between opponents versus advocates and theoretical versus non‐theoretical.

The paper makes the claim that in many interpretations of the concept integrated communication is focused on control. It does not seek to demonstrate how more dialogical perspectives might be developed within the framework of integrated communication.

The focus in this paper is on the semantic and conceptual development in relation to the range and scope of integrated communication. It usefully asks, how far does the organization's effort at integration extend, and how deeply is it supposed to enter the individual's life: what, in short, is the extent of integrated communication's intervention and influence and outreach.

The most marked example of progress in marketing communications is the emergence of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Many organizations now consider IMC to be a key competitive advantage of marketing. This paper reviews the developmental progress of IMC. Now, just a few years into the 21st century, IMC is entering a critical period, with many businesses – and the agencies that service their needs – apparently enmeshed in the first stages of IMC development. The early promise that IMC offered seems to be fading, unless organizations start to take it seriously, even when faced by the realities of organizational exigency.

The concept of integrated marketing communication (IMC) has now become an apparently integral part of the marketing and corporate communication strategies of many companies. Here, we seek to capture and evaluate perceptions of IMC derived from advertising and public relations executives who are developing integrated approaches and campaigns – as required and mandated by clients. Over and above this mandate, of course, they also have their own views as to what IMC is, and how it can best be operationalised. We commence the paper by reviewing the now extensive literature in this subject area, before tackling four research questions via an exploratory study within UK advertising and public relations agencies. The findings indicate that while IMC is here to stay – at least for the foreseeable future. Yet, there is still a significant developmental process that many businesses have to undertake. We conclude by suggesting that IMC development now needs to be researched in the domain of business practice. Certainly, more evidence needs to be provided concerning IMC and integrated marketing from within businesses.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is regarded as an important marketing management issue because of increasingly dynamic market conditions, and the impact that this dynamism is having on the effectiveness of traditional marketing communications tools and planning approaches. IMC relates to me strategic management of marketing communications to achieve superior brand performance. This paper uses that Integrated Marketing Audit (Duncan and Moriarty, 1997) as a mechanism to analyse the degree of integration of marketing communications management and link this to measures of brand performance. The research employs the Australian and New Zealand wine industries as a context to consider this relationship. Analysis suggests that a higher degree of integration in marketing communications management results in better brand performance. As a result, managers of wine brands should consider how to adopt IMC principles and review their management of marketing communications.

Much has been written about integrated marketing communications (IMC) but agreement on a precise definition is still lacking and, although interest levels seem to have reached fever pitch over the past few years, practical implementation, and evidence of the effectiveness of implementation, seem to be fairly rare. This paper sets out to investigate the sometimes confiding views of what the concept means and asks a number of related questions: what are the driving forces behind the growth of IMC, what is inhibiting its implementation, what is needed to make IMC a reality and what does the future hold for IMC?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the particularities of integrated marketing communication (IMC) in the online environment.

Both secondary and primary data (face‐to‐face interviews with 29 marketing or communication managers of UK online consumer retail firms) are analysed in order to identify the various meanings of the integrated online marketing communication, the opportunities and challenges raised by online communication, and the structure of an efficient integrated online marketing communication system.

The transparency, interactivity and memory of the internet force the organisation to adopt a proactive‐reactive attitude in online communication, and to combine consistency and continuity with flexibility and customisation.

The number of interviews used to collect primary data is relatively small; the use of the information collected is general and unstructured; and the findings are applicable only to online customer product retailers.

The messages sent by the company to its online audiences have to be transformed/adapted in a three‐stage process.

The paper identifies the specific opportunities and challenges raised by the internet for integrated marketing communication, and proposes an original model for the adaptation of online messages to core corporate values, communication strategy and tactics, and targeted audience/communication channels.

The purpose of this study is to examine how small businesses (ie owner‐managers) view integrated marketing communications (IMC), its associated advantages and barriers to adopting this new marketing paradigm. This is undertaken by exploring clothing and shoe retailers’ perceptions of several specific combinations of promotion tools. The study will concentrate on respondents’ awareness of the IMC concept, regardless of whether they utilise the concept or not. Pleasingly, these small New Zealand businesses are equally as aware as large corporations of the benefits of adopting an IMC approach. This is despite a plethora of claims that small businesses do not have the manpower and specialist skill to integrate their marketing communications. The paper concludes by discussing the various advantages of and barriers to adopting an IMC approach and the implications for small businesses.

This paper aims to identify how integrated marketing communications (IMC) was applied to a major multi-cultural sporting event, the Asian Cup 2015, through event ambassadors integrating the Kliatchko (2008) four-pillars model of IMC.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 people involved with the event, with questions designed to ascertain ways in which the multicultural communication occurred.

The four-pillars model is applicable in this case. Interviews identified that while the cultural and football issues being faced by the organisers introduced many challenges, ambassador communication proved to be an extremely effective process of IMC. The integration of ambassador communications overcame many cultural barriers with respect to language, ticketing and communication, enabling engagement of communication channels.

This research addressed a specific multicultural event in one specific market. While providing insights into how this event managed its IMC programme, investigation into other events is required to identify whether similar results would apply.

The way in which the event incorporated community members into the IMC programme provides a strong opportunity to examine whether this approach could be applied by marketing managers more broadly.

An examination of the IMC conducted in conjunction with a major event has not featured previously, and the original way in which this event conducted its communications highlights aspects that are relevant to marketers in all organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the use of IMC in new high technology product launches among companies that operate in different fields of business, yet providing similar innovation to the same market.

A qualitative case research methodology is applied. Multiple sources of evidence are gathered. These include interviews with key informants and documentary data, and IMC mini audits. Concerning the theoretical approach, the related literature in IMC, new product launch and high technology marketing is reviewed.

IMC is vital to high technology marketers launching new products and services. The analyses reveal that IMC practices vary across firm size, industry type, product/service orientation, and customer orientation.

Companies of different types can be on an equal footing in their integration efforts. Whether service‐ or product‐oriented companies, business‐to‐consumer or business‐to‐business marketers, companies from all backgrounds can achieve higher levels of IMC. What matters most is customer‐centricity, i.e. having a close interaction with customers and being responsive to their feedback.

The study contributes to the integrated marketing communications research field in several important respects. First, it focuses on IMC usage among firms in different industries. Second, it takes a genuinely refreshing view on studying IMC strategies by focusing on usage of IMC as part of new high technology product launch strategy.