INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATIONS

Dr. NIRAJ KUMAR

M.Com. (Bus. Admin.), Ph.D., Ll.B., A.M.S.P.I., F.M.S.P.I., F.A.I.M.C.

Gold Medalist, National Awardee & Paul Harris Fellow

Advisor: Columbia Holistic University, California, U.S.A.

Former Head & Director

Deptt. of Business Administration

Lucknow University

MUMBAI p DELHI p BANGALORE p NAGPUR p HYDERABAD p PUNE p CHENNAI p LUCKNOW p AHMEDABAD

INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATIONS

© AUTHOR

No part of this book shall be reproduced, reprinted or translated for any purpose whatsoever

without prior permission of the author and Publisher in writing.

FIRST EDITION : 2009

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OM ASATOMA SATGAMAYA

TAMASOMA JYOTIRGAMAYA

MRITYORMA AMRITAM GAMAYA

(1-3-28, BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD)

LET US LEAD FROM UNTRUTH TO TRUTH

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

FROM MORTALITY TO IMMORTALITY.

GAYATRI MANTRA

OM BHUR, BHUVAH, SUVAH

TAT SAVITUR VERENAYAM

BHARGO DEVASYA DHIMAHI

DHIYO YO NAA PRACHODAYAT

(YAJURVEDA 36-3)

OM, WHO IS DEARER THAN OUR BREATH

IS SELF SUBSISTENT.

ALL KNOWLEDGE AND ALL BLESS.

WE MEDITATE UPON THAT ADORABLE EFFULGENCE OF THE

RESPLEDENT VIVIFIER OF THE MARCROCOSM, SAVITA,

MAY HE ILLUMINE OUR INTELLECTS UNTO THE RIGHT PATH.

IN MEMORIUM

Of

My Father, Prof. Gyan Chandra Gupta

And

My Mother, Smt. Kamla Gupta

TO WHOM I RESPECTFULLY

DEDICATE

THIS HUMBLE PRESENTATION

Preface

Now there remains no doubt that ‘communication’ is an in-word in the twenty-first century. Today, it has

become a cult. Now marketing is not just confined to develop a good product and put it on the shelves in

the market. There exists a good possibility that the potential customers may not recognize the product. It is

also possible that they could not be persuaded of the product’s good qualities.

For the most non-marketers, integrated marketing communications is the whole of marketing. Like an

iceberg, only the tip is visible; the common consumer do not see product development, pricing policies or

distribution in the same way as they see communications.

There is a popular belief often expressed in marketing circles that the consumer is regularly ‘bombarded’

with marketing messages, implying that there exist a kind of warfare. Quite true, in a single day an individual

is exposed to thousands of messages; yet this is in the nature of human being. As human beings, we distinguish

ourselves from the other animals by our unique ability to communicate on a subtle level. We talk to each other

in many ways, showing pictures, using body language and gestures to communicate over distances. We invent

novel ways to make contacts with each other and exchange ideas, feelings, emotions, sentiments etc. If some

of these ideas are about new products, or special offers, or better ways of meeting needs, this is really no

different in concept from any day-to-day communication between two people. Far from being a kind of war,

integrated marketing communications, in an ideal world, should be waging a kind of peace, in which the

communications are welcomed as being helpful and positive.

Today, the interest that is shown by people in number of T.V. campaigns, the animated conversations they

have with salespersons, in articles in magazines and news papers about various products, very clearly demonstrates

that now consumers do not see integrated marketing communications as ‘bombardment’ at all. Only in cases

if a communication is so poorly phrased or poorly targeted, that it is either irritating or offensive – most of

the time consumers simply screen out the uninteresting one and concentrate themselves on what is of

importance to them. This is in the same way as one concentrates on an individual conversation during a noisy

party.

Today, every company is cast, by the very nature of customers and competition, into the role of communicator

and marketing communications. Now, all companies, whether professionally managed or not, hire specialized

people, the sales forces to carry messages in order not only to persuade but to impress upon the customers,

advertising agencies to develop attention-getting ads; sales promotion consultants to develop exclusive sales

campaigns, and trained public relations’ firms, just to enhance the company’s image. No doubt, not all the

companies feel good about all of such activities, and some positively act if promotional expenditures were

among the less productive made by the firm. Yet they all continue to spend a hefty sum on integrated

marketing communications’ activities. Why? The answer is obvious; it pays in the long run.

We have started with the concept of communication and later on with that of marketing. We have tried

to fuse them together in the preceding chapters. Therefore, we advocate consumer awareness and demand

stimulation rather than pure manufacturing of demand. Because of this approach, it emphasizes the duality

(x)

of our view; on the one hand we need expertise in the process of communication and on the other hand these

interactions should be soundly based on the philosophy of marketing management. Therefore, there are

numerous sub-themes to our approach while dealing with integrated marketing communications.

We hope that the present text will not only be useful to the students of management especially those who

intend to specialize in marketing, but also to marketing managers, advertising managers, public relations’

practitioners and many more in practice. It is expected that this humble presentation will serve them not as

a text but as a practical guide to integrated marketing communications. The generic skills discussed will provide

them a practical framework in the present era of competitive world of marketing, which is now much different

than few decades ago.

As a communication, no book is the product of one communicator. There are numerous people whose ideas

and practical assistance have contributed to this presentation. The list being too exhaustive, it is rather

impossible to pen down all of them here. Therefore, keeping them a bit anonymous the author expresses his

heart felt gratitude to all of them.

The author is deeply grateful to the authors and publishers of the various works from which consciously

or unconsciously material has been drawn to prepare the present volume. However, every attempt has been

made to acknowledge the debt as and where required to the extent as far as possible. The author is also grateful

to Anuj Pandey and Niraj Pandey of Himalaya Publishing House who took all pains to present it before you

in this form. Any remaining errors or omissions are of course of the author and he willingly accepts them.

Dr. NIRAJ KUMAR

C -4/ 8, River Bank Colony

LUCKNOW – 226 018

Email: kumarniraj1000@rediffmail.com

nirajklko@yahoo.com

Contents

IN MEMORIUM

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 BUSINESS IS COMMUNICATION 1

CHAPTER 2 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS – A PREVIEW 35

CHAPTER 3 COMMUNICATION – CONCEPT & PROCESS 57

CHAPTER 4 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN THE MARKETING PROCESS 79

CHAPTER 5 COMMUNICATION MODEL IN MARKETING 98

CHAPTER 6 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 112

CHAPTER 7 FACETS OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 141

CHAPTER 8 COMMUNICATION DIFFUSION PROCESS 179

CHAPTER 9 CONSUMER COMMUNICATIONS 196

CHAPTER 10 COMMUNICATION MIX 216

CHAPTER 11 COMMUNICATION MIX VIS–A–VIS PROMOTION MIX 254

CHAPTER 12 ADVERTISING VIS– A-VIS COMMUNICATION 274

CHAPTER 13 ADVERTISING COMMUNICATIONS 315

CHAPTER 14 ADVERTISING BUDGET 346

CHAPTER 15 ADVERTISING AGENCY 364

CHAPTER 16 CREATIVE STRATEGY 392

CHAPTER 17 COPY WRITING 432

CHAPTER 18 ADVERTISING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 474

CHAPTER 19 PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION 511

CHAPTER 20 EXHIBITIONS AND TRADE EVENTS 543

CHAPTER 21 EMERGING TRENDS IN MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: A NEW FACE 566

CHAPTER 22 THE FUTURE MEDIUM OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: WEBS & INTERNET 608

1

The business world you are planning to enter moves

around the consumer, and is based on the exchange

of information, co-operation, utility and finance. No

business can survive in isolation. To start and run

your business successfully, you have to gear yourself

to communicate effectively with everyone associated

directly or indirectly with your enterprise so as to

gain co-operation, finance and information as well as

to publicize your product/ service among your

consumers.

Communicat ion, though bereft of physical

attribute, affects the existence of the enterprise. You

may find evidences where sincere efforts and

qualitative work have failed to bring about desired

results because these remained invisible to the person

concerned, or differed from the actual requirement

due to a lack of proper understanding and effective

communication. Major business activities indicate the

importance of communication skill.

Why is communication important to business?

Couldn’t we just produce graduates skilled at

crunching numbers? Communication matters because

business organizations are made up of people. An

enterprise is begun with the registration of the unit,

obtaining licenses and approvals, finances, machinery,

raw mat erial , manpower et c. Al l t his needs

communication skills.

As Robert Kent, former Dean of Harvard Business

School has said, “In business, communication is

everything.” Research spanning several decades has

consistently ranked communication skills as crucial

for managers. Typically, managers spend 75 to 80 per

cent of their time engaged in some form of written

or oral communication. Although often termed a

“soft” skill, communication in a business organization

provides the critical link between core functions.

The first place of business communication is the

market. Before the selection of the product/ service,

you requi re informat ion regardi ng t he si ze,

requirements, purchasing, power, nature of the market

and the specifications of different product and their

demand. For this, interaction with different people,

such as general merchants and professionals, in the

field is a must. The interaction may be in the form of

individual discussions, interview, surveys etc. Each of

these needs a different style of communication. In

an interview and discussion with a person at a time

you can use the language and analyse the information

revealed, keeping in mind that particular person. On

the other hand, if you are using a questionnaire, the

format should be according to the language being

used, educational social and economic status of the

particular target group.

In the market, you will come across all kinds of

people, directly or indirectly. This process may feed

you with a lot of irrelevant information. To check it,

1 BUSINESS IS COMMUNICATION

2 Integrated Marketing Communications

focus on the subject leading to useful and conclusive

direction. This will save time and energy, which is of

utmost importance. An appropriate response is

possible only if the message has been understood in

the right perspective, so make sure your message is

comprehensible to your target group. It should also

be easy to respond to.

Second comes t he power t o convince the

authorities concerned. After selecting your product/

service, you require registration, license and approval

according to the nature of the selected item. These

are issued if the authorities concerned are convinced

of the viability of the project and its implications.

Hence, you should clearly provide whatever the

answers the information agencies are seeking. Raising

funds for implementing the project leads you to deal

with financial institutions, resource persons, including

your parents, relatives, and friends etc., from where

you can get financial help. In a financial institution

or bank, you will be dealing with a person whose job

is to ascertain that the money he is distributing will

be properly utilized for the promotion of the

enterprise and returned within the stipulated time

with interest. The way one explains it and presents

the various facts and figures, alongwith all the pros

and cons of the institution, showing clearly the

feasibility of the project, will be the most effective

factor in ultimately attaining the finances.

To increase this skill you should understand

financial analysis, market analysis, the technicalities

involved in the project etc. Remember, that the best

way to impress and convince others of your intentions

and abilities is a thorough used, pitch and tone of

the voice, body language and facial expressions play

a very important role. This does not mean that you

speak only to impress others. You should also listen

attentively to whatever is said and understand what

type of response is required of you. Sometimes, the

other person may try to provoke you, de-motivate

you or even try to confuse you, in such a situation,

you should keep your cool and, at no cost, lose your

temper or patience. These are but a few of the tricks

to judge your determination, clarity of goal and

understanding of the proposal you are submitting/

presenting. Learning from the experiences of others

also unfolds various dimensions of the business world

hitherto unknown to freshers. Communication with

the suppliers should clearly define the terms and

conditions of a project and give full assurance of

prompt payment etc., as this may help you when

you require material on credit. Although this does

not require much expertise, your skill in dealing with

the supplier and your bargaining power may save

some money, time and effort.

At the production stage, your work place is the

most important area of communication, which takes

place in different directions, which, directly or

indirectly, influences the growth and development of

an enterprise.

Communication within the enterprise can be

classified into formal and informal mode. The formal

communication comprises official communication, such

as instruction reports, inquiries, explanations etc.

These can be understood in three ways Superior to

subordinate to superior and between colleagues

working at the same level. In formal communication,

the status of the receiver should be kept in mind. On

the other hand, informal communication takes place

irrespective of the requirement and the designation.

For a smooth working culture in your enterprise, you

not only need to communicate effectively but you

also require, keeping the communication within the

enterprise formal or informal. Lack of proper

communication leads to anarchy, frustration, slow

work, and misunderst andings etc., which are

detrimental to the growth of your organization.

With your product/ service, you shall be going to

the market or to the consumer where, again, your

communication skill will play a vital role in the sales

strategy. Here, your approach is to provide certain

utility to the consumer in exchange for money. You

will be selling your services/ products, directly or

indirectly, to the target group. Hence, you should be

able to convince the consumer of the veracity and

usefulness of your service and should be able to

motivate him/ her to buy it. With this one-point

programme in mind, you should highlight the benefits

derived from the usage of your product/ services.

To achieve this, you can use different publicity

channels, like the newspaper, television, radio, door￾to-door publicity, hoarding, posters, handbills, kiosks

etc. As each of theses has a different degree of impact

on different segments of the society, it has its own

Chapter 1: Business is Communication 3

limitations. It is imperative that the selection of the

message, language, size and colour of the display

must be very carefully selected and produced so as

to have the optimum impact. A feedback of the

publicity and sales thereof should be minutely noted

and analyzed so as to make necessary amendments

to the publicity campaign adopted.

People receive information from different sources

therefore, they become selective in actually receiving

and responding in their final decision. For instance, if

a society believes in simple living, it would not try

to understand a message emphasizing fashion and

show business.

When people communicate with each other, they

exchange various forms of meaning, such as ideas

and information, through a common system of

symbols. Typical communications can include writing

in a diary, watching television, talking with friends,

and speaking on the telephone. It has been estimated

that people spend more time communicating than

they spend on any other complex activity in life.

Human communication takes place on many levels,

from the simplest interpersonal and small-group

exchanges among friends to mass communication, as

experienced in public speeches, magazines, or news

broadcasts.

Communication is not limited to exchanges

between people. It also refers to activities that do

not invol ve people— for example, t he word

communication may be used to describe the ways

that animals relate to each other. Similarly, it is often

said that electronic devices communicate with each

other. All such communication happens because

participants in the process share an understanding of

certain symbols and exchange them in a systematic

or orderly way.

Technological developments have changed the way

people receive daily news. Just as radio broadcasts

replaced newspapers as the main carrier of breaking

news, so television news eclipsed radio. Television

has become one of the most important sources of

news information in the United States. In the early

21st century, however, people were just as likely to

turn to multiple sources for their news. Newspapers,

magazines, Internet news sites, radio, and television

in combination provide more information than they

have ever before encountered.

Information is rapidly becoming even more

available because of these advances in technology.

Personal computers, cable television, DVDs, and video

recording devices are finding their way into more

and more homes, classrooms, and businesses.

Computers have already dramatically changed the

storage, analysis, and retrieval of information by

students, teachers, businesses, and governmental

agencies. Individuals can receive such items as sports

scores, weather reports, and stock prices through their

cell phones.

Instantaneous communication of text, audio, and

video information became a reality when digital

technology made it possible to compress, store, and

transmit large volumes of data efficiently. This

development increased the speed and reduced the

cost of distance communication for offices and homes.

Business teleconferences with people in far away cities

became affordable and routine. Friends increasingly

keep in touch with instant messaging or send each

other pictures through their telephones. Computers

link offices, families, and friends through e-mail, Web

sites, and intranets. Electronic fund transfers give

banks and businesses great flexibility in managing

money.

New technologies have created opportunities in

the entertainment industry as well. Increasing number

of households receive their television programming

through coaxial cable or satellite signals. The many

methods of recording television programs for later

playback increase both the quantity and variety of

materials people may view in their homes. The actual

content of entertainment also changed as computer

animation created entirely new styles and visual

effects in cartoons and films.

Computers are an increasingly important part of

the communication process. Large computers in

cent ral locat ions st ore enormous amount s of

information and permit other computers to use it if

desired. Internet connections permit people to see

information from a library or other program sources.

No mat t er what t echni cal advances i n

communication may occur in the future, the actual

meaning of any communication will still exist only in

the minds of people. Technology is a means of helping

people to share ideas and feelings, but it will never

4 Integrated Marketing Communications

replace the fundamental human need to exchange

and interpret information.

Any industry is part of the world economy and

make an attempt to buy and sell in world markets.

Businesses need efficient communications to keep in

touch with their suppliers and customers. Parts of an

American industrial enterprise may be spread over

the globe. One of the leading computer manufacturers

in the world, for example, is International Business

Machines (IBM). It is based in the United States and

has about 80 foreign subsidiaries. To remain

compet it ive, IBM’s managers need t o gat her

information from all parts of the world. Even the

smallest local business depends on accurate and up￾to-date information to be delivered to them by mail,

telephone, fax, computer, television, newspapers, and

magazines.

The communication industry uses the most

advanced technology. Messages are sent via satellite,

along tiny glass cables, or on laser beams. The

increasing use of semiconductors has led to a

revolution in modern communication’s equipment.

Computers store and deliver messages and converse

wit h ot her comput ers. Word processors and

minicomputers are linked in networks that can move

messages and ideas rapidly around an office, making

office communications far less dependent on books,

papers, telephones, and the postal service.

Management is concerned with combining all the

other inputs of production. Managers decide what to

make and how to make it. They choose from the

available inputs and work out the right mix.

Management must organize production to meet the

goals of the company, which normally include keeping

manufacturing costs low and producing a profit.

The first industrial managers were men like Richard

Arkwright and Thomas Edison, both inventors and

businessmen. They owned their companies and made

all the management decisions. As the scale of

production increased in the 19th century, ownership

of companies was divided among shareholders.

Management gradually became separat ed from

ownership, and a class of professional managers

emerged.

The division of labour has been successfully

applied to management. In the modern factory,

managers specialize in one function: production,

finance, marketing, personnel, or public affairs.

Management is a skilled occupation, and the amount

of education needed to become a professional

manager is increasing. Managers are schooled in all

aspects of production and business before specializing

in one field. Many of today’s managers are college

graduates who also have advanced degrees in business.

The emphasis on well-trained managers reflects

the belief that good management is essential to

industrial success. Companies can go bankrupt very

quickly if they are poorly managed. Each nation and

company develops a style, and the management

techniques of leading industrial nations and of

individual companies are admired and copied.

Japanese forms are currently imitated in many

industrial nations. Yet as economic fortunes rise and

fall, the popularity of management styles changes.

Many small groups are also part of a larger group

called an organization. An organization is, simply, a

body of people organized for some specific purpose.

Among the major organizations in society are

churches, temples, schools, colleges and universities,

businesses, corporations, libraries, military services,

service organizations, city, county, state, and national

governments.

Because organizations are complex, it is important

for each to establish a formal communication network.

The communication network in a business or public

agency is often drawn up in an organization chart

that identifies the titles of people who hold positions

in the organization and indicates who reports to

whom. While the organization chart identifies the

path formal communications will t ravel, it is

understood that informal communication networks

will develop without conforming to any chart. These

two types of communication networks thereby provide

for both formal and informal exchanges of ideas.

It i s import ant i n organi zat i ons t hat

communication networks provide for a two-way flow

of information. It must flow from a company

president’s office to all of the individuals and groups

who need that information. But it should also flow

in the other direction. Workers are more satisfied

when they feel that their ideas are being heard by

persons higher in the organization chart.

Chapter 1: Business is Communication 5

Organizational communication is also important

because conflicts inevitably arise between individuals

and groups. Engineers in a company, for example,

may produce product designs that shop foremen

consider too difficult to make. When such differences

arise, the communication network must provide for

conflict resolution— a system through which workers

can settle their differences.

CORPORATE COMMINCATIONS

‘’Some people change their ways when they see

the light; others when they feel the heat.’’

Extend this Caroline Schoedar’s aphorism to cover

the widespread misconception about ‘Corporate

Communications’ in the Advertising, Public Relations

(PR), Marketing Communicat ions and financial

advertising industries and chances are that you will

find yourself confounded, if not dumbstruck.

The maze of paradoxes involving public relations

and corporate communications is so entrenched in

the world of ‘Image Makers’ (positioned as PR firms,

financial ad agencies offering the incentives of ‘press

coverage’ and the one-stop -communications-shops’)

that it is often difficult to decipher them on this

count.

Nevertheless, one cannot completely disregard

their potential to see the ‘light’ but possibly after the

‘heat’ is felt to have been turned on them by the

clients who have, thanks to the changing business

environment, begun to feel the ‘heat’ themselves to

have a more comprehensive and yet a distinct

corporate image.

Before reaching the stage of hoping to see the

light of change in a ‘world’ where everyone appears

to be gorging ‘Corporate Communications’ and ‘PR’

mantras with great felicity. Consider the case of a

few a leading financial ad agencies claiming that they

offer apart from every thing, ‘PR and Corporate

Communications’. Self-styled ‘largest PR firm in India’

claims that it offers ‘Public Affairs’ (read as lobbying

with the establishment). Media Management (that’s

management’ for securing press coverage) and

‘Corporate Communications’. Yet another boasts of

providing everything under the banner of ‘Public

Relations’ including ‘Corporate Communications’.

The li st of t hose who have managed t o

conveniently appropriate ‘Corporate Communications’

-predictably due to the high sounding effect that

this phrase creates - is a never ending one. A close

scrutiny will reveal that the phrase finds its place

more to embellish the menu of services for impressive

spiel than anything implied to provide veritable

substance to the clients.

COLLUDING TO CAST A SHADOW

So you wonder why is it so? What could be the

possible difference between corporate communications

and PR? Is one the part of the other? Is the role

complementary? What qualifies a PR firm or financial

ad agency to provide the Corporate Communication’s

solutions? And whether they will do justice. The

questions that elude answers abound, but then who

bothers as long as the client can be influenced and

stays amenable to hogwash and as long as favourble

press stories can be generated occasionably through

‘contacts, friends and former colleagues’ in the media

to keep the clients ‘satisfied’.

The situation on the other side of the fence or

the clients’ side is no better either. The label of

‘Corporate Communications’ has found its popular

adoption as a mere brag-tag for those entrusted with

PR (call it rather press liaison) or even advertising

coupled with assorted jobs. However, one must

acknowledge some path-breaking work that the

internal corporate communications wing of many

organisations keeps churning out periodically. They

single mindedly pursue their objectives through

integrated corporate communications’ programmes to

create and promote corporate equity. Many of them

today enjoy an enviable corporate reputation and

image.

From the dominating hodge-podge that one comes

across in the industry emerges a picture where PR is

mistaken for corporate communications and vice

versa, even by professionals who claim t o be

‘Practitioners’. So much so that it has been reduced

to being an exalted qualifier for many to describe

the ‘efforts’ at securing press coverage which is still

considered the planned and sustained work towards

image- building aimed at promoting understanding

between an organisation and its public.

There is a need to clear the clouds that surround

corporate communications and create awareness about

6 Integrated Marketing Communications

it as a stand-alone discipline that it is and its role

in creating, nurturing and protecting corporate

equity.

THOSE WHO CREATE THE SMOKE￾SCREEN

And today many of them exist in the most

elementary form experiencing only occasional bumps

of activity which are handled with an equal measure

of incompetence and non commitment.

On the flip side, the new found interest in image

building and reduction in media spending triggered

a spurt in demand for ‘PR activities’ which made it a

lucrative business proposition. This saw a large number

of people cashing in on the opportunity and launching

PR outfits as their second or third career option.

There was nothing wrong with that per se as long as

the focus on capability and competence development

was not lost. Instead, the industry pushed investment

in training and infrastructure to the background and

considered it a taboo in its scheme for rapid survival.

Unfortunately, this mindset by and large still

continues.

Consequently, the discipline was strapped of

innovat ive ideas, freshness of approach and

extraordinariness of work content which are the

mainstays of any discipline. And without these basic

elements, the dilution is bound to take place which

precisely is corporate communications and PR’s case

today impelling it to gasp for fresh air.

If this discipline has to grow along the lines of

other functional areas then it is imperative that ‘PR

/ Corporate Communications’ Professionals’ initiate

work on developing and expanding the functional

scope with the same zeal that they display for the

bottomline.

Moreover, as the clients look for more value for

the fee and come to terms with the reality of creating,

nurturing and protecting corporate image. Merely

listing down the services may no longer sustain the

aura that is sought to be created every time a

presentation or pitch is made which only leaves more

and more clients to discover later that what was

packaged originally cannot be stretched beyond a

few coverage clippings.

THE SIEGE AROUND: LET THERE BE

LIGHT

The first step to correct the misnomer would be

to recognise that corporate communications is not a

poor cousin of either corporate advertising or PR but

by itself an independent discipline having PR and

corporate advertising as two of its important

elements: and when adopted, applied and practiced

by following what it entails for comprehensive image

building helps an organisation build corporate equity.

Corporate Communications is a discipline that

integrates and encompasses all elements of mass

media whether corporate advertising, identity

management, events, public affairs or media coverage.

The selection of components is a function of situation

and programme objectives. It is the holistic approach

to building and sustaining a distinct and relevant

corporat e i mage t hrough rei nforci ng t he

understanding and relationships of an organisation

with all publics primarily through various means of

information dissemination and sharing.

Corporate Communications programs cannot be

conceived and implemented without having premises

of substance. It involves projecting and building

reputation of an organisation covering its activities,

qualit y of products, management , manpower,

phi losophy, cul t ure, vi si on, ful fi ll ment of

responsibilities as a corporate citizen and contribution

to the society and environment. The nature and

quality of these aspects of an organisation contribute

to the creation of reputation which in turn transforms

into image. While the reputation is largely action

driven, corporate communications can only highlight

various contributory aspects and help an organisation

strategize, evolve and implement programmes that

could strengthen and emphasize those aspects and

in turn create and reinforce its reputation.

It is through reputation that an organisation

builds its corporate equity which not only breeds

familiarity and thereby favourable disposition of the

target groups but yields an opportunity to be heard

when a danger lurks from hostile quarters having

potential to hamper the operation and impact the

image.

In the changing scenario where one can witness

a debat e on corporate governance, a call for