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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 18-1
612
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
How Companies Integrate Personal
Selling into the IMC Program
For many companies, personal selling has been the primary
focus for promoting their goods and services.
Other IMC program elements have assumed more of a
support role and, in many instances, have not been
used effectively by the marketing managers or the
sales force. For many companies, all of this is changing—as
reflected in the following examples:
• Xerox—testing ads and sales promotions. Barbara
Basney, director of marketing communications at
Xerox’s Office Printing Business, is responsible for
gathering hundreds of thousands of sales leads for
the company’s marketing database. Relying heavily on
trade shows and direct mail, Basney realized that
costs continued to increase but effectiveness did not.
In an attempt to try something totally different and
innovative, she signed on with the online division of
advertising agency Young and Rubicam to test market
a program designed specifically to generate leads.
Together they launched three direct-response offers:
(1) a sweepstakes with information about Xerox’s
printer and a chance to win a trip to the Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City; (2) a product-informationonly
banner ad that switches to color; and (3) an interactive
game in which the banner ad told visitors to
play “Phaser Blast.” Each of the offers used links, banners,
buttons, and pop-up advertising. The nine-month
test exceeded Xerox’s expectations, generating 96,000
18. Personal Selling © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
sales leads in the first four months and 200,000 in the
next five months, surpassing the goals established by
117 and 111 percent, respectively—at less than 50
percent of what such results would have cost using
traditional methods. What worked? According to Basney,
the sweepstakes and product information ad were
about equally effective, and the interactive game was
the “definite loser.”
• Audi—building a customer relationship program.
Audi’s goal was to not have the relationship with the
customer end after the sale was made. Operating on
the assumption that the company’s best potential customers
were also its existing customers, the company
initiated an online program to maintain contact, while
allowing its sales force to concentrate on selling.
Based on its television campaign for the new A4
model, Audi offered a downloadable screensaver that
frequently broadcasted updated news and information
automatically to the consumers’ computers. After displaying
the screensaver option on its website, Audi
sent an e-mail to owners and prospects offering them
the opportunity to download it. Over 10,000 people
took advantage of the offer. Audi then began to maintain
a continuous dialog with the adopters by sending
them newsletters and updates. Click-through rates
ranged from 25 to 35 percent on various parts of the
site—well exceeding the standard rates—and car sales
were 25 percent higher than they were the previous
year, even in a down economy.
• ConAgra—introducing a new product. In a market
saturated by ready-to-eat dinners few retailers predicted
that Banquet Homestyle Bakes—a meal with
the meat already packed in—would have any success.
Store owners were reluctant to stock the product and
give up valuable shelf space. But the product team
was determined that it had a success after three
years of research and test marketing. Working closely
with the sales team, product managers gathered feedback
while providing the sales force with research
results and a great consumer story. Sampling (each
box weighed 2 to 3 pounds) was supported with a
humorous advertising campaign on television and in
print, appearing in magazines such as Good
Housekeeping, Parenting, TV Guide, and Soap Opera
Digest. Bundling the product discounts with other
ConAgra brands including Chef Boyardee and Hunt’s
Snack Packs helped, as did a contest called “Super