Integrated marketing

I have a friend who runs a 4A advertising agency. Previously, when designing advertisements for clients, the emphasis was on creating impressive, emotionally stirring ads that not only resonated with themselves but also with the clients. The most critical measure of advertising effectiveness was coverage, along with an increase in brand awareness and reputation. However, recently, more and more clients have been telling him, “We’re no longer interested in superficial aspects. Just tell us directly, after advertising is placed, how much sales can it directly generate? How do we measure that?”

My friend is deeply troubled because directly quantifiable sales benefits aren’t the sole purpose of advertising placements. Yet, an increasing number of businesses are using sales benefits to “hijack” advertising placements. What should be done?

To solve this “what to do” question, we must first understand the essence of this issue. The essence lies in the era of the internet, where more and more companies are demanding the integration of previously segmented elements: products, marketing, and channels. We call this: integrated marketing.

What does integrated marketing mean?

Business operation is a process of energy production and transformation. Creating a product is like pushing a heavy stone to the top of a mountain, gaining as much potential energy as possible. Then, at the summit, it’s pushed down, utilizing marketing and channels to reduce resistance, converting potential energy into maximum kinetic energy, achieving the broadest possible user coverage.

Originally, these three aspects had a sequential order: product first, followed by marketing, and then channels. However, with the advent of mobile internet, the distance between products and users has significantly decreased. Product, marketing, and channels are no longer three sequential components; they’ve fused together like coffee, a companion, and sugar, forming an integrated whole – this is “integrated marketing.”

Let me provide an example.

There’s a bottled water company that launched a unique mineral water: each bottle contained only half the water. These “half bottles” neatly displayed on supermarket shelves aroused immense curiosity among customers. Upon inspection, customers learned that the other half of the water was being sent to severely water-deprived areas, distributed to children in need.

Would you buy a bottle for 2 yuan? In a major city, the bottled water discarded daily by people equates to the drinking water needs of 800,000 children in water-scarce areas. Since one often can’t finish a bottle of water anyway and it helps children, customers bought it enthusiastically. This initiative not only garnered immense visibility and reputation but also increased the company’s sales by 652%.

This company integrated “marketing” directly into the “product” design phase, ultimately leading to direct growth in “channel” sales. That’s “integrated marketing.”

Let me provide another example.

In 2016, Angelababy became the endorser for Maybelline, and they decided to host a product launch. However, this launch wasn’t held in a stadium or theater; instead, it was on Taobao Live. During the event, Maybelline directly sold a new product: lip gloss. The live stream and the e-commerce system were seamlessly connected; viewers could place orders directly through the live stream window. In just two hours, Maybelline sold 10,000 units of lip gloss, generating a revenue of 1.42 million yuan.

The “live streaming + e-commerce” model not only enhanced brand visibility and reputation but also directly sold the “product” to consumers through the “channel” of e-commerce using a “marketing” event. That’s “integrated marketing.”

So, what should my friend do? Instead of positioning oneself solely as a “marketing” consultant, one should move up to the “product” design phase and down to the “channel” sales phase, assisting clients in achieving “integrated marketing” and ultimately improving performance. Accept it calmly, for clients “hijacking” marketing creativity with channel sales is actually the prevailing trend.