INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN CREATION OF BRAND RECOGNITION IN MODERN HOTEL INDUSTRY.A CASE STUDY OF THREE STARS HOTELS IN NAIROBI COUNTY.Abstract:

Brand awareness, as one of the fundamental dimensions of brand equity, is

often considered to be a prerequisite of consumers’ buying decision, as it

represents the main factor for including a brand in the consideration set.

Brand awareness can also influence consumers’ perceived risk assessment

and their confidence in the purchase decision, due to familiarity with the

brand and its characteristics. On the other hand, brand awareness can be

depicted into at least two facets – unaided (brand recall) and aided (brand

recognition) – each of the two facets having its more or less effective

influence on buying decision and perceived risk assessment.

SUMMARYThe increasing communication options in recent years have contributed to the clutter the

world is experiencing today.This has made it important for marketers to integrate their

marketing communication and break through the barrier of noise to reach the target

market.The heavy competition within hospitality industry has made it necessary for

organizations to focus more on marketing and in particular communication.In 1993 a new

concept called integrated marketing communication was introduced .This new concept has

generated a great interest among academics and practitioners, although research concerning

its implementation is limited.The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of

integrated marketing communication in the hospitality industry.A study of three star hotel has

been conducted to investigate how the integrated marketing communication strategy and use

of communication tools can be described.This study shows that three star hotels are

successful with the integrated communication strategy,as the message is kept consistent

throughout all the communication,reflecting the image of hotels . This study also shows that

in the use of the communication tools, traditional advertising has been replaced to a great

extent and emphasis lies mainly on public relations and product placement. To let the

product,three star hotels has built a strong brand identity and image through their choices of

cooperators with similar brand images.

Despite the potentially important role of brand symbols as communication tools, little

research has examined how brand names should be selected and depicted as symbols to

achieve specific communication objectives. We manipulate several theoretically and

managerially relevant dimensions in the selection of brand names and their depiction as

symbols (i.e., pictorial depiction of the brand name, pictorial depiction of the product

category, physical interaction and a brand name that communicates product benefits) factorial

design. Results are generally supportive of those dimensions thought to prompt item-specific

processing facilitating recognition memory, while those dimensions thought to prompt

relational processing facilitating cued recall. Specifically, recognition memory was greatest

when the brand name was depicted pictorially or a high benefit brand name was used. Cued

recall was greatest when a pictorially depicted product category was coupled with factors that

promoted a product category-brand name linkage (e.g., a pictorially depicted brand name, a

high benefit brand name, or physical interaction). The strategic implications of theses findings

are discussed.

Brand names and symbols represent potetially potent communication tools. They represent

bases for categorizing brands as members of product categories (Farquhar, Herr and Fazio,

1990), can affect inferences made about brand attributes or benefits (Aaker, 1991), and can

work synergistically with other elements of a marketing mix to anchor clusters of associations

about the brand (Carpenter and Nakamoto, 1989), establish a brand’s positioning, and

maintain its equity (Park, Jaworski and Maclnnis, 1986). Furthermore, when brands are

undifferentiated, the brand symbol may represent the sole basis for any differential advantage

perceived by consumers (Aaker, 1991). While brand symbols might serve multiple

communication objectives, perhaps the most significant is their impact on brand name

awareness. Establishing brand name awareness is a basic step in the creation of brand

knowledge and brand attitudes (Keller, 1993), and it is often a necessary condition for choice

(Nedungadi, 1990). Research indicates that brand awareness alone may actually be more

important than other characteristics such as quality in making brand choice decisions. Hoyer

and Brown (1990), for example, found that consumers were more likely to choose a familiar

versus an unknown brand, even though they knew that the unknown brand was of higher

quality. Finally, enhancing brand name awareness can have important competitive

implications since it may hinder consumers’ memory for competitors’ brand names (Alba and

Chattopadhyay, 1986). Perhaps recognizing the potential importance of these communication

tools, marketers devote considerable effort to the selection of brand names and their depiction

as symbols (Aaker, 1991; Murphy, 1987; Charmasson, 1988). Moreover, these tools serve as

pervasive elements in marketing communication contextsCappearing on signs, as part of

advertisements and on packages, advertising specialties, product sponsorship materials, direct

mail and so on.

Unfortunately, despite their potential impact, little is known about the effectiveness of

characteristics of brand symbols on brand awareness objectives like recognition and recall. As

Robertson (1987) notes, though guidelines are available for the selection of names and their

depiction, such guidelines are often anecdotal. Further, though research on interactive

imagery has identified certain characteristics of brand symbols that may affect brand name

awareness (Childers and Houston, 1984; Lutz and Lutz, 1977), accumulated knowledge in this

area is limited. Additionally, clear understanding of past results is hindered by the presence of

confounds in some research, and the fact that brand awareness has primarily been assessed

with cued recall while other measures such as recognition are equally important.

INTRODUCTION:

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC) is defined as customer

centric, data driven method of communicating with the customers. IMC is the coordination

and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within a

company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end

users at a minimal cost. This management concept is designed to make all aspects of

marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct

marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC) is a process for managing

customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such

efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships

with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages

sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialog with them. IMC includes

the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources

within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact on end users at a

minimal cost. This integration affects all firm's business-to-business, marketing channel,

customer-focused, and internally directed communications. Integrated Marketing

Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and

messages are carefully linked together.

When planning your strategy for Integrated Marketing Communication or IMC, you want to

have dialogue with your customers by inviting interaction through the coordinated efforts of

content, timing and delivery of your products or services. By ensuring direction, clarity,

consistency, timing and appearance of your messages, conveyed to your targeted audience,

these factors will help avoid any confusion about the benefits of your brand, through the

connection of instant product recognition.

When looking at your marketing mix, you're examining price, distribution, advertising and

promotion, along with customer service. Integrated marketing communication is part of that

marketing mix included in your marketing plan. IMC strategies define your target audience,

establishes objectives and budgets, analyzes any social, competitive, cultural or technological

issues, and conducts research to evaluate the effectiveness of your promotional strategies.

IMC Components

The Foundation - corporate image and brand management; buyer behavior; promotions

opportunity analysis.

Advertising Tools - advertising management, advertising design: theoretical frameworks

and types of appeals; advertising design: message strategies and executional frameworks;

advertising media selection. Advertising also reinforces brand and firm image.[3]

Promotional Tools - trade promotions; consumer promotions; personal selling, database

marketing, and customer relations management; public relations and sponsorship

programs.

Integration Tools - Internet Marketing; IMC for small business and entrepreneurial

ventures; evaluating and integrated marketing program.[4]

In today’s ever changing “Nanosecond Culture” of social networks, empowered

customers and hyper competition, we need to be prepared to immediately implement

holistic thinking for our marketing and communications strategy. With an increase in

global competition, technological advances, and fast informed customers, it is important

for businesses to make a powerful impact on target audiences and markets. Integrated

Marketing Communication (IMC) is one of the most important communications trends

adopted all over. It is one such step toward an integrated approach to achieving efficiency

by synergy.The emergence of this concept has become one of the most significant

examples of development in the marketing discipline. It has influenced thinking and

acting among companies but also authorities, state owned companies and political parties,

all facing the realities of competition in an open economy.

The emergence of integrated marketing communications (IMC) has become one of the

most significant example of development in the marketing discipline (Kitchen, 2003). It

has influenced thinking and acting among companies but also authorities, state owned

companies and political parties, all facing the realities of competition in an open

economy.

Some 20 years ago academics and professionals discussed theory and practice of

business communication but without considering the idea of integration as a realistic

approach to reach a competitive strategic position for the company. Some early attempts

in the beginning of the 1980s initiated academic interest and articles appeared in the

academic literature (Dyer, 1982; Coulson-Thomas, 1983). From the beginning of the

1990s IMC became a real hot topic in the field of marketing (Caywood et al., 1991; Miller

and Rose, 1994; Kitchen and Schultz, 1997, 1998, 1999). Twenty years ago, 75 percent of

marketing budgets went to advertising in the US. Today, 50 percent goes into trade

promotions, 25 percent into consumer promotions and less than 25 percent into

advertising (Kitchen, 2003). The allocation of communication budgets away from mass

media and traditional advertising has obviously promoted IMC in recognition and

importance for effective marketing. The emergence of IT has fundamentally changed

the media landscape, contributed to an extensive deregulation of market

and individualized patterns of consumption and increased the segmentation of

consumer tastes and preferences (Eagle and Kitchen, 2000; Kitchen, 2003).

Kitchen and Schultz (2000) have identified four stages of IMC starting from tactical

coordination of promotional elements, redefining the scope of marketing

communications, application of information technology to financial and strategic

integration. They found that the majority of firms are anchored in the first two stages,

some are moving into stage three and very few have moved to stage four.

One conclusion is that there are barriers to developing IMC from tactics to strategy.

If we accept that communication is the foundation of all human relationship (Duncan,

2002) we also have to accept that only strategically oriented integrated brand

communications can help business to reach a sustainable competitive position. The

main purpose of this paper is to identify obstacles to further developing IMC.

THE CONCEPT OF IMC

As a concept IMC has become well known on an international scale during the 1990s.

Thus IMC is a term whose widespread use is comparatively recent, a fact, which might

explain why there not yet is a common understanding of its real meaning and the lack

of a generally accepted definition. Let us assume that the ultimate purpose of

marketing is to deliver a higher standard of living (Kotler, 2003). If we use a more

limited definition we could say that marketing is a societal process by which

individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and

freely exchanging products and services of value with others (Kotler, 2003, p. 9). The

keyword is value, which can be defined as a ratio between benefits and costs, between

what the customer gets and what he/she gives. To increase the value of the customer

offering the marketer can use several combinations of methods, all aiming to raise

benefits and reduce costs. It is then evident that the main purpose of marketing

communication is to affect the consumer’s conception of value and of the relation

between benefits and costs. This can be achieved by raising benefits, reducing costs,

raising benefits and reducing costs, raising benefits by more than the raise in costs and lower

benefits by less than the reduction in costs.

BRAND SYMBOLS

A brand symbol is defined here as a representation of the brand name and its product

category. Although symbols may depict either brand names or product categories alone, we

focus on symbols that represent both, such as those depicted in Figure 1 which were extracted

from the Yellow Pages. When we use the term "brand name" in this research, we mean the

name of the brand or company that distinguish it from others in the category (i.e., American

Eagle, Alliance, Wallace, Bon Appetit, or Reliable in Figure 1). The generic term "product

category" is used to refer to the product or service category in which the brand competes (e.g.,

health club, mortgages, electric company, catering service, rubbish service in Figure 1).

Dimensions of Brand Symbols

Brand symbols such as those shown in Figure 1 vary on a number of potential dimensions.

Since the study of brand symbols has been the topic of limited prior research, and since it is

impossible for one study to investigate the myriad of factors that influence the effectiveness

of brand symbols, it becomes instructive to investigate those thatare most (1) theoretically

relevant, (2) managerially significant, and (3) consistent with existing research.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Recent years of heavy increased media clutter, has made it more difficult and expensive for

companies to reach and influence target groups through traditional media such as

television,radio and press.Furthermore,as hotel industry increasingly are trying to compete

through communication,new ways of doing so are developed in order to differentiate the

message to communicate.Marketing overload is forcing hotel industry to shout even

louder.The role of integrated marketing communication and the need for greater integration

and interactions between hotel industry ,customers and other stakeholders are needed.

Customers in industrialized countries are sophisticated selectors of products and services and

many in less developed markets are catching up fast.Due to the fact that customers are

smarter,more demanding and distrusting,Increasing the perception of a brand integrity is a

definite advantage.Integration produces integrity because an organization that is seen as a

whole rather than pieces and parts is perceived as being more sound and trustworthy.

Integrated marketing communication further produces a uniform message that may be

capable of addressing the problems that service organizations face when they must market an

intangible product.Thus,integrated marketing communication has the potential to produce a

strong focus for an offering and seems to be an attractive tool for marketers to accommodate

the intangibility present in services,such as hotels offerings.

As hotels within the hospitality industry are operating in a sector where the competition is

extremely fierce,the bargaining power of customers is very high.Therefore,the techniques and

strategies to communicate a message are of vital importance.Communication strategies

introduce the product offering ,attempt to confirm and reinforce positive attitudes towards the

product ,extend and deepen consumer awareness of the product and attempt to change

attitudes and behavior towards purchasing the offering.Communication does not end with the

purchase.The customer service and feedback are essential elements of communication in

order to ensure repeat purchasing.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of integrated marketing

communication in the hotel industry.

HYPOTHESES

1)perceived advertising spending has positive effect on perceived quality .

2)perceived advertising spending has positive effect on brand awareness .

3) perceived advertising spending has positive effect on brand image .

4)perceived advertising spending has positive effect on brand loyalty .

5)The use of price deals has negative effect on perceived quality .

6)The use of price deals has negative effect on brand image

OBJECTIVES

1)To examine the marketing communication function and the growing importance of

advertising.

2)To introduce the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and consider

how it has evolved.

3)To examine reasons for the increasing importance of the integrated marketing

communication perspective in planning and executing advertising and promotional programs.

4) To introduce the various elements of the promotional mix and consider their roles in an

integrated marketing communication program.

5) To examine how various marketing and promotional elements must be coordinated to

communicate effectively.

6)To introduce a model of the integrated marketing communication planning process and

examine the steps in developing a marketing communications program.

RESEARCH QUESTION

1)How can the integrated marketing communication strategy be described?

2)How can the integrated marketing communication tools be described?

LIMITATION

Due to limited time the research is written from the hotel industry perspective,not the

customer perspective.In addition,we will focus on the integrated marketing communication

strategy and the overall use of the tools offered by integrated marketing communication.

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUCATION

Definition: A management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing

communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing

work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation.

An approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign, through a well coordinated

use of different promotional methods that are intended to reinforce each other.

As defined by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, integrated marketing

communications " ... recognizes the value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic

roles of a variety of communication disciplines advertising, public relations, personal selling,

and sales promotion and combines them to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum

communication impact."

Integrated Marketing Communication

Every firm needs strategy to make its products acceptable by the consumers at the right time.

Marketers need marketing mix to produce desired response from the market (Kotler &

Armstrong, 2010).

An element of marketing mix that communicates company’s marketing message to its target

consumers is promotion, also known as integrated marketing communication (Wells et al.,

2007). An effective integrated marketing communication enables the company to grow

continuously, to be known by the public, and to build its brand equity (Madhavaram et al.,

2005).

The tools of integrated marketing communication, called as promotional mix, consist of

personal selling, advertising, customer relations, sales promotion, direct marketing to

consumers, and others associated with advertising and bidding. Advertising is a one-way and

non-personal communication from an organization using mass media (Kotler et al., 2009;

Solomon et al., 2009). Price promotions, often known as price-off deal (Belch & Belch, 2007;

Solomon et al., 2009; Wells et al., 2007), is a promotional strategy in which consumers

receive a temporary reduction from product’s normal price. According to O'Guinn & Semenik

(2006), price-off deal is a very frank marketing technique as it offers special packages that

may reduce consumer spending

THE NEED FOR INTEGRATED

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

The shift from mass marketing to targeted marketing, with its corresponding use

of a richer mixture of communication channels and promotion tools, poses a problem

for marketers. Consumers are being exposed to a greater variety of marketing

communications from and about the company from an array of sources. However,

customers don’t distinguish between message sources the way marketers do. In the

consumer’s mind, advertising messages from different media—such as television,

magazines, or online sources—blur into one. Messages delivered via different promotional

approaches—such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public

relations, or direct marketing—all become part of a single message about the

company. Conflicting messages from these different sources can result in confused

company images and brand positions.

All too often, companies fail to integrate their various communications channels.

The result is a hodgepodge of communications to consumers. Mass advertisements

say one thing, a price promotion sends a different signal, a product label

creates still another message, company sales literature says something altogether

different, and the company’s Web site seems out of sync with everything else.

The problem is that these communications often come from different company

sources. The advertising department or advertising agency plans and implements

advertising messages. Sales management develops personal selling communications.

Other functional specialists are responsible for public relations, sales promotion,

direct marketing, online sites, and other forms of marketing communications. Such

functional separation has recently become a major problem for many companies

and their Internet communications activities, which are often split off into separate

organizational units. “These new, forward-looking, high-tech functional

groups, whether they exist as part of an established organization or as a separate

new business operation, commonly are located in separate space, apart from the

traditional operation,” observes one integrated marketing communications expert.

“They generally are populated by young, enthusiastic, technologically proficient

people with a burning desire to ‘change the world,’ ” he adds, but “the separation

and the lack of cooperation and cohesion” can be a disintegrating force in marketing

communications (see Marketing Highlight 13-1).

In the past, no one person was responsible for thinking through the communication

roles of the various promotion tools and coordinating the promotion mix.

Today, however, many companies are adopting the concept of integrated marketing

communications (IMC). Under this concept, the company carefully integrates and

coordinates its many communications channels

to deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the organization and

its products. As one marketing executive puts it, “IMC builds a strong brand

identity in the marketplace by tying together and reinforcing all your images

messages. IMC means that all your corporate messages, positioning and images,

and identity are coordinated across all [marketing communications] venues. It

means that your PR materials say the same thing as your direct mail campaign,

and your advertising has the same ‘look and feel’ .The IMC solution calls for recognizing all

contact points at which the customer may encounter the company, its products, and its brands.

Each brand contact will deliver a message, whether good, bad, or indifferent. The company

must strive to deliver a consistent and positive message at all contact points.

To help implement IMC, some companies appoint a marketing communications

director, or marcom manager, who has overall responsibility for the company’s

communications efforts. Compaq Canada, for example, has a vice-president

of integrated marketing communications. IMC produces better communications

consistency and greater sales impact. It places the responsibility in someone’s

hands—where none existed before—to unify the company’s image as it is shaped

by thousands of company activities. It leads to a total marketing communication

strategy aimed at showing how the company and its products can help customers

solve their problems.

Brand Equity

Firms cannot compete only through their products as they can be imitated easily. One way to

distinguish their products is by putting the brand on them. According to the American

Marketing Association (Keller, 2008), brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a

combination of these, which aims to identify and to differentiate the goods and services of one

seller or group of sellers from others. A brand is a better value than the product being sold as

it has a dimension that distinguishes it from other products designed to satisfy the consumers’

needs.

The power of brand gives several advantages for the companies and consumers. Not only

enables the consumers to identify particular product, a strong brand may also improve

consumers’ perception of product quality, increase customer loyalty, make consumers more

invulnerable to competitors’ marketing action and price changes, enhance marketing

communication effectiveness, and strengthen the support from suppliers and distributors

(Kotler & Armstrong, 2010; Leone et al., 2006). The basic premise of brand equity is the

power of a brand lies in consumers’ mind. Brand equity is an effect due to differences

between consumers’ knowledge of the brand and their response to brand marketing (Keller,

2008; Leone et al., 2006). The most important parts in creating brand knowledge are brand

awareness and brand image.

There are two methods to measure brand equity, customer mindset and product-market

measures. The customer mindset measure focuses on consumers’ thought process, feeling,

and behavior toward the brand (Ailawadi et al., 2003; Anselmsson et al., 2007; Keller, 2008;

Leone et al., 2006). It predicts the consumers’ awareness, loyalty, attitude, and associations

toward a specific brand. Product-market

THE CONCEPT OF BRAND EQUITY

Brand researchers have developed many conceptualizations of brand equity. Broadly, it

is viewed as the assets and liabilities associated with a brand that either add to or

subtract from the value provided to customers and to the brand owner (Aaker, 1991).

Brand equity is often associated with an increased likelihood of a customer choosing a

product and the willingness of a customer to pay premium prices for the product. As

such, brand equity is a forward-looking assessment of the value of a firm’s relationship

with its customers.

The concept of brand equity may be defined with a focus on different units of

analysis. When it is defined at the level of firms and their brands, then it is typically

defined in terms of the value that is added (enhanced financial performance) to

products by brands when the products would not otherwise be considered unique

(Simon and Sullivan, 1993). This view will often result in brand equity being assessed

by the premiums that are paid for acquiring the brands (or firms, or stock in the firms)

over and above the value of the tangible assets associated with them. That can be

expressed in a variety of financial terms such as the difference in the discounted future

cash flows (net present value) of the assets with or without the brand names (Aaker

and Jacobson, 1994; Ailawadi et al., 2003; Simon and Sullivan, 1993).

On the other hand, customer-based brand equity focuses on the relationships between

the brands and customers. It is typically expressed in terms of the direct impact of

customer attributions and behaviors toward the brand (and the likelihood that those

behaviors will continue). Although Aaker (1991) and Keller (2003) define it differently,

they both agree that brand equity is a better approach for capturing the value of a brand

to the firmand to the customer. This value can manifest itself as brand recognition levels,

perceptions of brand quality, brand loyal behavior, and/or brand images and associations

(such as country of origin) that customers attribute to the brands (Keller, 2003; Yoo and

Donthu, 2001). Of course, some of these customer-level attributions and behaviors can

directly influence financial performance (e.g. brand awareness that includes the product

in the purchase evoke-set, quality perceptions that rank the product within the evoke-set,

loyalty in the form of repeat purchasing behavior, etc.) while other attributes may have

indirect effects (e.g. images and associations).

Brand equity has also been explored in the wine marketing literature. Lockshin and

Spawton (2001) explored how involvement and brand equity can be used to develop a

wine tourism strategy. More recently, Nowak and Washburn (2002) have explored how

proactive environmental policies by wineries can build brand equity. Other researchers

have explored how integrated marketing communications can build strong brands

(Reid, 2002).

FACETS OF BRAND EQUITY

Aaker (1991) proposed five components of brand equity: brand awareness,

Brand associations, brand loyalty, perceived quality and other brand proprietary assets. This

conceptualization is also common in the wine marketing literature (Lockshin and

Spawton, 2001; Nowak and Washburn, 2002). Other scholars define brand equity by

exploring brand knowledge and differential responses to the marketing of a brand

(Keller, 1993). Other terms that are occasionally included are: proprietary assets, brand

extension, market behavior, brand attitude, various financial measures (as mentioned

above, financial concepts are not directly customer-market related), customer mindset,

product-market level outcomes, brand value and brand image. The latter concepts are

relatively infrequently used, possibly because conceptually they share meaning which

overlaps with the more commonly used concepts. For instance, brand image is

conceptually similar to brand associations. Even among the most widely used concepts

in definitions of brand equity, there is considerable shared meaning. For instance, the

concepts of brand awareness and brand loyalty are conceptually overlapping because

brand awareness is certainly a necessary condition for brand loyalty to occur.

Perceived brand quality is a mainstay in the literature. It captures the perceived

intrinsic benefits provided to consumers and the consumers’ overall assessment of

brand excellence (Aaker, 1996). Numerous studies show that perceived quality is

closely related to return on investments and profits (Aaker, 1996). In the context of

wine, this is not the winemakers’ view of quality, it is instead quality in eyes of the

target market (Lockshin and Spawton, 2001). Perceived quality can come from both

extrinsic and intrinsic cues, such as the winery, the label and awards that the wine has

been given (Lockshin and Spawton, 2001).

Without brand awareness there is no brand equity. Awareness is the necessary

condition for brand familiarity, brand preference (or disliking), brand loyalty and also for

trial of a wine or a visit to a winery (Lockshin and Spawton, 2001), etc. to occur. Brand

awareness is an important component of brand equity across all conceptualizations of the

construct for products (Keller, 1993) and for services (Kayaman and Arasli, 2007). Most

commonly brand awareness is represented as brand recognition or recall (Keller, 1993).

Brand awareness and perceived quality are the most commonly used components

for defining brand equity. They have considerable shared meaning or conditional

relationships with the other commonly used concepts of brand equity. Consequently,

brand awareness and perceived quality are used in this research to parsimoniously

capture the essence of the concept of brand equity. Brand awareness is defined as the

ability of the individual to recall a brand name in a product category. Perceived quality

is defined as the consumer’s perception of a brand’s quality.

BRAND SURVIVAL

Brands are born and die continually. Even for well-established brands, survival is no

longer a given. For instance, from department stores (Woolworth), to energy providers

(Enron), to telecommunications companies (MCI), to banking companies (Norwest and

NCNB) recent years have seen well-known brands disappear. The reasons why brands

survive or disappear can be varied. Advertising, brand extensions and relationships

with customers are all cited in the literature as reasons for brand survival and are often

tied to brand equity (Sullivan, 1992; Villarejo-Ramos and Sanchez-Franco, 2005). In the

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

A strategic communication plan is one of the key elements in integrated marketing

communication .It allows marketers to build a synchronized communication strategy that

reaches every market segment with a single unified message.The objectives of any

promotional strategy can be drawn from an appropriate mixture of the roles of promotion ;to

increase sales,maintain or improve market share,create or improve brand recognition,create a

favourable climate for future sales,inform and educate the market,Create a competitive

advantage relative to competitor`s products or market position and to improve promotional

efficiency.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Integrated marketing communication tools should be designed to support the same overall

objectives for hotel industry.This to avoid the creation of separate messages for each medium

without regard for what is expressed through other channels.Dwyer and Tanner(2001),stated

that the most important marketing communication tools within the hospitality industry

are;advertising,direct marketing,personal selling,public relations,sales promotions and trade

shows.In addition,several other marketing communication tools exist,such as;the

internet,events and sponsorships,packaging,point of purchase, word of mouth and corporate

identity(smith et al,2000).All these tools are further examined in the following sections below.

Advertising

According to Dwyer and Tanner (2002),advertising is related and begins with a base of

creating awareness and strengthening a hotel industry position or image.It is advertising that

makes the hotels known.The second role is to create favourable climate for salespeople.In

some instances,customers will order directly from the advertising ,so the final purpose of

advertising is to generate sales.In addition,Dwyer and Tanner (2002) define mass media

advertising as non-personal,paid announcements by an identified sponsor to reach large

audiences,create brand awareness,help position brands and build brand images .According to

Aronsson and Tengling (2000),the choice of the medium channel depends on what type of

product is offered ,target market and the budget.

Middleton and Clarke (2001)define advertising within the tourism industry as one class one

classic communication tool used by marketing managers as part of marketing compaigns to

develop awareness,understanding,interest and motivation amongst a targeted audience.

Furthermore,advertising includes television,press,radio,outdoors as well as hospitality board

and brochures.Moreover,hospitality organizations are constantly communicating,whether

intentionally or not intentionally,through each personal and non-personal interaction with the

public. In addition,advertising enables businesses to reach people in their homes or other

places away from the places of production and delivery and to communicate to them

messages intended to influence their purchasing behavior. According to Shimp

(2000),cooperative advertising used amongst companies are a great advantage due to the

advertising support,cost savings and the access to local/national/international media.

A few examples of advertising media and their advantage and disadvantages are shown

below;

TELEVISION

Television both presents an audio,visual message requiring minimal exertion and is very

adaptable.Although advertising is expensive,many hospitality organization are using

Television and find it very cost effective.(witt and moutinho, 2000).

RADIO

According to witt and Moutinho (2000),radio has outstanding flexibility and relatively low

costs although it only presents an audio message.Duncan( 2002) states that radio had low

attntion,low,reach with only sound and that the message is short-lived.

NEWSPAPERS

Newspapers give a comprehensive coverage of a local market area with low cost,although low

printing quality and short life.In addition, the advantage with using newspapers is that it is a

selective medium with a production cost that could be very low and the frequent publications

and geographical selectivity made possible.(witt &moutinho,2000).

MAGAZINES

According to witt and moutinho (2000),the advantage with using magazines is that it is highly

selective and that the production costs can be low.In addition,the print and graphic quality and

large reach out to specialized market segments.Magazines are also actively read and some

titles have high prestige and credibility.The disadvantage is the limited geographic options in

key titles and the long lead-time for some titles.ln addition,the impact is limited to visual

sense.

DIRECTORIES

According to Rogers (2000),directories are defined as the space where advertising is sold.It

could be for example yellow pages,association member lists,and the like.The long life and

that directories are actively searched and read is an advantage.In addition, the low production

cost, the high selectively and the high information content possible are great

advantages.However,the low impact and the long lead times can be disadvantages.In

addition,limited visual presentation and creative flexibility in most titles are disadvantages

with using directories.

OUTDOOR

Rogers (2000) defines visual outdoor as sandwich boards,skywriting, blimps and the

like.According to shimp( 2000), outdoor advertisement includes billboards situated by the

roadside, stations and venues.In addition, inside for example buses as well as outside includes

taxis, poster vans, shopping centres, underground trains, and public toilets.According to

Duncan( 2002),outdoor advertising is a localized, frequency builder with a directional signage

and has low attention, low reputation and claimed to be visual pollution.

DIRECT MARKETING

According to Shimp ( 2000) direct mail/direct marketing includes letters, catalogues,price

lists,booklets, circulars, newsletters, cards and samples. The advantages of using direct

mail/direct marketing is that the audience is highly selective, the message can be personalized,

circulation can be limited to what is affordable and it can be used to encourage action/direct

response and sales. The disadvantage is that it can be associated with junk mail and that each

exposure is expensive.

The internet including web pages and e-mail has advantages with for example that a message

can be changed quickly and easily, interactively is possible and the cost are very low.The

disadvantages with internet are that the visual presentation is limited, an audience is not

guaranteed and that hits may not represent interest.In addition, a large number of target

groups may not use the internet yet.According to witt and Moutinho (2000),direct mail is one

of the most important advertising methods for hospitality enterprises,however, hard to obtain

right mailing list sources. The primary objectives with direct marketing is to achieve more

cost-effective use of marketing budgets based on a deep and evolving knowledge of

customers and their behaviour, and direct communication with them(middleton &

clarke,2001).

PERSONAL SELLING

According to Czinkota and Ronkainen (2001),personal selling is the most effective of the

communication tools available to the marketer; however, its costs per contact are high.Duncan

(2002) defines personal selling as “real-time,two-way personal communication between a

salesperson and a prospective buyer and is the most persuasive of all marketing

communication methods, to identify buyers’ needs to the firm’s product offerings, and to

allow seller to immediately respond to buyer’s questions and objection”.Furthermore,

personal selling uses person-to-person communication with intermediaries and final

customer.Wells et al., (2000) state that personal selling is of outmost importance when it

comes to businesses that sell products that need to be explained, demonstrated and in need of

service.In addition,the different types of personal selling include sales calls at the place of

business by a field representatives, assistance at outlet stores by a sales clerk and home calls

by representatives.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

According to kotler (2000),several tools are used in today’s public relations such as product

publicity,press relations, corporate communications,lobbying and counselling.Wells et al.

(2000),include news conferences, company-sponsored events,open houses,plant tours.Duncan

(2002) defines public relations as programs that focus on opinions of significant publics, and

manage corporate communication and reputation.In addition, public relations are used to

handle relationships with company’s diverse publics to create and maintain goodwill, and to

observe public opinion and advise top management.

Middleton and Clarke (2001) state that to market public relations, product publicity;non- paid

stories or brand mentions in the mass media can be used,to build credibility and make news

announcements as well as to communicate with hard-to-reach audiences.There is a trend

towards an increase in public relations expenditure relative to advertising expenditure as

organizations become aware of the merits of a formal public relations programme.All media

exposure achieved as editorial matter and other forms of influence achieved over target

groups-customers and stakeholders.

According to Duncan ( 2002),internal marketing, which is a form of public relations,is of

major importance when selling marketing programs to the employees whose support is

needed in order to make the program successful.In addition,to inform employees,to motivate

them and create buy-in is necessary to be successful.

SALES PROMOTION

Duncan (2002) states that sales promotion is tangible incentives such as coupons or

discounted prices to give sense of closeness and encourage behaviour.In addition, sales

promotion is techniques primarily designed to stimulate consumer purchasing,dealer and

sales-force effectiveness in the short-term through temporary incentives and displays.

Middleton and Clarke (2001),define sales promotion within the hospitality industry with short

term incentives offered as inducements to purchase,including temporary product

augmentation,which covers sales force and distribution network as well as

consumers.Further,sales promotion of tourism products means that marketing managers are

constantly distant with the need to manipulate demand in response to unexpected events as

well as the normal daily,weekly or seasonal fluctuations.furthermore,sales promotions are

especially suitable for such short-run demand adjustments and they are vital weapons in the

marketing armoury of most travel and hospitality businesses. Moreover,concerning extra

products offered is a value added incentive to purchase.

TRADE SHOWS/EXHIBITIONS

Trade shows can be recognized as periodic gatherings where manufacturers,suppliers,and

distributors in a particular industry display their products and provide information to potential

buyers, to provide information, demonstrate and sample products ,as well as engaging in one-

to-one dialogue with current and potential customers (Duncan ,2002).According to Dwyer

and Tanner (2002),trade shows are very cost effective ,bringing many buyers together with a

sales staff, buyers who often have not had any prior contact with the selling firm.Trade shows

or exhibitions/shows and workshops plays an important role and is an alternative form of

distribution and display for reaching retail,wholesale and consumer target groups of

consumers.Furthermore,tradeshows, exhibitions/shows or workshops are important alternative

forms of distribution and display for reaching retail,wholesale and consumer target groups of

consumers.

THE INTERNET

Middleton and Clarke (2001) include web sites and links to other sites in the internet part.To

sell directly to the customer through the internet,providing customer –initiated marketing is

knows as E-commerce (Duncan,2002).According to Czinkota and Ronkainen( 2001),having a

website is seen as necessary for no other reason than building a positive image and lack of it

may convey a negative image.The website should be linked to the overall marketing strategy

and not just be there for appearance’s sake.The web page can further act as web forum, for

customers to exchange news and views on the product, as it will build loyalty among

customers .According to Middleton and Clarke (2001),Internet is turning business upside

down and inside out.It is fundamentally changing the way that companies operate and the

most profound developments in travel and tourism in the last decade have been the impact of

change in the capabilities and potential of the internet .If it is too soon to be certain to what

extent the internet will dominate hospitality marketing, it is at least clear that its impact will

be a major influence on nearly every aspect of services marketing.

EVENTS AND SPONSORSHIPS

According to Dwyer and Tanner (2002),events and sponsorships are highly targeted brand

associations that personally involve prospects, to help position a brand by associating it with

certain causes of activities .Furthermore,smith (2000) defines sponsorships is not hard today

since every sports team, music concert and cultural program is using sponsoring as away to

finance their activities. The sponsoring company is of course hoping to get some good

publicity out of sponsoring but problems may occur for the company if the activities they are

sponsoring are failing or turning out in a less favourable way.

PACKAGING

Packaging is one of the most innovative areas in modern marketing and since packaging plays

such a vital part on brand image and product identity,a coordinated communication program

is of major importance. (kotler ,2000) According to Duncan (2002), both a container and a

communication medium gives a reminder message, Which is the last message,delivered at the

point of sale.Furthermore, packaging is an important part of a brand’s identity. A package is

first of all a container and it also delivers a complex message a bout the product category and

the brands’ selling point ,as well as the brand identity and image.

POINT OF PURCHASE MATERIALS/MERCHANDISING

Duncan (2002) defines point of purchase as displays in the interior of stores where a product

is sold, to serve as a brand reminder and motivate trial and extra purchases.Middleton and

Clarke (2001),define point of purchase materials as point of sale displays and merchandising

within the hospitality industry .In addition ,posters,window dressing,displays of brochures

and other materials both of regular and temporary incentive kind are included as

well.moreover,point of purchase is designed to stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer and

sales-force effectiveness in the short-term,through temporary incentives and

displays.According to Duncan (2002),merchandising is in store promotional

materials,activities and messages in store and create promotional ambiance.

WORD OF MOUTH

Word of mouth is seen as the most potential one-to-one communication in the communication

mix. A company can help the creation and spread of word of mouth.In addition,in times when

a company is facing bad publicity and maybe also decreasing sales,publicity stunts,clever

mailings,creative promotions,and challenging advertising can efficiently help turn this trend

around.(Wells et al,2000) According to Smith( 2000), people talk about organizations,their

products,services,and staff.Companies and their offerings are often sources of

conversation,Whether it is a complaint or admiration, and today it is not only the products or

services that are discussed but also their promotional efforts,such as television advertisements,

special offers, and publicity stunts.

CORPORATE IDENTITY

According to Wells et al.(2000) corporate identity is used to signal a corporate image of

personality. The use of corporate identity as a tyoe of communication can be strategically

used in order to enhance or maintain company reputation or establish a level of awareness of

the company’s name and nature of business. In addition, some examples of corporate identity

are the company name,its logo, and their nature of business.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION TOOLS

In order to describe and to get an extensive picture of the different marketing communication

tools that can be used in integrated marketing communication strategies, We will use an

eclectic list,composed of all elements drawn from various sources.We will have our starting

point in Aronsson and Tengling (2000) view that there are six different tools of outmost

importance to the tourist markete. These are also the most frequently used within the

hospitality industry.These tools are further defined and complemented with six additional

marketing communication tools that can be used,by smith et al.(2000),Dwyer and Tanner

(2002), Middleton and Clarke (2001),Duncan (2002), Czinkota and Ronkaine (2001),Wells et

al.(2001), Kotler (2000),

ADVERTISING

According to middleton and clarke (2001), advertising is often seen as TV commercials,radio

commercials and print in magazines, newspapers, books and brochures.In addition,

advertising is also seen as tourist boards, travel guides, telephone directory, third party and

outdoor advertising.

DIRECT MARKETING

Dwyer and tanner (2002) include direct mail,catalogue marketing, and telemarketing in the

direct marketing.

PERSONAL SELLING

According to Wells et al.( 2000) Personal selling is direct sale contact face to face or

telephone sales.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

The definition of public relations according to kotler (2000),Wells et al. (2000) and middle

and clarke (2001),is that public relations are often seen as product publicities,press

relations,internal communications,product placement,open houses and information packages.

SALES PROMOTION

Middleton and Clarke( 2001) include items such as discounted prices and extra product

offered within the sales promotion.

TRADE SHOWS

Trade shows are according to Middleton and clarke (2001),usually composed by periodic

gatherings with potential groups of buyers such as ,workshops and exhibitions.

THE INTERNET

Middleton and Clarke (2001) define internet as communication through banners, chat rooms

and booking on the internet.

SPONSORSHIP

Sponsorship is a communication tool including sponsors to sports teams,Cultural programs an

d art according to Smith (2001).

PACKAGING

According to kotler (2000),Packaging could include specific design and improvement of

packaging.

POINT OF PURCHASE

Middleton and Clarke (2001) include design and improvement of packaging,posters and other

materials in purchase.

WORD OF MOUTH

According to Wells et al (2000) is word of mouth for example,messages spread via rumours

or friendly recommendations.

CORPORATE IDENTITY

According to Wells et al ( 2000),corporate identity advertising is communicated via the

company name,logo, and their nature of business.Regarding the tools described in the

previous page,they can further be divided into clusters.We have earlier described one

theory ;the sources of messages according to wells et al.(2000) and we will use this theory due

to its capability to view a broad scope.In their theory Wells et al. (2000) divides the

marketing communication tools into three different groups.

PLANNED (CONTROLLED)

Advertising,sales promotions,public relations,Direct marketing,personal selling,point-of-

purchase and merchandising materials, packaging, specialties, Events, Sponsorships,Customer

service, Internal marketing and Websites.

UNPLANNED (UNCONTROLLED)

Employee gossip, word of mouth, media investigations,Government Investigation, Consumer

Groups Investigations,Chat groups and Guerrilla sites.

OFTEN UNCONSIDERED

Facilities,Services ,Distribution, Product Design, Product Performance and price.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Personalisation is also viewed as being an integral element of internet marketing

communications. From a branding perspective, online communication combines mass

media’s reach with the personalisation inherent in two-way dialogue – previously only

possible using personal promotion (Simmons, 2007). Consumers’ perceived risk, as well

as being a critical i-branding factor in relation to understanding customers online, is

attracting increasing interest from the marketing communications perspective. Rogers

(1995), studying diffusion of innovation, noted how internet marketers provide

communications online in order to mediate consumer perceptions of risk. More recent

work by Andrews and Boyle (2008) also found that marketers can use communications

online to mediate consumer risk perceptions. Their findings suggest that consumers

perceive online security technologies as being easily compromised. In this context it

was the reputation/branding efforts of businesses – through communications – that

were critical.

This brings the discussion back to Wilde et al. (2004), who examined dimensions of

reputation or brand image to measure e-tail (online) image. These are additional

attributes to institutional factors representing specific online attributes, with

consumers employing cognitive (thought/reasoning) evaluations to a greater extent

than affective (feeling/emotions) online (Da Silva and Alwi, 2006). Within this context,

Rowley (2004) reveals that information and not image is the main branding currency in

online communication. It could be argued that the balance between the two will vary

based upon the instrumental value of marketing communications for more functional

product/service offerings, or more hedonic immersive aspects for more experiential

product/services (see Van Der Heijden and Verhagen, 2004).

The rise of Web 2.0 facilitates non-linear communication, a free flow and exchange of

information and the opportunity for two-way flows between businesses and customers

as well as between customers on a one-to-one or many-to-many basis (Phippen, 2004;

Rowley, 2004; Pitta and Fowler, 2005). Traditional “push” communications follow a

MANAGING I-BRANDING

scripted flow within a one-to-many communication model, in which a single promotion is

sent by one source and seen by many recipients without the opportunity for immediate

feedback (Rowley, 2004). Simmons (2008) discusses social network marketing (SNM)

opportunities with viral communications – positive and negative – taking place 24/7

globally on social network web sites such as MySpace, and through the burgeoning

blogosphere. Importantly communications derived from such SNM activities can be

harnessed by marketers in creating positive brand equity (Simmons, 2008).

INTERACTIVITY

The internet is based upon information and communication technologies that enable

easy and rapid interaction between customers and businesses (Hoffman and Novak,

1996; Ha and James, 1998; Coyle and Thorson, 2001). Recent definitions of

internet-related interactivity are focused on concepts such as active/user control,

two-way communication and synchronicity (Liu and Shrum, 2002; McMillan and Hwang,

2002). The meaning of interactivity in this paper is related to the creation of brand equity

utilising the internet. This interactivity is viewed as critical in achieving the high levels

of perceived customer personalisation contended to be a critical influence on brand

equity online (Marcolin et al., 2005; Ibeh et al., 2005). In achieving this personalisation and

related opportunities to build brand equity, the issues of risk and trust online present

themselves again. Research has revealed that the level of internet interactivity is directly

and positively correlated to consumer perceptions of trust (Merrilees and Fry, 2003;

Sicilia et al., 2005; Wu and Chang, 2005; Canavan et al., 2007).

Coyle and Thorson (2001) view interactivity from a mechanical perspective.

Machine interactivity is the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form

and content of a mediated environment

CHAPTER 3

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction

This chapter explains in depth the methodology that was applied in this study in order the

purpose and objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the integrated marketing

communication in three star hotels.As a result, this chapter expands on the nature of data

collection instruments and the sampling technique that was undertaken in order to collect

information required and hence lead to deductions and conclusions about the topic of the

study.

3.2. Research design

The study was descriptive survey in nature where the three star hotels in nairobi county were

sampled out to represent the subjects of the sample. Quantitative data was collected using

questionnaires with structured and unstructured questions.

3.3. Study variables

The study variables comprises of the independent and dependent variables.

3.4. Area of study/location of the study

The area of study is Nairobi county where three star hotels exists.

3.5. Target population

In order to collect the required data, the population for this study was defined as

all three star hotels in nairobi county.

3.6. Sampling techniques and sample size

In order to collect the quantitative primary data, questionnaire survey was used.

Simple random sampling was selected for the purpose of this study. This

technique was used in sampling and selecting the number of hotels that were

considered as subjects of study sample.

3.7. Research instrument

In order to address the objectives and purpose of this study, primary data was

collected. The quantitative data was collected by use of questionnaires with both

structured and unstructured questions. For this study, researcher administered

questionnaires were used in order to collect comprehensive data that was

required to necessitate for data analysis and deduce conclusions regarding the

investigation at hand. The questionnaires had two sections. Section A was

designed to collect the basic information of the region as well as the information

regarding the variables of the study. Section B composed of bio-data that was

required for classification purposes. The research instrument is captured in the

appendix 1.

3.8. Validity and reliability

The questionnaire was validated through the establishment of content validity

technique. In this case, the researcher established content validity by going

through the research instrument severally with the research supervisor as well

as seeking advices regarding the development and revising of the instrument.

3.9. Data analysis

Filled questionnaires from the sample subjects were coded and data analyzed by

use of means and percentages. Descriptive statistical methods were used to

solve and handle the issue at hand. Interpretations were made and

presentations done in different graphs such as column charts, pie charts, and

bar graphs.

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