Towards a new definition of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Abstract

Since the inception and formal conceptualisation of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) in the late 1980s, the concept continues to gain widespread attention and interest among academics and practitioners around the world. However, a review of the literature on IMC over the past decade suggests that contentions on definitional and theoretical issues still remain unsettled. IMC proponents acknowledge and recommend that more extensive research in the field is needed to further consolidate its theoretical foundations. In this article, some IMC definitions are reviewed and analysed by examining their merits as well as inadequacies. A new definition of the concept is then proposed, suggesting three distinctive attributes, or pillars, of IMC as a contribution to the theory building on IMC.