Integrated marketing communications: maybe definition is in the point of view

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is one of the hottest topics in marketing today.

It ranks right up there with total quality management (TQM), everyday low pricing (EDLP) and management by objectives (MBO). We know IMC is hot because it's been turned into an acronym, one of the first signs of marketing community acceptance.

But as is the case with most marketing acronyms, everyone knows what IMC means to them, but few have a clear, concise definition they can share with others. Like so many other marketing activities, IMC appears to be defined in the eyes of the beholder.

Since 1988, when we started work at the Medill School at Northwestern University on developing our concept of, and curriculum for, a graduate level IMC program, we've worked with a number of definitions.

Some were good, some weren't. We now have one on which most of the faculty agrees, but that also is subject to change. Faculties are almost always questioning what the industry is doing, why industry is doing that--testing our approach against what practitioners are doing and saying and developing new concepts and approaches which, hopefully, will help expand our understanding of the subject.

One thing we've learned in all our attempts is that the definition generally is influenced by the person or group doing...