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Branding and Digital Marketing - Chanel

  • Writer: Lianne Yu
    Lianne Yu
  • May 1, 2024
  • 5 min read


Reflective Report: Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Challenges and Advantages

This report will aim to reflect on the relationship between integrated marketing communications, organisational theory and the practical challenges of creating integrated communications plans for Chanel. The content will critically draw on the company's objectives and tactics, and the challenges faced by the professionals who are responsible for advising them. 


Today’s consumers are constantly overwhelmed by messages from various advertising channels. One of the most widely accepted communication models is Shannon and Weaver’s transmission model. The model consists of six elements: (1) an information source, which produces a message; (2) a transmitter, which encodes the message into signals; (3) a channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission; (4) a receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal; (5) a destination, where the message arrives; and (6) noise, interference with the message travelling along the channel which may lead to the signal received being different from that sent (Chandler, 1994). Integrated marketing breaks through all the clutter by delivering a clean cut and coherent brand experience for consumers across all the different channels, no matter what medium each consumer is using. According to the father of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) - professor Don Edward Schultz, “IMC is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines [...] and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communications impact.” (Schultz, 1992, pp. 99-104) 


Luxury brands, especially high end fashion houses such as Gucci, Prada and Chanel, focus on creating a specific yet strong brand image in order to implement that within their consumers’ minds. An excellent and effective brand image can help reinforce positive brand associations. Associations come in all forms, however more often than not they reflect the characteristics of a brand’s product (Keller, 1993, pp. 1-22). Using Chanel as an example, whenever people catch a glimpse of a Chanel bag in public, connotations of elegance, sophistication and wealth come to mind. According to Baisya (2013, pp. 14-17), the real value of businesses lies in the minds of the potential and target consumers. Therefore, it is crucial that businesses have a solid idea of their brand identity. With the gradual saturation of luxury goods in the market, well established brands with a rich historical background generally have the strongest brand identities. Businesses with a strong brand heritage tend to stand the test of time by resisting change, firmly adhering to their house style, culture values and brand physique (Brun and Castelli, 2013). When creating a brand image, companies have to communicate strong and positive associations in order to successfully affect buyer behaviour. According to Aaker (1991, pp. 111), the value of brand associations include: (1) reason to buy; (2) create positive attitudes/feelings; (3) help process/retrieve information; (4) differentiate/position; and (5) basis for extensions. For example, the brand associations of Gucci include its deep rooted italian heritage since 1921, traditional craftsmanship and the exquisite quality of its leather goods. However, they also manage to stay relevant in today’s contemporary fashion market, through the recent feature film House of Gucci which stars Lady Gaga, who is one of the most popular musical artists now. The biopic introduces its audience to the history of the Gucci family, while simultaneously bringing consumers’ attention to the brand - the new and improved Gucci under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele.


“The differentiating power of a brand and its influence on consumer attitudes are

closely connected to the phenomenon of congruence” (Camiciottoli, Ranfagni and Guercini, 2014). Having as big an overlap between associations that are defined by the company itself (identity) and associations which are perceived by consumers (image) as possible helps establish trust and a good rapport with consumers. Because of this, the determination to match said associations can heavily influence marketing policies, strategies and tactics. While the matching of brand associations may be difficult to achieve, due to the possible noise (interference) during the transmission of communications and the way each individual consumer can have different interpretations of associations (Madhavaram et al., 2005), businesses that are successful in doing so can obtain a more in depth understanding of consumer brand knowledge, which leads to a better restructure of the network of desired brand associations in the consumer’s mind, especially in comparison to their competitors (Brandt et al., 2011). As a result, the planning and execution of IMC objectives would be affected by this. 


Throughout the various stages of IMC from planning to execution, some challenges may arise. An example of this is a shift in traditional promotion methods causing internal conflict. Implementing a new set of IMC in any organisation, especially those with strong hierarchical structure, can cause problems due to disagreements amongst employees. Fashion houses such as Chanel base their brand image heavily on its creative director, as they are often seen as the main driving force behind the brand. When Karl Lagerfeld died in 2019 after 36 years of being Chanel’s creative director, the company went through major internal changes. Organisational theories suggest that employees at the same company will share the same values, promoting a shared sense of loyalty and commitment. Whereas inconsistencies and conflicts are portrayed as a weak and negative culture (Wilson, 2001). Although it is commonplace for the overall look of a brand to alter when a new director steps into play, the passing of Lagerfeld brought upon much needed changes in Chanel’s marketing and advertising strategies. The company must modify and adapt to its new creative director and devise new and suitable IMC strategies to better suit the current aesthetic of the brand.


Through this unit, a key lesson learned is that in order to obtain the best results through the use of integrated marketing communications, it is crucial that every aspect of a business is in line with each other. All internal personnels such as directors, managers and employees must have the same clear idea of the brand’s identity, and work towards providing consumers with a coherent brand image through a set of viable aims and objectives. 


Bibliography:


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Beauloye, F.E., 2019. The Meaning of Search Engine Optimization for Luxury. Luxe Digital. <https://luxe.digital/business/digital-luxury-speakeasy/search-engine-optimisation-seo/> 


Brandt, C., De Mortanges, C.P., Bluemelhuber, C. and Van Riel, A.C., 2011. Associative networks: A new approach to market segmentation. International Journal of Market Research, 53(2), pp.187-207. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2501/IJMR-53-2-187-208> 


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