Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications.

Swaminathan, Freda

Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications by Kruti Shah, McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited, New Delhi, 2014, Pages 889.

The first impression of this book by Kruti Shah is that the cover is so similar to the earlier book written by her and Alan D'Souza. Same color, adapted title and new symbol. And for prescribing it as a text book, thank God it is not as heavy as her earlier, co-authored book, 'Advertising and Promotions an IMC Perspective'. The book is an adaptation and improvement of the earlier book.

An IMC approach to marketing communications is important for the success of any brand. Shah's book reflects her hands-on experience with this sector and her role as a brand consultant to industry. The book has a variety of cases which are recent as the 'Marketing of the Jan Lokpal Bill' to as classic as 'Raymonds- the Complete Man'. The important issues of sending a focused message in below-the-line forms of communications along with conventional forms of mass communications are comprehensively undertaken. The text of every chapter and the cases covered tend to be well researched but not necessarily good for case discussion, where the requirement is on managerial decision-making (What should Mr XYZ do and why?).

The author covers the fundamentals of integrated marketing communications in Part 1 and 2 of the book and devotes Part 3 to the creative and strategic process of developing sound advertising. In P art 4, the topics of sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations and online promotions are covered in an old-age sense. The power of online promotions could have been covered with greater research, new age direct marketing and so also the role of advocacy and social marketing. Part 5 covers Media Planning and Strategy, and tends to be too much of chapters devoted to this topic, given the specialist nature of media planning. Like in her earlier, co-authored book, Part six has a strange combination of setting Promotion Objectives (this should have come earlier in the book), measuring IMC performance, and the legal and ethical environment of Promotions.

The book is good for students of IMC and would also be useful as a reference book for any professional entering or working in the fields of marketing communications in India. Though the author has briefly touched upon Lalithaji of Surf and the Axe effect, the absence of advertising planning involved in the creation of brands for Hindustan Unilevers is noticeable. However, the book does have many caselets of advertising created for different sectors of India and gives interesting ideas for class projects. With the intention of including comprehensive advertising theory, the author has not included advertising visuals that are used as effective stimuli in creating advertising responses. Boxed features on brands ranging from Dell to D'Cold have made the book very readable for the students. The book needs further editing and a focus on the creative process of advertising, besides the need for consumer engagement in below-the-line activities. And yes, it needs to be even slimmer and lighter.

Freda Swaminathan

Professor, FORE School of Management.