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Marketing Management
Don E. Schultz, Charles H. Patti and Philip J. Kitchen, The
Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communications: The
Customer-driven Marketplace. Oxon: Routledge, 2011. viii +
134 pp., Price not mentioned [Hardback].
DOI: 10.1177/097226291201600115
The very first page, even before the title page, gives a sort
of abstract of the book. The reader gets an idea that the
book ‘updates and enhances the basic concepts surround-
ing the academic theory and practice of Integrated Mar-
keting Communication (IMC)’. Since its introduction in
the late 1980s, there have been dramatic changes in how
IMC has developed over time and how it was initially envi-
sioned. Authors, practitioners and customers have been
equally responsible for these changes in the way they have
written about IMC, or the way they have adopted and
adapted the concept to suit their own market situations.
The editors identify and discuss these changes, and sug-
gest that IMC is essential in the twenty-first century
organizations.
There are eight chapters, or papers, in all contributed by
ten authors. The three editors, jointly, have the opening,
theme paper; and, the two of them, Kitchen and Schultz,
have the closing, concluding chapter. The rest of the chap-
ters are fitted in-between the two as papers on different
aspects of IMC.
All the contributors are well known experts in their
fields. Their papers are also, therefore, in their core areas of
knowledge. For example, Kevin Lane Keller has a paper
on the theme of ‘Building Strong Brands’, and Christian
Gronroos (co-authored with Ake Finne) on ‘Relationship
Communication’. Thus, these papers also make interesting
readings with useful insights. However, some of these
papers do not connect with the main theme of the book. For
example, ‘Apples, oranges, and fruit salad: A Delphi study
of the IMC educational mix’ by Gayle Kerr; ‘Integrated
marketing communications measurement and evaluation’
by Michael T. Ewing; ‘The primacy of the consumer in
IMC: Espousing a personalist view and ethical implica-
tions’ by Jerry G. Kliatchko; and ‘Building strong brands
in a modern marketing communications environment’ by
Kevin Lane Keller. Each of them is of equal appeal by
itself. Just about two of them give some idea of the ‘evolu-
tion of IMC’: ‘Integrated marketing communications:
From media channels to digital connectivity’ by Frank
Mulhern and ‘Rethinking marketing communication: From
integrated marketing communication to relationship com-
munication’ by Ake Finne and Christian Gronroos.
To the reviewer, this work seems to be an idea born
out of the main paper of the three editors: ‘The evolution
of IMC: IMC in a customer-driven marketplace’, which is
also used as the title of the book. In fact, (even) in the
Vision, 16, 1 (2012): 61–75
Book Reviews
title, the heading and the sub-heading seem disjointed:
‘The Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communications:
The Customer-driven Marketplace’. The sub-heading, ‘The
Customer-driven Marketplace’ is not required.
The reviewer also feels that the editors need to be very
clear whether IMC stands for ‘Integrated Marketing Com-
munications’ or ‘Integrated Marketing Communication’—
as given in the opening remarks (Page i).
Finally, what would be the expectation of an Indian
reader, especially a professor/researcher of IMC from the
book? How exactly the various forms of marketing com-
munication have evolved over time and become integrated!
For example, how exactly Advertising, Public Relations,
Publicity, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, Event Mar-
keting, Direct Marketing, Direct Selling, etc., are being
used by marketers more-and-more synergistically today.
The reader would benefit more if there were some real-life
case studies also included.
In conclusion, the reviewer would like to submit that
such a work is a bit premature in the Indian context as the
field of IMC is still new and is trying hard for acceptance
both by academics and practitioners. IMC is still ‘emerg-
ing’ in India; its ‘evolution’ will take some more time.
Mukesh Chaturvedi
Professor of Marketing and Business Communication
BIMTECH
Greater Noida 201 301, India
Patrick Renvoise and Cristopher Morin, Neuromarketing
Understanding the Buy Button in Your Customers Brain,
Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2007, xii + 243 pp., US$
22.99 [Hardback]. ISBN 978-0-7852-2680-2
DOI: 10.1177/097226291201600116
The book is essentially aimed at the sales and marketing
professionals who have to convince customers and make
them buy their products from a competitive set. Thus, the
focus is on understanding the ‘buy buttons’ in the cus-
tomer’s brain.
The basic premise is that the complete human brain can
be conceptualized to consist of three brains, the new, mid-
dle and the old. The book focuses on ‘marketing’ to the old
brain as this is considered to be the final decision-maker as
far as purchase decision goes. Thus the standard sales pro-
cess of need satisfaction selling, which includes uncover-
ing customer needs, supporting them with specific benefits
and closing the sales is mapped on to the way the old brain
functions.
The book starts with understanding the characteristics
of the old brain. These characteristics are: brain is self cen-
tered, works with contrast, seeks tangible inputs, focuses
on beginning and end, is visual and reflexive, and is only