L7: IMC Planning — Step-by-Step Framework

--- [0:00] Recap & Learning Outcomes --- Good morning. We've been building toward today's lecture in a very deliberate way — situation analysis, STP, marketing program, client brief, client role. Today we assemble all of those pieces into a complete framework: the IMC Planning Step-by-Step Model. And we're going to use a case that I think is one of the most strategically interesting in Indian tourism: Brand Positioning of Goa versus Kerala Tourism. Two neighbouring states, both tourism powerhouses, but with completely different brand identities, different target audiences, and different IMC strategies. Let's learn from both. Today's anchor idea: the IMC Planning Framework is not a linear checklist — it is an integrated, iterative process where each decision informs and refines the others. --- [5:00] Core Concepts: IMC Planning Framework --- Let me lay out the complete IMC planning framework. This synthesises everything we've discussed so far. Step One: Marketing and Promotions Process Model Overview. Before planning begins, understand the full context — the marketing environment, the competitive situation, the company and brand situation. This is the situation analysis we covered in Lecture 3, but now we see it as the foundation of the planning framework. Step Two: Communication Process Analysis. How does communication actually work for this brand with this audience? What is the path from message to customer action? This includes understanding the customer decision journey — how does our target customer move from awareness to consideration to preference to purchase? Step Three: Communication Objectives Setting. What specific, measurable outcomes must this communication program achieve? These must derive directly from the marketing objectives. If the marketing objective is "grow revenue by twenty percent in the next financial year," the communication objective might be "increase brand awareness among target segment from forty percent to sixty percent" — because awareness is the precursor to revenue. Step Four: Communication Budget. How much do we have to spend? This is both a financial decision and a strategic one. The budget should be determined by the objective-and-task method — what does it cost to achieve our communication objectives? — not by a fixed percentage or last year's budget plus inflation. Step Five: Promotional Program Development. What specific communication tools and content will we use? For each element of the promotional mix, what is the specific role it plays? What is the message? What channels and formats? This is where creative and media strategy are developed. Step Six: Integration and Implementation. How do all the elements work together? What is the timing? Who is responsible for each element? How do we ensure consistency across all touchpoints? Step Seven: Monitor, Evaluate, Control. During and after the campaign, how are we measuring performance? What are the trigger points for adjusting the plan? How do we capture learnings for the next planning cycle? This is a complete planning model. Notice it's iterative — the evaluation in Step Seven feeds back into Step One for the next campaign. And decisions made at Step Three affect Step Four, which affects Step Five. No step is truly independent. --- [20:00] Deep Dive: Goa vs Kerala — Brand Positioning Comparison --- Now let me take you to the case that brings this framework to life in a genuinely competitive context. Goa and Kerala — both coastal Indian states with exceptional natural beauty and strong tourism sectors. But their brand positioning strategies are completely different. Goa's brand positioning has, as we've discussed, historically centered on beaches, freedom, and festivity — "Pearl of the Orient," party destination, international music festivals, seafood and feni. The positioning is experiential, sensory, somewhat hedonistic. The emotional territory is: fun, freedom, escape. Kerala's brand positioning — "God's Own Country" — is one of the most successful destination brand campaigns ever run in India. Kerala tourism launched this tagline in 1989, and it has been maintained for over thirty years. What it communicates: natural beauty, tranquility, spirituality, wellness. The emotional territory is: peace, renewal, depth. Now let's map these against the IMC planning framework. Situation Analysis: Both destinations had similar assets — coastline, natural beauty, unique culture. But Kerala's situation analysis identified a specific gap: no major global destination was owning the ayurveda and wellness positioning. That was the opportunity. Communication Objectives: Kerala's objectives included attracting higher-value, longer-stay international tourists, differentiating from a beach-commodity positioning, and building repeat visitation among domestic health-conscious travellers. Target Audience: Kerala targeted international wellness tourists — particularly from Europe and the Middle East — and domestic travellers seeking a calmer, more restorative experience than Goa. This is a fundamentally different segment from Goa's primary target. Promotional Program: Kerala invested heavily in PR through international travel media, positioning ayurveda as a credible, authentic wellness system. They attended international tourism fairs with consistent brand materials. They maintained the "God's Own Country" tagline across all communications for three decades — remarkable discipline. Integration: Every element of Kerala tourism communication reinforces the same territory — backwaters, ayurveda, elephants, tea plantations, the quiet of Munnar. There is never a Kerala tourism campaign that looks like it belongs in a Goa context. Now, what is the lesson for Goa? Goa's challenge is that its primary positioning is more easily replicated than Kerala's. Beaches exist in Pondicherry, Andamans, Gokarna, and increasingly in international destinations across Southeast Asia. Goa must do what Kerala has done: find a positioning that is harder to replicate because it is rooted in specific, verifiable, unique assets. And increasingly, that positioning is being built around the Portuguese-Goan heritage, the unique Catholic-Hindu cultural synthesis, the culinary heritage — all of which are genuinely unique to Goa. So let me ask you all: where have you encountered this kind of destination positioning competition in your own experience as a traveller? Have you ever chosen Goa over another destination — or vice versa — because of how the destination was communicated to you? --- [35:00] Case / Field Connection --- The Goa-Kerala comparison illuminates something very important about IMC planning: the role of competitive analysis in shaping your own positioning. Positioning is always relative. You don't position in isolation — you position relative to alternatives in the customer's mind. Goa's communication has to answer the implicit question: "Why Goa rather than Kerala? Why Goa rather than Bali or Thailand?" The answers to those questions are the ingredients of the positioning. And this is where the IMC planning framework connects to what Belch and Belch call the promotional mix element selection. Once you've established a positioning, different communication channels are better at communicating different aspects of it. For Goa's heritage positioning: visual content channels — Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest — are excellent at communicating the beautiful Fontainhas alleyways and the baroque church architecture. Long-form content — travel articles, branded documentaries — are better at communicating the depth of the Portuguese-Goan cultural synthesis story. PR through food media is excellent for communicating the culinary heritage. For a purely party and beach positioning: social media with energetic video content, music partnerships, event marketing, influencer content from DJs and nightlife personalities — these are the natural vehicles. The channel choice must follow from the positioning choice, which follows from the target audience choice, which follows from the situation analysis. That's the planning sequence. --- [45:00] Class Activity --- Activity. You're the IMC planning team for a new Goa Tourism campaign with a brief to attract heritage and cultural tourists from domestic metro cities. Use the seven-step framework. For each step, write two to three sentences on what the key decision or finding is. You have twelve minutes for this — it's a rapid planning exercise, not a full plan. Let's hear what you have. Good structure across the groups. I want to highlight one observation: every group that did this exercise found that the situation analysis step is the most time-consuming and the most uncertain. You don't have all the data you need. You're making informed assumptions. That is actually realistic — real situation analyses are always incomplete. The skill is making good decisions with imperfect information, not waiting for perfect information. Second observation: most groups set objectives that were output-focused — "increase awareness by twenty percent." One group set outcome-focused objectives — "increase bookings from heritage segment by fifteen percent." Outcome objectives are harder to measure but much more directly tied to business value. When you can, always set outcome objectives. --- [55:00] MCQ Recap & Assignment Brief --- Today's anchor: the IMC Planning Framework is integrated and iterative. Brand positioning of Goa versus Kerala tourism showed how a coherent, consistently maintained positioning — "God's Own Country" for three decades — creates brand equity that dramatically outperforms ad-hoc communication. Assignment: apply the seven-step IMC planning framework to any brand you're working with or interested in. You don't need a full plan — but cover each step with at least three to four sentences of specific, thought-through content. Two to three pages. Due next class. This assignment also serves as preparation for your campaign project — which you'll be presenting at the end of the semester. Start thinking about which brand you want to work on. See you next class.