Effective research finds IMC plans outperform performance-only plans
- samkarow
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
Most media plans are still built channel by channel.
❌ But consumers don’t experience brands that way.
That’s why strategic “impact” Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plans outperform performance-only media.
There are two principles that matter most:
1️⃣ IMC shifts planning from channel silos to a consumer journey mindset
A great example comes from Analytic Partners’ ROI Genome. In a siloed view, Paid Search ROAS can make it look like paid search drives 100% of e-commerce sales. But a customer-centric view shows sales are driven by a mix of brand media, other marketing activity, and base demand.
Analytic Partners also found that for every $1 spent, $0.35 is lost when brands optimize using siloed metrics instead of a holistic customer journey view.
-> IMC aligns channels around the consumer journey, replacing siloed optimization with a holistic view of how consumers discover, consider, convert, and retain.
2️⃣ Consistency across channels creates compounding impact
Impact does not come from one great ad or one “hero” placement. It comes from building memory and meaning consistently and repeatedly across touch points.
System1 and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising found the most consistent brands:
1. Improve creative quality by +0.2 Star Rating per year, while inconsistent brands show no improvement
2. Deliver more than 2 times market share growth efficiency at the same spend
3. Generate 27% more very large brand effects across a five-year dataset of 56 brands and over 4,000 advertisements.
-> IMC integrates channels into one consistent voice, building memory and meaning more efficiently with every additional exposure.
Impact is not a channel decision, it’s a planning decision. When channels are aligned around the consumer journey and speak with one consistent voice, IMC turns impact into compounding growth.
This is the lens we use at Effective when turning research into IMC planning and channel strategy. Our Google Gemini gem allows us to analyze how brands with consistent, omni-channel marketing investments outperform brands with inconsistent presence using only one or two channels.
Shout outs to Effective partners and mentors in IMC!
Shout out to Effective's newest team member Sijia (Cathy) Xu who leads content for us and did a great job finding this research and drafting this post.
Comments