THE USE OF INTERGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC) BY EAST AFRICAN BREWERIES

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the paper was to evaluate the use of integrated marketing communication (IMC) by East African Breweries LTD.

Methodology: The present paper highlights the emergence of integrated marketing communications (IMC) that has significantly influenced thinking and acting among all types of companies and organizations facing the realities of competition in the present open economy. The paper sheds lights on various facets of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) especially in different companies. The challenges and scopes of IMC with the context of strategies, implementation, and audit have also been discussed. The paper identified documentary evidence in the form of already completed studies that focused on the use of integrated marketing communication (IMCs) by different organizations.

Results: The findings indicate that IMC has been proved as an efficient promotional tool to communicate more universally, clear, and effectively. Findings also indicate that companies that use IMCs perform better than those organization still using traditional marketing strategies.

Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The Company has been running the East Africa's premier music reality show, tusker project fame show in Kenya and neighboring countries for the last five years, where it sponsors contestants and the overall winner walks with 5 million shillings and a recording contract from Gallo Records, the international recording company. In addition to nurturing raw talent, the Project also left a lasting impact on local economies as many small and medium-size enterprises from the region were contracted to provide assorted goods and services in support of the show. During this shows over 15 million adults watch the show thus get to learn about the brands and the website of the company. EABL also sponsors football club thus anytime the games are being played the players put on jerseys with the company logo and their banners displayed at the wall of the stadium. The company has used different mediums of advertising to reach different age groups. For example to reach the people in rural areas it is uses the radio and to reach the aged people within urban centers it uses the television sets and well lit bill boards and to reach the youths it uses the social media where it has different fan Facebook pages for different brands eg pilsner and tusker.