The brand capability value of integrated marketing communication (IMC)

Practitioners perpetually question whether they are spending the right amount of money on the right marketing activities to optimize sales, profitability, brand equity, and shareholder value. This perennial problem is perhaps even more salient today, as organizations increasingly begin to recognize the value of intangible assets and question the extent to which marketing should be viewed as an investment (as opposed to an expense). This paper introduces the notion of brand capability within a tangible-intangible asset valuation framework. Specifically, a model is developed to assess the impact of integrated marketing communication on brand equity by leveraging capability-enhancing marketing expenses to economic values through the use of specific combinations of expense-leveraged value indices.