What is marketing communication?

In a nutshell, marketing communication is all strategies, tactics, and activities involved in getting the desired marketing messages to intended target markets, regardless of the media used.*

*As cited in http://en.mimi.hu/marketingweb/marketing_communications.html

Multimedia is commonly used for marketing communication as it enables the integrated use of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity with users to create a multi-dimensional experience for consumers. With the use of multimedia, companies can create ‘new’ worlds (virtual worlds) that engage and stimulate all senses of an individual and also provide a virtual brand experience for its existing and prospective customers. It can also create individualized experiences for its consumers based on their preferences recorded through their interactions with the company.

The formal definition of multimedia is, “a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation, and video.” Interactive communication is a key feature of multimedia as users determine what content is delivered, when it is delivered, and how it is delivered.

Many corporations engage multimedia for marketing communication purposes by creating websites and videos that users can access over the internet. Music files, video files, and podcasts are also occasionally made downloadable from the website.

It comes as no surprise that Sony and Apple utilize multimedia for marketing communication since these two brand names are well known for their consumer electronic media devices.

Sony

As we enter Sony’s global website, we are first greeted by flashing images of the products and new technologies the company offers. The rest of the home page consists of various tabs and sections with hyperlinks to other pages in the website.

Sony’s main webpage is extremely traditional, which can be a little boring. However, the web pages for its specific products are more attractive and interactive as they employ the multimedia uses of video, audio and animation.

With that said, if one does not take the time to explore Sony’s website, they will be unable to discover the other web pages linked to it. Sony’s main webpage does not attract and captivate the attention of its audience, but I feel that its other web pages do.

As part of their advertising campaign, “It Only Does Everything,” for the PlayStation 3 (PS3), Sony launched a series of commercials featuring a character named “Kevin Butler.” These commercials employed the use of humour which engaged audiences and have also aided in the sale of PS3s. The many ‘episodes’ of the series were released online, and the fictitious character in it also has a Twitter account which enables Sony users to reach out to ‘him.’

Apple

Conversely, when we first visit Apple’s website, we are met with a main promotional picture of the iPad 2 and several tabs at the top of the page. Apple’s website consists mainly of images and text, with a few videos here and there. Contrasting this with Sony’s main webpage that is ‘cluttered’ with information, Apple’s webpage appears much simpler and cleaner. The whole website adopts a minimalistic outlook as being clean, simple and ‘white’ is the signature of the brand.

The video below shows the famous Apple iPod commercial which features dark silhouettes holding a white iPod and dancing to the contrast of a plain background. The commercial has been used and reinvented numerous times as different generations of the iPod have been launched. Its simplicity and ingenuity allows the concept to be reused as by simply tweaking certain details such as the colour of the background, the song used in the commercial and the dance moves of the silhouettes, a whole new commercial is created.

By comparing Sony’s and Apple’s use of multimedia for marketing communication, I must say that I am more impressed by Apple as the company has managed to utilize multimedia to create an online brand experience instead of simply presenting information to its consumers. Upon visiting Apple’s website, I feel that I am able to experience the brand as the website conveys its character well. On the other hand, watching Sony’s advertisements and visiting the company’s website, I find it hard to experience the brand’s identity. This could be perhaps because Sony operates on a much larger scale than Apple as it is more diversified in the electronics manufacturing industry. After all, Apple houses fewer than 20 products while Sony has 1000s of products.