is thus far little attempt to discuss or research theory about how the
persuasive voices work together.

For us there appear to be at least three important issues that must be
addressed within the concept of IMC. A first issue focuses on how the
media both within and across voices relate to each other. For example, there
have been a small number of studies (e.g., Edell & Keller, 1989, 1993 ) of
how to combine advertising media such as radio, television, newspapers,
and so on, for maximum impact. There have been no analogous studies of
media combinations in public relations (e.g., press releases, corporate
publications, or special events) and in' promotions (e.g., sampling, coupon-
ing, premiums, and point-of-purchase advertising). For the field to move
forward, studies that do examine combinations within each of the persua-
sive tool areas (advertising, public relations, promotions, direct marketing,
and packaging) will be necessary.

A second issue in integrated communications involves point of entry for
the integrated campaign. Although persuasive theory is usually driven by
the idea that advertising communications lead and dominate, this is clearly
not the only model possible. For example, campaigns are now being
initiated based on ideas about direct marketing or promotion activities
(e.g., Moore, 1993 ). However, this means that an important question is how
to theorize about the impact of campaigns in which the dominant voice is
not advertising.

A third issue involves reconceptualizing the importance of various target
groups. For example, one can consider a variety of consumer targets as well
as sales force personnel, retailers, government officials, and so on. Al-
though conventional communications planning often assumes that the
consumer communications should take precedence, there are a number of
examples ( Moore, 1992) in which highly successful IMC programs were
driven either by nonconsumer audiences, or by important (IMC-generated)
interactions between consumer and nonconsumer audiences. Again, how-
ever, there is little theory available for guiding coordination of messages to
a variety of targets.

Before introducing the chapters represented in this volume, therefore, we
suggest an overall framework that allows us to consider all three of these
aspects of "coordination." We then discuss how each of the chapters herein
provide important input to the framework.

One important way to consider IMC is in terms of the planning of the
promotional campaign. We believe that only by developing a comprehen-
sive strategy for using the different persuasive tools can we build effective
linkages among them.

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