each type has a different kind of impact on the consumer, and those effects
vary depending on the product, the message, and the timing and placement
of the communication, among other variables. Therefore, it might be worth
investigating whether certain kinds of integrated exposures should be
weighted according to their impact within the total plan. Thus, for a
business-to-business product, such as a fax machine, in-store visits could be
given a weight of 1.0, whereas the trade magazine impressions might be
discounted by .7 and telemarketing efforts considered only half as impor-
tant, with those impressions weighted by .5. Again, more research would
eventually be needed to validate the weights used, although judgment and
experience are likely to play a large role here.

There are still several areas of the segmentation that are not readily
measured at this time. These include trade promotions, special events, and
word of mouth. Future research should examine procedures to quantify in
some way each of these forms of communication.

As we move toward a new century, advertisers and agencies are looking
for new and better ways of doing business. Integrated marketing commu-
nications, although not, strictly speaking, something "new," offers us the
chance to improve the way we do business. By utilizing a coherent and
integrated strategy that puts out a consistent and unified message across a
variety of communications tools, marketers will find increased efficiency
and effectiveness of their sales efforts. Consumers, in turn, will gain a
better awareness and understanding of what those brands stand for and, we
believe, be more responsive to the communications. If such an idyll is to be
achieved, however, we must determine how best to measure and evaluate an
integrated program so that we have measurable, valid, and strategically
sound plans. Here, we have presented one potential path down which
marketers may travel as they search for the holy grail of how marketing
communication works.

The ARF Model for Evaluating Media. ( 1989). Journal of Media Planning, 4( 2), pp. 1-56.

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