IMC has become a strategic business process. It is not just about promotion itself, but about communication. Strategic refers to the overall driving force of the organization. IMC has become part of that driving force according to this definition, or - put another way - it has the potential to become a driving force if a company takes the steps that lead to its implementation.

Different definitions mean different interpretations, hence different applications. Businesses are also diverse. They are each exposed to different market dynamics. If there is a new idea on the marketing street, an idea that promises integration, interaction, synergy, greater persuasion, at lower costs, with greater benefits - then that idea will be embraced rapidly, expeditiously, and its tenets supported and sustained within and without the business.

The understanding and interpretation of IMC leads directly to application. Furthering that understanding requires study and learning. Applying increased knowledge requires financial and technological resources, and that precious resource of management or executive time.

IMC is here, apparently, to stay. It is defined and practised in various ways. Here, in this text, we are located in one stage of IMC though we stretch beyond this in terms of critical comments and theoretical foundations. It is, as we say, designed to ‘prime’ students to further studies in this emergent field of academic and practitioner endeavour.