Integrated Marketing Communication Forcing Consumers to Compare Themselves with Others and Buy Brands: Case Study for Brand Success in Indian Context

It is natural for consumers to compare themselves with one another as human beings in various aspects of life. Right from childhood, directly or indirectly, everyone is compared with some person or another by those concerned, whether it is one’s own parents, teachers, friends, colleagues or others. It starts so early in life that by the time one moves from childhood to teenage and further, they start comparing themselves with every other person throughout their life, whether at home, at the workplace or anywhere else. This constant comparison, initially by others and later by oneself, makes everyone a strong target of brand communications directed to satisfy one’s ego in acquiring or possessing brands just because someone else in their circle is having it, in order to get an equal, if not an upper hand, in comparison to that other person. This article tries to unearth how companies use integrated marketing communication to make consumers feel that something is missing in their life just by not having or using some brand or another, which motivates them to acquire it, thereby bridging the gap. Once it gets bridged, another gap is highlighted by IMC, and the process goes on endlessly in everyone’s life.