Marketing communication: principles and practice

Public sender – Private receiver
Private sender – Private receiver
Interpersonal communication; 
Videotext; subscription cable 
intra-corporate communication 
television (search)
(exchange)
Figure 9.1
McQuail’s typology of communication events
BOX 9.7
BROADCAST VS. INTERACTIVE
What do the post, telegraph, telephone, fax, and Internet have in common? They are
all interactive connectors of people. But they only thrive in a network of users. The very
first fax machine purchased was actually totally useless!
Traditional advertising differs from these interactive media: it has always been used
in a fundamentally content-based communication strategy.
BOX 9.8
THE MYSKI BUSINESS CONVERSATION
Through the Internet, MySki Inc. enable consumers to design their own products by
entering details of their height, skill level, style, and so on at www.myski.com. Visitors
to the site can choose colours and provide text and logos that can be printed onto the
upper surface of the skis, which are made to order. The website allows local customer
support in twenty-five native languages, and an ever-growing consumer database of
preferences, interests, orders, enquiries, etc. Consumers are co-producers in
conversation with this supplier.
(
Source
: Based on Gatarski and Lundkvist, 1998)
BOX 9.9
SATURN CAR CLUBS
At the Saturn subsidiary of General Motors, brand managers encourage customers to
join car clubs and support access to information about members via a searchable online
service. 
(
Source
: Based on Gatarski and Lundkvist, 1998)

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BOX 9.10
HOT MODEM CONVERSATIONS FOR MEGAHERTZ
When a customer of modem supplier Megahertz offered his modem for sale in a
CompuServe online forum, he was contacted by a company representative who asked
him why he wanted to sell it. During the next week several people offered similar
explanations – dissatisfaction due to some malfunctions with the equipment. Even when
other people said that they had decided not to buy a Megahertz modem because of
what they had read in the forum, the company kept out of the discussion. Several
discussants subsequently offered recommendations to the company on what to expect
in market conversation and behaviour in electronic media. Consumers were running
the conversation. Perhaps managers were missing the point: sometimes marketing
communication is unplanned, i.e. initiated by customers (who may be dissatisfied).
They also failed to participate in the debate – this passive stance can be damaging. 
(
Source
: Based on Gatarski and Lundkvist, 1998)