When marketing professional Chris Nicely was researching graduate schools, he wanted a program to teach him the “science of marketing” so he could be more effective at his job. After looking at several programs nationwide, he chose the master’s degree program in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at West Virginia University’s P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

Now a year-and-a-half into the online program, Nicely has already garnered top honors for two advertisements in his integrated marketing campaign, “A Different Place.”

Nicely is vice president of marketing at Holland Home in Grand Rapids, Mich., a company that provides the full continuum of care for seniors, including housing, home care and hospice services to those 65 and older. He recently submitted several marketing examples from the campaign to the National Mature Media Awards and won a Silver Award and a Merit Award for his television and radio spots.

Nicely credits the IMC program with helping him understand the overall process of creating an integrated marketing strategy for the campaign.

“The senior services industry in Grand Rapids is highly competitive,” he said. “I knew that we must communicate our strongest messages in an integrated approach for maximum impact on our target market.”

Nicely said he began by identifying the marketing characteristics that were important to his audience. He decided the most cost-effective tactics to reach his market were television, radio, direct mail and sales literature. Then he set to work creating the campaign, starting with the direct mailer and sales literature. He built the TV and radio scripts on this foundation.

“All four tactics communicated the marketing messages in a consistent way,” said Nicely. “This assured me of two things: each tactic would communicate the same strategic message, and there would be a cumulative effect from medium to medium.”

Although he still has a year to go before he graduates with his master’s degree, Nicely points to his awards as evidence that he is already applying what he has learned in his IMC coursework.

“The courses in the IMC program focus on the specific areas of marketing communications that are absolute necessities for today’s professionals. In particular, my coursework on audience insight, managing brand equity, creative strategy and conducting media analysis was very helpful,” said Nicely.

IMC Program Director Chad Mezera says that Nicely’s experience is illustrative of the program’s “learn it today, use it tomorrow” philosophy.

“The IMC program was designed to be not only flexible but also practical,” said Mezera.
“Students often tell us they are able to immediately apply what they learn to their careers. That’s the beauty of this program. Students don’t have to wait until they complete the degree to put their knowledge to work.”

Nicely said he is looking forward to his next year as a student in the IMC program.

“The Advanced Creative Strategies course will help me better mesh my artistic ability with my organization’s profit goals, while the capstone course, which focuses on campaigns, will be a nice, final tie-up of the entire IMC program.”

After graduation, Nicely plans to continue his work in the senior services industry, positioning Holland home to expand and compete regionally and nationally.

-WVU-

al/9/16/09
WVU News on the Web – http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/

CONTACT: Angela Lindley
School of Journalism, IMC program
304-293-3505 ext. 5432