Integrated Communications in the Postmodern Era

Every business, everywhere, is facing challenge in the changing market-spaces and -places of the 21st century. Every market is under fire. Competitive forces have heightened and accelerated. Governments have intervened (often with little discernible effect) and the life blood of any business - customers - are not only more demanding, but more discerning of what businesses and brands are and what they stand for. Consumers have become more sophisticated and critical of business practices. Pressure groups are scrutinizing and criticizing corporations more than ever before. Technological progress has opened up new horizons for innovation and communication. Social media is gaining ground and in some cases challenges traditional media. News is transmitted within seconds to different parts in the world. And, these shifting tectonic plates of communication necessitate integration of on- and off-line communications. There are no invisible companies and what happens in one geographic market is instantly transmitted via global media to receptive consumer VDU's - computer, television, and cellphone screens, or is almost immediately accessible. The world of information accessibility and the concomitant demise of corporate invisibility is today's (not tomorrow's) world, or the communications reality of the 21st century. This edited book is intended for marketing and brand managers, market researchers, any field directly related to communication, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and other interested publics who wish to develop their knowledge, insight, skills, and facility into integrated communications within the post-modern era, a topic of relevance everywhere, but particular apposite as the original conference was hosted in Turkey, a rapidly developing nation, and one enjoying significant growth in the global.