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Communication as a marketing tool is in a period of transition and is becoming ever more important. In the infancy of marketing, communication served to help distribute goods and was primarily used as a sales instrument. Communication was thus generally referred to as advertising, and followed the product it was designed to sell. Accordingly, its style was quite imperative – directly demanding that you buy. This was followed by the marketing époque, and communication primarily followed demand. The style changed from the imperative to the motivating, in the sense of "We know what you need".
Communication has become much more complex due to the numerous new technologies such as the Internet, mobile phones and the diversified range of TV and radio stations and print titles, and nowadays it has to be viewed with an increasingly holistic and integrative eye. Partner strategies are becoming ever more relevant and attractive, and the use of well-known personalities is also gaining a new significance. Partner models are being used more and more in sponsorship deals, with the goal of being able to offer a unique sales proposition that will be heard amongst the noise of the billions of communication messages in the world every day.
These unique features have to be more than just arguments for the product. Cooperations and partnerships are needed to create them, as well as the ability to think and act synergetically and across media. This means moving away from the old marketing strategies that used to try to manipulate a target group or scene with advertising, promotion and PR.
Communication increasingly follows relationships, and the use of personalities and sponsorship are becoming ever more important. Communication is no longer seen as the means to the end of manipulatively publishing advertising messages, it has become the central aspect of all marketing strategies, and the more networked they are across media and the more integrated, the more added value they can generate.
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