Integrated Marketing Communications Berlin 2009: First impressions of IMC in Spain

1. IMC analysis blog entry # 1

I have been traveling for a little more than a month around different European countries and I was able to see and experience the cultural differences and the variety of advertising among all the countries that I visited. I can say that every city has its own magic but I can say that it is essentially the same in all of Europe when it comes to recycling. I could say that every country has its own recycle system set up and they apply it in all the possible aspects. Personally, Spain is the most organized country that I have seen when it comes to this matter. Spain, especially Madrid, has created such a great campaign to increase recycle consciousness around their citizens that you can see the results everywhere. The objectives were clearly to increase the use of recycle bins. The results were fabulous. Even though this campaign was already very successful the government and the private companies are still reinforcing the action by placing three different types of recycling bins in the street, by the bus stops, and even in the subway. They are also reinforcing the campaign by placing the recycling advertising in TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards and in some bus stops that invite all the citizens to become a part of saving our planet.

The most common recycle trashcans that you get to see are:

Yellow Trashcan: this trashcan is only to throw away three types of containers: plastics (soft drink bottles, mineral water bottles, detergent bottles, fabric softener bottles, shopping bags, yogurt containers), metal containers (cans and bottles of soft drinks, beer, canning, aluminum trays), and cardboard boxes (milk, juices, soups, among other foods like sugar and vegetables).

Green Trashcan: This trashcan is only to throw away glass containers like wine bottles, champagne bottles, perfume bottles and glass jars.

Blue Trashcan: throw away all kinds of boxes and different types of paper like breakfast cereal boxes, biscuits boxes, shoes boxes, frozen meals boxes, paper bags, wrapping paper, paper foil, newspaper, magazines, and notebooks.

In conclusion, the government and private companies of Spain created a very successful integrated marketing communication strategy to increase the awareness of recycling among the citizens. In the other hand, All European countries have managed to create a citizen conscience about taking care of our planet. From what I have seen so far, Madrid is the most conscience and organized city in reference to this matter. I think that the United States should follow the steps of these European countries so we can all work together to make our planet a better place to live.