Carlos owns a chain of retail electronic stores. He is evaluating how he allocates his firm's IMC budget. He receives offers from a variety of advertising media, spends money on his firm's public relations efforts, and is considering electronic media alternatives. Carlos must recognize that each IMC alternative:.a. will stand on its own.
b. is part of the whole.
c. is part of non-commercial free speech.
d. is less important than stealth marketing.
e. is dictated by the nature of the supply chain.

The correct answer is b. is part of the whole.

Explanation:

Currently, one of the fundamental concerns of companies has to do with the strategic integration of all communication tools to transmit consistent messages to the audience. In other words, the approaches have evolved towards «Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)», which start from a new way of conceiving and carrying out the communication mix.

BMIs try to achieve effective coordination between all communication tools (personal sales, advertising, public relations, direct marketing, organization of events, online marketing, etc.), and the rest of the company's activities that may influence the image of brand audiences.

Audiences integrate all these messages about the brand, and do not distinguish where they come from. For this reason, the company needs to integrate all the tools in order to transmit a consistent message about the brand, product or organization.